The Adventures of Filming "Voices of Haiti" April 2011 - Steph Forster

It all started with a 4x4 trip over a few rivers to a little church on a mountain called the City of Light just outside Jacmel. Washing in the river & helping Tyler overcome his dehydration due to bout with food poisoning was just the tip of the ice berg. There was a few near death experiences for me in this little village such as nearly driving my 4x4 off of a cliff side at night and was rescued by a crew of local villagers  ( 20 + Haitians ) who literally lifted my truck out of mess...one villager gashed his hand open in the process but thanks to God nothing was damaged or I would have had a seven thousand dollar issue to deal with ( thats how much would be thrown onto the credit card back at the truck rental in PAP if it wasn't returned ).

My crew & I spent 4 days filming in this remote area but in the process we managed to get my Production Assistant Water Baptized which was certainly a highlight. Pastor Reginald & I baptized Mark in a pool of water at the base of a waterfall that is generally used for VooDoo & oddly enough there was a VooDoo Doll floating in the same pool we used to baptize him....a bit interesting to say the least...I guess you could say God has a sense of humour.

My Website for this project ( www.stephprojecthaiti.com ) was updated every few days by a Pastor/Writer in Canmore that I reported to via phone which is where you can read about the interesting details that transpired...this is just a blurb to give you a general idea of what my last adventure looked like. The goal was to continue the production and filming of my Documentary Voices of Haiti that I started filming last year after the Earthquake while also working for Impact Nations as well as establishing relationships with locals .

We left the City of light to film at the YWAM base in St Marc for a few days which really didn't go very smoothly. At one point Tyler ( my photographer ) and I found our selves in the middle of no where in a mud hut village that was dedicated to VooDoo and ended up smack in the middle of one of their VooDoo ceremonies and even inside a VooDoo hut with all the strange items used for this type of worship....it was a but scary but thats when praying in tongues comes in handy and also when you gently navigate your escape.

After we were able to bow out of this VooDoo ceremony ( which I filmed but I am weary about actually issuing this footage) we ended up in a field and were being discreetly asked to leave but couldn't translate in time to realize that we were in fact standing in the middle of a marijuana grow op....... lucky for us we managed to again slip away but I would have to say my angels were working that day.

We left St Marc to head back to PAP to cover the elections along side my NY Times friend...but on the way into PAP we got a screw in our tire late at night in the worst part of PAP....this was also a challenge but as usual we over came.

Covering the elections was probably the most intense filming i have had to date. The people were ready to riot if Sweet Micky Didn't win and the UN Police were on the scene.Tyler & I were inside the army base that surrounded the CP where we were heading into the press conference . The UN had barricades set up so for the most part we were safe on that side of the fence but the tension in the atmosphere was some thing else. We went into the press conference and I filmed the historic event...Haiti getting a new president and luckily it was who the Haitians wanted to win...well most haitians 67% in favour . We left the CP and the safety of the Barricade to film the mobs in the streets...I found my self running with my camera in the mobs,jumping on top of cars to film the Haitians running in Mobs through the streets while people grabbed my legs I managed to keep my balance. We averted danger after I heard the Holy Spirit gently say in the midst of this chaos " its time to stop"...which was some thing Holy Spirit had said he was going to do when we had a chat before I left Canada....so I am glad he let me know when to stop because a few moments later 10 feet away a man was shot and we were not wearing Body Armour so it was a good time to leave...

The Next day we headed to the Press Conference to the First Ever Presidential Address from newly elected Sweet Micky.Tyler & I were amongst Journalists from all over the world representing all major media groups, such as the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Times Mag, NY Times, CBC and so on. Wyclef was there along with every hierarchy in haiti.I was sitting beside the United Nations media representative who was most interesting to speak to. After the Presidential Address the President was taken into a private room and I decided to go to the door after all the other media cleared out & was granted an exclusive interview. I was allowed to ask one question but  I asked two and needless to say the interview went well as I was given the opportunity to share my vision with the President as well as the context of my film & he then endorsed the film and offered to come along side it...he also invited me to live in haiti. It was a great morning for me.

Shortly after I switched gears to head into PAP's most dangerous tent city to re-cap on some of the stories I filmed last year after the earthquake when I was there last. I wanted to see what had changed and try to find some of the haitians I interviewed last year in a tent city that has over 53 thousand people, I was sad to see that the Cholera had come to my friends.

We managed to get the footage we needed but again had to leave to advert danger as a man was stabbed in the neck a few feet from us and was clearly a sign to wrap up.

I could go on and on here because there is so much to share with you but I would advise you to read through the archives on www.stephprojecthaiti.com to obtain the full monty. At the moment I am working with CEO of Impact Nations Doug Penner to develop a strategy for my next trip into Haiti for July, this requires fundraising so I am in the process of laying a story board for a promo video that outlines our work in Haiti in regards to the Micro Business's we want to move forward with along side Pastor Reginald as I was working tirelessly to establish infrastructure and gauge where he was at to be able to come along side to help those in his community get out of extreme poverty through the development of their small businesses while I was there 3 weeks ago. As you can imagine this is not a small task but I have faith that it will all work out and am really excited for what God is doing. I my self need funds for post production of my film and funds to get back into Haiti so I leave it in the hands of the father knowing he cares for us and the needs of the voiceless and that he will enable me to return many times by using his Children here on Earth to come along side in what ever way they can. I hope you enjoyed this little read for the most part and feel free to email me or add me as a friend on here I am always looking to network.

Much Love Steph