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

Director / producer Nadine Pequeneza wants her upcoming documentary series on the Red Cross in Haiti to help viewers understand the complexities of humanitarian relief. Featuring exclusive footage from Inside Disaster, coming in Fall 2010:

Inside Disaster is directed by Nadine Pequeneza, and will be released in Fall 2010.

J.P. is the leader of the IFRC Field Assessment and Coordination Team in Haiti. He first worked for the Red Cross as a volunteer, helping to provide relief to people displaced by floods in his hometown of Marie-Bose, Quebec. Nineteen years later he is leading the largest single-country response in the Red Cross’ history. JP led the Red Cross’ earthquake response in Peru in 2007, and managed their hurricane response in Haiti in 2008 – but going into Haiti he knows this mission is different. A major disaster, in a capital city, in one of the poorest countries in the world.

The scale of the disaster and the population’s overwhelming need moves him and his team to call in 21 Emergency Response Units (ERUs) in the first two weeks of the disaster. He and his team immediately set priorities: health, then water, then relief, then food, then shelter.

As the situation on the ground changes, so do priorities. JP must adapt to constantly shifting realities, as displaced Haitians migrate, food insecurity grows, and the rainy season threatens hundreds of thousands of Haitians left homeless by the earthquake.

* * *

Steve McAndrew
Red Cross FACT Relief team

Over the past decade, Steve McAndrew has responded to close to 50 disasters around the world. He arrives in Haiti on day 3 of the disaster to lead the Red Cross’ global relief distributions. His emergency response team is among the first relief workers to start distributing blankets, tarps, and cooking sets, but their supplies are limited to pre-positioned stock – goods held in country by the Haitian Red Cross.

In the first weeks of the Red Cross operation, getting enough supplies to distribute is the biggest challenge. After being closed for two days after the earthquake, the Port-au-Prince airport re-opens, but with so many NGOs responding to the disaster the Red Cross is competing for landing slots with over 100 agencies. Military food drops and the use of armed security in the first days of the response have set a disorderly tone for distributions, which make it difficult for organizations like the Red Cross to operate.

Committed to providing aid without guns, Steve’s team organizes local committees to help assess and distribute relief. Getting their message and goods across to the million plus Haitians in need is never easy.

* * *

Gennike Mayers
FACT Information Officer

Haiti is Gennike’s first time responding to a natural disaster. As an information officer with the Red Cross national society in Trinidad, her day-to-day work deals with number and statistics; in Haiti, she’s seeing the human face of disaster for the first time.

As the FACT team’s information officer, Gennike’s job is to report on what’s happening in the field, so that donors can get the Red Cross perspective on the relief operation, and understand the priorities and challenges. On day 2 of the disaster, her first story is reporting on how the Haitian Red Cross is coping with the thousands injured in the earthquake. In a makeshift clinic, set up in the car park of a police station, Gennike is moved to try to help a pregnant woman who will die if she doesn’t receive medical treatment. Through out her mission Gennike comes face to face with people who need her assistance, forcing her to come to terms with not only her own limitations to provide help, but also the limitations of even large organizations like the Red Cross.

* * *

Ian Heigh
Red Cross FACT ERU Logistics Coordinator

Ian Heigh leads the logistics Emergency Response Unit, the most critical component of the Red Cross mission in the early days of disaster. His job is to get specialized teams, life-saving equipment and relief supplies into the field — but the Haiti earthquake has a record number of complicating factors. The scale of the disaster, the number of people affected, a weak pre-existing infrastructure, and the location of the earthquake – an overcrowded capital city — makes Haiti one of the most challenging missions in Ian’s 20-year career.

His team must move tens of thousands of tons of supplies through a damaged airport, a destroyed port, and a city in ruins. Within two weeks, the Red Cross’ Haiti operation becomes the largest disaster response the organization has ever run in a single country. Twenty-one Emergency Response Units (ERUs) supplying healthcare, water, sanitation, relief and shelter are deployed to the field. With more than half of P-A-P flattened, Ian is also tasked with finding land and warehouses for a rapidly expanding operation.

