HAITI- Netwerk
Start: 00:00
[Rescue team members with dogs search the rubble]
00:00:03 voice over:
Haiti, two weeks after the natural disaster.
This private Dutch rescue team are no longer looking for survivors.
They’re resigned to looking for bodies so that the locals can finally grieve.
More than a thousand people are still thought to be under the rubble.
Soundbite: "Search, Borat!"
00:00:23 voice over:
Four days after the earthquake, the Urban Search and Rescue Team are hard at work
00:29 soundbite: “Here, one woman.”
00:00:32 voice over:
And this rescue dog has just found a woman who’s still alive. She’s been stuck under the rubble for almost a week and getting her out safely is no simple task.
[Orange clad rescue team in action, drilling...]
00:00:45 voice over:
This is the first time the Team have found someone alive.
Soundbite: "Look out! Hold on… Whao! Whao!..."
00:01:06 voice over:
They find 33 year old Paula and her two year old daughter Juliana.
Nat sound: Applause from neighbourhood.
00:01:19 quote:
“This is a true miracle, isn’t it? And both of them! The mother and the little daughter. Truly amazing! This is why we work so hard.”
[Lights of rescue workers in the dark, flames in the background]
00:01:31 voice over:
Two weeks after the disaster, the team have returned to the Netherlands. The rescue workers have left.
[fade out, fade in/shots: Smokey clouds over ruined city, close of man with sledgehammer, general shots of people in the city]
00:01:47 voice over:
But what about the people who were saved? What became of Paula and Juliana?
00:01:58 voice over:
After their rescue, they were transferred to a Russian emergency hospital, located on the outskirts of the city.
[Hospital]
00:02:10 voice over:
The hospital is full of patients in critical condition.
And every day, more come to join them.
The Russian team of doctors and nurses was hand-picked for their experience of disasters.
[Flagpole in courtyard]
00:02:20 voice over:
They remember the Dutch rescue workers well.
Paula and Juliana’s rescue was a beacon of light amidst chaos.
But the little girl and her mother had more injuries than expected. And both are still receiving treatment.
[Juliana crying]
00:02:40 voice over:
This is two year old Juliana, the little girl who was rescued from under the rubble. She was brought here injured and severely dehydrated.
00:02:54 quote dr. Vladimir Kasyanov:
"Her blood supply has been pinched. We have already removed her calf muscles. Because the muscles were dead. We could not keep them because the dead muscles would poison the rest of her body. This is called intoxication. So, that is why we did it. She is stable now. I hope she makes it.”
[Shot Paula and Juliana in a hospital room]
00:03:22 voice over:
Paula, Juliana’s mother, lies two beds away.
00:03:28 quote dr. Vladimir Kasyanov:
"The mother had been under the rubble for four days. She is seriously injured. We cleaned her wounds but unfortunately we were unable to save her left leg. We are doing the best we can but they still have a long way to go.”
[Mother Paula in bed]
00:03:51 voice over:
The next couple of days will be crucial in determining whether the poisoning in Paula’s leg has spread to the rest of her body.
[Doctor picks up Juliana]
00:04:04 voice over:
Doctor Vladimir takes Juliana for a walk every day. He has a weak-spot for Juliana and her mother.
[Playing with balloon outside]
00:04:19 quote Paula:
"I wanted to escape but the house fell on top of us. I screamed: Help! Help! They did hear us but it was too dangerous to get us out. (pause) Juliana was crying next to me but there was nothing I could do. I was stuck for four days. Then they started digging me out. (pause) That was the first time I got some water. God sent the Dutch to save me.(pause) God wanted me to live and that is why he dug me out. I am very upset about the many deaths. But I feel blessed because God has saved me.”
00:05:07 voice over:
The doctor takes Juliana back to her room. Her wounds must be attended to daily and she finds the pain hard to bear.
[Fade out, fade in...]
00:05:24 voice over:
When we come back the next day we find Paula’s bed empty.
She’s having yet more surgery, after poisoning was discovered in her other leg.
