Saturday, July 23, 2005
Oct 7 2002
Hi,We are safely in Danang, Vietnam. It's a bit coolerthan Cambodia but just as interesting as Cambodia. ourhotel is right across the street from the beach/ocean.whatever body of water it is ...... one of you willknow but i can't remember - the Lonely Planet guidesays it is the real 'china beach'. been cloudy andraining here but we rented a motorbike yesterday androde around anyway - cameras covered - not in town buton the outskirts. was really fun. karl is at thephys.therapy clinic finishing up his photos and thenwe go on an adventure tomorrow to the mountains. somequaint/historical place built by the french.it truly is a different world out here therefore weare thoroughly enjoying it !!!! we are both healthyand meeting some of the kindest people. they all haveRAVED about karl's photos. it's such a good thing thatwe got the laptop for him to work from whiletraveling. he is saving so much time because he isdownloading, editing and handing over the CD'simmediately. now he will have more time upon returninghome.we are off weds.evening to ho-chi-min for a few daysand finally to hanoi for the final HVO assignment. we send our love to all of you and sincerely hope youare all in good health ....until we email again ....Carrie & Karl
October 3 2002
Hi Kate,
Things are going great here in Phnom Penh, George arrived yesterday and I have been shooting like crazy.
Next update from Vietnam.
Things are going great here in Phnom Penh, George arrived yesterday and I have been shooting like crazy.
Next update from Vietnam.
Oct 3 2002
All is well in Phnom Penh, just about done photographing the site !
we are off to Vietnam tomorrow
we are off to Vietnam tomorrow
sept 30 2002
Hi Kate and Amy,
Just to let you know...our Silk Air ticket is invalid for domestic travel in Cambodia.
This morning at 9:30 we were told that we could not board the airplane or travel on silk air. Silk air has öwn stopover rights"on the Siem Reap -Phnom Penh sector, in other words they are only able to carry passengers from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh if the passenger arrived into Cambodia via Silk Air's flight from Singapore.
We were told that we had to purchase a one way ticket on Siem Reap air...the flight today leaves at 4:30...so we have essentially lost a day waiting at the airport.
I informed Suzanne Gumbly by phone to let her know of our late arrival.
Meanwhile the folks at Silk Air helped us exchange tickets.
If Amy could please re-check all of our future flights it would be a great help...as you know...getting anything done here takes longer and is more difficult to accomplish than with fast internet connections, fast computers and 800 numbers.
We are looking forward to getting to Phnom Penh.
Best regards,
Karl
Just to let you know...our Silk Air ticket is invalid for domestic travel in Cambodia.
This morning at 9:30 we were told that we could not board the airplane or travel on silk air. Silk air has öwn stopover rights"on the Siem Reap -Phnom Penh sector, in other words they are only able to carry passengers from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh if the passenger arrived into Cambodia via Silk Air's flight from Singapore.
We were told that we had to purchase a one way ticket on Siem Reap air...the flight today leaves at 4:30...so we have essentially lost a day waiting at the airport.
I informed Suzanne Gumbly by phone to let her know of our late arrival.
Meanwhile the folks at Silk Air helped us exchange tickets.
If Amy could please re-check all of our future flights it would be a great help...as you know...getting anything done here takes longer and is more difficult to accomplish than with fast internet connections, fast computers and 800 numbers.
We are looking forward to getting to Phnom Penh.
Best regards,
Karl
Sept 30 2002
Hi everybody, It's Monday night in Siem Reap. We are finished with the temples and the HVO work. tomorrow we head to phom pen in the morning. Our visit here has been great ! Angkor is amazing and everyone is so friendly.Yes,it has been extremely hot but thank goodness for the AC here at the Angkor Saphir hotel.We will see what the Email situation is in Phnom Pen and try to email you in a few days.best regards,Karl and Carrie
June 6 2002
Chichi still has character despite the pavement, but i keep remembering the guat that you and i visited the first time...so exotic, so strange, so much fun to share with you...not it's a bit different but it still is awesome. Yes we are coming back to see Odilia soon !
