Ms. Magazine: “Madan Sara” Tells the Story of Haitian Women Both Ordinary and Extraordinary

2/28/2021 by RÉGINE JEAN-CHARLES

Madan Sara is a film about the power of Black women in a global economy and their contributions that too often go unacknowledged.

The new film Madan Sara begins and ends with writing by acclaimed writer and MacArthur “genius” Edwidge Danticat. Reading an excerpt from her first novel, Breath, Eyes, Memory translated into Kreyòl, Danticat recites in her trademark measured and melodious voice:

“There is a place where women live near trees that, blowing in the wind, sound like music … These women, they are fluttering lanterns on the hills, the fireflies in the night … There is always a place where women, like cardinal birds return to look at their own faces in stagnant bodies of water … Where women return to their children as butterflies … My mother was as brave as stars at dawn.”

Like the passage that introduces it, the documentary Madan Sara focuses on the lives of Haitian women who are simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary.

“To talk about Madan Sara is to talk about Haitian women,” according to the filmmaker Etant Dupain. As the film makes clear, it is also to talk about pressing issues like structural violence, government failures and resistance to neoliberalism that resonate throughout the Global South.

When I asked him about his vision, Dupain said he saw Madan Sara as a “different way to introduce people to Haiti.” He accomplished just that in a series of bright, stunning, visually captivating images that convey an atmosphere of abundance.

The ubiquitous poverty trope regularly used to describe Haiti is notably absent from the narrative. Instead, copious amounts of produce—piles of mangoes, loads of cabbage, bunches of bright orange carrots—are present in almost every shot, disabusing the viewer of the idea that Haiti is only a place of lack. The vibrant atmosphere of the marketplace infuses the film with energy as the beauty and fecundity of the land take center stage. Early in the film, a mouth-watering variety of produce appears, as if Dupain is inviting us to sit at an exquisite Haitian table of fruits and vegetables.

Indeed, Madan Sara is a story of abundance. The documentary focuses on two “madan sara”—business women who purchase, distribute and sell food and other essential items in Haitian markets. As the Haitian economist Camille Charlmers explains, “A madan sara is a person who specializes in commerce; they are pillars of the Haitian economy.” These women have mastered their profession, understand their worth in the global economy, and take pride in their craft.

“If you aren’t smart, you cannot be a madan sara,” Clotilde Achille explains. 

Madan Sara explodes many of the binaries that the media has used to characterize Haiti: urban versus rural, rich versus poor, lack versus abundance. Seemingly simple in its focus, the documentary takes on a number of broader global issues: the history of Haitian agriculture, government corruption and neglect, resistance to a capitalist system that denies the collective.

When I asked Dupain how he managed to cover such an incredible range of topics, he explained, “It is impossible to talk about Madan Sara without understanding [this broader context because] their work is a resistance movement against neo-liberal policies.”

At the film’s premier in Port-au-Prince last month, the two main subjects, Clotilde Achille and Monique Metellus, appeared alongside filmmaker Dupain and shared their perspectives about the documentary. They were proud of the film and insistent on the need for more recognition and protection for women like them in Haiti and throughout the Global South.

One of the greatest contributions of Madan Sara is Dupain’s ability to center the women’s voices, perspectives and even policy recommendations to imagine a future in which the madan sara is no longer on the margins. After all, what sense does it make to marginalize those who are so central to the economy and the function if of the small island nation? To use the words of one scholar interviewed in the film, the madan sara keep the country running; there would be no Haiti without them.

One of the most striking contributions of the film is the critique of capitalism and U.S. influence over the Haitian economy. According to Chalmers, the Madan Sara system represents a socialist solidarity economy that is fundamentally anti-capitalist. There is an ethic of social justice that undergirds the entire documentary: As an example of the global machinations of gender, power and economics, the madan sara remind us of what the world is getting wrong—especially as it concerns Black women of the Global South. 

Madan Sara raises salient points about women’s contribution to the global economy and enters into academic debates about the autonomy of rural women. As the Haitian feminist scholar and author Myriam Chancy has argued in Framing Silence: “Haitian women of the rural working class appear to have some power equity due to the fact that many are market women (handling booths at the market, money, trade) while their male counterparts work the fields.”

Perhaps this is why madan sara have also been ignored by the state and targeted with violence. About halfway through the documentary, the camera pans out to a wide shot showing plumes of smoke wafting from one of Port-au-Prince’s largest markets. The fire that tore through this market was far from an isolated case, in fact in 2018 five fires blazed through Haitian markets.

Crying out for help after seeing all of her commerce destroyed in a market fire, one madan sara shouts desperately, “We are asking for justice not peace!” To Dupain, the fires are a metaphor for the structural violence and injustice these women are subject to. It is also evidence of the government’s lack of compassion for the people.

