Haitian Women's Soccer Team

Yesterday I followed the return of the women’s soccer team, who had just come back from a month of traveling (Dominican Republic, Panama, Costa Rica) where they played the finals for the region against the U.S. I was filming for ESPN, who is doing a documentary on them, and has been following the whole time. No matter that they lost the final, they made it there!

In Haiti, however, there wasn’t a single radio station that broadcast any of their games, not even the final. FOrget about TV - soccer plays 24/7 but not for women's games.

The girls took a bus to get back here from Santo Domingo. At the bus stop, which is a gas station, there wasn't a single person there to receive them. Then they took another bus back to the old Duvalier ranch, where they practice, and where some of them live. More now than before, b/c some of them lost their homes in the quake. The girls on the field who were practicing were the only ones who seemed excited that they were back. That was a beautiful moment, these young girls running up to the bus, shouting and cheering. Otherwise there, again, no one was there to receive them, acknowledge this great accomplishment.

Then I followed the goalie back to her house. It was dark by then. She lives in Cite Soleil (largest urban slum in the western hemisphere, site of much of the gang violence that crippled Haiti for the last six years or so). I watched her as she rolled her suitcase over what can best be dignfied as a corridor of debris. Pieces of houses on all sides. Her own had no roof - she and her family are living under a tarp. Typical scene - candle, one bed, a small charcoal fire, one table that stores all their belongings. Her mom and neighbors were happy to see her, but a far cry from the 15,000 that were cheering for her in the stadiums in Central America.....