hi we are the filmmakers of the documentary that you're about to see this is our first movie and it took us a lot of work time and dedication to finish it I'm Haitian and as a Haitian I've always wanted to show an image of Haiti that unlike the mass media coverage would not only focus on on violence we really hope you enjoy the movie and we're looking forward to hear your thoughts about it yeah there are men who struggle for a day and they are good there are others who struggle for a year and they are better but there are those who struggle all their lives and these are the indispensable ones B bre Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere Millions lived in slums it's a place of rebellion confusion and grinding poverty they can barely afford to eat kidnapping is now the only growth industry it's the kidnap capital of the world 9,000 peacekeeping troops in Haiti the deadly earthquake in Haiti continues now horrible earthquake which has struck here humanitarian relief efforts are underway the smell you can't escape it's not really even a smell it's so strong you can taste it today I tasted death P's chera crisis could hit 200,000 infections in the next 3 months the situation in Haiti can only get worse this is the image people have of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere there also people who confuse it with TIY they think of palm trees beaches and holidays in the Sun but different images come to my head when I think of Haiti I remember a trip in an extreme country it was February 2008 I remember voodoo priest and a ceremony are I remember a pool girl on her way to school and a woman with a big dream I remember a country without trees but with brave people I remember a bol ride with a coast guard hunting for cocaine a breakdown in a dangerous place and a un [Music] Convoy but let's start from the beginning [Music] it All Began here in fryborg a small Sunny University Town in southern Germany with a beautiful Old Town lots of bikes beautiful churches a river and onp nature all [Music] around to be more specific it all started in handle Street this is where I met Fabian by the way this is me my name is Florian and I'm the son of a Haitian mother and a German father at the age of 18 I moved from Haiti to Germany to study after 4 years of intense and hard studying there was this one evening in the kitchen when I got the idea to take a trip with Fabian to show him my country we took a photo and a video camera with us this is the story of our trip [Music] [Applause] my cousin Andre picked us up when we arrived in Haiti on the back of a pickup truck we head to capan it is Haiti's second largest city and is situated in the northern coast of the country we spend the night alone in a house on the outskirts of the city at night as usual there was no electricity and we could hear the voodoo drums from outside I was back [Music] home I spent the first day with my family and Fabian tried his first prestige the best beer you can get in his Haiti though I must admit it is also the only one the woman wearing the blue cap is my aunt clette a few years ago she founded a school in cap they call not miracul it is not an ordinary school and she explained to us why I want the poest possible and to give them to make them rich with the education the poor children they need so many things food money to go to school education even affection the children who come here live in the poorest part of the city Islam called Shada some of these children are so poor that they do not have enough to [Music] eat we became aware of a girl named Denise her shoes were way to big and she appeared somewhat apathetic and [Music] sad the next morning we drove to our apartment [Music] [Applause] this is where Denise and most of the other children from clet school live a presence in the slam was noticed immediately when a child saw us she screamed they're soldiers they want to kill us we were two white guys with a camera we stood out it didn't take long until we were surrounded by a small crowd and a man talk to us in English [Music] engl sh depressing impression on us there was garbage lying around everywhere and there were no sanitary [Music] facilities 4,000 people live here and almost half of them are children in hopes of a better life more and more families move into the cities and gather in such [Music] slams don't cry Sky me [Music] Sky we had to go through very narrow streets until we arrived at Denise house the houses are so close to each other that you can barely see the sky like every morning Denise was dressed up for school outside of her house anise has two sisters all three have different fathers but none of them supports the family since last year they all go to play at school because they don't have to pay school fees [Music] there foree [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] this American school bus is the only functioning school bus in the city it was donated to the school every morning it picks up the children of shadan and brings them to school [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Haiti is one of the few countries in the world in which the school system is almost completely privatized since the state has barely invested in education this C was filled by all types of private schools who does not have money does not get ucation but in clet school things work a bit differently although the parents are asked to pay a small school fee anyone who cannot pay may still send their children to school therefore the school depends on donations they have to improvise again and again because money is often short the classes are very large often more than 60 children per class but they're being taught in the language of the elite French [Music] the children speak French in sh this is amazing you will need to find a replacement nominee what are you crazy CNN ABC CBS [Applause] each day during class lunch is prepared the food is donated from wfp the world food program for many children this is the only meal of the day there is no change