After hearing about the earthquake in Haiti, a Southwestern Pennsylvania photographer decided to travel to the country.
Evan Sander, a photographer for The Daily Courier in Connellsville Pa., made the trip to learn more about the earthquake and the effects firsthand.
He spoke about his trip and showed photographs during a Feb. 4 presentation at Clarion University of Pennsylvania. When he got there, Sanders said he wasn’t sure what he got himself into.
“I’m a man lost in the world,” he said.
Four years ago, Sanders went to the Dominican Republic, which made this decision to go to Haiti easier because he has been to that part of the world before. Sanders took the flight from Philadelphia to Santo Domingo.
Instead of spending the rest of the day at the airport, where all the media was staying, Sanders took a cab and drove six hours until he reached the Haiti border. On the ride over, Sanders said he was trying to psychologically prepare himself to witness “hell on earth.”
When he arrived in Haiti, there were doctors and mission workers joining to help join in on the fight.
“That made me feel good that I wasn’t on this mission alone,” Sanders said.
Even at the airport, the whole country looked like it has been abandoned for years, he said, It was only a couple days earlier when the earthquake hit.
“I got a good smell of the air. It smelled like death,” Sanders said.
The most important requirement for human life is water, and it was scarce over there. Sanders said it was interesting how eager all the youth were to help out.
They were desperate to get anything to survive.
“Kids came up to me and reached their hands in my pocket,” Sanders said.
There were few rescue workers arriving on the site where Sanders was staying. Everyone was focusing on Port-Au-Prince, a highly populated area that was hit the hardest.
Less-populated towns on the outskirts of Port-Au-Prince had to wait patiently for assistance.
“It was interesting to see what’s going on in the outskirts,” said Andrew Bostjancic, a student at Clarion University, who attended the presentation and viewed the photographs.
Sanders said he is hoping to make another trip to Haiti in the second week of March. He said he hopes to be more prepared the next time.
“I would really like to have a game plan first.”
His future plans include better preparations, including packing as minimal as possible, bringing a lot of cash, and making sure he wears comfortable shoes.
Instead of going straight to Haiti from the airport, next time he plans to stay in Santo Domingo for the day, get supplies, and then head out to the site the next day.