Photographing Tragedy, Uncovering Resilience

by Kim MacDonald

	Traveling throughout the tsunami-impacted region, Habitat for Humanity International chief photographer Kim MacDonald captured Mother Nature's fury, but also encountered the remarkable human spirit that shines through disaster.

This photograph haunts me. It's not one of the countless images I captured of destruction, devastation and debris while traveling through tsunami-affected areas in Thailand, Sri Lanka and India. Instead, the photo has the irresistible beauty of children playing on a scenic coastline. Yet I know that the very area where they play and I photograph is the same area where thousands died a few days before. It's the beach at Vailankanni, India, a short walk from a large church where mass was held the morning the tsunami hit. Children played on the beach that morning, too, while their parents worshipped. All those children died here, as did fisherman, vendors and homeowners living and working along the coastline.

Now the beach and the inland area are vacant of homes and businesses. Instead, survivors pick through debris alongside scavenging birds, and onlookers stare and contemplate the scene as I do. But these two girls play. And something of human resilience is revealed in them. I struggle to capture that moment and to share it with the world, so that we can reach out to those who survive.

--Kim MacDonald