By Craig Thompson
Class of ’08

When Aashish Jethra and Eleanor Miller, two Class of ’10 students, arrived in the Dominican Republic last month as part of a Haitian relief mission with the Airline Ambassadors International program, they assumed they would be stationed in Santo Domingo to help organize and distribute hospital supplies. But once there, a United Nations employee suggested they get on a charter flight alongside other medical volunteers to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the earthquake-ravaged city. For the next four days, they worked in hospitals and attempted to create a photojournalistic record of the devastation. “It was life-changing,” said Miller of the experience.

Once inside the capital, Jethra and Miller helped wash surgical tools and assist with wound care. Jethra, who has a background in biomedical research, helped hold down a patient undergoing a fasciotomy to relieve pressure on an injured limb. Miller assisted a doctor with the amputation of a 12-year-old girl’s leg, and was also on hand to help communicate with a woman whose leg was in a critical state. “I had to translate French for some doctors,” she said. “I had to tell the woman which part of her leg needed to be amputated. Half of her foot was dead and infected. She knew there was no hope for a prosthetic leg in Haiti and how hard it would be to be handicapped. So she left.”

Jethra and Miller spent much of their time surveying Port-au-Prince and snapping as many pictures as they could. Although Jethra took more than 800 photos, he was very careful about what to shoot. “I actively made the decision not to photograph stuff many times, both in the hospital and out in Port-au-Prince, out of decency,” he said.

Miller found that many people wanted her to help them get their story out. “People would ask us to take a picture of their destroyed house,” she said. “There were some who thought we were taking advantage. But if I started talking to one person, inevitably four or five others would come up to us.”

The two were lucky to stay in the home of a government employee, who had beds, running water, and food. “It was so poignant,” said Miller. “It really showed the culture as welcoming and warm, even in the face of such a tragedy.”

After they returned to New York, both Miller and Jethra blogged about their experiences for WNYC’s morning program, The Takeaway.