Deadliest Roads | Guinea | Free Documentary

[Music] [Music] [Music] in Guinea the only certainty seems to be that people have to fend for themselves once order is ready today the challenge facing Pierre and his assistants is to how to get these medicines in record time from Conakry to kisi dugu on the other side of the country Ron Killeen Guinea Conakry is still plagued by serious disease such as polio diphtheria and rabies the pharmacist greatest concern is to get the vaccines out to where they're needed before the climate ruins them Pierre has no refrigerated truck or ice box even he sends his vaccines in a simple box wrapped in a bag of ice we pray God that this arrives in good condition we come on happy medicine arrived safely and quickly it's a vaccine so it's only good for 24 hours and that's the first hurdle to get to the transporter at the bus depot is an epic journey in itself a downpour has caused huge traffic jams are we getting through this how the others doing it it's incredible and true this is so tiring too many jams the annoyed driver blasts his horn frightening a passerby what are you doing you're insulting me but you're in luck I'll leave it to God to decide who's right and who's wrong okay that's it that's it now [Music] Conakry the capital is at a standstill a tea salesman and beggars try to make the most of the vehicles that are stuck [Music] stuck in one place for hours creeping forward at a snail's pace been here five hours it's the traffic jam otherwise would have done it in one hour oh I'm on my way we're moving it's a real worry dis when the patients were waiting for these medicines must be in pain human lives are at risk after six hours in the traffic jam they make it to the bus depot the medicines are handed over to Abbas who owns a bush taxied the pharmacist makes his point listen what salary is rapping over there it's a vaccine if the trip takes longer than 24 hours it'll melt so you must get there before that the fragile vaccine is placed under the front seat well my tasks completed now I've dropped off the package made sure it's well taken care of now I can go home for a few cents so called cox's assist with placing the baggage and tying it firmly into place use a [ __ ] sir is a [ __ ] sir - Cox's I also work drivers since there's no work we have to make do it's only little work but it helps them get by how much do you make we were about five or 10 euros a day it's the same pay as a teacher any Conakry has no railway and planes are prohibitively expensive taxes are the most common way to get around the country and drivers take advantage by gouging clients this passenger tries to get credit for her and her baby my mother-in-law died and my husband told me to come home immediately once we get there he will pay you all I've got is 10 euros I don't have enough the driver feels sorry for her and the deal is struck but another passenger is more of a problem he's hurt his hand and wants a window seat I cut myself in a farm machine however the man in the baseball cap has reserved the seat listen I paid for this seat you're not telling me now I have to move where I chose but he's injured he was fine I wouldn't have asked you to change seats finally nine passengers two babies two drivers are packed onboard Abbas is proud of his car it's only 22 years old it's got only 450 thousand kilometers on the clock three hours later the passengers and the vaccine finally start the journey with a time lost in the traffic jam the ice in which the vaccine has been packed has been melting now for eight hours if the driver doesn't make kissy dugu in 16 hours but the vaccines might as well be thrown away the National Road to kisi dugu is 680 kilometers of potholes few drivers respect the rules of the road and accidents are frequent [Music] a quarter of the country is covered in forest the ineffectual government has played no part in building or maintaining the road which is now done by the locals [Music] there are accidents one person fell off [Music] the terrible roads tire they already nervous drivers I'm at the end of my tether the delays paralyzed the nation's economy it could take two hours to reach the top of the hill and yet Guinea Conakry is a rich country it's rich in gold and diamonds with the inhabitants seen none of the benefits [Music] kisi dugu hospital has but one ambulance we have to save this woman have to save her life poverty is everywhere and families are forced to send their kids out to work a most Guineans life is a daily struggle [Music] the bush taxi drivers patience has tested to the limit even before leaving the capital the two drivers constantly swap over the boot is not exactly comfortable [Music] they've wasted two hours stuck in traffic the deadline for the vaccine means the drivers keep going through the night since they set off there's been a strong smell of petrol in the passenger compartment still none of them seem particularly concerned in fact some of the passengers seem reassured we believe that any time you can smell petrol it keeps the evil spirits away petrol fumes might keep the supernatural at bay but they can't stop for living highway robbers are a constant danger one week ago one of the gangs stopped some vehicles on this road and attacked it with weapon is there even some renegades for the military amongst them about midnight is the time we like to park somewhere until 5:30 in the morning to avoid people like that the stop is a welcome relief to the cramped passengers their bodies ache and their stomachs are empty [Music] okay but I'm hungry come on service [Music] as a precaution they wait until daylight before setting off again by the early morning the vaccines have been on the road for 22 hours and it's time to press on but Shareef is obliged to take it