Desdra, Haiti

Joey Daoud

Joey Daoud is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. His past films have appeared on Netflix, The New York Times, and National Geographic. He is also a YouTube creator across multiple channels with videos garnering millions of views. In his free time, he likes to climb mountains, scuba dive, and brew unique coffees.

By far the place that interested me the most when I went to Haiti was Desdra. Desdra is a remote village right on the shore, surrounded by mountains and lush trees.

The village was described as something you’d find in National Geographic, and it wasn’t too far off. It takes a rough jeep ride to get out there, on a road that’s flooded for part of the year, cutting the village off from receiving supplies.

While the locale is beautiful, trash litters the beach. The people are willing to work, the only problem is there is no work.

One man hand builds fishing boats, designed for short range sailing. However many of them will be used in attempts to make it to South Florida.

There are also canoes hand carved out of logs. When we visited, the children took them out into the water, sailing around, splashing each other, and having a good time.

That was one thing I noticed around Haiti – no matter how bad the situation, the children were always smiling and having fun.

Pushing Off Again

Set Sail

Hut on Beach

More Photos

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