Episode 4 : Destination Haïti | M6 | Va voir ailleurs

Melanie Carraro, 26, nurse in Paris. Melanie works in a prestigious cosmetic surgery clinic with the latest modern equipment, serving rich clients whose only concern is to look more beautiful! Melanie immediately strikes one by her boundless energy and carefree attitude that is characteristic of those of her age. However, in the world of cosmetic surgery she is rarely confronted by sickness and suffering. For two weeks she left her gilded surroundings for one of the poorest countries in the world: Haiti. A tiny island, nicknamed decades ago as the “Pearl of the Caribbean”, but today ravaged by the earthquake of January 12 2010. Melanie is going to work in a world totally removed from her own, at the National Ambulance Centre, the Haitian equivalent of our Emergency Services. The young French women will work in emergency situations alongside Sergina, a 28 year-old Haitian. She will have to overcome her fear of diseases she is not familiar with, like cholera. She will also be confronted by the harsh reality of the local health system in which, if you don’t have the money, you simply don’t get treatment. She will experience some highly intense moments of emotion like the night she has to go beyond her status as a nurse and deliver a baby in an ambulance. But Melanie will also have to face some horrendous situations, especially in the Port-au-Prince General Hospital. Because patients, lacking the money, wait till the last moment to get treatment and often arrive in the ER too late. Melanie will be confronted with death for the first time in her life. The young woman will have to travel. Seven hours in an overcrowded bus in sweltering heat. Then a three-hour hike up a mountain to go and treat villagers who never get a glimpse of a doctor. There, despite her exhaustion, she will enjoy the sensation of having taken part in a heroic mission, with the satisfaction of feeling useful. Melanie will also discover local culture and beliefs, such as voodoo, which has a major presence in Haiti. She will share moments of intimacy with the Haitian nurses, understand their reality, their difficulties and also their strength and their courage. Melanie will emerge more mature and changed by this experience. She will even say that it was here, in Haiti, that she discovers her profession as a nurse. An intense journey, high in emotion. And an unforgettable personal adventure.