We are in Antigua now, at a place under the archway and across from where rockwell and i stayed last time. it is nice and only $40. The place we stayed last night in Santiago atitlan was very nice...new, clean, great landscaping and volcanoe views...and only $40 too ! Unfortunately, santiago has changed and is not as good as when we came. I did however, meet and photograph the Santiago atitlan woman who is pictured on the 25 cent coin...if memoory serves me right i have a photo of her from a few years back too !...she may even be the one we bought the hat from !!!!!!! I gotta check when i get back.
Tonight we are going for a pizza and a gallo beer at the little place we discovered together...you remember...across from the jade place where steve bought the expensive mask.
Damn, I really miss having you here to share all
We are in Antigua now, at a place under the archway and across from where rockwell and i stayed last time. it is nice and only $40. The place we stayed last night in Santiago atitlan was very nice...new, clean, great landscaping and volcanoe views...and only $40 too ! Unfortunately, santiago has changed and is not as good as when we came. I did however, meet and photograph the Santiago atitlan woman who is pictured on the 25 cent coin...if memoory serves me right i have a photo of her from a few years back too !...she may even be the one we bought the hat from !!!!!!! I gotta check when i get back.
Tonight we are going for a pizza and a gallo beer at the little place we discovered together...you remember...across from the jade place where steve bought the expensive mask.
Damn, I really miss having you here to share all
june 4 2002
we are in panajachel at the dos mundos hotel and today we are going to the village of santa catarina palopo...tomorrow we go to santiago atitlan by boat and overnight at the hotel Bambu...eco bambu is there website i think or type in bambu atitlan into google. then off to antigua on thursday and friday....fly home saturday
June 4 2002
morning in panajachel...carlo is sleeping and i have been out shooting. it is cloudy today but still nice.
thanks for the update on the rangers....excellent ! too bad ryan is pissing people off.
yep, i couldn´t believe that chichi was without internet, but it is the same only the market keeps getting bigger, and the road there is now totally paved and nice..not like our first time where it was washed out !
yesterday here in panajache i was walking down the street with carlo and this lady walked by...I said hi, arent you Mactalena Tasz...she was freaked and said yes...i took her picture when we were here the first time and it is in the gallery upstairs above the desk ! wow what a small world !
thanks for the update on the rangers....excellent ! too bad ryan is pissing people off.
yep, i couldn´t believe that chichi was without internet, but it is the same only the market keeps getting bigger, and the road there is now totally paved and nice..not like our first time where it was washed out !
yesterday here in panajache i was walking down the street with carlo and this lady walked by...I said hi, arent you Mactalena Tasz...she was freaked and said yes...i took her picture when we were here the first time and it is in the gallery upstairs above the desk ! wow what a small world !
May 31, 2002
i have been shooting in the hospital in honduras for 2 days now, it is a lot better here than in africa.
bizzarre thing...while in the operating room someone noticed me...with my mask on !!!!, it was an associate of Antonio Miguel, a mexican orthopedist who is a friend of mine !!!! Dr Miguel is here doing surgeries...what a reception, he gave me...big hug in the OR...we are going to dinner tonight.Talk about a small world !
bizzarre thing...while in the operating room someone noticed me...with my mask on !!!!, it was an associate of Antonio Miguel, a mexican orthopedist who is a friend of mine !!!! Dr Miguel is here doing surgeries...what a reception, he gave me...big hug in the OR...we are going to dinner tonight.Talk about a small world !
