Haiti: The Disaster Before the Earthquake

In December of 2009, less than four weeks before the powerful earthquake destroyed Port-au-Prince, the San Damiano Foundation spent 8 days filming in the capital city, with a special focus on the massive slum of Cite Soleil, where more than a quarter of a million people live in unthinkable squalor and deprivation. No running water, no electricity, no sewers...nothing but endless misery. Even after filming in dreadful slums in India, Africa and South America, Cite Soleil shocked us. Besides intense poverty, the slum is riddled with violence. Death and disease are in the air. And that was before the tragic earthquake. The film we are making is about the necessity of compassion. We will return to Haiti as soon as the current recovery operation stabilizes.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• haiti
• cite
• soleil
• earthquake
• compassion
• aid

[DolcevoltoPM]

Please let's love each other .

Lord have Mercy on us, we are all guilty.

[shoofoolatte]

I was in Cite Soliel in 1992, a very dense, dark, and dangerous place. I remember the energy and noise that seemed to encircle us, as we made our way down a few of the streets and alleyways. For us, it was a tourist attraction of sorts - something we have never before seen or been a part of. We held on to each other. Being this close to this kind of poverty is powerful. It reaches deep into your soul. You can't turn away your eyes - you have to look.

[toptantan]

fuck you SanDamianoFilms you only show negatif part of haiti i was there

[hotdogloco12345]

to think everyday in the common united states household you hear

Child: Can I have some soda or juice?

Mother: We ran out, youll have to drink water until i get paid

Hati household

Child: Can I have some water?

Mother: We dont have any, ill be back i have to get some.

[cats4eyes]

@cruxan007 you are right, garbage all over port au prince. that's after the earthquake. haiti was never like that before. it was a beautiful country trust me. i lived there my childhood, and i miss it. hospitals gone, my childhood school gone, hotels gone, 90 percent of haiti gone.

[ELUSIVE2006]

DON'T GIVE A PENNY FOLKS! Can't you see this is a total waste of money? These people are hopeless

[cruxan007]

@GOBADONG stop breeding like flies..

[cruxan007]

@cats4eyes not to many.. take a google earth look see of port au prince. millions of tons of rubble still remain in the city with no garbage and sewage collection.

[cruxan007]

@MissLGourgue no not hell,, but dam close.!! this whole world will come to look like that at the rate we humans are overpopulating...the earths resources are finite. cram 10 million people on 10 thousand stripped square miles and what do you have?? >>> haiti, a role model for whats to come.. god did not say we can rape the planet bare.. we shall suffer the consequences of our own creation get ready for armageddon..

[kiara282]

@MissLGourgue it doesn't matter where there is poverty as long as people are starving and in pain, can't get clean, then it should be stopped. If you are so wealthy why don't u step up?

[therealestmc85]

this is not all haiti. this is just a small part with a lot of people living in it. the way you portray haiti in this video is really bad.