Peek-a-boo!

A child peeks around a support beam in a tent camp in Leogane, which was the epicenter of the earthquake.  90% of houses there were damaged or destroyed in the earthquake.

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Longing For Home

A little girl, who lost her leg in the earthquake, looks at a group of children playing at the tent camp in Corail.

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No Shoes, No Pants, No Problem!

While it’s no surprise that young children in Haiti don’t often have shoes, one of the most interesting things that you might not expect is that they don’t wear pants either!  It’s fascinating!  You’ll walk through a tent city and probably 60% of the young kids are only wearing tops, and no bottoms, which Jillian pointed out is almost completely opposite of kids in the U.S.

In the States you always see kids barreling around in their underwear without a shirt on, but here, they wear shirts that may or may not cover their junk, and act like it’s the coolest thing in the world.  But you have to admit, you don’t really need pants when you’re already as cool as this little boy is.

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Waiting for the Reception

In Leogane, which was the epicenter of the earthquake, almost 90% of the buildings were damaged in some way.  I went on a trip there today to follow up on a story that MSNBC.com was following a couple months ago, and a few different story lines collided when I wasn’t really expecting it.  For instance, the two children above are the grandchildren of the woman who lives on this property.

They lost their house in the earthquake, so they are staying there until their mother finds something else.  But the grandmother has a business of selling chairs to people holding funerals, weddings, and even voodoo festivals, probably one of the only businesses in Haiti that is not floundering.  And they all sit there in an empty formation, and piled in heaps under tarps, as if waiting for a procession that will never start.

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