A Fool In Haiti

On March 18th 2010, whilst staying in a peristyle called Temp Chango Chawa in a town called Cayes Jacmel, we were visited by Manbo Mirielle AIN, A woman born in France who had worked at the foreign embassy in Haiti until she discovered Vodou. I had the fortunate pleasure of being able to interview her where we spoke very openly about Haiti, Vodou, the earthquake and her life as a Manbo (an initiated priestess of Vodou). Watch the interview and listen to her fascinating story.

If you are ever wondering who to make a donation to and how to help the situation in Haiti, look no further than Manbo Mirielle: an amazing community member who provides food, shelter, jobs and spiritual solace for many many Haitians. The website for the peristyle she started is here: Yagen Tanwe. Please contribute if you can

Updated to add: She speaks French from 19 minutes in, so if you are a French speaker you may want to skip straight to 19:00. The translation from the French is in the comments below

One year today since the earthquake in Haiti that triggered my journey out there. I haven’t got time to write up all my thoughts and feelings on this, so instead I point you to a post over at The Wild Hunt who have the latest news and sum things up succinctly.

I filmed the last 5 minutes of our journey from Cayes-Jacmel to the new Orphanage Location in Oban, a village with 1004 residents about 10 miles outside Jacmel in Haiti. That’s me holding the camera and Manbo Paula (creator of the Danthor Foundation) on the other Motorcycle. The orphanage building is actually a disused night club (hence the amazing decor) that has been made available for the use of the Danthor Foundation.

We’re actually going to have to raise a lot of awareness to take the Orphanage to the next level and make it functional.

More pics and videos of the Orphanage to follow