Haiti, land of hope

He has won three World Press Photo awards and is published in the New York Times and Time magazine. Tomás Munita is not yet 40 years old and is the most relevant Chilean photojournalist internationally. He has taken photos in places like Peru, El Salvador, Syria, Afghanistan, Fukushima and, of course, Chile. But I had never been to Haiti, until this year.

While Chile was preparing the food, Munita left for Haiti at the invitation of the América Solidaria foundation. There were twelve days of walks and explorations, he went into the markets, toured neighborhoods, entered medical centers, saw the work of the volunteers and met the people.

"I went in, without speaking a word and without a translator, to photograph inside several huts in the camps for displaced people. By having such a relationship, direct and at the same time silent, with the local people I was able to glimpse a strong trait of their idiosyncrasy: joy. It is a difficult test to expose yourself where you cannot communicate, even more so if physically I am so different, but the hospitality and joy was overwhelming. If you add to that the situation of extreme poverty that surrounds you, You have a feeling that, although full of light, is difficult to explain,” says Munita.