Jess DiPierro Obert

Photographer

Coronavirus in Haiti: Weakened by past disasters, the country was already in crisis

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Location: Brooklyn, New York

Nationality: American

Biography: Jess DiPierro Obert is a visual journalist and filmmaker based between New York and Haiti, where she has lived for 5 years (2016-2021). She is focused on reporting on stories related to women, abortion rights, human rights, immigration, identity,... MORE

Lelene Gentileus, 32, has to st...oney to feed her two daughters.

Lelene Gentileus, 32, has to stay in the streets selling commerce to make enough money to feed her two daughters.

In the usually crowded Champs d...o earn enough money to survive.

In the usually crowded Champs de Mars where venders sell food and other market goods some wear masks sparingly to adapt to social distancing measures called for by President Jovenel following coroanvirus in the country. Most families live on less than $2 a day and must stay in the streets to earn enough money to survive.

Yolette Olidere, a counselor fo...t IHI center in Port-au-Prince.

Yolette Olidere, a counselor for cancer patients at IHI center in Port-au-Prince.

Patients wait outside under ten...ancer center in Port-au-Prince.

Patients wait outside under tents at IHI's cancer center in Port-au-Prince.

Britanie Brutus, 48, is a cance.... What else can I do?"

Britanie Brutus, 48, is a cancer patient at IHI's center in Port-au-Prince. Brutus is adament to not miss a chemotherapy appointment amidst the coronavirus pandemic. "This is a place to heal the sick. I wash my hands, I do what I need to do to protect myself from coronavirus. What else can I do?"

At a market in Port-au-Prince, ...manage a swarm of panic buyers.

At a market in Port-au-Prince, grocery clerks prepare for coronavirus by wearing masks as they manage a swarm of panic buyers.

Dorice, 21, is a survivor of se...part of the leadership academy.

Dorice, 21, is a survivor of sexual abuse. Due to COVID-19 she has been unable to leave her home or go to the youth center at YWCA Haiti to receive psychological support and where she is part of the leadership academy.

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Public Story

Coronavirus in Haiti: Weakened by past disasters, the country was already in crisis

Copyright Jess Obert 2024

Updated May 2020

Location Haiti

Topics Coronavirus, Covid-19, Crisis, Documentary, Epidemics, Haiti, Health, Health/Healing, Illness, Latin America, Media, Pandemic, Pandemics, Photography, Photojournalism, Politics, Portraiture, Reporting

Ongoing project covering COVID-19 in Haiti.

From my article written for The New Humanitarian:

On a street corner where throngs of passers-by and neighbours stop to talk, Lelene Gentileus, a 32-year-old mother of two sells goods such as cigarettes and candy.

Gentileus is no stranger to loss from diseases. Her grandmother died from cholera – believed to have been brought in by UN peacekeepers from Nepal in the wake of the 2010 earthquake.

“At least during the cholera outbreak doctors knew how to help you if you went to the hospital,” Gentileus told TNH. “What is so scary this time is that there is no cure.”

Coronavirus in Haiti: Weakened by past disasters, the country was already in crisis
Due to a string of setbacks over the last decade and a recent economic crunch, the country was in danger of unravelling even before COVID-19.