Edison Suero, Director of Dominican Republic based NGO MOSCTHA, is pictured with a truck load of relief supplies to be distributed to people displaced by the January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake.

SAN LUIS OBISPO, April 23 – I need to take a moment and extend a personal and heartfelt “thank you” to Edison Suero and the Dominican Republic based NGO MOSCTHA for their support and assistance during my last two assignments to the earthquake ravaged country of Haiti. MOSCTHA has provided me with transportation and logistical support in Haiti for my last two assignments covering the earthquake recovery, without which, the images featured on this site would not have been possible. This point needs to be stressed — none of the Haiti images that I have captured would have been possible without the support of MOSCTHA. No professional journalist working in a war zone — or a country virtually destroyed by natural disaster such as Haiti — can work safely and productively without a support system in place. To this end, I thank MOSCTHA and specifically Edison Suero for insuring that I not only captured images that tell the story of everyday Haitians trying to survive, but that I made it home safely to my own family.

I should also mention when Edison first reads this post, he will probably shake his head and roll his eyes recalling our last conversation before I returned home from Santo Domingo a week ago. I will admit that I am a driven individual who demands the most of myself in terms of productivity. In the same vain, MOSCTHA is a relatively small regional NGO in a very large pond of big corporate NGO’s all trying to provide some measure of relief to a country that has been at the mercy of foreign influences for far too long. Being a small NGO with limited resources and more than the average difficulties in obtaining relief supplies, working with MOSCTHA requires an understanding of their challenges that can often strain otherwise professional working relationships. I have learned a great deal about those challenges for having seen MOSCTHA in action, and I have the utmost respect for people like Edison who drive the streets of Santo Domingo searching for supplies to bring to Haiti.

An elderly Haitian woman displaced by the January 12, 2010 earthquake poses for a portrait.

The second image in this post bears a significant mention and speaks to the incredible access and support provided by MOSCTHA. I first met the woman featured in the photograph in February during my first assignment n Haiti. I was staying at the MOSCTHA encampment and had turned in for the evening to my tent after a long day of photographing earthquake relief efforts, when I heard what sounded like singing coming from the courtyard nearby. What I was hearing was a religious gathering held by the displaced families living in the compound ever since the January 12, 2010 earthquake. I crawled out of my tent, and quietly joined the service near the back, along with two of the nurses brought to Haiti by MOSCTHA. What transpired over the proceeding 30 minutes was one of the most moving experiences of my life. I observed displaced and homeless Haitian families praying and singing together, as one, in what can only be described as an act of hope and perseverance in a time of desperation and despair that would challenge the faith of anyone faced with the obstacles living in Haiti currently brings. I am not a religious man, but I was moved to tears at this display of oneness and community in a time of unimaginable tragedy.

I met this woman once again when I returned to Haiti in April.  She graciously agreed to pose for this photograph, and I will always recall her apparent unyielding faith, the life lived and etched in the lines of her face and in her eyes, and the beaded necklace and cross (not seen) which was a gift to her from Edison. As Edison tells it, he observed her quietly praying by herself, as she often does during the long hot days in Haiti, and gave her the necklace as a token of respect to her faith and longevity. I will always remember this woman for her dignity and character, and Edison for his reverence to her enduring spirit.