Since the devastating earthquake struck Port-au-Prince on January 12, many people have asked me how I feel seeing the horrifying pictures and destruction after the quake hit. After all, I visited Haiti twice in the past decade and have been involved fundraising for the people in the two large slums of Port-au-Prince - Cite Soleil and La Saline - for the past ten years. It is heartbreaking… utterly heartbreaking! I know that the people I have painted…people I spoke to, children to whom I served meals and people who befriended me may now be gone.
I know that the Little Haiti Boy may not be alive. When I was painting him I never dreamed he might be subjected to the terror and obliteration of a major earthquake. Yet, at the same time, I did know he would definitely have a difficult life almost certainly filled with hunger and, at times, despair. But, in my heart, I knew he was a happy little boy as all the children of Haiti are. Their smiles, filled with joy and cheerfulness, are contagious! When you see their smiling faces you naturally want to smile back!
I remember first seeing the ghastly slums of La Saline and Cite Soleil. I was filled with shock, sadness and amazement all at the same time. I was aghast and saddened that any person could live in such deplorable conditions, but at the same time wondering how the people can be happy and smiling. Don’t they know the horrible conditions they live in? No, not really, and this was before the earthquake! I don’t think the Haitians totally understand the wretchedness of their country. Of course they wish they had more - all people have hopes and dreams - but the Haitian people, especially the slum people, only know that when they or their children are hungry or thirsty life is unpleasant. These days after the earthquake, most Haitian people are on survival mode needing the simple basics for continued existence - food, water and shelter. As long as they can get food and water to keep them alive, they are happy.