in the food you see and we don't have enough money to change the menu rice and beans every [Music] [Music] day with the meal in the stomach the children changed Denise also got her plate of [Music] rice suddenly you were full of energy [Music] [Music] the kids were so excited we could hardly continue [Music] filming foree fore for [Music] we would like to offer to the children uh School of joy you see the school of joy we are fighting we are working to achieve the goal but it's so far be to much but I swear I'm trying weeks and I can see the future and photo pictures a few days later we got ready to leave we loaded some drinking water into the pickup and said goodbye to my family my father had used his contacts and had managed to arrange an interview for us with the German ambassador in PTO Prince the capital the streets were completely worn out and my cousin Andre had to drive at the snail space it took us an eternity until we arrive in the capital [Music] when we arrived in PTO the largest and whitest Palace in the cariban was still standing we never could have imagined that it would be lying in GRE 2 years later I was born in this city and happy to be back from the mountains PTO prin looks quiet and peaceful but the reality on the street is different [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the day after the interview with the German ambassador had come we showed up pretty underdress at the embassy which was a bit embarrassing but we hadn't exactly expected to meet an ambassador on a trip for okay to understand what the Ambassador just said it is useful to know something about the history of Haiti here's a quick [Music] summary well Haiti and the Dominican Republic are located on the Caribbean island called Hispanola long before the white men arrived the native Tino lived on the island they were very peaceful people in the year 1492 Columbus crossed the Atlantic with three ships and discovered the new world with swords and cross he changed Destiny of the people forever the Spaniards Enslaved the tyos and brought smallpox Kera avarice and arrogance along with them it was not until almost all the tyos were dead when the Spanish priest bolom Las Casas started a campaign for the rights of the indigenous people rather than using the tyos he suggested importing slaves from Africa instead Spain bathed in the gold of the island this attracted French Pirates who also settle on the island the French government wanted to have their share of the pie and the Pirates were declared French [Music] Colonials from now on there were two Colonial Powers France and Spain the transatlantic triangular trade arose between Europe Africa and the new world weapons and alcohol for Africa slaves for the American plantations cotton coffee sugar and tobacco for Europe for the Europeans it was a golden age they sweetened their lives with the new luxury Commodities from slave [Music] labor in Haiti a single settler had an average of 10 slaves onethird of the slaves died a few years after their arrival but this was not a big problem for the plantation owners they simply picked up new ones as a replacement for the dead and to make sure that the slaves were well behaved they were beaten mutilated castrated crucified boiled alive in sugar syrup and raped this is when a new religion emerged which United the slaves from different regions of Africa the voodoo [Music] cult through the French Revolution the wind of Liberty equality and fraternity blew in France and it blew over to to the Caribbean a few years later the time had come during a secret ceremony the voodo priest juty Bookman called for a slave rebellion he himself was killed but the Revolution was unstoppable three former slaves lure Des Salin and Kristoff led the uprising the Revolution was not only about ending slavery but also about independence from France the first black Republic of the world was born the saline ordered for all white to be tortured and killed France did not rily recognize ha's Independence and demanded High compensation for the loss of its plantations to avert A Renewed French attack Haiti accepted the claims 40 Years After the Revolution now they had to pay off with money what they had already paid for with their blood the payment of the compensation lasted until after the end of the second world war and it damag ha's economy up until to this day but the freedom did not mean peace after the independence the blacks and the mulos fought for power until the 20th century one coup followed another during the first world war Haiti went through a second round of imperialism now it was America's turn under the pretense of wanting to stop the ongoing violence they wrote a new Constitution and improved their infrastructure however they only managed to achieve this through FSE labor torture and murder [Music] after the US withdrawal from Haiti an Haitian despot followed in 1957 The Physician Papa do became president Papa do murdered his political opponents using his personal militia the Tonto makut over 30 years they imposed Terror on the Haitian people 30,000 people were killed under his leadership Haiti was looted and the country's academics fled abroad after his death his 19-year-old son baby do took over the power when baby do was overthrown in 1986 he took hundreds of millions of dollars with him into Exile now one Haitian president replaced the next K were back on the agenda again in 1990 the first truly democratic election in the country took place the priest of the poor jeed was elected president however a few months later the military instigated coup and the struggle for power continued the UN and the US imposed a 2-year trade embargo which damaged already fragile economy of Haiti even further social and political unrest followed in order to stabilize the country the Haitian government called for peacekeeping troops in 2004 as a result Haiti indeed became more quiet however development and State Building did not take place the interview with the Ambassador went quite well at the end he gave us