Last Friday I finally to Malpasse to find out what made it preferable for some to buy their products there instead of at local Haitian markets that sell the same products.

I woke up early in the morning, got prepared and then called a motorcylists to take me where the mini-bus departs to Croix-des-Bouquets. Arriving at twenty-three past seven, I waited another fifty minutes for the mini-bus to transport fourteen people, including the driver, to Croix-des-Bouquets. Only  three of the passengers, including me, were men.

Approximately forty minutes later the driver finally started moving. On the way, we saw different landscapes, from a green garden, to no man’s land, to Lake Azuei - a lake that has kept  expanding since 2007.

When I arrived in Croix-des-Bouquets, I was expecting to see lots of trading – whether it would be Dominican people buying Haitians products, or vice versa. There were many people representing the two nations but the Haitian merchants were selling Dominican products to Haitian people. I was hit by this reality, which was not what I expect.

Within several minutes of arriving their sales pitch, “Mirando, Mirando Mamita, mirando papi”, started to become familiar to me, as I had heard it so many times. This is how the merchants grab your attention to look for what you need among their products. I started to look from side to side to find what made it preferable for Haitian people to travel one hour or more to buy similar products that could be found along streets and sidewalks closer to home.  Most of the Haitian people shopping in this market didn’t speak Spanish, and most of the Dominican merchants didn’t speak Creole. You should see how do they deal: the buyer touches the desired product and with their fingers show how many products they want to buy.   The merchant then displays on a calculator the cost of the product. If buyer wants to bargain, they use the calculator to show their offer.

I walked around some more to see what else was going on around the market. My eyes caught a woman carrying a large load of toilet paper over her head. It was amazing! I definitely wanted to have that picture to include in my story.  While trying to take that picture a Dominican soldier walked in the field. My attention was so concentrated on that woman I did not notice the soldier in the field after my second shot. Suddenly I saw somebody look my way as if I had done something I shouldn’t have. I then realized it was a soldier and he said some like  “dame la camera”. Even before I answered the soldier, he said “ven” and then started walking away with my camera.  I had to follow him. He walked to a kind of tent with  a sheet-iron roof on four poles and no walls. Under the tent were several uniformed soldiers with some kind of distinction on their arms or their chests. They all looked Dominican. On the other side was a woman wearing a sleeveless t-shirt, long skirt, and sandals. Her badge, with the word ‘official’ written on it, kept bouncing on its tightly tied chain around her neck. Four armed men in plain clothes were also there under the tent; two of them were Haitian. When saw them, I felt more confident because I knew they would make it easier for me to quickly solve the misunderstanding. I was wrong; they made it worse.  They said I must go to jail for showing lack of respect to the Dominican.   The soldier who took me there said he already contacted  his Major, therefore, it was not his responsibility to decide anything now and we would have to wait for the Major to come. The Major came four hours later; he didn’t look happy. They showed him the pictures on my camera.  The Major looked at me and said something that sounded like “preso” or “priso”.  I could not figure out what the Major meant so I asked the soldier and he said in creole that I was going to jail. At that moment  I thought I better inform my superiors before they decided to take all of my gear away.  A few minutes later my boss asked me for a number on where to call. I told the Major and soldiers and they all started saying “no hablo ingles”. The Major’s  decision was to let me go free, without my camera.   I said that would be no problem but asked if they could provide me with a paper that said why my camera had been confiscated, including a valid phone number to call for any follow-ups. He thought about it for a second and then said he would give the camera back but not the memory; then he said let’s just erase the pictures and keep the memory in the camera. I showed him how to erase the pictures. The Major erased all the pictures with the Dominican flag in and the two pictures with the soldier.   Despite the fact they held me for hours, I was never mistreated. I remained calm until they finally gave me my camera back.  The soldier showed me to the gate and said if I ever return to the Dominican I can meet him there.

The key to success in this kind of  situation is to remain cool, calm, and wise at all times.  Knowing your rights, faults, and duties will never let you down when you’re not wrong. Even though you may be wrong sometimes this behaviour can get you out of trouble faster than being nervous and disrespectful.

