Hello, I’m Adèle and I’ve been hanging around Platform for some time. If you’re a regular reader you’ve probably passed your eyes over some of the things I’ve written or the pictures I’ve taken.

A while back I did this little retrospective thing where I dug through my diary called ‘Shot Callin‘. It was a series of anecdotes and tidbits from when I was a young ‘un living in Port-au-Prince - it had kidnapping and guns if you’re into that sort of stuff.

Well, that was about 5 years ago now and since then I’ve moved to Brooklyn and traded gunshots for bums. But every summer I try and get back to the ‘islands’, not just so I can catch up with my homies but because over there they have real beaches, not like the toxic waste dumps on the East Coast, and Rum and coconut on tap.

But about a week ago, as you most likely know by now, Port-au-Prince was completely devastated by a massive earthquake, leaving it unrecognisable form the summer paradise I know and remember.

There’s been a lot of media coverage of the whole ordeal. I know friends who haven’t made it out safely, and others who have lost more than I thought was possible, in a single day. But I’d like to keep this post short and free from too much personal input because we’ve all done enough grieving on our side and we want to move on.

So, I simply bring you some of my summer shots of the Port-au-Prince I remember, as a contrast to the news footage we’ve all been seeing over the past few days.

We’re really tight with Jamaicans, so we let them set up mobile phone franchises. That’s how we roll down here.

We’ve got serious coconut tree infestation! It’s just about everywhere, even on our national flag. In fact they’re so numerous that they’ve developed this weird cancer-like disease that only coconut trees get.

My Mom took this one, I don’t know what the point of it is either, but it’s Mom, and you can’t diss Mom.

The disheartening bit is that all this has been demolished, if not badly damaged, and a lot of people have gone with it.

I’ve never really been good at being emotional or giving out ‘deep’ motivational talks - the last time I cried was when I was 12 - but I am confident we’ll be able to pick ourselves up. It’ll take some time, but some of us are already on it.

Hope you enjoyed these. They make me smile.

Best,

Adèle