Filmed over the last five years, Madan Sara, is also unabashed in its critique of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse and the political elite. At one point, footage of the PetroKaribe Mouvement protests contrasts what up until this moment had been a film dominated by the presence of women.

This feminist film is unequivocal in making the point that government neglect of the madan sara population results in their marginalization. Or, as one of the women featured puts it, “We aren’t safe in cars, homes, in the market”—emphasizing how the lack of security has deleterious effects that are exacerbated by the intersections of gender and class. Madan Sara makes clear that the government’s lack of support, investment and outright neglect is a form of structural violence that has resulted in widespread harm.

And yet, the film showcases the ingenuity, brilliance and steadfast nature of these women in a nuanced way. Extolling the perspicacity of madan sara, another expert opines: “They really know what they are doing. They need more support, sure, but they know what they are doing.”

So as much as Madan Sara puts Haitian agriculture and markets on display, it is ultimately a film about the power of Black women in a global economy and their contributions that too often go unacknowledged.

They represent hundreds of thousands of women engaged in daily practices that the state does not support, protect, or invest in. As Madame Monique explains to the viewers, Madan Sara se lekol li ye—The madan sara network is an entire school. It is an education about empowered women in the Global South who though they are overlooked by the government continue to press forward.

Towards the end of the film, Dominique Boyer, the CEO of Fonkoze, a non-profit organization that provides micro loans to Haitian women in commerce explains the connection of madan sara to all of Haitian culture. “Every Haitian has a madan sara story in their own family.”

Personally, this point struck home for me as I recalled the story of my paternal grandmother, who spent some of her life working as a madan sara. When I told my father—a physician living in Port-au-Prince—about the film, he shared childhood memories about accompanying his mother on some of her business trips. Like Etant Dupain, he understood the importance of madan sara’s contribution to his education, development and professional trajectory.

As Dupain expressed so eloquently, and with a touch of longing for home, “Madan Sara is ours. Madan Sara is Haiti.”

How to Watch Madan Sara

In honor of International Women’s Day, and in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania, the Madan Sara Project will be hosting a free public online screening of Madan Sara on March 8, 2021 at 6:00 pm EST. Spaces are limited, so reserve your spot today by following this link to register for the event.

For more information on future film screenings and to support the efforts of the Madan Sara Project as they work to share the film across Haiti, please visit MadanSaraFilm.com.

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Miami Hurricane: ‘Madan Sara:’ When art becomes activism

By Martin Hidalgo

Etant Dupain is an independent journalist and filmmaker from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He frequently collaborates with international media organizations like Al Jazeera, CNN and BBC. Back in 2015, Dupain wrote an article for Woy Magazine titled “Hats off to Madan Sara,” where he promised to make a film surrounding the network of women at the heart of Haiti’s informal economy. Five years later, on Nov. 21, 2020, I joined Dupain for the U.S. premiere of “Madan Sara.”

“Madan Sara” is a force to be reckoned with. It doe not ask permission to exist; it exists solely as one big cry for justice. It encapsulates the same spirit of fight and courage as its subject matter, the Madan Sara. The term comes from a migratory bird of the same name, known for its rather extreme measures in the protection of their young— a theme that is carried over in the film.

Over the years, international news has tainted the reputation of Haiti. It is embarrassing, but nonetheless important to admit, that before watching “Madan Sara,” I knew very little about the country. I knew about the political instability, the HIV epidemic and the 2010 earthquake. I knew about the migration to the Dominican Republic. I knew about the lack of jobs. I knew about its level of poverty.

Watching “Madan Sara” allows viewers to surpass their Euro-centric views and gain a greater understanding of the rich heritage of the Caribbean’s first independent nation. That, in part, is because the film touches on the very core of Haitian identity— a country whose spirit is synonymous with sacrifice and love.

On the surface, a Madan Sara is a woman that connects goods from the farming mountains of Haiti to consumers in the city. But really, the Madan Sara is a group of women that hold a nation on their shoulders as they fight against the struggles of their world. They are micro-entrepreneurs that hold a nation’s economy together. They work communally, sharing the profits and protecting each other from the dangers of political instability and social oppression, from everyday extortion, from debt-collectors, from government-plotted fires of markets, from rape and theft.

To be a Madan Sara is a matter of love. Despite the adversities, they work tirelessly to put their kids through school, provide them with housing and pave the way for a brighter generation.

The trade of the Madan Sara is almost exclusively dominated by women. From its inception, when Haiti was still a slave state, men were infamous for stealing goods and running away to freedom. It was the women that came back, cared for the children and helped the nation flourish.