slowly [Music] even if we know that we're transporting urgent medicines have to be rushed we can't because the road so bad we have an accident [Music] such cause to order come all along the route the gambolled seems to have paid off after 24 hours the bush taxi pulls into kisi do group but luck is against them the pharmacy is closed and the vaccines will only be good for a few more minutes as the ice has surely melted the driver asks around one of the shopkeepers do you have the pharmacist telephone number hello yes I wanted to let you know that we got some medicines for you that were brought in from Conakry the pharmacist is on the way but when will he arrive one passengers fell upon waiting for even more on the rush than you are the pharmacist arrives one hour later the vaccines are put into a fridge relief all round is there just about still in good condition and Guinea Conakry bush taxes are a lifeline these communal pickups venture just about everywhere [Music] apart from inside the dense forests [Music] those that live here are the country's forgotten people's there are hardly any tracks that serve their villages a Kahn Yogi's clan are a case in point uber is a medicine man and at 82 years old his natural remedies seemed to serve him well he sells his medicinal plants to the villages of Poland perched high on these cliffs the old man makes his way up there using a 300 year old path and an ancient ladder fashioned out of bamboo and plant stems it snakes off the cliff face notices guardrail to the world it's been worthy way up to the road we have to drag our baggage jump on the way up and all the way down have been accident one woman was holding on to a creeper when it snapped she fell and she survived [Music] Uber's village honors its dead by giving them the best views something that raises a few logistical problems cemetery is up there someone dies down on the plains we have to carry their body up the cliff use a basket made from the creepers to hoist the body for burial at the top most villages and even towns in Guinea Conakry are lacking the most basic services kisi do go and it's two hundred thousand inhabitants have power only a few hours every week the main hospital has an emergency unit but it's reserved for pregnant women [Music] okay let's go Mariana nurse dashes off towards the only ambulance she has it was donated by UNICEF 13 years ago without any means to maintain it it's a miracle it's still running due to the price of petrol it can only be used once a day we've had a call to go pick up a pregnant woman so we're heading off to pick her up and take her to the hospital it's an emergency but she's 75 kilometers away if we have to be quick to save this woman we have to save a life [Music] sometimes we risk our own lives and taking these roads we're scared the nurses waste a lot of time on these roads in the bush there are no road signs with the names of the villages and there are as many tracks as there are directions it's a real labyrinth which is the way to tell ikora yes it's the track over there first you go to Naomi and there you ask for directions to come pee and then you head to Medina camping okay thanks we're in a rush we have to go two hours later and they still can't locate the pregnant woman tell her oh that's the other direction to make things worse the old ambulance breaks down mom come on hurry the battery a rope Jeff some rope just a short piece will work here's one I'm just tying it up as she waits for the makeshift repairs Mariam bumps into the pregnant woman's father-in-law worried he'd set out on foot she's been sick since Wednesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday four days of agony mother and baby are both in danger why didn't you call Wednesday it's been four days now the woman's in her village in great pain she'll lose her baby and she must be worn out by now I can't stand seeing a woman suffer [Music] three hours after leaving the hospital Miriam can finally attend to the patient the baby is poorly positioned on the eighteen-year-old girl is in urgent need of a caesarean grandmother's act as doctors in the bush matrons who help with childbirth [Music] in the village all the old ladies gathered round and gave her natural medicines saying that this would allow her to give birth but she can't from down there it has to be a cesarean they don't know that they're wrong her husband tries to comfort her as best he can there's no stretch in she lies on some tarpaulin needs to change her position to make it less painful we have to lift her she wants to turn over sit her up against yourself all right when we get there they'll operate and everything will be fine whatever the dangers are we need to get to the hospital quickly so she can be operated [Music] the hospital has no running water the operating room only has one set of surgical clamps it's a very sharp pain there is at least an anesthetist and mother is soon asleep the cesarean goes well but the baby isn't breathing without reanimation machines the nurses try the impossible there's no beats there's no heartbeat the baby's dead we just think we went all that way to her village to bring her back here and the child doesn't make it let's now try to save the mother four days of contractions have paralyzed her legs the hospital is no suitable medicines in Guinea Conakry it's up to the patients to purchase them go and buy the medicines for your wife pharmacy is over there the young woman's husband is desperate I don't have any money to buy prescription drugs my parents might have helped but they're a long way away I'm stuck without social security many families here are unable to provide for their loved ones the hospital pharmacy sells medicines for ten times less than the private sector but it still proves too