Port-au-Prince student, fixer and researcher Emmanuel Midi blogs weekly for Inside Disaster from Haiti. You can learn more about him in these blog posts, connect with him on Facebook or through his business, Haiti Fixers.

Emmanuel volunteers with the youth organization Fonds D’Actions pour le Développement (FAD), profiled by Nicolas Jolliet last month.

Port-au-Prince – There are hundreds of Fresco sellers in Port-au-Prince, but none like Dieuve Pierre. The Fresco’s slushy mix of syrup and ice is a favourite of all Haitians, from beggars on the streets to future presidents (as no one ever knows who the next president will be). But buying a Fresco from Mr. Dieuve’s boat-shaped mobile shop is a totally unique experience.

For Mr. Dieuve, selling Fresco is not about the money: it’s about rules and manners. The first thing you must do to order from Mr. Dieuve is to be very polite. You start by greeting him, then you chose your flavour of syrup (lime, berry, orange or plain), and pick up the telephone corresponding to the desired color to make your choice.

There’s only one way to place your order with at the “Katalina” shop. The customer must say “C’est mon Fresco qui se prepare” into the telephone, in French, where it is “magically” relayed to Mr. Dieuve’s home-made helmet. There is never any misunderstanding about your choice because you hold the coloured phone from the time the Fresco preparation starts, till it ends.

Children love this process, and will always ask their parents to buy them some Fresco, both because of the heat and because it a sweetened beverage. Mr. Dieuve will sometimes reproach the parents of children who try to order in Creole, telling them that French is Haiti’s second official language, and the children must learn it. Furthermore, every Fresco customer must order for themselves — parents only have the right to pick up the phone for the youngest kids. According to Mr. Dieuve, kids have to be prepared for their future — they need to learn not only from school, but also from life itself.

When you’re running a business, usually one of your goal is to have as many customers as possible, and have some customers buying several items. But at Mr. Dieuve’s shop, there’s an iron rule: one Katalina, per person, per day. It doesn’t matter if the customer is a kid, a grown up, a foreigner, or a president; he wants to have enough for everyone.

For Mr. Dieuve, the rules matter — both at the Katalina, and in life.

Dieuve Pierre has extensive knowledge in masonry, carpentry and plumbing, and built his Katalina shop by hand. This beautiful work is not only his creation, but according to him, also a gift from God. The proof? He has been pushing his wheeled ship around Port-au-Prince for twenty-five years, and no one has ever make another one like his.

However, Mr. Dieuve would be very happy if the Haitian Minister of Culture would provide other Fresco sellers with models like his. He also hopes for more sanitary conditions to sell his Fresco in, so he’d have less worries about dust and flies.

I was lucky enough to have my first Katalina Fresco today, and was converted to the cause: aside from Fresco, beautiful mobile shops like this could be used to sell candy, fruits, bread and everything usually sold along the streets. It would create jobs, improve sanitation, and support tourism. Mr. Dieuve’s Katalina shop is an example of Haitian ingenuity that should make all of us proud.

Port-au-Prince student, fixer and researcher Emmanuel Midi blogs weekly for Inside Disaster from Haiti. You can learn more about him in these blog posts, connect with him on Facebook or through his business, Haiti Fixers.

Emmanuel volunteers with the youth organization Fonds D’Actions pour le Développement (FAD), profiled by Nicolas Jolliet last month.

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Every World Cup year, the Haitian people become divided into two big, antagonistic groups of football fans: Brazilians and Argentineans. Other countries’ teams have fans as well, but not even a fraction of the two football powerhouses, our continental neighbours.

As soon as the location of this year’s World Cup was officially announced, the effects of the event began to be felt in Haiti. From street paintings to stores, it seemed like every advertisement was about football. Many generator-powered TV stands have been built across the city, just in case the electricity drops or cuts out during a match.

Next, the two teams started distinguishing their street blocks by flags and paintings. But here is something to keep in mind: next to any Argentinean or Brazilian flag there is a Haitian one.  The fans’ love for those teams would be swept aside if Haiti made a return to the World Cup – but that hasn’t happened since 1974.