Dupain himself is the son of a Madan Sara, from whom he inherited his spirit of courage and perseverance and spent close to a decade making the film. At times, it seemed like an impossible task, but what pushed him forward was the grit and dedication he learned from his people.

The following Q&A has been edited for clarity and length.

TMH: First of all, I want to congratulate you personally. I can’t even imagine the difficulty of making this film and having the end result be something that’s so powerful. I was really touched, and I learned so much.

Dupain: Thank you man! I’m glad it had an impact.

TMH: Your film shows a deep love for your country. What does Haiti mean to you? And how did that story lead to the making of “Madan Sara?”

Dupain: Haiti is the Madan Sara. My mother used to sell mangoes in the markets, and, sometimes as a child, I would accompany her. I can’t tell you how much of an impact those markets have had on my life.

My mother taught me so much about hard work. She took care of five children. Similarly, I learned a lot about the Haitian economy in those markets about how extra hard these women worked to keep the economy running, to keep the country together.

When I became a journalist in Haiti, I knew I wanted to do something regarding the human rights aspect of the economy, to help relieve the pain that some of these Madan Sara were suffering daily. Then it clicked that I had to do a film about it. It was the only way their voices could be heard.

TMH: There’s a scene in the film about a kid named Oscar whose mother, a Madan Sara, buys him a camera so that his son could be a photographer. When I saw that scene, I also saw Etant Dupain getting his first camera. Can you tell me a little more about the subjects in your film?

Dupain: I got to be very close to the subjects in my film because it really took me my whole life to make. I left Haiti in 2007 to work abroad, and when I returned to Haiti in 2015, I had to reestablish some of those relationships.

I wanted the film to tell their stories, and the only way I could do that is if they trusted me. Often, media organizations come to Haiti to show the country in a bad light, and people don’t like that. But I was part of that environment, and it helped me a lot to really get into the personal lives of my subjects, like Oscar, for example. It makes me happy.

It’s not only me that has become something thanks to a Madan Sara, but a whole nation that is is growing because of the Madan Sara’s hard work.

TMH: The discussion following the film’s U.S. premiere dealt a lot with the concept of the poor portrayal of Haiti in big media. Was your vision for the film to be international? Was it to repair some of these misconceptions?

Dupain: The film was made for the people of Haiti, but I’m glad that the film has the ability to change how people perceive us. I crafted the film in such a way that, by itself, it could serve as a good introduction to outsiders.

International media puts all sorts of labels on Haiti that I think are rather unjust. I tried to make a story that was original. My approach was original, it wasn’t the typical way that a producer would make a film, and by being so personal, my intention was to make a film that educated the people of Haiti about themselves, about their role in society, about their mistreatment of Madan Sara, about a possible move forward. It’s a social film really.

TMH: By taking a different approach in the production, was the funding process of the film any different? For the filmmakers and documentarians at the University of Miami, where should we start?

Dupain: If I were to give any advice for students, it would be to have your first project be something you are really passionate about. Beyond anything else, it must be something that, when completed, it will be something you would be proud of.

It shouldn’t be about making a film; it should be about doing something that means something to you. After the premiere, I received so many letters and emails from people telling me how much the film had impacted them. By having this passion, no matter what adversities come in the way of the making of the film, it pushes you to complete it through.

Funding can be rough and demoralizing, and that’s why you have to have a project that you are dying to complete. For example, we ran out of funds before we could do the editing of the film, and I decided to do a Gofundme. We raised over $10,000 because people saw what we already had, and the donors believed in the project as much as I did. That money helped to hire a good editor and finish the film.

You have to be patient, and you can only be patient if you really believe in the project.

TMH: I know that you plan to do a tour in Haiti where you will be screening the film for free for different communities. Tell me a little more about that.

Dupain: It’s funny; I just returned from putting fliers announcing the tour. It goes back to the concept of being passionate about the project. Now that the film has grown into something larger than myself; we want to show it for free in different parts of Haiti to spark dialogue.

I think it’s time to rethink and have a different discussion about the way we treat women in Haiti, about the way we treat hard-working people. And the film is the beginning of that conversation. We have planned five different locations so far, and we want to do it during National Women’s History Month in March.

The real hard work starts now, with trying to have these discussions around these issues, because I truly believe that the clearest way forward for Haiti is if we listen to the Madan Sara and build an economy around them, with rights and protection. The film needs to be shown in the heart of Haiti; it needs to be shown to the people that need it the most.

TMH: In your recent conversation with the Film Bug Podcast, you mentioned that there’s no lack of stories to tell of Haiti. What’s next for Etant Dupain? Do you plan to continue making films in your homeland?

