"Behind-the-scenes" at the last orphanage in Haiti

Here are some of the pictures that were taken during the last shoot we did in Haiti with an amazing group of kids who shared their time with us. The smiles and laughters they gave us were exactly what we had hoped for when we started this project.

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Quelques unes des photos prises pendant notre dernière session à Haiti avec ce groupe d'enfants incroyables qui nous ont accueilli lors d'un après-midi. Leurs sourires et leurs rires étaient exactement ce que nous espérions voir quand nous avons commencé ce projet

Last Orphanage in Haiti

This is what an orphanage looks like from the outside in Port-au-prince. This one was at the end of a bumpy dirt road outside of the city. Just like the other orphanages we visited they had no electricity and no water but they were surrounded by an amazing staff of people. Since it was our last orphanage, we were running out of photo paper and we were disappointed that we couldn't give the staff members their pictures too but they were happy to see the kids holding their prints at the end of the session. The car in the front was our taxi driver's car, It's called a Tap-Tap.

Cette photo est le dernier orphelinat oû nous sommes allé pendant notre visite à Hati. Cet orphelinat était situé au bout d'une route abimée en banlieueu de Port-au-prince. Comme les autres orphelinats, il n'y avait ni éléctricité, ni eau courante mais ces enfants étaient entourés pas une équipe formidable. Comme c'était notre dernier orphelinat à Haiti, nous n'avions presque plus de papier photo et nous étions triste de ne pas pouvoir imprimer des photos pour les membres de l'équipe qui malgré tout étaient content de voir les enfants sourire avec leurs photos dans les mains.

Haiti Day #3: Girls who want to rebuild the city

In Port-au-prince, all the damages from the earthquake are still visible and there are rumbles and ruins all around the city. These girls have seen hundreds of locals working on cleaning and rebuilding the city and they want to be able to help out in the future.

Haiti Day #3: A good mother

This orphanage was full of adorable little girls who were supervised by a few older women who cared for them and cooked their meals. One of the orphans, who was holding my hand from the time we walked through the gates, moved us when she said that all she wanted to do when she grew up was to be a good mother.

Haiti Day #3: Our first Girls orphanage in Port-au-prince

On our third day in Haiti, the pastor who had welcomed us in his orphanage the day before took us to a girls' orphanage in a secluded part of port-au-prince. He even offered to take us to another orphanage right after we were done with our session but after taking pictures of almost 50 young girls, we were too exhausted to even consider it. All the kids were incredible from the moment we walked through the orphanage's gate to the moment we left.

Haiti Day #2: Behind-the-Scene Photos

Photography: Helena Harper

Here are some of the pictures taken during our day of shooting in the first orphanage. The kids were so happy to draw, some were very talented artists too. Their reaction when they received their print exceeded our expectations. They were all laughing and running around with their pictures in their hands.

Haiti Day #2: He just wants to go to school

Photography: Sebastien Roche-Lochen

A lot of us took school for granted when we were kids. We would pretend to be sick to avoid going there, we would sneak out of school during chemistry class, we would never do our homework because we had video games to play, and we always complained about our teachers, the food and the amount of work. This guy wants to be a student when he grows up.

Haiti Day #2: Our first trip to an orphanage

Our trip in Haiti is starting out great! Yesterday, the driver we hired ended up taking us to an orphanage that his pastor is in charge of. There were more than 60 kids who made beautiful drawings for us and picked very interesting careers from Construction workers to arborists. The kid actually taught me that word because I had no idea what an arborist was!

Here's the group picture of all the kids holding their print at the end of the day.

Photo by Helena Harper