Voodoo and more in Haiti

He was standing on Voodoo grounds in Haiti and did not say anything to me as I snapped the photo, so I took the picture and walked away. Does he practice VooDoo? I do not know as I do not speak French Creole.

Voodoo grounds outnumber viable church grounds by a huge percentage in Haiti. Voodoo is the religion of the majority in Haiti and it is taken very seriously.

Did you know that some witchdoctors in Haiti have what believers call a black magic voodoo death spell? It supposedly is the most lethal of spells and leaves the person who received the spell dead.

Voodoo derived from West Africa. The original West African Voodoo religion was called. This religion honors a god with a dual nature, both masculine and feminine. It also pays honor in a form of worship to so called spirits in rocks, rivers, trees, and more. Voodoo can also include animal sacrifices.

What is odd is that Voodoo in Haiti is blended with West African practices as well as aspects of Roman Catholicism. Of course, the Bible condemns the practice of Voodoo in a very strong manner, so how can the two intersect?  

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 states, “There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.”

The Old Fashioned Way is All We Know

Drying clothing the old fashioned way takes time and patience. Or does it? You would never know by looking at those who work hard in Haiti. 

It is amazing how much work the mothers and house wives do in Haiti. For example, when they cook dinner they have to build a fire outside in most households. They then cook over that open fire, which takes considerably longer than simply turning on the stove. When they wash their clothing they do it all by hand, often in streams of polluted water. 

Anne Spencer Lindbergh, author, aviator, and the wife of aviator Charles Lindbergh stated, "By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacationless class." (1906-2001)

Sad eyes in a third world country

I never aimed for the photos of children I took to come across as sad while in Haiti. In fact, most children smiled continuously and played exhaustively.

However, this shot of a young man with family and friends building a church in the background struck me as overwhelming sadness. I cannot explain what he was thinking, he just seemed so alone.

Anne Hathaway once stated, “Loneliness is my least favorite thing about life. The thing that I'm most worried about is just being alone without anybody to care for or someone who will care for me.”

Haiti is filled with over 10.3 million residents and is equal in size to the small state of Massachusetts. However, Haiti has nearly twice the population of Massachusetts. In case you’re curious, Massachusetts is the 7th smallest state in the United States when you look at the total square miles of land.

Of course the striking contrast of Massachusetts and Haiti... places like Boston are filled with high rises that hold populations in check while Haiti is filled with make shift huts made of mud and bamboo sometimes without doors.

Human skulls in Haiti

Voodoo grounds outnumber viable church grounds by a huge percentage in Haiti. Voodoo is the religion of the majority in Haiti and it is taken very seriously. My son and I found these human skulls on a voodoo ground that was located behind a school and 100 yards from a Christian church. Of course, most church members never venture onto the Voodoo grounds fearing evil spirits.

A man by the name of Bob Corbett wrote after extensive studies in Haiti in 1998:

The priesthood of Voodoo contains both men (houngan) and women (mambo). Their functions are: healing, to perform religious ceremonies to call or pacify the spirits, to hold initiations for new priests, telling the future and reading dreams, casting spells and creating protections, creating potions for various purposes which include love spells, healing spells and even death spells.

Witch Doctor in Haiti Up Close

Voodoo is something that most hear about and think is interesting, fascinating and even fictitious. However, it is actually a Satanic ritual that is very much real. This is a photo of a practicing Haitian Voodoo Witch Doctor. He is about 53-years old age and lives one hour away from Cap-Haitien, Haiti. He has many followers who turn to him on a regular basis.  

I visited several Voodoo Ceremonial Grounds in Haiti and found multiple human skulls, a casket and other skeletal remains used during ritualistic activities.  Human sacrifices, murders and more are all a part of Satanic Voodoo Ceremonies in Haiti. 

Brother and a "Sister" Mom

A sister holding her little brother in Haiti (Jan. 2015).

It is amazing to watch how sibling sisters become mothers in third world countries as the mom is busy washing clothes by hand, cooking dinner from scratch over an open fire or helping around the village with a sick friend.