Dupain: The experience with the film has really sprung a series of ideas that I want to explore further. I’m currently writing something, and I will announce it when the time is due.

For the time being, my focus is on this tour and having the film serve its purpose in the community. All I know is that I want to follow this route of filmmaking, where stories are personal and have real-life implications. But my head is on the tour.

With the pandemic, I want to do this right, and have all the precautions and follow the rules. Traveling will be difficult, but we are confident that it will all come through. Either way, I think “Madan Sara” has gained a spot in Haitian film history, and I couldn’t be prouder than that.

Click here to learn more about Dupain and his work in Haiti and here to view the official “Madan Sara” trailer.

Madan Sara wins Independent Shorts Award

Chapo ba pou Madan Sara!

Kreyòl anba

We are beyond excited to share that Madan Sara has won the Independent Short Awards’ Gold Award for Best Women Short. Madan Sara’s Director, Etant Dupain, and the rest of the Madan Sara team are thrilled to receive this special honor alongside a cohort of distinguished filmmakers and we dedicate the award to all those working as Madan Sara in the face of immeasurable challenges. This film has been a labor of love and has been made possible because of the dedication of so many who believe in the importance of telling the story of the women known as Madan Sara.

To learn more about the award and to see a list of other winners, visit the Independent Shorts Awards website here. To support our efforts to show the film across Haiti in a series of free public screenings, we invite you to visit this page.

Se avèk anpil kè kontan e satisfaksyon ekip Madan Sara seleksyone kòm dokimantè ki genyen “Independent Short Awards Gold Award for Best Women Short”. Ekip Madan Sara a dedekase pri sa a ak tout patisipan nan fim nan e tout Madan Sara. Yon lòt fwa ankò, Chapo ba pou Madan Sara.

Rete branche paske djakout Madan Sara chaje.

About Independent Shorts Awards

IMDb qualifier’s Independent Shorts Awards (ISA) is an international film festival, with monthly live screenings and an annual live screening and awards event in Hollywood, CA. Each season, the submitted projects are judged by a random team of invited experts from academia and film industry, against a high standard of merit. The monthly winners are automatically qualified to compete and be screened at ISA annual event. Some of them are invited to be screened at the monthly events.

Mwa Mas: Mwa Madan Sara

In honor of International Women’s Day, we will be hosting a series of free Madan Sara screenings through the month of March in Haiti and online. Learn more here.

Madan Sara: Travay Lan Fenk Kòmanse

Yon gwo mèsi pou tout moun ki te branche premye sòti Madan Sara sou entènèt. Se avèk anpil satisfaksyon ekip Madan Sara resevwa anpil bèl konpliman, kòmantè  ak anpil temwayaj sou jan Madan Sara touche yo nan nann yo. Ekip Madan Sara a retire chapo li devan tout moun pou sipò ak pasyans yo. Madan Sara mize nan wout men nou pote bon jan nouvèl.

Se plizyè milye moun ki gade Madan Sara pandan weekend sou plizyè platfòm, yo gwo mèsi ak nou e travay lan fenk kòmanse. Nou resevwa demand anpil moun ki poko gade Madan Sara e ki enterese wè Madan Sara. Sa fè nou anpil plezi pou e nou pral travay pou n pote Madan Sara pou ou avan lontan. Dokimantè Madan Sara se yon zouti piblik ki disponib pou tout moun, òganizasyon, lekòl, elatriye. Nou mete l disonib pou tout moun ki vle itilize l pou alaji deba sou enpòtans Madan Sara (Fanm Ayisyen) nan ekonomi an ak nan sosyete an. Li klè Ayiti pap kapab devlope yon ekonimi fò ak yon sosyete jis si n kontinye trete mwatye popilasyon an kòm sitwayen dezyèm klas.

Madan Sara ap prepare l pou blayi kò l tout kote, mache, lekòl legliz, peristil ak plas piblik. Pi gwo rèv ekip Madan Sara a, se òganize pwojeksyon piblik e gratis nan tout kwen posib nan peyi an. Nou konnen se yon gwo anbisyon men n ap travay pou rann rèv sa a vin yon reyalite. 

Nou envite w sipòte pwojè Madan Sara jan w kapab pou fim lan rive pi lwen posib. Men kèk mwayen fasil ou kapab sipòte pwojè Madan Sara: Fè pawòl lan mache, pale ak tout moun ou panse ki enterese wè Madan Sara e kreye gwoup diskisyon sou Madan Sara. Ou kapab òganize yon pwojeksyon, rantre an kontak ak ekip Madan Sara a e n ap kontan kolabore ak ou. Ou kapab itilize Madan Sara pou anseye timoun tankou granmoun, nou ankouraje pwofesè, elèv lekòl pou pwojte Madan Sara e n ap kontan kolabore ak ou. Ou kapab fè yon donasyon pou ede n fè pwojeksyon piblik an Ayiti pou rann lis moun wè Madan Sara.

