Photos and thoughts from Peter Ruprecht and his return from Haiti for Christmas of 2010 after the Earthquake

I usually don’t write much and let my photos do the talking, but every now and then i am moved to write my thoughts for peace of mind.  And BTW i am a photographer not a writer so excuse any poor writing.  If you like the entry click the "like" button at the bottom so your friends from facebook can read it and pass it on.

Photographs of Haiti Earthquake relief with NGO's present like UNICEF and the UN are below my writing.

Unless you have travelled to a country which the USA has decided to ostracize for political reasons you may really not know the power of American Media propaganda.  The first time i experienced this was when i travelled to Colombia.  If you read American news about Colombia, you would think that you are travelling into a war torn, drug lord laden land.  While there is violence and drug related activity between cities, the cities like Bogota themselves are rather calm, pleasant, and safe.  Now the media would like to have you believe that you can not set foot off of a plane there without fear of being kidnapped.  I never felt this feeling whatsoever, and further more, I have felt less safe in some American cities.  I would rather not give specifics to avoid getting into verbal mudslinging, but suffice to say Bogota felt safer than many cities i have been in in America after the hours of 1am.

So Haiti.  One of the headlines i read was "Election fraud, Country on the brink of civil war."  Even supposed Haitian sites such as http://www.haitian-truth.org/ are misleadingly using old photographs from hours after the earthquake to make it seem like they are recent photos.  While there were some "Riots" in Haiti after the contentious election results were communicated.  It is my understanding that less then 5 people died.  This is far from a country on the verge of civil war.

I arrived in Port au Prince with some apprehension due to the stories I had read in the western papers.  But i assure you that when i arrived, i was greeted by a friendly people.  A people full of pride and happiness despite their current situation.  Don’t get me wrong, there leaders and government are as corrupt as i have seen anywhere in south America, as a matter of fact they make my home country's (Argentina) government look almost by the book.  However, the people should not be crucified by the media for their government’s policies.  Imagine if every American was to be judged by the Bush Era foreign policies, or the Clinton era presidential pardons. 

We are not defined by our leaders, simply supposed to be represented, but when it becomes obvious that  government has gone so astray of representing the countrymen’s desires, needs, hopes and dreams, it should be the medias responsibility to expose the fictitious governments rather then perpetuate the bad press that makes the inhabitants look to be irresponsible in character and therefor responsible for their government rather then the opposite.

I found an irresponsible government with major NGOS acting in tacit collusion to mishandle he almost $USD 3 Billion in aid that went to Haiti.

I saw UN civilians (not the military branch) driving in brand new SUVs with one person in the car all over Haiti during a gas shortage.  The country had no gasoline for 3 days, yet these UN civilians needed to go to the beach on weekends etc one per car in brand new SUVs.  I am not sure, but it does not seem like the best use of relief funds to me.

I took some photos, some are heart breaking, some are beautiful, but my final verdict is that Haiti is a beautiful country with wonderful people.  Lets not continue to hurt their ability to recover.  Find an organization that you KNOW does good things with the funds.  Charitywater.org is one.  There are many.  I plan on returning during January.  Feel free to contact me and Ill let you know the best way I think you can help with either effort or money.

Thank you for reading.