* * *

Hossam Elsharkawi
Red Cross FACT Emergency Field Hospital Coordinator

At age 4, Hossam Elsharkawi was medevaced out of war-torn Gaza by the Red Cross. As soon as he was old enough, he began volunteering in disaster zones.

A public health specialist, Hossam is in charge of establishing the Red Cross’ rapid deployment field hospital, an Emergency Response Unit (ERU) which he helped develop. It’s designed for easy transport and quick assembly – plug and play – and the Haiti earthquake is its first deployment. Hossam and his medical team are on the ground just four days after the quake, but logistical problems delay surgery. A damaged airport, blocked roads and downed communications are the recurring challenges in the early days of the operation.

With 20 years experience responding to some of the world’s worst disasters in over 30 countries, Hossam becomes the point person for organizing the dozen NGOs that set up around the general hospital in downtown Port-au-Prince.

* * *

Louken Plumiose
Volunteer Paramedic

Louken Plumiose is a volunteer paramedic without any formal medical training in a camp called Juvenat. He is a natural healer who uses his rudimentary first-aid training to open a clinic. Starting with only gauze and a few aspirin and with the help of the Nicaraguan military he builds a first-class clinic for the community in his camp.

Louken’s dream is to win a scholarship to a medical school in Florida; it’s a dream he is avidly pursuing. His story is uplifting and inspirational.

* * *

Madame Magalee Langlee
Haitian Entrepreneur

Madame Magalee Langlee is a 37-year-old, middle class entrepreneur who lost four of her five children, her business and her house in the earthquake. She lives on the street next to her destroyed home with her 11-year-old son, and her deeply depressed husband. Weeks go by and Magalee’s neighbourhood of Car Feuille, in the hills surrounding Port-au-Prince, receives very little assistance. A water truck comes regularly, but food is scarce for those who don’t have money. Magalee must rely on the goodwill of her neighbours to eat. She and her remaining family sleep on pieces of cardboard on the street in the open air. There is no privacy to wash or go to the bathroom.

Magalee is a strong woman, who built a thriving electronics business with the help of her family, but her resolve seems to have died along with her children. She says she doesn’t have the strength to start over. For Magalee just staying alive is a daily battle.

* * *

Marcel
Haitian Mechanic

Marcel can fix anything. He’s a mechanic by trade and a survivor at heart. None of Marcel’s family died in the earthquake, but he lost his home. Refusing to dwell on the past, Marcel immediately builds a shelter made of wood and sheet metal for he and his family in Champ de Mars; a 35,000-person camp opposite the destroyed National Palace.

To feed his family Marcel finds work fixing motorbikes and cars; he has never been dependent on aid and doesn’t want to start now. He is the leader of his large extended family: a wife, a son, eight siblings, and his mother. They all look to Marcel for answers, especially his mentally challenged brother, Romain. Romain dreams about going to the United States because he loves Obama and sees no future in Haiti. It is up to Marcel to balance the hopes and dreams of not only the loved ones around him, but himself.

Weeks after the earthquake the situation in Haiti remains dire, and Marcel is worried for his own future and the future of his country.

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 filming Marcel and Romain’s quad-bike tour of a “post-apocalyptic” Port-au-Prince. 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.

Port-au-Prince – Last Friday I finally went to Malpasse to find out what made it a preferable location to buy certain products . Most people, instead of buying at local Haitian markets, choose to shop in Malpasse even though both locations offer 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 continued expanding since 2007.

When I arrived in Croix-des-Bouquets, I was expecting to see an abundance of trade – 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. This was an interesting reality that I did not expect.

The constant and overwhelming sales pitch, “Mirando, Mirando Mamita, mirando papi”, became very familiar to me only after a few minutes. 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 negotiate a deal: the buyer touches the desired product and with their fingers shows 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 into my camera’s field of vision. My attention was so concentrated on that woman I did not notice the soldier until 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 something to the effect of “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 resolving what I thought to be a simple 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 earlier this year.

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.