Yon lòt fwa ankò chapo ba pou Madan Sara, travay lan fenk kòmanse.

Madan Sara: Plis Pase Yon Fim

Click here to read the piece in English

Yon gwo mèsi pou tout moun ki ede n ranmase lajan pou fini film Madan Sara, yon rèv pèsonèl ki vin yon reyalite kolektif. Yon gwo mèsi pou tout moun ki kontribiye nan kanpay GoFundMe sila a, ni moun ki bay lajan, ni moun ki patisipe nan pataje kanpay lan sou rezo yo, yon gwo mèsi. 

Mwen ap pwofite okazyon sa pou pale w yon ti kras sou kisa pwojè Madan Sara a ye, yon pwojè ki se yon pwojè manch long. 

Madan Sara se pa sèlman yon fim, se yon pwojè. Yon pwojè kote nou pral itilize fim lan kòm yon zouti pou mete Madan Sara nan mitan sant deba devlopman ekonomik yo. Li enpòtan jodi a pou n panse devlopman ekonomik Ayiti yon fason diferan, kote nou priyorize aktivite ki bay rezilta yo. Madan Sara bezwen bourad e pratik biznis lan dwe modènize pandan nou pa chanje kilti ki rann biznis lan fè gwo siksè. Madan Sara pral yon okazyon pou lanse inivèsite popilè ak òganizasyon lokal nan kominote yo pou debat sou sijè enterè jeneral. Chak pwojeksyon fim Madan Sara ap gen gwo deba sou plizyè sijè, nou pral mete aksan sou patisipasyon fanm nan lavi politik ak ekonomik peyi a. Nou pral elaji diskisyon sou egalite sosyal ak vyolans sou fanm ak tifi ki se yon gwo pwoblèm sosyete a pa bay twòp enpòtans. 

Pwojè Madan Sara a tou, se diskite pozisyon entènasyonal Ayiti genyen jounen jodi a, 30-40 lane pase chèn komèsyal lan te kon: Peyizan-Madan Sara-depo epi mache. Jounen jodi a nou enpòte plis pase nou pwodwi, chèn komèsyal lan vin chanje. Jodi a se Enpòtatè- gwo depo- ti depo- Madan Sara- mache. Nouvo dinamik biznis sa a afekte ekonomi lokal lan anpil e li afekte dirèk Madan Sara yo ki te prensipal aktè nan distribisyon machandiz atravè tout peyi a.

Objektif prensipal pwojè Madan Sara se pou fim lan pwojte gratis nan chak grenn komin ki andedan peyi a, se yon rèv anbisye men ekip Madan Sara pare pou leve defi sa a. 

 Pou rann Pwojè Madan Sara ateri ekip Madan Sara pral kreye patenarya ak plizyè òganizasyon, Gwoupman fanm, pwofesè, machanm viktim, legliz, vodwizan, dyaspora elatriye. Kolaborasyon sa yo pral pèmèt plis moun wè fim lan e patisipe nan deba yo. Nou deja jwenn 2 gwo kolaborasyon ak Komisyon Fanm Viktim Pou Viktim (KOFAVIV) ki travay ak fanm ak tifi ki viktim zak agresyon seksyèl ak Nègès Mawon ki se yon òganizasyon feminis k ap batay pou dwa fanm Ayiti.  

Pwojè Madan Sara pap sèlman diskisyon ak deba, men aksyon tou. Ekip pwojè Madan Sara a, pral kreye yon pwogram fòmasyon pou òganizasyon baz yon, espesyalman fanm, sou kijan pou yo rakonte pwòp istwa yo. Pwojè sa pral mande resous men se youn nan rèv kreyatè pwojè Madan Sara pou ede òganizasyon lokal yo ranfòse tèt yo. Youn nan pi gwo pwoblèm ki fè anpil fwa òganizasyon yo pa konnen kijan pou chache koneksyon ak mouvman solidarite, chache fon, e kijan pou elaji kad òganizasyonèl yo. Anpil fwa se etranje k ap rakonte istwa yo. Se pa yon move lide pou jwenn sipò moun deyò men anpil fwa jan istwa yo prezante yo plis prezante pou yon odyans diferan ki pa vrèman ede mouvman avanse nan misyon li. Se vre se yon gwo pwojè konpleks e ki mande anpil mwayen finansye ak lojistik men pou Madan Sara pa janm ale nan mache san li pa rantre lakay li ak bon nouvèl, ansanm nou ap bati yon pi bon Ayiti ak yon pi bon mond.