May 22 2002 Peru
at machu picchu actually aguas calientes..justdown the hill. we are at the presidente hotel 45 pernight very nice place. we went to the ruins today fromabout 1pm to 5pm and as i walked around i rememberedwhen we came. the hotel on top is all redone and ihear that it is 300 per night. I'm so proud of youwhen i look up at inca gate and especiall huyanapicchu and know that you made it all the way to thetop....that was really an accomplishment.....you'resuch a trooper. i know you can make the ms walk too!!!Yesterday we went to willoq and talked to the pricipalabout doing school pictures....he agreed and we shotevery kid in the entire school...165 of them. I foundmy favorite little girl Estephania again and took morephotos of her and gaver her the copy of last time'sphoto. She still is the most mysterious of all thekids and i really like her eyes and her manner. luckily when we were staying in ollantaytambo therewas a fiesta of the patron saint of the town...a 4 dayparty 24 hrs a day...not too good for sleeping butgreat for photos. i met a photographer in the lobby ofour hotel and he asked if i had any photos on theweb...and we exchanged websites...when i handed him mycard he immediately recognized my name and said thathe had written me for advice and i had emailed himback about a year ago...he said he really loved mywork .....bizzare how small the world is
Saturday, April 30, 2005
March 24th, Port Au Prince Haiti, City of God Orphanage, visit to Brother Vistal
Magdaleine Leger (yellow shirt, shown at sewing machine): 15 years old, her father stabbed her mother to death when she was 4. Grandmother could not support her so she became a restavek. The family that had her was abusing her physically, so she came to the TIP center. She learned that her father has since bought his way out of jail but she has not seen him. She has been living at the center for 6 years and enjoys taking culinary and sewing classes. She says that she wants to learn something before leaving the center so that she can support herself.
Clausette Sylvain, (white shirt with American Flag) age 15 has been at the TIP center for 2 years. Was a restavek, but escaped and came to learn sewing and cooking. Her parents are alive but do not have contact with her.
Deralis Judith (red shirt) age 12 staying at the center for 1 year now, but for the last few years she has been coming during the day for meals and schooling. Her father is dead and her mother is living in Jacmel. She is the youngest of 12 children. Her mother gave her away to a complete stranger who took her to Port Au Prince, where she was a slave. She was with her "keeper" at a crowded market, carrying a large basket of food; she became separated and took the opportunity to run away. She is happy now; she said "now I can learn to sew and I love dancing, I think I want to become a dancer".
Robert, age 13 trafficked to the DR along with his mother and brother and were living and working in Santo Domingo. At age 10 he left his mother and never saw her again until one day he was rounded up by the DR authorities and sent back to Haiti, his mother and brother had also been repatriated to Anselpitres and when he got there he was reunited with his mother but she did not want to take him back because she could not feed him. He got to PAP and eventually found the TIP center. "I want to learn a skill so that I can get a job" he says.
Brother Vistal: Changes since last visit: Improvements due to new construction at the orphanage...better security, more space, toilet facilities and a working kitchen/cafeteria. Girls are getting food every day. Since conditions have improved, so have the girl's school performance...better test scores and grades. City of God has gotten much more dangerous though, organized gang rape, much shooting at night, and recently two men were decapitated just behind the building...the girls hear it all and were very frightened. Several gangs have attempted to extort money from Bro Vistal and now he spends almost all his time at the orphanage, fearing that if he leaves, the girls may be in danger. He is now concentrating on improving the quality of the girl's education, preparing them to go on to technical/professional school. They are also working on the third floor to be able to house more girls. His mother died last year, and before she died asked why he was doing what he was doing...he replied, that he really didn't know either, but it was something much bigger than himself, and that God gives him the strength to do it. She left Vistal about 7 acres of land near Leogane, where he plans to build a school.
During difficult times he was having trouble getting money to pay bills and was not always able to get food for the girls. He began having doubts and worried...he would cry at night thinking that the girls shouldn't have to live in such conditions and that if he did not succeed in getting funds to continue, he might have to let the girls back out on the street. (It was a time of La Vienour or the bad life, and it was like wounding one's self). Through the good will of God he made it though that tough time, but this is only the first step, as he has much planned for the future, including his outreach program now serving 600 girls.
Vanessa has been lost for 7 days now and cannot find her, brother Vistal is very worried.
Brother Vistal Kids
Radeline (flowered dress with black collar) age 11 in second grade now. Born in Cap Haitian, both parents died, never went to school, a nun brought her to the orphanage in 2002. she had been living as a restavek.
Joanne Jacinthe age 14 (one of the oldest) in 7th grade from Jeremie. mother died in boat accident father got sick, had no medical care and died. she aspires to be a nurse so that she can help people.
Lelamaine Atale: 16 years old attending the 4th grade. (shown trying to read the bible) she likes taking on responsibilities (like she does in the kitchen helping serve and organize meals) and enjoys showing the younger girls how to do things. she has been at the orphanage 7 years now. "Even if I do not finish school, I want to learn a trade, probably cooking"
=
Clausette Sylvain, (white shirt with American Flag) age 15 has been at the TIP center for 2 years. Was a restavek, but escaped and came to learn sewing and cooking. Her parents are alive but do not have contact with her.
