Click to see PHOTOS OF DAY 5
Today we got up at 4 am, to catch the early morning in Port-au-Prince. It was pretty cool… Later in the morning, we visited the home of our chauffeur, the tent city of Champ de Mars, and the House of Hope Orphanage in Gressiers. It was a very long day, and in the heat, it was tiring. We filmed those three locations and are learning more and more every day about the ways people can help in Haiti.
On our first stop, we went to Armand’s (our chauffeur’s) house. He has three kids. His home was destroyed in the earthquake, after which he slept in the street for some time. He is now trying to rebuild a new home and needs sand, cement, paint, and the labour to finish it. The total cost for completing his home would be $500. In the meantime, he lives in a tent with three beds. His sons go to school and he pays for their education. Anderson, his 18 year-old son, is in grade 3, lives in a shed, and sleeps on a piece of folded carpet. The shed leaks when it rains. To us, it’s crazy to imagine our garden shed as an incredible ‘upgrade’ for Anderson. Anderson loves singing. He’s into reggae and loves Sean Paul.
Armand’s access to water will be shut off soon because he owes payments. He has a vehicle that he would like to fix but can’t because it would cost $1500 that he doesn’t have. Armand has a job and earns money, and is slowly dealing with the realities of life that so many around the world deal with… making the sacrifices to improve our conditions.
Armand then drove us to the tent city of Champ de Mars. We walked inside the city with our cameras to film and interview people. The experience was a little frightening. Things can get out of hand very fast in any situation like this and we had to be careful. We found a man who agreed to allow us to interview him and film inside his tent. We got his name on camera, but we haven’t reviewed the recording yet. While we interviewed there was lots of activity around us, so we were a little distracted and will later see how the interview turns.
After Champs de Mars, we drove to Gressier, a 20km ride from Port-au-Prince, on the coast. We finally saw the sea and also caught some cool street art (we hadn’t seen ANY) along the way at the Port-au-Prince cemetary! We toured the House of Hope and interviewed the owner, Alice. Alice was great at answering all our questions and helping us better understand the orphanage, its projects, and their next steps: getting 50 beds and mattresses into the new girls dorm.
We then drove home, went for a swim, posted, ate and went to sleep, after the rah rahs moved around (there’s lots of street parties now because it’s the Easter holiday). A rah rah (Ra Ra, Ra-Ra, has different spellings) is a spontaneous street party with music that just moves around the neighbourhood. Check it out in the video below.
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