Espwa Fe Viv* : Hope Makes Us Live
An independent documentary film about grassroots reforestation and democracy in Haïti…

This is a true story, set in Haiti—former gateway of slavery in the “New World,” home of the first successful slave revolt in history, the second country in the Western Hemisphere, and the first black republic. Haiti: her trees a memory, her once legendary topsoil washed to the sea, left to bake under an unrelenting Caribbean sun.

Haiti has been forgotten by most of the world. It is considered by experts as one of the most impoverished and ecologically devastated countries in the world. Paradoxically, Haiti sits only 200 miles off the coast of the richest country in the Western Hemisphere. With no trees to hold the soil, a mountainous country (Haiti means “mountains”) seems doomed. The brown ring in the ocean surrounding the island nation, visible from aircraft, is testament to the extensive soil loss.

With next to nothing in the way of export potential, over 2/3rds of the population relies on sustenance farming. Haitians are now left to grow their food in what is more like sand than soil. A country of over 9 million humans beings, on a landmass the size of the state of Maryland, with no topsoil for its largely agrarian peasant population has contributed to its rather unfortunate title of poorest country in the Western hemisphere. It is estimated that 80 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, and 50 percent live in abject poverty.

Haiti has long been the poster-child for worst-case environmental scenarios—a modern-day Easter Island. And yet, in Haiti we are seeing some of the poorest people in the world respond to the global environmental crisis even while the world's most affluent populations are still hesitating to take action. Haitians are involved in an ecological movement through democratic processes, the likes of which the world has rarely seen.

Espwa Fe Viv : Hope Makes Us Live takes us on an amazing journey, deep into the heart of Haiti and the Haitian people. From the depths of despair and against all odds, a new hope is rising in Haiti. This film will change the way you view yourself, your fellow human beings, and the world you live in.

a b o u t | s y n o p s i s | c o n t a c t | l i n k s

*Haitian Proverb