We put together a short form documentary about one persons struggle in dealing with the earthquake aftermath In Haiti. We hope this is a departure from the most of the “shocking” video we have shot. It is our hope that this humanizes the events, and allows the viewer to identify with the people who are living through this disaster.
This is footage from 72 hours after the quake. I had a difficult time editing the crying child. In retrospect, I wish I would have done more to comfort him. But at the time, I wasn’t touching injured folks because I had no gloves, and I couldn’t bring myself to tell him it would be all right, because I knew that it was a lie.
I could not help these people while I was on the ground. I am not a surgeon or an aid worker. I had no supplies, and no antibiotics. However, I am asking that the people that can help, those that can directly help these people, to do so. Please. Do not wait. Do not stop for red tape. Get in there and help NOW.
I wrestled with how much of this particular footage I should show. I believe that I achieved a good balance here, showing enough to let folks know that Haiti needs help, but being respectful to the victims and the audience by refraining from just showing “shock footage”
My trip to the morgue was just more than seeing dead bodies. I saw things there that no human being should ever have to see. It is hard to explain, I will just let the video do the talking
I am busy Editing and uploading the video I captured in Haiti.
In Haiti, Patrick is stunned by my question “Is there anything you want to tell the world?” The Answer seems obvious to him.
I am not quite sure where I was when I shot the above footage. I believe it may have been Petionville. Many people were showing me their wounds, and asking what they could do to fix them. Many wounds were beyond first responder ability. Most people had horrible infections that needed to be treated by a medical professional. I could see that some people were going to need amputations. I would say “You need to wash that out, keep it clean, and see a doctor as soon as possible”, But as soon as the words left my mouth, I knew how stupid they were. These particular people had one bucket of water between 50 - 60 individuals, and obviously there were no doctors.
One elderly gentlemen asked me to look at his wounds, and he had infected scrapes on his skull, and some lacerations on his arm, He had managed to bandage his arm, and used an orange skin poultice. I asked him how long the orange skin had been on there, he said two days. I told him to remove it immediately as the fruit skin had probably already started to mold and rot. I let him know that the citrus juice may be good for for cleaning out his wound initially, but using a fruit skin paultice would only cause infection quicker.
I had no surgical gloves, so I could not touch any badly injured people. I felt bad that I could not do more. However, I am not an EMT or doctor, I had no supplies. Just the shirt on my back and my camera. I did not even have water for myself at this point. I wish I could have put down my camera, and helped these people directly, but I knew the only thing I could do was document the situation, and show people of the world in the hopes that it would inspire them to send help.
On Wednesday night / Thursday morning I was in Haiti. (48 hours after the quake.) Seeing as there was no logistically feasible way to round up a team from the Twin Cities and get them to Haiti, we decided that we would go in with a video camera, and get footage that would inspire the world to help.
The short story is that I got in to the Dominican Republic, made my way to Haiti, hooked up with a local family who wanted to help me in my task, and then we spent Thursday going to the worst possible disaster areas in Port Au Prince.
After loading up on a days worth of footage, I managed to leave Haiti in one piece. I am currently scrambling to get all my footage edited and uploaded for the world to see. It is slow going, but I am currently doing my best to get the footage out there. I promised many Haitians that I would relay everything that I witnessed to the world.
I have three videos done so far that can be seen here. Please be aware that the videos do contain graphic content. It is not suitable for children or other sensitive individuals.