RETE KONEKTE

The Madan Sara Project: More than a Film

Klike la pou li atik sa an Kreyòl

Last week, our crowdfunding campaign to finalize production and host the first few public screenings of “Madan Sara” in Haiti was successfully completed. A note of gratitude, and what is to come from Madan Sara’s filmmaker, Etant Dupain:

I would like to thank everyone who helped us raise the money to support the Madan Sara film, turning a personal dream of mine into a collective reality. To everybody who supported the GoFundMe campaign, whether it was through financial contributions or by sharing it with your network, thank you for your support. I would also like to take this opportunity  to share a little bit about the long term vision of the Madan Sara project.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR MADAN SARA

Madan Sara is more than just a film. As part of a broader project, the film will serve as a tool to put the Madan Sara at the center of the debate about economic development in Haiti - fostering discussion, empowering people to tell their own stories, and supporting communities to take action.  

Today it is critical that we think about economic development in Haiti differently and together prioritize efforts that produce results by investing in sectors with real potential for inclusive, sustained economic development. The Madan Sara sector needs support and it is imperative to find a way to modernize and invest in the sector without changing the core culture that makes it so successful. 

The Madan Sara project is an opportunity to work toward this. Our first initiative, as you may already know, will begin by showing the film in every commune across Haiti. It is an ambitious dream, but the Madan Sara team is ready to rise to the occasion. By launching popular universities, or open public debates, after each free public screening, we will be able to discuss matters of concern related to the well-being of the communities. As we host these debates in partnership with grassroots organizations, particularly women’s groups, we will focus on the role of women in the political and economic life of Haiti, on equality, and on an issue that is too often overlooked by society: violence against women and girls. 

POPULAR EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY BUILDING

The Madan Sara project also provides an opportunity to discuss Haiti’s position in the global economy. Between 30 and 40 years ago, the local production chain in Haiti enabled food to move first from farmers to the Madan Sara, then to the food storage warehouses and later to the markets. Today in Haiti, this production chain has radically changed, and we import more than we produce. Now, the production chain is generally dominated by goods from abroad, which are primarily managed by industrial importers who then import these goods to industrial food storage warehouses, and then to smaller storage facilities. The Madan Sara later acquire these goods and take them to the local markets. This new economic structure has significantly changed local economies - affecting both local consumers in Haiti and the profit margins of the Madan Sara - and has a direct impact on their livelihoods.

INTENTIONAL COLLABORATION

 To bring the Madan Sara project to life, we will partner with a wide range of people: local organizations, women’s groups, professors, victims of arson attacks at the markets, churches, vodouyizan, and diaspora communities. Collaboration is critical to increase the reach of the film and to ensure that more people are able to participate in the conversations. We are proud to have two great collaborations already underway with KOFAVIV, who works with women who have been victims of sexual violence, and Nègès Mawon, a feminist organization fighting for women’s rights in Haiti.

A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO STORYTELLING

This project will take significant resources and support, but empowering communities is a dream worthy of pursuit. Oftentimes groups doing important work in Haiti struggle to secure funding, build global solidarity, and accomplish their goals because they are not the ones telling their own stories. It is not a bad idea to collaborate with international partners, but too often the story that comes out of these partnerships is more focused on successfully reaching foreign audiences rather than supporting the efforts of those who live the story. We are taking a different approach, and it is one that is more complex and will require more time and financial support. But just like the Madan Sara who never fail to deliver, together we will strive to build a better Haiti and along with it a better world.

We are excited that we get to work on this project together and hope you will stay engaged as our work progresses. Stay tuned!

SUPPORT THE MADAN SARA PROJECT

Every dollar raised helps us take this effort further. Click below to make a donation today:

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Markets and Margins: An interview with Etant Dupain

ORIGINAL ARTICLE PUBLISHED BY THE PUBLIC ARCHIVE

Based in Haiti, Etant Dupain is a freelance journalist, producer, and filmmaker. He began his career as a reporter for teleSur in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake and he was a founding member of the important Kreyol-language independent media collective Bri Kouri Nouvèl Gaye (Noise Travels, News Spreads). Dupain has since worked with al Jazeera, BBC, Vice, Discovery Channel, Raw TV, CANAL+, Venezolana Televisión, Vive TV, and on the award-winning film Where Did the Money Go?The founder and director of Kombit Productions, Dupain is currently completing a documentary film entitled Madan Sara— named after the Haitian market women, traders, and businesswoman who provide the critical link between the country’s thousands of small rural and coastal farmers and the produce buyers in Port-au-Prince and other towns.

