Two years after an unprecedented and unimaginable natural disaster, Haiti still mourns its dead, struggles to rebuild, has had to cope with cholera and has seen international assistance fall victim to donor fatigue.

And yet, Miami Herald photographer Carl Juste, Haitian born, senses a change in the way Haitians view their lives.

Back from a recent journalistic trip to his homeland, where he teamed with bureau chief Jacqueline Charles to cover the quake anniversary, Juste acknowledges that “Haiti has always been an insurmountable set of circumstances,” but believes that the nation might be turning a corner. What he saw in the faces of his subjects was a country that is fighting to find its bearings politically under new president Michel Martelly, a country where protests occur but without violence, and where some members of the vast Haitian diaspora are enthusiastically looking to invest in the country, either with money or “sweat equity.”

“The problems that besiege Haiti are not going to go away,” he said. “But there is this idea taking root that Haiti is not just poverty. Haiti is a resource. Haiti is a culture. Haiti is vibrant. It is music. The poverty is still on the stage, but it is not the main actor. How long it lasts, whether it can sustain, remains to be seen.”