OurHaitiEarthquakeStory's photostream  

This Flickr account is a collection of photographs and video taken by an American medical mission team hit by the Haiti earthquake while offering eye care in Petit-Goâve, Haiti, on January 12, 2010.

One of our team members, Jean Arnwine, tragically passed away due to injuries she suffered when the Haiti Eye Clinic collapsed on members our team.

Four other team members endured injuries as well, but have since recovered, thankfully. Some of us are preparing for a return trip to Haiti. The clinic is being rebuilt in Jean's honor.

Also, two happy weddings have occurred in the months since the quake: mission team member Alex Paz was married early this year, and Jean Arnwine's daughter Merilee was married this summer. Congratulations to all!

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If you take the time to look at some of these photos, please consider donating (or donating again) to an effective charity or NGO that improves the quality of life in Haiti, or any other country that receives a disproportionate share of the world's suffering. I'm partial to Partners in Health (pih.org), but a great place to search and vet other charities and organizations is CharityNavigator.org.

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On February 5th, we received the great news that Arron Rooks, the mine worker who pulled our buried team members from the rubble of the Haiti Eye Clinic, has made it safely home to the United States after weeks of helping with rescue and excavation in Haiti. He was heroic, as were the members of the Haitian mining team who assisted. There were many people, including many Haitians, who were very helpful to us during this traumatic experience, and I wish we could thank them all personally.

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Information about the photographs on this account:

Most are untouched photos from my Canon 1000d camera, which I was just learning to use as our team left for Haiti. Some of the other pictures were taken with point-and-shoot cameras, including one with a broken screen. However, I have included virtually every photograph that I or other team members took while we were in Haiti--the blurry ones, the test shots, and even the accidental ones. This is why many of the pictures might seem uninteresting or even pointless, while others are quite meaningful. Lila Foree took some of the pictures as well, and I have tried to give her credit in all of those cases. Thanks, Lila.

All of the pictures are copyrighted and were taken in Haiti on January 9-12, 2010.

If you would like to use any of the pictures for any reason, please contact this account or email Joelandrewfish[at]gmail.com. High-res versions are available for people with constructive uses for them.

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Relevant links, in no particular order:
(Caveat: As you might expect, some of these news stories left out facts and/or got facts wrong. But they also got a lot of things right, and I have included them as a memoir of our team's experiences.)

parkcitiesblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/01/theres-no-...

www.wfaa.com/news/haiti/Quake-victims-husband-US-response...

www.wfaa.com/news/health/North-Texas-mission-team-trapped...

www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stori...

www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/world/americas/18americans.html

Arron Rooks doing good work in Haiti: www.itnsource.com:80/clipdetails.aspx?partner=itn&yea...

www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stori...

www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/storie...

www.hpumc.org/pages/09_mission_global_haiti

www.legacy.com/obituaries/dallasmorningnews/obituary.aspx...