a novel about Haiti one consequence of hades's history is the abject Poverty of the country but hold it don't let yourself be fooled there are rich people living in Haiti as well I myself was part of this social class when I lived there but only now I realize how huge the gap between rich and poor is and how close these two groups live together there's virtually no middle class eventually we got hungry for chips and cookies I knew that it would not be a problem to buy some since you can find about anything in PTO Andre took us to a supermarket which was guarded by a man with a shotgun the food here was even significantly more expensive than Germany so expensive that another guard inside the store protected the goods almost everything you could find here came from abroad there was hardly any Haitian products [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] room for [Music] at the end we found the cookies that we wanted the package costed the equivalent of $5 we hesitated to buy them after all they were really expensive we understood that this shop was only for the capitals Elite we did not stay in PTO prin longer than necessary I wanted to visit my grandmother in P guav Before Dawn on the next day we left PTO Prince heading south [Music] [Music] [Music] my grandmother was very happy about our visit she was early wether and had to raise her nine children on her own my grandmother was the first woman in pav who drove a car and was wearing jeans it was so long since we had seen each other but she still knew what my favorite meal was Creole chicken with rice and beans in the afternoon Fabian and I went to the market to shop some groceries the place was a bit different from the supermarket in PTO PR but even here mostly imported goods were sold we noticed that there was only American rice available why was there no Haitian rise the former US President Bill Clinton had an answer to this question since 1981 the United States has followed a policy until the last year or so we started rethinking it that we rich countries that produce a lot of food should sell it to poor countries and relieve them of the burden of producing their own food so thank goodness they can leap directly into the industrial era it has not worked it's maybe been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas but it has not worked it was a mistake it was a mistake that I was a party to I am not pointing the finger at anybody I did that I have to live every day with the consequences of the Lost capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people because of what I did nobody else we genuinely thought we were helping Haiti and we made this Devil's bargain on rice and it wasn't the right thing to do we should have continue to work to help them be self-sufficient in agriculture and uh we that's a lot of what we're doing now Haiti was just forced by the US to abolish taxes on American Products then they flooded Haiti with cheap subsidized rice the Haitian Farmers could not compete against that and went bankrupt [Music] game [Music] over on the market in pav we also found the notorious mud cookies in the beginning the saleswoman did not want us to film her she was somehow embarrassed okay okay the reason for this was that a couple of months before these mud cookies made it to the headlines in the world press it was reported everywhere that the Haitians were so poor that they eat dirt out of [Music] desperation eating Earth is actually nothing new and is done in many cultures mainly by women with Calcium deficiency but at that time in Haiti food prices were so high that people started to eat the cookies to stop their hunger CL [Music] for for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] in 2008 food prices drastically increased on the World Market since the people of Haiti spent most of their money on food higher prices do not mean that the people pay more this rather means that they eat less but one thing seemed to us paradoxical almost everybody has a cell phone also this is the only product advertised for in Haiti digel and voila [Applause] digel despite the poverty the telecommunication business seem to Boom cell phones in Haiti are very cheap and you can get them anywhere pool people have the same needs as everyone else and they too want to participate in the technological progress noticed that the Haitians have a huge national pride simply because the Haitian slave did not receive their freedom as a gift from the whites they alone fought for it against Napoleon with this Haiti became the first black Republic in the world it is very depressing for the Haitians that their country is still so poor despite its impressing [Music] history for those who not possess a cell phone yet they're mobile Living phone sales but you have to accept that they can hear everything you say if you want to know about the secrets of this city you just have to talk to one of those [Music] guys it was pre- Carnival season in pig guav every evening the ra musician played on the [Music] streets the mood was damn contagious and people had fun as we wanted to join the group it started raining really heavily we had to seek shelter because of the camera but the people did not seem to mind the rain the party went on [Music] the next morning pav was as calm as usual no traces were left from the lavish party of the previous evening it was Sunday and the people went to church our time here had come to an end and we set off to Hash my grandmother was sad that we were leaving but we had to go we had a long trip ahead of us the journey was very pleasant in the beginning paved roads Blue Sky everything was fine but that didn't last long the landcape now look completely different somehow it looked like Mordor from Lord of the Rings Andre drove really fast until the car broke down now we had to stop here of all places we saw a cross on the side of the road it looked like a grave [Music] suddenly a un Convoy drove past us they realized that we were white and asked us if we needed a ride we said no we