“Home Away From Haiti” Documentary Film

“Home Away from Haiti” (2014) is a documentary film about the migration of Haitian environmental refugees to Mount Olive, NC. Sophie Capshaw-Mack wrote, directed, filmed, edited, and produced this documentary in Professor Todd Taylor's ENGL 318 at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2018, Borders Beyond the Border, an initiative by The Forum for Scholars & Publics at Duke University, published the film here.

“Home Away From Haiti” focuses on the Haitian immigrant community in Mount Olive, North Carolina. The Haitian community in Mount Olive emerged after the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti, which had an estimated death toll of 230,000 and left millions without homes. Prior to the earthquake, the U.S. Census recorded zero Haitian-born residents in Mount Olive. With fewer than 5,000 total residents, the small town seems an unlikely destination for Haitians relocating to the United States. This documentary explores how this phenomenon came to be and why.

The film features several stories from Mt. Olive’s Haitian residents, including those of Heraste Obas – Butterball turkey factory worker by day, published poet by night – and Samuel Morse, an entrepreneur supporting his family back in Haiti. It also includes interviews with Mount Olive’s then mayor, town manager, and chief of police, all of whom expressed kind and welcoming remarks about their new neighbors.

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