Living Off the Green Box: Haiti (Part 1)

When I started this site my idea was to share photography ideas. The blog’s name, “Off the Green Box” refers to the default symbol on many cameras that is the 100% automatic setting. The idea was to talk about creative ways to shoot pictures while using some of the custom settings by switching off the green box. I’m not really a writer, so I posted a few times then let it go.

I am writing this now on my phone as I am flying home from Haiti. For the last 11 days my life has been off the green box.

The first few days after the earthquake in Haiti I felt bad for the people, but little more. I mean, I gave money... but it was easy for me to just put the horror out of my mind and go about my day. My week had been busy, and I don’t often watch tv, so I never really took the time to look at what the news was showing and see the haunting images coming out of Haiti. It was sad, but it didn’t really affect me.

About a week and a half after the quake I was talking with a friend who has been struggling with depression. I thought I was being clever when I told him to think about going to Haiti. After all, if he turned his thoughts outward, instead of inwardly focusing on his own struggles, maybe he would start feeling better. When I suggested he email a few groups and see if he got any responses, he responded that he would...and then asked if I would go.

I told him I would pray about it. Telling someone that you’ll “pray about it” is how many Christians will often weasel out of giving a real answer. Who can argue against it?

That night, I watched some of the videos coming out of Haiti for the first time. It was hard to watch dump trucks full of bodies going to mass graves. Later, before falling asleep, I did pray about the matter. I asked God if He wanted me to go to Haiti... and then added that if He did, then I needed Him to make it very clear. If I’m being honest, I didn’t pray because I had any great love for the people. The prayer was really because I wanted a clear conscience after seeing so much need and then not doing anything about it. I fully expected not to get any message from God. After all, oftentimes when I pray it seems as if there is no answer.

The next morning I received a message from a friend I haven't been in contact with for over a year. He wanted to talk about an idea I had had in the past regarding using shipping containers to create quick, cheap structures. He was wondering whether I thought it would work well in Haiti.

Over the next few hours I received more calls from friends… all about Haiti.

You have to understand that up until this point, except for the conversation the previous night with my friend, I hadn’t had a single conversation with Haiti about anyone. I had woken up that morning after the prayer with the thought that there might be something for me to do to help out over there, but I hadn’t mentioned it to anyone. In fact, I hadn't even talked to my wife yet about the possibility of going. I asked one of the friends who had contacted me if he would send out some emails to see if there was even a spot for us, then went about my day like normal. I still didn't think anything would happen.

Fast forward to Friday morning.

I was driving to a Marine base in San Diego to take pictures of a graduation when I got a call. It was my friend letting me know that we could go to Haiti if we wanted. There was a spot for us with a small group from Florida. I didn’t have a single thing ready--- not a passport, or anything, but I told him I wanted to go. I called my wife (Sakura) and asked her to start looking into passport details, then called a couple we know to ask if they could help with Sakura and the kids if I went to Haiti.

By the time I was back from San Diego it was too late to drive up to LA to the Federal building. Still, I pressed forward. Over the weekend I bought tickets (I even paid extra so I could cancel them in case it didn't work out.) I only told a few people about the possibility because I still didn't think it would work out.

Monday morning I drove to LA to try to get my passport--- the day before the deadline. I needed to be in Florida on Tuesday if I was going to go down with the group. I got in line and was given my number to wait. I found a seat in the crowded office only to be called right away--out of the number order. They handed over my paper work and told me it would be ready in two hours. My wife had been told it would take two to three days if I paid extra to rush it. I had tried companies that rush the passport, but they needed 24 hours and I didn't even have that. My flight left at 6:10am on Tuesday. When they handed me my passport, it hit me. This was the first point I really realized that I was going. Up till that point I just thought I had to be willing, but never really expected to be called. I went home stopping at a few spots to buy some gear. I packed that night, got up the next morning at 3, and boarded my plane out of LAX.




Flying out to Florida I had time to stop and think. I didn't know the people I was going down with. I didn't know what their plan was. I didn't know what this would cost, or even where we would stay. I began to wonder just how big of a mistake I had just made, and what kind of story I could tell to make myself look good but would allow me to go home. Maybe I could come up with a story that would get me points for just trying.

Once in Florida I met the first of the group; a young nurse, her only experience was on the cancer floor of a hospital. I had to wonder just how helpful that might be. As I was taking a flight that left early in the morning, I went to sleep rather than stay up and greet the last few people who were flying in.. The next day I left on my own. The others were on a later flight, so I decided to just meet up with them later at the airport in the DR (Dominic Republic.). Without going into negative details, my first impression of the group was not a good one. The entire time that I was traveling that morning I worried about whether I should stay with them. Maybe I could just use their help to get to Port Au Prince and then split off and help at the airport? On the other hand, I had no tent, no sleeping bag and no food because I had been told by the leader of the group I wouldn't need any of that and we would be staying in a hotel. What to do?

Because my flight went through Puerto Rico the group was waiting for me at the airport. There was another guy with them, an American named Jose who is both a paramedic from Wisconsin and a former Marine. He had brought a lot of medical supplies with him.

The group took a taxi from the airport to a hotel and then we all went out to get dinner in Santo Domingo.

Jose and I wanted to know what the plan was, but the rest of the group just wanted to relax and have a few beers. We kept pushing though, and finally the Haitian contact that they were in touch with was brought over and we started talking out our options.

Two hours later nothing had been decided. It was clear to me that the Haitian helper was just using these people. He kept telling them it would cost $1000 US dollars to get us into Haiti. Of course, getting us out there would be more costs... and naturally there would be other costs along the way. While a thousand dollars may seem reasonable in the United States, $1000 in the Dominican Republic will buy you a truck. To make it worse, even now that we were therein the Dominican Republic the group still couldn’t tell us what we would actually be doing to help out in Haiti. It seemed like only Jose and I thought it was a bad idea. Leaning over to Jose, I let him know in a quiet voice that I wanted to split from the group and offered to help him with his extra gear if we wanted to try to travel in together. He was for it, so the two of us stood up, said “nice meeting you” and left. We got our own motel for the night and turned in. We still weren’t sure what our new plan was, but one thing was sure: we could do better then the first group.