This year in Port-au-Prince, the heated Brazil-Argentina rivalry has already killed one Haitian. Last Friday Romain Acelas, a 35 year-old Argentina fan, dropped dead of a heart attack on the street while celebrating the elimination of Brazil at the hands of Holland.

He died around 10h after the football game. My first photo of the scene was taken at 12: 25, and it took until after 4pm for the ambulance to come and get him out of his suffering after death. The family managed to flag down two ambulances, but they insisted they didn’t have the right to move him. Since he died on the streets, his body is a state responsibility.

The crowds gathered, the media arrived, and for more than six hours this young man stayed there, covered with a cloth under hot sun, waiting for an ambulance to come and pick his corpse up.

The next morning, the Argentina-Brazil rivalry exploded after Argentina was also eliminated, by Germany 4-0. The Brazilian fans ran the streets as if in a demonstration, waving leaves, flags and T-shirts.

Now that both teams have been eliminated, the interest in the rest of the World Cup has begun to wane. Both of the big groups have declared the World Cup “over”, and the stands are empty even during matches. There’s no more cheering in the streets for the goals.

For Haiti, the wait for the next World Cup has already begun.

Port-au-Prince student, fixer and researcher Emmanuel Midi blogs weekly for Inside Disaster from Haiti. You can learn more about him in these blog posts, connect with him on Facebook or through his business, Haiti Fixers.

Emmanuel volunteers with the youth organization Fonds D’Actions pour le Développement (FAD), profiled by Nicolas Jolliet last month.

Port-au-Prince -Last weekend I traveled to Terre-Neuve. My main objective was to meet my grandmother and find out the truth about several rumours. The area is not totally covered by the telephone network, even though lots of people own cell phones back there, and are willing to buy more.

Terre-Neuve is a place I knew quite well before the quake, as I went to school there for three years.  I remember it as cool quiet place with lots of agriculture. I was curious to see how things had changed since the quake, and looking forward to a break from the dust and noise of Port-au-Prince.

As I drove on the road to that place, at first it felt like there was no life at all on this rocky and sandy road behind these scarcely forested mountains. Approaching the place, several parts of the road had been enhanced long ago by some NGOs. The technique they used for these parts of the road is quite simple; the NGOs provided tools like shovels, wheelbarrows, pickaxes and then people came to work. Firstly, they have their road done. Secondly, they receive some food like wheat, oil, beans and even some money.

Suddenly the green forest I discovered surprised me a lot.

This is was exactly a place to look for a break. I enjoyed that natural breeze I felt under these trees, and the free water freshly taken from sources or rivers depending on its usage. I’ve found that the nature in the area is diminishing, which is nothing strange, considering this environment is being exploited, and never has had a real environmental evaluation for its protection.

It is a place where environmentalists and agronomists are needed.  I urge this, as people can’t grow enough stuff to sustain themselves yearly, so they keep on taking trees down in order to make charcoal. The only fertilizer they are using, and have been using over and over, is manure.

On my way back I talked to one of my former teachers. He told me that he had been obliged to organize several meetings with the parents of his students before they could agree about sending their kids back to school.  The earthquake left a certain kind of fear of buildings for the kids, who react as soon as they hear a buzzing sound. I felt pride in him for making a living on his own; the same pride I feel when talking to one of my grandparents.

Here’s a fact to underline: governments seem to be no longer needed all around Haiti now, maybe for other reasons, but not for any distribution. There seems to be more NGOs present than the governments are and the NGOs may have done more for them over there. The people would prefer to receive their help, no matter what it is, directly from the NGOs. Back in the days, NGOs seemed to donate a lot, from bridges to roads to students feeding. Now it seems like all the attention is mostly concentrated on Port-au-Prince and its closest areas.

Port-au-Prince student, fixer and researcher Emmanuel Midi blogs weekly for Inside Disaster from Haiti. You can learn more about him in these blog posts, connect with him on Facebook or through his business, Haiti Fixers.

Emmanuel volunteers with the youth organization Fonds D’Actions pour le Développement (FAD), profiled by Nicolas Jolliet last month.

Toronto - A behind-the-scenes look at our upcoming documentary series about the Red Cross relief effort in Haiti, Inside Disaster.