expensive how much are the medicines three and a half euros I don't have that kind of money listen help I wouldn't need that medicine I don't have any money in Guinea Conakry life is worth as little as three and a half years maybe it's the camera or genuine sympathy but in the end the pharmacist pays for the medicine himself there's enough to treat his wife for a week any longer and it will be up to the husband to come up with more money according to UNICEF over 15,000 babies in almost 4,000 women died in childbirth each year in Guinea Conakry getting medicines to where they're needed around the country is a real problem store it properly so it won't break don't worry no problem hey Leigh move the cans and put the medicines there and the transportation itself is by no means ideal for such a fragile cargo as medicines Alice Ann is the proud owner of this old truck tires puncture you have to change it hey guys open up the bonnet check the engine is all right come on get my hand you need to completely move it up there's no lady in the cabin his ancient truck brings in just enough to feed his large family eight children and two wives fatty aged 50 and Erica 21 come on time to eat everyone there is some toe toe is cornflour and water the poor man's dish the entire family depends on Harrison's earnings but at this point they're very thin it's really delicious we don't have any money so we get by as best as we can my trucks too old I hardly make any profits from it at all but without making these trips we'd have nothing to eat take this money for expenses it's not much it's not enough to feed nine people if you don't give me some more I don't know how many too many of us for this just take it take it take it so what are you expect me to do 1/2 euros we need twice that at least there's nothing in my pockets I don't want your money take it back that's your problem keep your some when I cut back the old engine groans away and Alison wonders whether he'll be able to make it all the way to the corner 65 kilometers away the journey costs less than a bush taxi the passengers are taking a greater risk falling off is common as the ancient trucks carcass is shaken every which way it's 65 kilometers to taco no don't take us about six hours six hours to cover 65 kilometers because a road is so bad holes everywhere a lot of accidents [Applause] fridge delay the passengers and clients want compensation I own the travel I bought it on credit I need to repay my loan the road is slowly destroying my vehicle and soon it will completely break down I'm at the end of my tether the road is hardly they've ever repair [Music] I just have to get off the roads simply tuned bad life is the same every time and it's been getting worse now for for two years I need to remove all the mud that's over there without batting an eyelid the passengers get down to it luckily there's some coal on the truck some of it will be sacrificed as it makes perfect filler to make a living needs to be repaired so we can survive [Music] [Music] and they're also bandits who might attack us anytime that's terrible I know how much more we can put up with robbers attacked us three months ago we were going slowly because of the road I took all my cash two and a half thousand euros it's just too much now had enough Morales passengers alternate between walking and riding in the truck [Music] I'm suffering stay to the road the price of goods has gone up what used to cost 10 euros we now have to pay three or four times that much that's a lot for poor people like us some make this journey twice a week when it rains we use the canvas to cover ourselves that's all we can do it's not easy but it's all we've got [Music] the downpour lasts just ten minutes it's enough to keep them cold for the rest of the trip at-taqwa know the trucks arrival is an occasion to make a few pennies the little delivery boys flock around the truck do you know where the pharmacy is yes sir right let's get going then [Music] Keita makes 50 song teams for every errand the pharmacy doubles as a greengrocers medicines are stacked in between the cigarettes and cans of jam and condensed milk the medicines are sold individually regardless of a number of days of treatment I want a malaria pill to my child it's been sick for two days it's very expensive one dose costs fifty some teams a fortune few Ghanaians are able to pay for a full course of treatment nine year old cater the delivery boy works as hard as any adult he chases clients all day long stop it's my mother who told me to do this the hardest part is lifting up the packages caters by no means the only child who is sent out to work by their family some start at an even younger age 108 small kids slave away in this wood workshop or according to the foreman they goof off he claims all attend school and they here on internships to learn about the trade properly to get it smooth where's your sandpaper don't you have any yeah take it take it man hello over here now you need to rub it against the wind that's the way up and down this is how you should do it about how old is that little kid he's five all those bigger kids over there they started at this age [Music] thanks to these internships he's helped many to find their vocation at the Forman then forgets he's still wearing a microphone new kids were at school and since they were long holidays they should come here to get some training so they have something to occupy themselves say anything that might upset them want to be when he grows up you should say you would be a carpenter you should say you like his kids aged between 5 and 16 all work 12 hours a day and a physical cost is quite shocking are you tired after working all day very tired how do you feel when works over it hurts there my shoulders they really