Deralis Judith (red shirt) age 12 staying at the center for 1 year now, but for the last few years she has been coming during the day for meals and schooling. Her father is dead and her mother is living in Jacmel. She is the youngest of 12 children. Her mother gave her away to a complete stranger who took her to Port Au Prince, where she was a slave. She was with her "keeper" at a crowded market, carrying a large basket of food; she became separated and took the opportunity to run away. She is happy now; she said "now I can learn to sew and I love dancing, I think I want to become a dancer".
Robert, age 13 trafficked to the DR along with his mother and brother and were living and working in Santo Domingo. At age 10 he left his mother and never saw her again until one day he was rounded up by the DR authorities and sent back to Haiti, his mother and brother had also been repatriated to Anselpitres and when he got there he was reunited with his mother but she did not want to take him back because she could not feed him. He got to PAP and eventually found the TIP center. "I want to learn a skill so that I can get a job" he says.
Brother Vistal: Changes since last visit: Improvements due to new construction at the orphanage...better security, more space, toilet facilities and a working kitchen/cafeteria. Girls are getting food every day. Since conditions have improved, so have the girl's school performance...better test scores and grades. City of God has gotten much more dangerous though, organized gang rape, much shooting at night, and recently two men were decapitated just behind the building...the girls hear it all and were very frightened. Several gangs have attempted to extort money from Bro Vistal and now he spends almost all his time at the orphanage, fearing that if he leaves, the girls may be in danger. He is now concentrating on improving the quality of the girl's education, preparing them to go on to technical/professional school. They are also working on the third floor to be able to house more girls. His mother died last year, and before she died asked why he was doing what he was doing...he replied, that he really didn't know either, but it was something much bigger than himself, and that God gives him the strength to do it. She left Vistal about 7 acres of land near Leogane, where he plans to build a school.
During difficult times he was having trouble getting money to pay bills and was not always able to get food for the girls. He began having doubts and worried...he would cry at night thinking that the girls shouldn't have to live in such conditions and that if he did not succeed in getting funds to continue, he might have to let the girls back out on the street. (It was a time of La Vienour or the bad life, and it was like wounding one's self). Through the good will of God he made it though that tough time, but this is only the first step, as he has much planned for the future, including his outreach program now serving 600 girls.
Vanessa has been lost for 7 days now and cannot find her, brother Vistal is very worried.
Brother Vistal Kids
Radeline (flowered dress with black collar) age 11 in second grade now. Born in Cap Haitian, both parents died, never went to school, a nun brought her to the orphanage in 2002. she had been living as a restavek.
Joanne Jacinthe age 14 (one of the oldest) in 7th grade from Jeremie. mother died in boat accident father got sick, had no medical care and died. she aspires to be a nurse so that she can help people.
Lelamaine Atale: 16 years old attending the 4th grade. (shown trying to read the bible) she likes taking on responsibilities (like she does in the kitchen helping serve and organize meals) and enjoys showing the younger girls how to do things. she has been at the orphanage 7 years now. "Even if I do not finish school, I want to learn a trade, probably cooking"
=
Friday, March 11, 2005
Tsunami: Banda Aceh January 18, 2005
Report from Banda Aceh January 18, 2005
no grammer or spell check...pretty rough but at least some thoughts.......
....Early this morning I saw something......
Somebody spraypainted "26-12-04 tragidi, hari minggu, hari maut" on a demolished wall...it means Dec 26, 04 : Tragic Sunday, deadly day" wow, that really said it all in terms of images I captured today....
today was jam-packed, it was like everything just happened in front of me....first we were driving out the beach road and i stopped at a place i know, where a body was, with a backdrop of destruction, the body was still there floating, 4 days after i saw it last, I knew World Emergency Relief would want the shot, so I went there to get it. after i finished, we headed down the road and came across the usual body bags on the side of the road, although there were quite a few more than normal so I spent a while photographing that too. a bit beyond that I heard a heilicopter overhead, pretty loud and getting louder...the thing starts to land on the road about 200 yards behind us, so i tell the driver to stop. ther area we were in is know locally as "the wasteland" its like armageadon really, its like hiroshima photos after the nuclear blast...well as this american chopper starts to land people come out of nowhere and start running full tilt toward it.