One woman told us that her chest was hurting, pointing to her breast. I can only imagine it was the first stages of un-diagnosed breast cancer as medical care is scarce in some of the remote areas of the country. She described the pain accompanied by fatigue through an interpreter.

A pack of gum

The Faces of Haiti: He was busy watching his friends as my son started to hand out small packs of Chick-lets gum on a hot January (2015) day in Haiti. The temperature felt like it was about 100 degrees, no breeze.

We were in a small village about 30-miles from Cap-Haitian, a city of nearly one million residents when we came across a roadside stand next to a Voodoo ground. I purchased about 30 packs of gum for around $2 U.S. dollars. The children quickly gathered as this one boy watched with curiosity.

"Haiti kind of gets a hold of you." - Sean Penn

Children in Haiti

The children in the larger cities of Haiti ran and played in the seepage of sewage into the streets while the children on the countryside ran through the outskirts of sugarcane fields pulling toy cars made of soda bottles. It was an interesting contrast sometimes only four miles apart. 

“The wonders of a child can only be understood by the child.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita

The children of the world

“It's the children the world almost breaks who grow up to save it.” ― Frank Warren, Post Secret

I shot this in Haiti with my Fuji X100s

Children of a Third World

I shot these in Haiti.

"What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like." - Saint Augustine

Hope for tomorrow

 88-Year old peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh stated, "Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today." 

I shot this photo in a small village of Haiti while surrounded by children wanting to hold my camera. Each grabbing for it as I snapped. Most of the children were smiling, eager to have their photo made as if they had never seen a camera. 

In this village, there was no electricity, no running water, no TV or radio. 

Haiti on a Wednesday afternoon

Brad Pitt once stated, "Let us be the ones who say we do not accept that a child dies every three seconds simply because he does not have the drugs you and I have. Let us be the ones to say we are not satisfied that your place of birth determines your right to life. Let us be outraged, let us be loud, let us be bold."

Children know no disparity

"If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children." -  Gandhi

Mom washing clothes

While I was walking through a village in Haiti, I noticed a group of women surrounded by buckets of well water. They were all sitting around washing their clothes as the children played in the background. It was like stepping back in time.

The moms were talking, laughing and carrying on. After a load of clothes were clean, they would make their way to the clothing line and hang them to dry. If only I knew what they were talking about.

I wonder if they are a fan of good ole’ Joyce Meyer who stated, “It's so important to realize that every time you get upset, it drains your emotional energy. Losing your cool makes you tired. Getting angry a lot messes with your health.” These moms looked happy! 

Smiles of Haitian Children

I love the smiling faces of children in Haiti. Furthermore, some photos are just supposed to be in color. 

“Never give up on hope. Most of the greatest achievements of humanity were accomplished by tired, discouraged people who never gave up on hope. Anything is possible...if you truly believe.” ― Timothy Pina, Hearts for Haiti

Haiti, but in New York City

I asked this homeless gentleman in New York where he was from... He smiled and said, "Haiti." I asked, "Would you prefer to be back in Haiti or would you rather be homeless in New York?" He chuckled... "New York." 

Sometimes, what looks like a curse is actually a blessing. We are just looking at it the wrong way. 

Rutgers University anthropologist and human behavior researcher Helen Fisher stated, "Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere; some say the poorest in the world." 

Translated through a smile

I shot this picture in Haiti. I could not understand a word this gentleman was saying, but his smile said it all.

“Small children will talk to anyone, once the guard of shyness has fallen, and they have, like the elderly, a sense of immediacy, a need to say or do something, now, now, the minute it is thought of, combined with that other sense, of the complete irrelevance of time.” 
― Susan Hill

Third World Journey: A thought on a Saturday Morning

For some reason, this quote came to mind... 

“People come, people go – they’ll drift in and out of your life, almost like characters in a favorite book. When you finally close the cover, the characters have told their story and you start up again with another book, complete with new characters and adventures. Then you find yourself focusing on the new ones, not the ones from the past.”

― Nicholas Sparks, The Rescue

Shot in Haiti, 2015