Clearing Rubble, Redemption Lutheran, Carrefour, Haiti
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Carribean, Disaster, News, Tim Frakes Productions
Members of Redemption Lutheran Church in Carrefour, Haiti gather to clear rubble from their destroyed church building. The structure collapsed during the January 12, 2010 earthquake that hit Haiti. Fortunately, no one was in the building when it collapsed.
Tags: Church, Faith, Florida Bahamas Synod, Haiti, Lutheran, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel, Video
Haiti Lutheran Church: New Office
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Carribean, News, Tim Frakes Productions
It’s not all bad news coming out of Haiti. As workers put on the finishing touches, Pastor Livenson Lauvanus of the Haiti Evangelical Lutheran Church shows off their new office space in Port Au Prince. The new space will provide offices space, guest lodging, a chapel and meeting space. Funding for the rental property was provided through the ELCA.
Tags: ELCA, Florida Bahamas Synod, Haiti, Tim Frakes Productions
Religion and Ethics Weekly: Haiti
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Carribean, Disaster
At the Haiti/Dominican Republic border, I ran into Gail Fendley a producer with Religion & Ethics Weekly on PBS. Gail and her crew were producing a story on relief work from the Dominican side of the border. We exchanged business cards and I was able to share footage I recorded in Haiti which they used in this story.
Tags: Haiti, Tim Frakes Productions, Video
Haiti, Three Weeks After: Chris Herlinger Reports
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Carribean, Disaster, News, Tim Frakes Productions
My friend Chris Herlinger from Church World Service and I produced this story in Port Au Prince, Haiti, three weeks after the January 2010 earthquake.
Port Au Prince, Haiti
February, 2010
by Chris Herlinger
In the nearly three weeks since the catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake, Haiti feels like a desert bereft of much that makes for a dignified life.
Port-au-Princes downtown area, hit hardest by quake, still looks and feels as if the disaster happened just days ago. The smell of rotting flesh wafts through the air, and the sides of some buildings look as if they are ready to fall into the street at any moment.
It is startling to see a building cut in half, office chairs and desks, filing cabinets and sinks suddenly exposed to the harsh midday sunlight just as it is to see thousands of people, suddenly displaced, living in the makeshift displacement camps within and outside the capital city
Yet the capacity of Haitians to embrace elements of normalcy is encouraging beyond words. That means dressing in your Sunday best to attend church or offering a hand to neighbors or visitors.
The international community continues its role in providing humanitarian assistance to Haiti an effort that by all accounts was slow in starting and is still not seamless, given the many challenges that
faced Haiti before and immediately following the quake.
Tags: Haiti, Tim Frakes Productions, Video
Wrapping Things up in Haiti
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Carribean, Disaster, News, Travel
Tim Frakes pauses on the grounds of a golf course now converted into a massive tent city following the January 2010 Haiti earthquakes.
Packing up my equipment and belongings as my time in Haiti draws to a close, thoughts and emotions percolate. I was invited to come to Haiti two weeks after the January 2010 earthquake that leveled much of Port Au Prince and the surrounding countryside by the ELCA Disaster Response and the Lutheran World Federation.
As a videographer, I was charged with recording footage related to the combined response efforts of the Act Alliance, a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide.
Most of my time was spent working along side photojournalist Paul Jeffrey from the United Methodist Church and Chris Herlinger, a reporter from Church Word Service. Paul and Chris are top-notch professionals that work with courage, passion and accuracy.
Together we spent time in the demolished city center, tent cities, worship services and food distributions. Back at the LWF offices in Peiton Ville, we spent the evening hours editing stories and photos. Fortunately LWF has blazing fast internet, so our job was made much easier.
The people of Haiti are really in a bind. Apparently things were slowly improving before the earth quake. The scope of devastation and loss of life will make the goal of building a stable, healthy Haiti much more difficult.
The global relief effort is amazing. I witnessed Brazilians, Hungarians, French, Sri Lankan, Finns, Scotts, Cubans, Dominicans, and many Americans working together. I hear that Americans are complaining about the apparent lack of coordination and slow pace of relief response. I can only say that the enormity of this disaster cannot be underestimated. It is really bad. This is not a problem that you can simply “fix.”
That said, the world community is doing their best. No matter what happens, Haitians will reach down and draw from and endless well of determination and find a way to go on.
Tags: Haiti, Tim Frakes Productions
Food Distribution Gone Bad
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Carribean, Disaster
Here is what it looks like when a food and tent distribution goes bad. This scene was recorded in Gressier, a village about 20 km outside Port Au Prince, two weeks after the 2010 Earthquake.
Tags: Haiti, Tim Frakes Productions, Video
Sylvia Raula, LWF Haiti
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Carribean, Disaster, Tim Frakes Productions
Sylvia Raulo, Country Representative for the Lutheran World Federation Haiti Program reflects on the 2010 Haiti Earthquake.
Tags: Haiti, Lutheran, Tim Frakes Productions
Blankets for Haiti’s Dissabled
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Carribean, Faith Based Production, News, Peace and Justice
Caring for people with disabilities is a priority for Church World Service and the Act Alliance as Haiti rebuilds following the January 2010 earthquake.
Tags: ELCA, Haiti, Tim Frakes Productions
Viva Rio, Help for Haiti
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Carribean, Disaster, Peace and Justice, Tim Frakes Productions
Viva Rio is a Brazilian non-governmental organization working in Haiti since 2004. Viva Rio is a partner with Norwegian Church Aid, a member of the Act Alliance. Following the January 2010 earthquake in Port Au Prince, Viva Rio organized an emergency shelter community providing tents, water, social services and sanitation.
Tags: Haiti, Justice, Tim Frakes Productions
Advocating for Haiti’s Disabled
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Carribean, Disaster, Tim Frakes Productions
Haiti’s disabled population is particularly vulnerable following the January 2010 earthquake. Church World Service is working with the Haitian government to distribute health kits.
Tags: ELCA, Haiti, Tim Frakes Productions