Anyway, next we came upon some elephants working to sniff out and dig debris from around some bodies. Bhava, the guy from ICMC was with me so we went over for a look. the elepants were moving heavy loads of wood and junk...Bhava yelled for me to come over where he was watching some rescue guys digging in a half collapsed building,,,the rescue guys summoned a mahout (elephant trainer rider) and his elephant to come over. I climbed into the wreckage to see and there was a horrific site...a bady decomposed body....thank goodness the relatives were not around...
anyway the elephants dont pick up the bodies, they just clear around them then the rescue guys bag and remove the remains...well Bhava, who is Nepalese and a guy who has worked around elephants, was watching this whole thing unfold and he noticed something that I didnt...we both noticed that the elephant seemed uncooperative when it approached, and sniffed a mattress that was near the body, gingerly nudging it and being careful where he stepped nearby. for a moment he obeyed the mahout and started to remove stuff from around the body and then he backed away and refused to go on...the mohout was prodding it but the elephant would not go back in (now at this point Bhava says he saw a teardrop coming out of the elephant's right eye, the eye on the opposite side of me) i have no reason to doubt him and he says that elephants really do "cry" but perhaps the eye was just like that or it had over active tear glands or something, but anyway anyone could tell that this elephant did know enough to be careful where he stepped and he was certainly unhappy about the job he was doing.....I don't blame him,because I saw and photographed what he was looking at in that hole....a badly decomposed body laying face up with a terrible wide open-mouth scream-like expression ... later on in the day, i kept thinking how terrible this is....this was a person, someone who was loved and cherished and to look like this now......again, i am so happy the family was not there to see it.
That was pretty much it for today, except for seeing a three story hospital building, left standing amid the wasteland, with water damage to the roof...one can scarcely imagine a wave that high in a place like this. I thought i should write about it while it is fresh in my mind so you can understand it best....bottom line is, no matter how much you see or how hard i try to capture it in a photo, it is impossible to make anyone who does not see it in person, understand just how devastating it must have been....rather than be amazed at the number of deaths, i am amazed that anyone in the tsunami's path could have survived !
....Early this morning I saw something......
Somebody spraypainted "26-12-04 tragidi, hari minggu, hari maut" on a demolished wall...it means Dec 26, 04 : Tragic Sunday, deadly day" wow, that really said it all in terms of images I captured today....
today was jam-packed, it was like everything just happened in front of me....first we were driving out the beach road and i stopped at a place i know, where a body was, with a backdrop of destruction, the body was still there floating, 4 days after i saw it last, I knew World Emergency Relief would want the shot, so I went there to get it. after i finished, we headed down the road and came across the usual body bags on the side of the road, although there were quite a few more than normal so I spent a while photographing that too. a bit beyond that I heard a heilicopter overhead, pretty loud and getting louder...the thing starts to land on the road about 200 yards behind us, so i tell the driver to stop. ther area we were in is know locally as "the wasteland" its like armageadon really, its like hiroshima photos after the nuclear blast...well as this american chopper starts to land people come out of nowhere and start running full tilt toward it.
I jump out of the car and start running and shooting...the chopper is kicking up a huge amount of shit, and the wind is like 100 mph....the thing almost lands on the crowd and the door opens and they start handing out MREs (military Meals Ready to Eat)...it was totally chaotic, and the people were basically trying to board the helicopter and this marine is like holding his ground at the door while the guy behind is throwing stuff out. in about 3 minutes maybe less the chopper is empty and starts to take off with the marine waving and yelling to get back. the take off blast was harder than the wind created at landing and all I could do was face the other direction and point my camera back in the general direction and shoot blindly. after that I photographed the people opening MREs and looking at them kinda confused like...what the hell is this....me and the guy I was with tried to explain that it was food ! they saw the american flag on the box and kept thanking us, like we had somehow been involved ! these folk have nothing other than what they get at the IDP Internally displaced persons camps which is rice rice and rice so they are happy to get anything else.
