earth dirt of
clay solid with rocks creating
monumental craters dusty and dry only moist with water sprayed by residents
eager to see cleanliness of their space poverty stricken but with class the sun
shining bright hot not humid
a feeling
of butterflies on an empty stomach
potholes deep in the
route stop the noise of children
squealing playing jacks and running with plastic tied on twigs they are red blue a
mess of recycled goodies all turn a jumbled mess into art necessity calls for creativity
moments of pain felt by blue haired and blue eyes stretched cream skin scattered bumps of
insects into a hole of the heart soul
something missing in life not of two story houses and Lexus cars free
education a mom a dad and a picket fence
a bump
feels like two days on two by
fours connected to the metal of a
rattling engine on wheels
seven miles in one hour at the pace of the donkey carrying the fruit of
the garden alongside going
faster than 30 Americans on foreign soil
markets of organic sustainability are photographed by metal boxes holding images
white teeth grinning
from ear to ear colorful clothing prom queens without the title
seen by the
“others” arrival to 100 singing voices
in unison welcoming the friends made in ten days of two languages between the groups understanding created spirit of
cultivated unison an embrace
which color? who cares
smiles high fives
translators stories soccer
crafting laughter
none to ever be
recreated by force but indescribable to a white culture of middle class
haveitalls seeing is believing you cant
explain this in a motivational speech
music boombox
who me? yes you with the skirt and tennis shoes glasses
overweight and a little out of element
somehow an impact of life changed as understood by no one else with impeccable fashion hah
worldchanger tears
of understanding a new mission two boys with beautiful concentrated
melanin one with headphones and a striped
shirt the next a belly full of sickness
but the most gorgeous grin like a mother at my age me? 17 years
and
counting
chosen to be love and
share humility sent to share only to be served with love ayiti cherie ou toujou nan kem
This Camera Eye depicts the adventure I had on my first trip
to the country of Haiti.
I arrived at the impressionable age of fifteen and the country has forever
changed my life. It was there that I met the two boys my family and I have
sponsored for years, spent two years serving in ministry as a result and still
continue to cultivate relationships there
today.
Caroline, from your camera eye I can really get a sense of what the country of Haiti is like. It seems like a really unique and interesting place. I imagine the place and people who live there must be so lively. I wish I could experience such a place one day. For your first time there it must have been exhilarating, for me I've never been outside the country so I've never really experience another culture in such a manner.
ReplyDeleteCaroline,
ReplyDeleteYou have done a very good job here controlling the pace of how we read your camera eye. One example is your line "the sun shining bright hot not humid." This line breaks up how we read this description, which both makes us pay it greater attention and communicates the sense of how you might have observed this yourself at the time, perhaps in an equally fragmented way. I also like how you provide several types of observation. We're given facial expressions, laughter, the feeling of heat, and fragments of dialogue, just to name a few. The way that you've chosen to present them somewhat bombards us with sensory perceptions, and this is often how we experience new places for the first time, especially places unfamiliar to us, such as a first trip abroad. I think you have given us a complicated impression to think through. Good work.