International media outlet Al Jazeera released its documentary “Healing Haiti’s Children” on Sunday, August 21, both on its official website and streaming platforms. Filmed at the Fontaine Hospital in Cité Soleil, the short film, directed by journalist Rosie Collyer, follows father and daughter Jose and Kareen Ulysse as they strive to keep their family-run hospital open in a neighborhood marked by insecurity.
Filming began in November 2024, during the closure of Toussaint Louverture International Airport, and focuses on the daily struggles of the hospital staff, particularly Kareen Ulysse, founder of the Fontaine Hospital Foundation. Kareen faces serious challenges in obtaining the essential supplies needed to keep newborns alive, amid rising gang violence across the country.
“The security crisis is a huge problem. We’ve been running our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for a year now. Since then, we’ve been able to save several babies’ lives, we just need oxygen,” Kareen Ulysse says in the documentary.
For newborns, timely care is critical. One doctor emphasizes that access to medical supplies, especially oxygen, directly affects survival. Supply deliveries are often blocked in a city where clashes between law enforcement and gangs—who control 85% of the capital—are frequent, according to human rights organizations.
“It’s really hard to refill oxygen cylinders. I remember the last time I went to fill two of our cylinders—it was under a rain of bullets,” a staff member recalls. “The streets were empty. I had to take a motorbike to transport one cylinder on my lap,” he adds, highlighting the risks involved.
The airport closure has been another major obstacle. Medicines needed for patient care are hard to get. “The closure is devastating for us. Donations we receive from NGOs or private donors, usually sent by plane, are blocked,” Kareen explains.
To work around this, Kareen secured help from an airline providing transport between Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haïtien. In addition, Jose and Kareen opened another center in Laboule 12, Pétion-Ville, to serve more patients in the capital. “I’m proud and hopeful to have a daughter like her, who, despite everything she built abroad, decided to come back to Haiti in such a difficult security context,” says Jose Ulysse, co-founder of Fontaine Hospital in 1991.
Jose believes that if state authorities took responsibility, more young lives could be saved. “I see them as victims of the system. So far, they are all redeemable. When we clean the canals, I make them work, and they do their tasks properly—they arrive on time and finish within the required hours. I believe if state representatives wanted to address this problem, they could guide these youth in a better direction,” he says.
Security isn’t the only challenge. Abandoned babies are another major issue. “Sometimes parents just deliver the baby and never come back to claim them. Last week alone, five babies arrived,” Kareen notes.
When that happens, the hospital takes full responsibility for the newborns. “If parents don’t come, when the babies are between one month and a year and a half, we’re asked for space, so we take them in—they live with me in that case,” she explains.
For the documentary, Rosie Collyer worked with several Haitian videography specialists before arriving in May 2025, including director of photography Pierre Michel Jean. “He did a fantastic job integrating with the Ulysse family during a very turbulent period and adapted incredibly well to the direction I wanted to take,” she told Chokarella.
The director says her inspiration came from a short five-minute video Kareen shared during the hospital’s relocation amid rising violence. “What first motivated me to tell the Ulysse family’s story was the successful evacuation of the children from the hospital in November 2023. It was a truly remarkable story and we at Al Jazeera recognized its significance,” she told our newsroom.
The airport closure in November 2024 was also a key moment in the hospital’s management. “The closure of Port-au-Prince International Airport also delayed our project, it was impossible to reach Port-au-Prince in November 2024 due to suspended flights from the U.S. I had to explain that Pierre Michel Jean needed to spend a few days at the hospital between November and December to shoot the footage,” Collyer recalls.
The documentary falls under Al Jazeera’s Witness category, a platform developed over the past 20 years to showcase community efforts in difficult circumstances. Collyer has worked in this branch for seven years. “I’m really happy to make a documentary on such an important subject,” she concludes.
Watch the documentary below
By Youbens Cupidon © Chokarella
