I was first introduced to photovoice through my volunteer involvement with Project Istwa. This non-profit, created and run by the amazing Linda Thelemaque, is an organization that, in their own words, is "dedicated to the promotion of self-empowerment, awareness and self-expression of Haitian youth through the use of photography." As part of this organization, I worked with the children of Haitian immigrants living in Batey Caraballo to help document their experiences through Photovoice which is a qualitative method use in community-based research (Wang & Burris, 1997). We were first trained in this method in Haiti and then crossed the border to the Dominican Republic (DR) to work with children of Haitian immigrants who were living in the DR.
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The Workshop
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The Children
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The Photos
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For this photovoice project we had approximately 15 children in the community participation. All children, and their parents, gave their consent for their pictures, and and names, to be published. Whenever available, I used the full name of the child.
During the workshop the children produced many photos. Not all of these photos ended up in the final exhibit. Here is a sampling of some of the photos that did not end up in the final exhibit. They include photos by the children and also photos that I took as well.