A message from Haiti

 I haven't mentioned it often here - it was in my previous life, pre-2009 - but in 2008 I travelled to Haiti. I was a freelance correspondent for different French media based in Miami, Florida, and Port-au-Prince is only 90 minutes away from the city by plane.

Moreover, a few years before then, I had worked with a unique filmmaker, Mr Raoul Peck, and Raoul is from Haiti. Indeed, I did arrive in Miami thanks to his advice, and covered the 2008 American election from a Floridian / hispanic / Caribbean angle.

Anyway, as most people know, Haiti has throughout its incredible history survived many disasters and turmoils. Hurricanes, dictatorship, torture, hunger, and in 2010 a devastating earthquake. But the island also suffers from another disaster, less expected: the mismanagement and political recuperation of the international aid.

Raoul Peck made his voice heard more than once on this issue and it's time to do it again.

If you want to help the Haitian people to recover from Hurricane Matthew, please wait and read this before your donate to any charity, to another U.N. agency. The UN and the aid system have harmed Haiti much more than necessary and it's time for its people to now decide for themselves how to choose what they need and what they want.

Here below is a message from Raoul. Please read and share.

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Sent by Raoul: 

A quelques kilometres de Port à Piment. (c: Damassin)

Dear family, friends and colleagues,

The situation on the ground in the Haiti's Southern peninsula is devastating. In its wake, hurricane Matthieu has left death and destruction that will affect the region for the unseen future. 

In the immediate short term survivors need our help.

I'm currently in Port au Prince and on my way to Port a Piment, my family's hometown, and received some distressing reports: destroyed homes, lack of clean drinking water and food, as well as adequate safe shelter.

In the long term, families will need seeds to replant their crops, tools and construction material to rebuild their homes.

We are looking into an immediate solution to get money in the hands of families so they can make their own decisions and help themselves by purchasing what they need locally from Haitian vendors and suppliers instead of flooding their town with “free” supplies from outside, which would drown their local economy even further.

For now and until the central government is able to develop its own plan, we need as citizen to do whatever we can to help. 

We would like to establish a fund from which the people of Port à Piment (and around) can profit.

These funds will be managed by a non-partisan, non-profit elected council adivising the city of Port a Piment: Le Conseil des Sages (The Council of the wise).

Their names and profession:

Phedo Lubin (Engineer)

Mme Gina Bonne Anney Regis (Teacher, Photographer)

M. Rody Charles (Minister)

M. Clarel Hyppolite (Teacher)

Mme Béranger Gentil (Businesswoman)

M. Dary Borgelas (Notary Public)

M. Aguillnaire (School Superintendent)

The council is helping the mayor and all other entities in their task and it maintains good relations with the different communities. They are best suited to determine how to triage the town’s emergency needs with local officials. They will also ensure appropriate financial management and accounting of the funds, as well as provide regular updates and progress.

 I would like to ask you to contribute with what you can. No amount is too small.

Thank you for your generosity.

Raoul Peck

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A plateform will be set up via Indiegogo soon.

Watch this space.

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More on the situation on the ground in Haiti: 

http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/one-week-on-from-hurricane-matthew-the-death-toll-in-haiti-tops-1-000-1.2823743

One week on from Hurricane Matthew the death toll in Haiti tops 1,000

A cloak of havoc and ruin has descended across the country, most particularly in the south, which bore the brunt of the hurricane

Raoul Peck's column, in French, in Le Monde:

http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2016/10/08/haiti-apres-l-ouragan-matthew-je-vois-surtout-un-pays-affaibli-delaisse-ignore-estime-raoul-peck_5010509_3244.html

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More on Raoul Peck's film here: http://velvet-film.com

Raoul Peck (born 1953, Port-au-Prince, Haiti) is a Haitian filmmaker, of both documentary and feature films, and a political activist. Briefly, from March 1996 to September 1997, he was also Haiti's Minister of Culture.

He is notably known for Quelques jours en avril (HBO, 2005) shot in Rwanda about the genocide, Lumumba: La mort du prophète (1990) and Lumumba (2000), about DR Congo's independence.

He lives between Paris, Miami and Port-à-Piment and currently president the French school of cinema, la FEMIS.

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Raoul Peck’s complex body of work includes films “The Man by the Shore” (Competition Cannes 1993); “Lumumba” (Director’s Fortnight, Cannes 2000, also bought and aired by HBO); He directed and produced “Sometimes in April” for HBO (Berlinale 2005); “Moloch Tropical” (Toronto 2009, Berlin 2010); and his latest film “Murder in Pacot” (Toronto 2014, Berlin 2015).

His documentaries include “Lumumba, Death of a Prophet” (1990); “Desounen” (1994, BBC); “Fatal Assistance” (Berlinale, Hot Docs 2013) supported by the Sundance Institute and BritdocFoundation (UK), broadcasted on major TV channels (Canal+, ARTE, etc.)

He served as jury member at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, is presently chairman of the National French film school La Femis, and is the subject of numerous retrospectives worldwide. In 2001, the Human Rights Watch Organization awarded him with the Irene Diamond Lifetime Achievement Award.

He recently completed shooting his latest feature film, “The Young Karl Marx”, a European coproduction, shot in Germany and Belgium (produced by Velvet Film, in coproduction with Agat Films).

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In 2013, Raoul Peck also made a film about the problems created by the vicious circle of the "aid" manipulation in Haiti:

Trailer "Fatal Assistance", by Raoul Peck - Trailer: 

Award-winning Haitian born filmmaker Raoul Peck takes us on a 2-year journey inside the challenging, contradictory and colossal rebuilding efforts in post-earthquake Haiti.

Through its provocative and radical point of view, the film offers a devastating indictment of the international community's post-disaster idealism. While noting that a major portion of the money pledged was never disbursed, nor made it into the actual reconstruction.

A documentary film by Raoul Peck
France / Haiti / USA / Belgium - 2013 - Documentary - 1h40mn