could not leave the car alone out there too bad we could have established contact with the Mina soldiers we tried to repair the front axis of the car but without success slowly it began to get dark many people think that it is nice to live on an island where the sun shines every day but the sun is not of much help when you have [Music] problems we didn't manage to get the car fixed so we had to move on with a broken axis on the montane roads still HH staying outside would have been too dangerous [Music] [Music] in h we met an old friend of mine Gilma Gilma showed us some communities close to Hesh actually this is the typical Haiti 34 of the people live in the countryside and practice subsistence agriculture this means they produce just enough to Feit themselves the space between the people here were poor too but the poverty look more beable and not so [Music] inhuman since I'm light skin people always mistook me for an American that really got me worked up after all I was traveling my own [Music] [Music] country is an agronomist and runs a small tree nursery in the region Haiti has a huge deforestation problem and therefore those three nurseries are urgently needed he told us how hard it is to get something growing here in the night before a few pigs had entered the nursery and had caused a lot of damage to the [Music] [Music] seedlings we realized that GMA was really passionate about his profession he talked and talked it was impossible to stop him he even went as far as fetching the farmer's cows to show us how the soil is worked [Music] properly during our stay in the countryside he took us into a cave it was pitch dark which is not perceptible from these pictures we made using a flash we had no pocket lamp so we had to burn small pieces of wood in order to see something suddenly a naked man appeared in front of us he was collecting something the cave was now full of smoke so we had to go up again the man followed us outside we saw that it was actually not entirely naked the man was a farmer who gathered bat guano deep down in the cave to use it as fertilizer he was lucky that he lived near the cave since most farmers in Haiti cannot afford fertilizers for their fields [Music] AG h [Music] [Music] in a big de [Music] yeah fore [Music] [Music] for fory [Music] the situation in Haiti is a vicious circle the lack of trees in this montane country leads to massive erosion as a result many farmers lose their crops and are forced to shop down more trees in order to make at least some [Music] money every day in hes there's a big Market Farmers from all over the area bring their products here and of course this includes the fresh charcoal [Music] [Music] [Music] everyday charal is purchased here gas is too expensive and electricity too rare one journalist called it ha's curse however it is a primary energy source of the country even bakeries and I can use [Music] sh electricity is rare in henh the streets are usually dark at night but not everywhere one street was always brightly lit a un office is situated here they can afford their own diesel generators [Music] Fabian and I wanted to see the base from the inside we simply marched through the gates the guards did not stop us since we were white they assumed that we were authorized to do so we were warmly welcomed by an Italian expert and got visit passes from him unfortunately he did not want to be filmed he was downright euphoric to meet Europeans since he felt abandoned and isolated in [Music] Hench back at home as PR waited for us G and his colleague shami had organized a farewell party for [Music] us there was food drinks and people were dancing and we even got some gifts [Music] the next day we drove back to Capia the streets were full of trucks carrying charcoal from the countryside to the city on the road again like a of chips we go down the highway we're the best of friends insisting that the world keep turning and away on the road again just can't wait to get on the road again a life I love is making music with my friend and I can't wait to get on the road again [Music] [Music] when we arrived in cap we got in touch with a un mission in the city the Italian guy in hen had given us a few names and phone numbers this opened some doors for us now [Music] [Music] the Chilean Marines took us on a patrol in cap everybody thought that we were accredited journalists of course we never denied that we were really lucky that the UN was having communication problems a highly ranked officer High handly gave us the right to film he wanted to go home and at that point he couldn't reach anybody in the headquarters who could verify our story [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] the goal of the UN mission was to stabilize the country and make it safer so that Democratic elections could be held many people were happy that the soldiers were there but not everyone shared this opinion IM [Music] the soldiers Patrol through cap every day we walk through the slam of Shai again two marines were assigned to protect us [Music] how them I'm a beautiful I with I want do them I do them [Music] we are military forces but of course there's civilians working in the UN that the people don't see okay there are some politicians that make decisions so we execute what they do what they order [Laughter] [Music] the people here is happy to have us I mean our our daily contact with the people they are happy to see the soldiers because they feel safe they always ask for more but uh it's so uh it's very difficult to do it in a such a short of period of time we took some souvenir pictures with the chian Marines before they drove us to the police station in Capia to un police officers were waiting for us there these men here areos a highly trained special unit of the Haitian police they're responsible for the security of the north Department this unit is feared by the Haitians because they're not squish at work [Music] DM demonstrated for us how things work in a checkpoint but we were more interested to see how the cooperation