One of the more compelling multimedia pieces that I have seen about post-earthquake Haiti is this audio slideshow from March 28, 2010, produced by Jeffery Delviscio and Jessie De Witt for the New York Times, with reporting by Grant Fuller and photography by Lynsey Addario.
The presentation contrasts images and audio clips from Haitian nightclubs with images and clips from camps where Haitians displaced by the earthquake have been living in semi-permanent residency for the past three months. The disparity between the rich and poor is made very clear.
The first image - and accompanying techno music - drew me into the presentation. Slideshows of Haiti these days are usually only about the poverty, homelessness, health crises and dire needs that have increased since the earthquake. This presentation, on the other hand, started out with a scene that could have been in any city - third-world, earthquake-stricken or not.
A couple of minutes in to the presentation, the focus shifts to the camps. But by then, a viewer has already had a taste of the non-poverty side of Haiti. The contrast is unsettling, but at least we are getting a glimpse of both extremes.
For all the flashy club scenes and heart-string-tugging photos of the makeshift camps, however, the images that stick with me the most are those of camp children playing jump rope. Jumping girls first appear about half-way through the presentation, and then appear again near the end. Contrast these girls with the ones in the club - the jump-roping girls seem to be having more fun - if only just.
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