[Doctor enters tent with Juliana]
00:05:40 voice over:
Doctor Vladimir is taking Juliana to a different ward, where she can be with other children. Since she was pulled from the rubble two weeks ago, she hasn’t spoken a word.
[Pan, outside by tents]
00:05:55 voice over:
The afternoon brings bad news: Paula’s second leg will also have to be amputated.
[Wide damaged houses in the city, a man is walking over the dump]
00:06:02 voice over:
This is Paula’s neighbourhood, or what is left of it. Once a setting for Paula’s heroic rescue, it’s now a graveyard of bad memories.
[Small refugee camp]
00:06:27 voice over:
In this playground, a small refugee camp of survivors cuddle together to keep warm.
[Close woman sleeping on the floor]
00:06:34 voice over:
And all of Paula’s neighbours worry about her future.
Can a woman without legs survive here?
00:06:41 quote Stanley - nephew of Paula:
"How will she be able to sit so many hours and do nothing? She's always doing something. You can get up at 10 o'clock. Everybody's sleeping and she is doing something. For people like me who have no injuries … it's difficult. And for her, it might be impossible."
[After pan to the left]
00:07:16 voice over:
Paula’s cousin Stanley takes us to her house and shows us the spot where the rescue workers found Paula. .
Soundbite: "Over here..."
00:07:38 voice over:
At the same time he discovers the body of a close friend.
00:07:42 scene with Stanley discovering dead body:
"Oh my God! Oh my God! A rabbit is eating the body!"
[Stanley vomiting]
00:08:00 soundbite Stanley:
"That's hard to see."
08:09-08:18 quote Stanley:
"I could do anything, but now I've just got to pray: My Lord, please, please please tell me why."
[Stanley shot on back walking towards hospital]
00:08:20 voice over:
Stanley visits Paula and Juliana every day.
00:08:28 quote Stanley:
[In french] "Why is she so swollen up? She used to be skinny."
00:08:36 voice over:
The poisoning and the surgery have taken their toll.
00:08:46 voice over:
And a frightened Paula asks Stanley if he’ll call a relative. She’s worried about who will take care of Juliana if anything happens to her.
00:08:59 scene of Paula talking on the phone:
"You have to speak now – Hello…
I’m alright. I’m in a lot of pain. What about you?
- Just give me the telephone, darling.
I’m doing well. Bye.
Stanley, come on.
- No, you’re too tired.
00:09:24 voice over:
In the children’s ward, Juliana show signs of improvement, uttering her first words since the earthquake
Scene with soundbites:
"She’s speaking… Say: hello.”
00:09:56 voice over:
Stanley says goodbye to Paula and Juliana that evening with hope. But a few hours later Paula dies.
***
[Still Paula]
00:10:09 voice over:
Paula died of blood poisoning on Tuesday night 26th of January.
She was 33 years old.
It’s a heavy blow for the Russian emergency hospital.
[Vladimir’s face]
00:10:25 voice over:
And one that Doctor Vladimir is finding particularly hard to handle.
He wonders whether he did enough and why the Americans who have better facilities refused to treat Paula.
[Nurses carrying Juliana]
00:10:46 voice over:
The doctors and nurses try to raise their spirits by lavishing attention on Juliana, who’s still too young to fully understand what she’s lost.
***
[Doctors talking to relatives outside]
00:11:02 voice over:
Without a spouse and with her other children living on the other side of the city, nobody comes to claim Paula’s body. So according to the policy here, she’s taken directly to the cemetery.
In the end it is Stanley who has to organize a last-minute funeral.
11:23-11:25 soundbite Stanley:
“We will take her out now.”
11:46-11:53 voice over:
There are no other family members present.
And there is little respect given to the make-shift ceremony.
[Stanley picking up Juliana]
12:07-12:20 voice over:
Yesterday, all of the patients left the emergency hospital.
And today, the Russian medical team will leave Haiti.
The medical team have nurtured Juliana as long as possible. But now the time has come to let her go.
12:25-12:33 voice over:
Doctor Vladimir watches on, as Stanley takes Juliana into an uncertain future.
End: 12:48