between the Haitian police and the UN advisers was working [Music] [Music] [Music] end there was a very relaxed atmosphere between the UN and ovs both groups seem to be happy with each [Music] other more more 3 [Music] 3 buos in capan have fewer than 20 men in their unit they have only one car but are responsible for the security of the whole north of Haiti [Music] had a few days later we had an appointment with the Coast Guard it is said that hate is a danger to the security of the region because drugs are smuggled from here to the United States a Canadian un police had proposed to us to go with him on a cocaine hunt the Coast Guard suspected that an illegal freighter was smuggling cocaine and they wanted to search [Music] it the cargo ship however had cast off early in the morning so I went out searching for [Applause] it unfortunately we could not find the freighter the Coast Guard had only a small boat that was also not the the Canadian told us that he would not step on such a boat back home way too risky the cocaine hunt turned into a sightseeing tour we went to the only tourist attraction in the country a beach called labadi Big cruise ships come here often tourists aren't even told that they are in Haiti the local workers are simply called leedan the beach is CAU enough and heavily guarded Haitians cannot swim here even if they were willing to pay however the Haitian States get $6 million rent per year we return from a little boat Excursion with empty hands no cocaine and no jet skiing on Le [Music] our time in Haiti was coming to an end now but before departing we wanted to learn more about the voodo religion clet arrang a meeting for us with a voodoo follower foron took us to a voodo priest nearby who allowed us to film his [Music] Temple for [Music] [Music] [Music] repres clush [Music] [Music] the biggest Hospital in the city L is only a few kilometers away p for [Music] [Music] for [Applause] say many rich countries help Haiti posters of the aid industry can be seen everywhere but what goes unnoticed to the world is a Cuban help since 1998 an invisible Army of Cuban doctors Works in Haiti they're quiet and efficient they train Haitian Physicians and work in the most remote regions in the country places where you cannot find any other doctors Castro said once the others are sending soldiers we are sending doctors [Music] good it was impossible for us to get an interview with the Cubans they were all afraid to speak in front of the camera because if they say something wrong that may have unpleasant consequences in Cuba each Cuban sent us to his next superiors in the end we went to the Cuban Embassy but even there we were told that the green light had to come directly from Havana but it never came this is the only footage that we are able to get from the doctors [Music] for let's gool nool in Haiti religions plays a major role a majority of Haitians practice Voodoo but at the same time they are also Catholics for the voodoo follower this is not a contradiction however not all Catholics believe in voodo but one thing is certain whether voodo Catholics or Protestants it doesn't matter in hated temples and churches are always full [Music] [Music] one morning we took part in a Protestant church service near our house these churches are strict enemies of the voodoo religion and with the support of the US they expand very rapidly in Haiti they are very conservative and sometimes [Music] [Music] intolerant might [Music] I was not allowed to participate in the service and had to stay behind the pastor had forbidden me to come closer because of my nose piercing for him I was probably a hopeless Punk who was certain to burn in hell later [Applause] Hallelujah on our last evening before our departure we got really lucky for funa in touch with us and ask if you would like to come along to a voodoo ceremony I had lived in this country for 18 years but I had never participated in this ceremony as they are often held in [Music] secrecy we were pleasantly surprised since we had expected something else at the beginning the ceremony looked like a party to us people were drumming singing dancing smoking and drinking [Music] there was a happy atmosphere and we enjoyed it a lot but quickly the fun became expensive the musician approached us and asked for money we wanted to stay so we paid a few hours later the voodoo priestess came in a mighty Spirit had taken possession of her body now the spirit is a la of agriculture and to feel more comfortable the laa was now changing his outfit and was dressed as a farmer the voodoo Spirits can take over the body of the Believers in this way one can directly speak to the spirits and ask for advice and help this woman here was not very happy about our presence she was a Haitian who lived in New York and had paid for the ceremony we had to ignore her glares the ceremony went on now vegetable were offered to the [Music] spirits the behavior of the Priestess her facial expressions and gestures were completely different than before she controlled the room and the people the voodoo priestess or the eventually approached us too and asked for money we paid we got kind of a blessing on the hand to this day I don't know exactly what it meant the r from New York was then placed into the center of the temple and leaned against a pillar this pillar is a link to the world of the spirits the ceremony was even more intense now [Music] a man came to us and told us that we have to pay thousand us to be allowed to continue filming we did not have the money so we left the ceremony we had to wait outside for Andre to pick us up this was our last night in Haiti the next day we drove to the airport in Dominican Republic our road trip was over [Music] oh oh [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] 18 needs love love to help people to promote life to change the situation of the poverty in the in this country we need money but before at the same time we need love ha needs love [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music]