First Impressions of Haiti, with Paul Schmidt-Troschke and Ludwig Franz

Latin America Correspondent Jon Bonfiglio, live from Cap-Haitien in Haiti, speaks to journalists Paul Schmidt-Troschke and Ludwig Franz about their first impressions of Haiti, and how it pushes against expected narratives.

To follow Schmidt-Troschke and Franz, use the links below:

https://www.instagram.com/paul.trske/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG4SvjWxx4uoXNcxcmgBI1w

 https://www.instagram.com/ludwigeliasfranz?igsh=amZtcDJqZngydWpy and Ludwigeliasfranz.de/en

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:00

Hi everyone and uh welcome back to Latin America Correspondent. We're here in Capeshia, Oka, on the north coast of Haiti, and we're going to be doing various uh recordings of broadcasts throughout the course of the week. I am here with um with artist and filmmaker Ludwig Elias Franz and journalist uh Paul Schmidt Troschka. Um and really, guys, I just believe that it's possible to get a first impression of um, I guess, your perspectives on what, of course, because there's a lot of heavy expectations to Haiti in 2025 and what has been living for an extended period of time now, but in particular with the gangs of the last few years. So I just wanted to get a first sense of how perhaps there's been a counter a counterbalance to what your your perspectives were before arriving.

SPEAKER_00: 0:56

I was very surprised because if you read it in the news, it's gang war, instability, but kapai shen there's no gangs, it's government controlled, and then you arrive. And uh if you expect government control, you expect to see something like police on the street or military on the street, and you don't see that at all. So it's it's basically the complete opposite of of what I what I expected. And I've made uh the experience that it's uh it's all about perception. I came here and I've I uh I was prepared to feel insecure, to be cautious, and I adapted more and more and realized okay, uh everything is normal here. People are just living their normal lives, they try to make everything uh to make the best of out of out of every moment basically, um, as everybody all around the world does. And you can it reminds me of of war zones, for example, in Ukraine, the the life in Kiev is completely normal, and then you drive a couple hundred kilometers and then there's all out war. And I think the situation here is kind of similar that in Port-au-Prince, where the economic center of the country is, and things to control, there the trouble is going on, and if you go away from that, it's uh it's all normal, and you you wouldn't wouldn't believe if somebody tells you, yeah, 100 kilometers to this direction, it's war.

SPEAKER_02: 2:48

Sorry, Ludvik. Having arrived and you had on downs of Eastern preconceptions about the place that you're coming to, what surprised you uh about the the sort of the counter about Kapeshian and Heishi 80 so far, sort of pushing back on your preconceptions?

SPEAKER_01: 3:08

I definitely was surprised by uh the vibrancy of the city and uh what's going on uh at everywhere, all over the place, and and I was definitely surprised of the richness of the markets that we strolled over, and with uh lots of uh exotic and like very valuable uh things, like of course, a lot of sugar, uh a lot lots of cinnamon, but also meat, and also uh prepared to very delicious dishes. And I also was very surprised by the uh skill level that uh everyday people uh kind of need to have here, but like uh uh work with uh in a playful way every day just to uh get along with what what they need to do.

SPEAKER_02: 4:04

Yeah, ultimately, just to just to step in, I think just a couple of things. One is of course, it may look different in different parts of the world, in North America or Germany or Africa or whatever, yeah. But ultimately, people's primary role in all of these places is survival and stick through the day and be able to live in the best possible way that you possibly can, flat for the future. So those kinds of uh hopes and dreams are the same, those motivating tools are the same everywhere. And then the other thing to say in terms of what you're saying about the markets is that for sure there's undoubtedly uh significant economizing around local people in in Kapeshan, in OCAF. Um, but contextually, of course, Haiti lives a complex economic situation, partly because it is a kind of a closed economic system, it has very little in the way of uh of significant sort of development industries, uh, and even if it did, it would struggle to export for various both sort of governmental and international trade reasons. So, one of the reasons why Haiti struggles undoubtedly is because it is a net importer, and a lot of that stuff comes from Dominican Republic as well. So and where there is production, and if we were talking about, for example, sort of fishing, uh agricultural production, it tends to be artisanal, it tends to be very small scale, local people engaged in their own plots of land, making food from self, and perhaps selling some stuff on as well. So I think that's definitely one of the senses is that which I think you sort of referred to, but is that what you have here is not companies selling, it's individuals as small family groups uh producing small amounts and selling in order to very much have to mouth day to day. But that but that that economizing does exist. It is, of course, it's the only way to to move through the day. Uh what else, Livik, in terms of your uh your initial impressions?

SPEAKER_01: 6:05

Uh yeah, I was uh I mean, I've also uh kind of tried to get a uh a sense of the situation beforehand before I come came here, but I was very uh astounded by the fact that uh the people I've met so far are showcasing a very deep relationship and understanding of their own heritage, especially of their uh an understanding of what's going on in their own country regarding or just relating to uh the Haitian Revolution uh for Haitians to be the first uh black republic uh worldwide and setting therefore setting an example uh for emancipatory revolutions all over the world. Um I I was astounded that that there's like this deep sense of it, and also that uh with with what clear vision those people are stressing that they actually uh are able to or would be able to solve the the problems uh that they're struggling with uh on their own if there just would be people uh uh in government that actually had an interest in now.

SPEAKER_02: 7:33

So yeah, I think you're right. And I think you could actually draw a line between the two in a way, because you can certainly see that because of some of the difficulties that Haiti and then these aren't new difficulties, of course they evolve and they become slightly different, they sort of um catalyze into big, slightly different issues, but um the the existential difficulties that Haiti is struggling, I think also encourage a lot of people to look back and go, but who are we? Who were we? Who can we be? And I think that sort of self-questioning means that the history of Haiti and this sort of this pride in the self-identity of what it was of how Haiti came to be, how Haiti removed itself from the yoke and of uh colonial oppression, of course, then since then the difficulties that it's that it's had, the punishment that it's received at the hands of colonial powers, it continues to receive at the hands of colonial powers. But but that sort of the the drive to questioning and identification, it I would draw a direct line between the current issues that Haiti's living and that sort of sense of finding that historical identity to try and bring it forward to the to the present day. Uh thank you, Litvik. I'm sure we'll be talking again this this week, but appreciating your first thoughts. Thanks.