I arrived in Haiti early this morning to spend the next five days working with our local partners here on charity: water projects. As many of you know, we've been working to bring clean water to Haiti long before the earthquake on January 12, and of course, our resolve is even stronger now.
I'd watched the news, caught images from other photographers, but as we drove around Port-au-Prince this morning, standing up in the back of a pickup truck, I was absolutely floored by the scope of the damage. Everywhere we looked, we saw rubble. The word on the street is that 1 million people have been displaced from their homes. "Tent cities" have sprung up everywhere.
Many people had headed north to the Central Plateau where we spent the afternoon visiting swollen communities without water. A reported 50,000 people have headed to the nearby island of La Gonave, where we'll spend time on Friday and Saturday.
Yet as shocking as the scene downtown was, it was also hopeful. Many people smiled and waved as our pickup truck passed. Markets bustled and merchants everywhere sold fruit, sunglasses, batteries and cell phone chargers.
Practically... Visually, I had a hard time imagining how this city could ever recover... How will the billions of dollars needed find their way to these city streets... Where will everyone go?
Yet intangibly... I also firmly believe the indomitable Haitian spirit will grow stronger and continue to win out over such staggering adversity.
We're certainly going to do our part to help.
If you'd like to get news about the campaign as it develops, please visit http://www.charitywater.org/haiti.