In this video, Inside Disaster Location Sound Recordist Simon Paine was confronted with a life-and-death situation during the crew’s documentary shoot:

Inside Disaster is directed by Nadine Pequeneza, and will be released in Fall 2010. You can learn more about the documentary crew here, or join our mailing list at right to receive updates on the production.

Toronto – A behind-the-scenes look at our upcoming documentary series about the Red Cross relief effort in Haiti, Inside Disaster.
Featuring exclusive footage from the documentary series Inside Disaster, coming in Fall 2010.

In this video Director and producer, Nadine Pequeneza, describes the complexities of successful aid distribution in Haiti:

Inside Disaster is directed by Nadine Pequeneza, and will be released in Fall 2010. You can learn more about the documentary crew here, or join our mailing list at right to receive updates on the production.

Toronto – A behind-the-scenes look at our upcoming documentary series about the Red Cross relief effort in Haiti, Inside Disaster.

Location Sound Recordist Simon Paine describes meeting Louken, a young Haitian Red Cross volunteer thrust into a leadership role after the earthquake:

Inside Disaster is directed by Nadine Pequeneza, and will be released in Fall 2010. You can learn more about the documentary crew here, or join our mailing list at right to receive updates on the production.

Toronto – A behind-the-scenes look at our upcoming documentary series about the Red Cross relief effort in Haiti, Inside Disaster.

Cinematographer/ field director Stefan Randstrom describes meeting Marcel and Romain, two brothers building a house in the Champs-de-Mars camp. Featuring exclusive footage from the documentary series Inside Disaster, coming in Fall 2010.

Inside Disaster is directed by Nadine Pequeneza, and will be released in Fall 2010. You can learn more about the documentary crew here, or join our mailing list at right to receive updates on the production.

Toronto – A behind-the-scenes look at our upcoming documentary series about the Red Cross relief effort in Haiti, Inside Disaster.

Director and Producer Nadine Pequeneza describes what her crew saw in Haiti’s camps in the month after the earthquake:

Inside Disaster is directed by Nadine Pequeneza, and will be released in Fall 2010. You can learn more about the documentary crew here, or join our mailing list at right to receive updates on the production.

TORONTO, June 4 /CNW/ – Five months after the disastrous earthquake, the Inside Disaster documentary crew returns to Haiti to continue filming. Donations, press attention and funds are diminishing and, with the hurricane season about to hit, tensions are running high – millions are still without proper shelter or care.

Haitians that are residing in camps are being encouraged to return to their homes but, with land rights causing a building gridlock and hurricane season looming, the country has a long way to go. The crew will cover breaking stories and reconnect with the earthquake survivors and humanitarian workers they followed during their month-long shoot immediately after the earthquake.

The Inside Disaster documentary series offers unprecedented access to the International Red Cross relief teams throughout their post-earthquake recovery efforts. The crew will be following the stories of both the victims and heroes that survived and responded to the quake.

“When a disaster first hits, media coverage is intense, but the news reports are short-lived. Humanitarian agencies remain years after a big disaster to help reconstruct a country. The obstacles they face are many and complex. Inside Disaster explores the issues surrounding disaster recovery, reconstruction and prevention.” – Nadine Pequeneza, Director.

The Inside Disaster website offers a rich resource of frequently-updated photos, blog posts, video and mini-documentaries from the front lines of post-earthquake Haiti.

Series director Nadine Pequeneza will be available for interviews from Port-au-Prince between June 6th and June 12th.

The series will air on TVO, Canal D, Access and SCN in 2011 and is being distributed by ITV Studios Global Entertainment, which has all rights to the series outside Canada. Produced in association with TVO, ITVS Global Entertainment, Canal D, ACCESS, SCN and ichannel, with the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the participation of the Canadian Television Fund.

PTV Productions Inc. is an established, diverse & innovative producer of documentaries, lifestyle and factual series. It is owned and operated by Andrea Nemtin and Ian Dunbar. PTV Productions works with broadcasters and co-producers in Canada and around the world, and owns a growing library of over 60 hours of award-winning and award-nominated documentaries and series.

For further information: or to schedule an interview please contact Lyndsey Westfall, lwestfall [at] ptvproductions.ca, (416) 531-0100 x233