You have been involved in a number of alternative journalistic and radical writing projects before you embarked on the documentary project Madan Sara, including with the media collective Bri Kouri Nouvèl Gaye (Noise Travels, News Spread). Can you tell us about the origins and importance of BKNG? What kind of stories did it cover, what was its importance, and how was it position within the Haitian media landscape? 

Bri Kouri Nouvèl Gaye was a project working to inform and engage people throughout the reconstruction process following Haiti’s earthquake in 2010, especially as the rights of displaced peoples were systematically violated by the Haitian government and the wealthy business elite. Our work was a direct response to the foreign invasion of NGOs in Haiti after the disaster and the disregard of the rights of Haitians who had been displaced. 

Bri Kouri Nouvèl Gaye was working to empower people to defend themselves as thousands faced evictions as wealthy landowners fought to reclaim land that was being used as internally-displaced people (IDP) camps. BKNG worked to help people understand their rights, organize, and mobilize. We also organized popular universities – debates in the streets and inside the tent camps – which proved to be a powerful tool to organize against the powerful alliance between foreign NGOs, the government, land owners, and the ruling elite. 

Turning to Madan Sara, I wanted to ask you about the historical origins of these women traders. In an interview with Kreyolicious you discussed the longer history of the Madan Sara, tracing it back to the days of slavery and French colonial Saint-Domingue. Can you describe this history and the reasons for the emergence of the Madan Sara?

During the colonial era, the French colonists did not want to share anything with the slaves, including food. As the population grew and grew, the colonizers decided to give the slaves pieces of land called portion de vivewhich were to be used as a way for them to feed their own families. The producers on this land were so successful that they began to trade what they were growing. As the slaves were trading in the markets, they began to organize. As they were doing so, many began to escape as well. In an attempt to squelch this mobilization, the French colonists then disallowed men from going to the market to trade. This is how markets in Saint-Domingue became women dominated. 

With the establishment of the Haitian state following the successful revolution that led to independence, the women working as “madan sara” became more institutionalized in the Haitian economy as women remained active participants as traders and sellers in Haiti’s markets. 

When it comes to the significance of the Madan Sara to the Haitian economy, you have spokenabout this in almost contradictory terms. On one hand, they are essential pillars to the Haitian the economy; on the other, they are operating at the margins of the Haitian economy – relegated to relegated to the realm of the “informal” and given little access to credit. Can you say more about this contradiction and expand, in particular, on the question credit and capital?

The contradiction lies between what madan sara used to be and what madan sara is today. Forty years ago, the exchange of locally produced goods happened between Haitian farmers, Haitian women traders, Haitian-owned storage facilities, and Haitian-run markets. So how did we arrive at the point today where the women known as madan sara are both pillars of the economy and at the margins? Through the destruction of the Haitian national production and the economy as a whole. 

Neoliberal economic policies which reduced tariffs and subsidies and destroyed the Haitian pig, and Haitian rice, among so many other industries, created an economy that was designed to meet the needs of the international market and global capital. It was not intended to nor does it meet the needs of Haitians. When President Clinton forced Haiti to reduce tariffs in 1994, it single-handedly destroyed Haiti’s ability to produce local rice while Arkansas-produced rice (heavily subsidized itself) now floods the market.

This has had profound effects on the economic conditions across the entire nation, and on the madan sara whose ability to feed a nation depends on the nation’s ability to produce. The sector has adapted in many ways, but has been relegated to the margins as investment and policy has crippled Haitian production and trade. Today, you have people that have vast amounts of land that could be used to cultivate food but farmers have no capital or access to credit in order to do so and the market which has been forced open to heavily-subsidized foreign food imports is not one in which local farmers are able to be competitive in. 

Following on this question, what role did the Madan Sara play in the post-earthquake rebuilding process? I’ve read that they had access to microcredit via small scale loans of gourdes but did they have access to the kinds of rebuilding funds funneled through the Red Cross and the Clinton Foundation, or mobilized by corporations such as Digicel?

The “madan sara” sector as a whole was devastatingly impacted by the 2010 earthquake, not only in terms of capital but also because the recovery process was slow and wasn’t designed to include or support them. In the first few months, the foreign NGOs and development agencies flooded the city, buying imported food for the relief efforts. This wasn’t a careless or ill-informed approach, but an intentional decision to prioritize investing in foreign-owned companies. These NGOs built themselves around the earthquake response, many of them coming in as mediocre, moderately successful institutions that were then both built and shaped by a culture that better resembled that of Wall Street. The response culture was to get money fast and spend it down in order to get the next grant. 

