On Jan. 12, for the second anniversary of the devastating earthquake, thousands of people flocked to the Shalom Church in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The "church" is just a plywood stage under a patchwork of tattered tarps.
 Jan. 11, 2012: A demonstrator carrying a Haitian flag walks through the Champ de Mars camp, across the street from the collapsed National Palace, during a protest to demand new housing, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The American missionaries arrived in a beige bus in the days after the earthquake, promising a better life for the children of this village in the mountains above Haiti's capital. READ MORE
 On Thursday, Haiti marked the second anniversary of the devastating 2010 earthquake. NPR's Jason Beaubien was back in the Caribbean nation for the quake memorials and he sent us this reporter's notebook about covering Haiti over the last few years.  Haitian President Michel Martelly has offered his deepest thanks to Canada for its efforts in helping his struggling nation get back on its feet.  Sean Penn has accepted the job of "ambassador at large" for the Caribbean nation of Haiti. Oprah Winfrey, left, stands with actor Sean Penn in a camp for people displaced by the devastating 2010 earthquake in what was once a golf club in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Dec. 12, 2011. (AP Photo/Lionel Lafortune)  In this Jan. 4, 2012 photo, a girl walks past an abandoned helicopter at a camp set up for people displaced by the 2010 earthquake, in what used to be an airstrip in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Two years afterwards, more than half a million Haitians are still homeless, and many who have homes are worse off than before the Jan. 12, 2010 quake, as recovery bogs down under a political leadership that has been preoccupied with elections and their messy aftermath. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) Days after the earthquake killed his little girl and destroyed much of his house, Meristin Florival moved his family into a makeshift tent on a hill in the Haitian capital and called it home. Two years later they're still there, living without drains, running water or electricity.  On the 208th anniversary of Haitian independence, January 1, 2012, was held a traditional ceremony in the city of Gonaives, taking part the President Michel Martelly and Prime Minister Garry Conille.  Three hours before Britney Gengel died in the massive earthquake that killed hundreds of thousands in Haiti two years ago, she sent her family a text message expressing pure affection for the children she had met that morning while doing humanitarian work.  Paulette Bekolo remembers the first time she saw her native Haiti through the lens of the developed world. She was in college in Paris and caught a glimpse of a poverty-stricken Haitian ghetto on a TV news report. |
Haiti News from Google
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