Show Navigation

Darren Ell Photography

  • Portfolio
  • About
  • Contact
  • Archive
    • All Galleries
    • Search
    • Cart
    • Lightbox
    • Client Area
  • CV

Darren Ell Photography

All Galleries
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
x
Download

17 images Created 25 Feb 2011

The Road to Gonaives

Traveling Haiti's National Highway #1 from Port-au-Prince to Gonaïves, one encounters scenes of beauty too rarely seen in the contemporary photographic record of the country. However, below the surface of the idyllic imagery, a struggle for survival is being waged.

The highway itself is part of the story. The equipment used to resurface the road was destroyed in the tumult leading to the 2004 coup d'état. As a result, there are stretches of road so rocky that tires split, axles crack and wheel bolts break, adding onerous expenses to transport services. Just outside of Gonaïves, the town of Lestere's main street is lined with mechanics all doing a brisk business.

The road winds through the Artibonite Valley, the heartland of Haitian agriculture, where peasants work with rudimentary tools and technology. The idyllic surroundings contrast the daunting struggle that peasants lead against international trade policies that are driving them off their land and into the slums of Port-au-Prince. What's more, in early 2008, entire sections of the valley were still flooded from 2004's hurricane Jeanne.

The rural region of Souvenance offers temporary respite from some of these struggles: dignified dwellings, a secure community, gentle healthy people, and an inspiring quality of life unknown in Haiti's urban centers.

Arriving in Gonaïves in January 2008, when I first traveled this road, haunting scenes of devastation wrought by the 2004 hurricane Jeanne were still visible throughout the city. However, a much greater disaster was only months away: hurricanes Fay, Gustav and Hanna would leave much of Gonaïves underwater and drive 15% of the country's entire population out their homes.
View: 100 | All

Loading ()...

  • Haitian women aboard a pick-up truck take their agricultural products to market. National Highway 1, Haiti. January 21, 2008.
    01RG.tif
  • Agricultural land flooded by the 2004 Hurricane Jeanne.  Artibonite Valley, Haiti, January 23, 2008.
    02RG.tif
  • Drying grain. Artibonite Valley, Haiti, January 23 2008.
    03RG.tif
  • A Haitian peasant working in an onion field. Artibonite Valley, Haiti. January 22, 2008.
    04RG.tif
  • Peasant with a tilling machine, a much coveted farming technology in Haiti. Artibonite Valley, Haiti. January 23, 2008.
    05RG.tif
  • A mechanic checks bolts on a school bus in Lestère, a town where vehicules are repaired after traveling the demanding surfaces of the National Highway 1. Lestère, Haiti, January 23, 2008.
    06RG.tif
  • A Haitian peasant walks along National Highway 1. Artibonite Valley, Haiti, January 23, 2008.
    07RG.tif
  • Private dwelling in Souvenance, Haiti. January 23, 2008.
    08RG.tif
  • Haitian boy and chicken. Souvenance, Haiti, January 23, 2008.
    09RG.tif
  • Private dwelling in Souvenance, Haiti. January 23, 2008.
    10RG.tif
  • Peasant carrying hay. Souvenance, Haiti, January 23, 2008.
    12RG.tif
  • Private dwelling in the region of Souvenance, Haiti. January 23, 2008.
    14RG.tif
  • Haitian boy. Souvenance, Haiti, January 23, 2008.
    15RG.tif
  • Residents of the region of Souvenance, Haiti. January 23, 2008.
    16RG.tif
  • Landscape in the region of Souvenance, Haiti. January 23, 2008.
    17RG.tif
  • Haitian children in the Raboteau neighborhood, an area of the city of Gonaïves destroyed by Hurricane Jeanne in 2004. Gonaïves, Haiti, January 22, 2008.
    18RG.tif
  • Abandoned home after Hurricane Jeanne in 2004. Gonaïves, Haiti. January 22, 2008.
    20RG.tif