Reaching out to the Haitian deaf community

In August, a group of Gallaudet University alumni, staff members, and supporters traveled to Port-au-Prince to work with deaf and hard of hearing survivors of the earthquake. I traveled with them, as a reporter for the university. During the week-long effort, from August 5 to 12, the group helped to address problems facing deaf people and their families in a tent community in Port-au-Prince, and made connections with others who wanted to forge a better future for people with disabilities in Haiti.

The organizations represented included Friends of Deaf Haiti and Partners in Excellence-Haiti. I had the privilege of traveling with them through my job at Gallaudet University. I wrote a four-part series called Through unity, we find strength. The title is an English translation of the Haitian motto “L’union fait la force.”

I also took photos and video footage of the camp and the volunteers.

When the earthquake hit, people who were deaf or hard of hearing struggled to find out what announcements over loud speakers were saying about where to find aid. Even when they knew, they faced taunts or beatings if they went to claim it.

Now, with the cholera outbreak threatening the tent cities of the capital, I wonder if the deaf community will have any better luck with medical information. That remains to be seen. I hope that with these articles and video, readers will gain a better sense of the challenges and strengths of the Haitian deaf community and their allies in rebuilding.

Volunteers stand with bags of donations at the airport in Washington, D.C. on August 5, ready to embark on an early morning flight to Port-au-Prince. The donations of clothing, shoes, art and school supplies, cooking utensils, and other items are destined for the residents of a tent camp for deaf individuals and their families.

Rubble remains along even the major roadways.

Tents -- some stenciled with the English word DEAF -- form a temporary city where volunteers worked with displaced deaf individuals and their families. The tent city is centrally located in the Delmas 2 section of Port-au-Prince.

Smith Bazil (left), a recent graduate of the Institut Montfort school for the deaf in Port-au-Prince, and Sylvie Marc-Charles-Weir (right), a graduate of Gallaudet University and Friends of Deaf Haiti board member, help to distribute donations of shoes to residents of the tent community.

Juan Reinbold, a Friends of Deaf Haiti board member, discusses issues in the camp with other volunteers. Reinbold grew up in Haiti, then moved to the U.S. to attend Gallaudet University, where he now works. He returns to Haiti every year, and has returned frequently since the earthquake.

Altana Estinvil (center) holds her daughter, Chile, among a group of fellow tent city residents.

A child displays artwork created during a rare opportunity to use paint and paper.

The view from the balcony of the Deuxieme Eglise Baptiste de Port-au-Prince (the Second Baptist Church of Port-au-Prince) shows a mix of demolished storefronts and operating businesses.

Deaf community leaders (from left) MacKenson St. Louis, Jimmy Marcillon, and Widler Fils-Aime stand outside of the church on the Sunday of the volunteers' stay.

Members of the tent city stand by the protective fence and a sign reading "Les Amis de Sourds Haitiens/Friends of Deaf Haitians."

One of the still-lush hillsides of Haiti, just outside of Port-au-Prince.

Through a fence, the crumpled presidential palace stands. Members of the deaf community in Port-au-Prince lived for months beyond the fence, drawn to the area by the electric lights that still functioned after the earthquake and allowed for better communication.