Many people don’t know this and they certainly didn’t get credit for it (or donor funding), but the madan sara were essential to providing life-saving support to the families that were displaced throughout the country in the weeks and months that followed the disaster. The madan sara used all of the supplies that they had to feed hundreds of thousands of Haitians that fled Port-au-Prince to the countryside after the quake.

Is it possible to imagine an alternative history of Haiti’s post-earthquake reconstruction that centers on the Madan Sara?

I don’t think that the foreign funds that came in response to the earthquake, under the guise of recovery and development aid, was ever intended to strengthen local economies to allow them to compete with the business interests of the elite whocontrol the import business or the foreign companies that benefit from Haiti being positioned as a consumer.

If the reconstruction money was intended to help Haiti, truly, it would have been possible. The response was 100% Haitian-led in the first hours and the first days following the earthquake. If all of the contracts hadn’t been directed at US companies like DAI and Chemonics but instead put into the hands of Haitian-led enterprises, organizers, and women like the madan sara, it’s possible to imagine a radically different Haiti today. 

The economic significance of the Madan Sara is clear, but do they also have a political role or function in Haitian society? Is there a parallel function in Haiti to the historical role of women traders in Ghana during the era of decolonization or what the Jamaican political scientist Obika Gray has referred to as the “social power” of women entrepreneurs in Jamaica?

As is the case everywhere in the world, especially in formerly colonized countries, women are still incredibly oppressed in Haiti. Though their active participation at the heart of Haiti’s informal economies is of course inherently political, and even though there is huge participation by women across all sectors in Haiti, women are still deeply underrepresented in positions of formal political power. 

The connections between the Madan Sara’s economic and political significance is there – we just need to tell the story better as we fight for equality. Women have made significant contributions economically and politically throughout Haitian history, starting at the battle for independence where women fought at the forefront of the struggle. We have to do a better job today to elevate the story of the women who built this nation.

Women like the Madan Sara in Haiti raise generation after generation who end up working and living across Haiti and the rest of the world. Much of the Haitian diaspora was able to build their lives internationally because of the hard work of the madan sara who made that possible. 

Over the past months, Haiti has been rocked by protest. What are the origins of the protests? How widespread are they and what demands are being made? Have the Madan Sara played a role, either formally or informally?

A historical movement is underway in Haiti with people across all classes and sectors joining together in the fight against corruption and impunity. The misuse of the PetroCaribe Fund, the Venezuelan discount oil program that was intended to provide much-needed investments in development and infrastructure projects, has been the central focus of ongoing and widespread protests, which began nearly a year ago. 

The PetroCaribe scandal shows a vast conspiracy between the Haitian oligarchy, Haitian government officials, and international partners like the United States and Canada. The current regime in Haiti is systemically corrupt with the sitting President himself having personally profited off of embezzled PetroCaribe funds through two of his companies. Over one hundred people have been killed including a massacre in late 2018 in a neighborhood that has been deeply engaged in the anti-government protests. This is one of the few moments where you’ve seen this level of unity across sections of Haitian society as people unite to put an end to impunity. Now, the movement is facing off with the U.S., one of the few remaining sources of support for President Jovenel Moïse, as the demands for his resignation mount.

The madan sara are one of the victims of the instability and systemic political violence in Haiti. Throughout the past year, multiple markets have been the targets of arson, with a few of the markets having been burned multiple times. The women who work as madan sara are not an organized political entity, but what we are seeing is that by and large, they are backing the protests and the calls of the movement for accountability, transparency, and for equitable, inclusive economic development. 

Finally, you’re extremely close to completing the madan sara documentary. What more is needed, both in terms of funding and both filming and post-production, to get you to the finish line?  

We’re proud to have just finalized shooting after a year of hard work and are now working to finalize the film – but it’s more than just a documentary that we’re working on. The Madan Sara project has three main objectives: first, it’s the film that will be used as a tool to ignite a larger conversation about Madan Sara, alternative local economies, and the impact of neoliberal economic intervention on countries like Haiti. Second, we are planning to show the film around Haiti in a series of free, public screenings. Finally, we want bring back something I started with BKGN: the popular universities. These open debates in popular neighborhoods allowed conversations to serve as a tool for mobilization and I’m hoping that we can do the same by starting with the film. 

This film is an opportunity to cultivate a movement centering the madan sara. That’s why it’s so critical for us to find support to help ensure we will have the ability to bring this movie all across the country. We’re currently raising funds from people who believe in the importance of this story, and this project as a whole, to finalize production and host free public screenings throughout Haiti. To learn more and be a part of this critical work, visit www.madansarafilm.com/donate.  Thank you! 

Image: Haitian Market, circa 1970. Bryant Slides Collection. Special Collections & University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries/Digital Library of the Caribbean.