a bit later down the road we came across a rescue team (that means they find bodies) I followed them to see what the;y were up to and judging by the smell we were around one or more bodies, I made some photos as they were removing someone from the rubble ...seriously i do not know how these folks do this job day after day....its horrific and I was gagging from the smell as I was shooting it. about all they can do is remove what;s left of the body and then determine if it is male or female, then the bag it and carry it to the road......shit, this is nasty stuff and frankly they are just getting started with what's near the road, and the rubble goes on and on and on way beyond that....I imagine the body count is underestimated...way underestimated. and furthermore as i talk to guys were here in the immediate aftermath they say the bodies were everywhere, literally everywhere.
That was pretty much it for today, except for seeing a three story hospital building, left standing amid the wasteland, with water damage to the roof...one can scarcely imagine a wave that high in a place like this. I thought i should write about it while it is fresh in my mind so you can understand it best....bottom line is, no matter how much you see or how hard i try to capture it in a photo, it is impossible to make anyone who does not see it in person, understand just how devastating it must have been....rather than be amazed at the number of deaths, i am amazed that anyone in the tsunami's path could have survived !
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Friday, January 21, 2005
Jakarta Indonesia
Friday I was supposed to be on the 10:20 am Garuda Air flight from Banda Aceh to Jakarta but they moved me to the doomed 11:30am flight which arrived in Jakarta about 6 hours late, and I of course missed my 830 departure to Columbo....Garuda Air is the most incompetent bunch of idiots, they really messed me over, the next flight to Columbo is Sunday and they refuse to pay to get me there sooner....I spent all last night at the airport and returned there this morning at 5 am only to meet frustration with their inept staff....Tell everyone you know to stay away from Garuda Air, they suck ! I now have lost 2 days of shooting in Sri Lanka and I guess I missed a bunch of great photo ops in Banda Aceh..The mosques full of people praying and mourning the victims....darn, I should have stayed.....Cooling my heels for 2 days in Jakarta is a drag.
I was insistent enough to make them pick up my hotel for both nights and the meals, but upgraded myself to an internet equipped room for an extra 20 bucks so that I could do email and check on news, and try and set up a hotel for my arrival in columbo tomorrow night.....Did watch an Indonesian program on the tsunami entitled, "Badai Pasti Berlalu" running virtually 24/7 with stories, video and photos about the tsunami, it had some incredible scenes filmed by amateurs, one in particular of a family filming from the second floor balcony of their home in what was probably a Ulee Lhehue or Lhoknga neighborhood. The women were screaming, crying and praying, not knowing if their house would collapse or another bigger wave would come. From what they could see happening around them, they must have thought they were going to die !
Well, heck.....Three days to get from Banda Aceh to Columbo...Totally unbelievable...
Anyway, I will likely be on the computer all day...It is 1130 am on Saturday right now, so other than lunch and dinner I will be here in my roon at the Sahid Jaya hotel in Jakarta...It's pretty nice...The damn place they put me up in last night looked good, but there were mosquitoes that fed on me all night.....What a drag !
I was insistent enough to make them pick up my hotel for both nights and the meals, but upgraded myself to an internet equipped room for an extra 20 bucks so that I could do email and check on news, and try and set up a hotel for my arrival in columbo tomorrow night.....Did watch an Indonesian program on the tsunami entitled, "Badai Pasti Berlalu" running virtually 24/7 with stories, video and photos about the tsunami, it had some incredible scenes filmed by amateurs, one in particular of a family filming from the second floor balcony of their home in what was probably a Ulee Lhehue or Lhoknga neighborhood. The women were screaming, crying and praying, not knowing if their house would collapse or another bigger wave would come. From what they could see happening around them, they must have thought they were going to die !
Well, heck.....Three days to get from Banda Aceh to Columbo...Totally unbelievable...
Anyway, I will likely be on the computer all day...It is 1130 am on Saturday right now, so other than lunch and dinner I will be here in my roon at the Sahid Jaya hotel in Jakarta...It's pretty nice...The damn place they put me up in last night looked good, but there were mosquitoes that fed on me all night.....What a drag !
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