This little boy and his blue chair. I just love this picture. #Haiti
This little boy and his blue chair. I just love this picture.
As I was walking through the village of Cange, I just happened to see this little boy. He had the giggles and was smiling at the whole Clemson team walking by. I turned and smiled and he started playing pick-a-boo with me. He would raise the chair to hide his face then giggle. He was a smart little tike…knowing I had a camera. It is hard to miss that big lens hanging from my shoulder. I raised my camera, and as soon as I tried to capture that laugh…he would hide his smile.
The Haitian people are happy people, prideful people with a deep history rooted in their independence. Haiti is the only country to have a successful slave revolt resulting in their independence from France. The country’s language uses French as a foundation as they evolved into Creole. Language is deeper than the spoken word.
You can see so much language in the boys eyes and facial expression. His giggles let us know his joy and sense of safety as we walked by. His use of the chair to cover his face provides us context into his willingness to interact with the group. His deep stare as I captured his image showcases his deep trust, commitment to our connection. These are the signals I collected from this little boys expressions during our little exchange, moment of connection.
The children of Haiti made me happy. I enjoyed watching them play, listen to them giggle, and watched as they tried to learn more about this group of people foreign to their village. The language of acceptance is bigger than words, it is deep stare of a little boy.