My Travels
 
A PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNEY
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These are some photos of my work as a writer covering poverty in Third World countries.

Nicaragua and Guatemala, June-July 2005

This is Jonathan. We built him a new house and now he isn't afraid anymore. Where he had lived previously, thieves had broken inside and he was afraid they would return and kill him. He told me, "God answered my prayers for a new home."

This is me in front of one of our new housing communities in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. The homes are pre-fab and can be built in about a day. The mountains in northern Nicaragua are absolutely beautiful, and very green this time of year, which is their rainy season.
This is a family I interviewed in desperate need of a house. This is the interior of their home. They have lived like this for more than 3 years. The dad, who is sick, earns less than 50 cents a day selling firewood.
Maria, a little girl who weighed about 12 pounds who is at the nun's nutrition center in Guatemala. We made a special trip to see this little one. Sister Anna is working hard to save her. She's 18 months old and should weigh about 34 pounds. She has severe malnutrition and dehydration.

Gonaives, Haiti, September 28, 2004

Our trip to Haiti to cover the flood tragedies there started with this adventure. Crossing the muddy lake that is the road just outside the city. There are still bodies buried in here that haven't been recovered yet. You must hire a guide to help you drive across because you can't see the road and might fall off into a deep ditch and get into real trouble. (see photo below, ha ha!!!)
This is some of the destruction caused by the recent floods. The water has receded, but mud oozes everywhere.
People washing in the contaminated water alongside the road. Many are falling ill and facing gangrene due to washing lacerations with this water. There is no clean water, but for what they get distributed by aid workers.
A woman and her children who lost their home. They climbed to the roof of their house. Her husband was due back from Cap Haitian that day. She doesn't know if he's alive or dead. They're living now at makeshift dorm at the home of Gonaives' Catholic bishop.
Ben standing in water outside the bishop's home. The bishop is desperate for food. He distributes it through parishes, having workers send it out, to avoid rioting.
What's left of the police station in Gonaives. Riots during the coup earlier this year took most of it out, the floods removed what was left.
People are still sleeping on their roofs, mainly because their homes are filled with mud.
A submerged house we passed driving through "the drink" as I later called the lake that cuts off Gonaives from the rest of the world.
Our trusty Montero. There were no cars before us on the way back and our guides, well. We drove off the road. Scary. Stuck in the water for about 50 minutes. UN trucks passed us by, took photos. Didn't stop to help, just flashed the peace sign. Who helped us? Haitians in a dump truck who didn't even ask for money. This is the good side of Haiti you seldom see on the news.
Pulling the Montero free. It took only 10 minutes to dry the engine out, and then we drove through the "drink" again and got stuck in the middle in a traffic jam. Water was up to mid-waist, pouring in, sloshing around our ankles.
Me, the day after, with two victims of the May floods on the border of the Dominican Republic. Their parents were swept away in the floods and these two little ones were found naked. Many children were saved in both the Gonaives floods and the May floods because adults plucked them out of the water. The three-year-old, on my left, has sad eyes you know have witnessed too much. I'm holding her brother. The orphanage is too poor and has no boy's clothing for him. The orphanage does adoptions of Haitian orphans.

 
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