I was lucky to have an opportunity to visit Haiti in 2009. I made my first trip there the year after I graduated from Ferris State University in 2008. I was brand new to videography and shooting documentaries, but that didn’t prevent me from jumping into this adventure. I shot part one of the documentary on a Panasonic DVX100, a tape based camera. Visiting Haiti alone is an experience to be had by anyone who doesn’t think daily about having fresh water, a place to sleep, and clean air to breathe. My first visit gave me new perspective on life and how lucky I was to be born in the USA. I should mention even down to the fruit- our fruit generally has less seeds, even if it’s not a GMO, but fruit there is has more seeds. Just because of Haiti’s location on the map, being an island- their dirt lacks minerals to get “as hard” as our dirt when you mix it into cement. So things were crumbling down in Haiti long before the earthquake of 2010. I returned to Haiti a second time two months after the earthquake that shook the island in 2010. It’s hard to imagine but the general infrastructure of Paurt-au-Price deteriorated even more with entire city blocks kicked to the ground, now no more than piles of rubble. I was taken back once again. It was hard to believe my eyes, and that I was only a tourist to the devastation. Dr. Stines said it best himself, “The Haitian people are very resilient, and do the best with what they have.” photo credit: Tim Perroud