ache Lamine h9 repeats the same movements all day really hurts you're not used to me see those marks in my hand my palm gets very hot it's the plane that makes it hot it hurts all the time now the small army of little workers lives in a dormitory three kilometers away [Music] they're desperately poor families have rented them out in exchange for some money some kids haven't seen their parents in six years [Music] is the man behind this lucrative business who fills in as the father and his three wives act as the mothers he's the one who's in charge here he's our master he trained all the team here I set up this entire thing it's run along military lines after a day's work the 108 kids have different time for rest each has a domestic chore to fulfill [Music] [Music] not one of these kids will ever see a schoolbook but for the boss that's not really important the peasants by word of mouth they bring me their children in a more profitable trade than farming me [Music] until they learn the business domain some three or four years and if I take them in very young they might stay six or seven years after I freedom done this since 1966 my xxx group of kids according to UNICEF 25 percent of young guineans work instead of attending school and many schools are inaccessible anyway due to the condition of the roads [Music] it's the same story with health these medicines are on their way to a dispensary in the middle of the jungle only someone's crazy as Amaka would risk such a journey come on load up quickly we're late there's a lot of mud down there and a lot of holes Amaka wasn't meant to be a trucker his father wanted him to be someone important and his family made many sacrifices to pay for Amata's education he graduated as an accountant but never found work so Amaka resigned himself to follow his father into becoming a driver [Music] this is a Zil it's Russian that's more than 30 years old I inherited it from my father is it a good inheritance oh yes during the 1960's president secretary allied himself with the Soviet Union the Communists imported their ideology along with Russian heavy-duty trucks the Zil 130 is one of the last survivors if I leave in the morning I should get there by the often I don't get there until the following morning can take two hours or three just to make it up one slope it's tough the mule track is actually a regional road connects kisi dugu and Kannada 45 kilometers away [Music] the roads blocked up ahead we're stuck at each bog the rhythm of the spades resumes and it's always to the same tune Amica is encouraged but not much is achieved the answer may lie in this oddly shaped mud sculpture termite it makes good traction for the tires you put down in the mud and that should do the trick small ones don't sting it's the big ones with the insects are sacrificed in vain fascinated by the old truck members of an Italian Catholic mission stop by to take some photographs this man flanked by two Italians as a priest the Friends of dom kira they've come with me to visit the parish on yahoo you sure you can carry me don't drop me what should we do have you just met a new boyfriend he's a priest yes I am but maybe she's found another fiancee is it the hand of God as soon as the priest leaves and his four-wheel drive the truck emerges from the quagmire the pebbles are all from the bush we'll bring him along and you use them woody tomorrow when their holes to fill this time they had a few too many and they dumped the excess [Music] [Music] now Macca's truck stops its engine likes power the engines Belford split it's not serious we have a spare belt minute I will just take 10 minutes as quick we don't have to do it there's an apprenticeship before we start driving so we can cope with this on our own as we don't have much money such as the poverty that everything gets recycled can tie up the bags of rice with it we can use it to fix the tarpaulin onto the truck but as they get back on board [Music] by nightfall they've been driving for ten hours I'm cold [Music] [Music] the nurse of the dispensary collects the packages of medicine he's been expecting them for three months and the boxes are quite small he hopes they'll be enough to replenish his stock [Music] my eye crease no longer Gooden will be used there are people who come to be treated fine and if we don't have any cream well that's no good [Music] among the medicine Benjamin has received our vaccines against measles diphtheria tetanus and polio you'll start vaccinating children first thing the following day as he has no means to conserve the precious serums [Music] no electricity fridge runs on petrol I don't have a generator to pay for the petrol for the fridge and often we don't have the money cut it in freedom [Music] magenta [Music] [Music] [Music] this two-year-old baby is too weak to be vaccinated [Music] visited the family yesterday and told the baby alone let's go and see them Vinnie [Music] [Applause] six kilos 35 this child is too in many ways 6.5 kilos that's in case of malnutrition child has always been weak he was born underweight always had stomach ache so I took him to treatment at the hospital because he do goo but it was too expensive means it's difficult for prescriptions of cause 20 about 13 euros if you think I mean if you don't have enough to pay for it they don't wanna give you the money will be she had to pay why she came back with the child given his current state his father rejected him he wasn't growing so his mother has taken her child I mean gone back to live with her parents [Music] one lemon sometimes she's part my own salary to help out women like this but we don't have the means either so we can't help everybody just 100 the rest we can't help proper that's a this is a dietary complement it's rich in energy in Guinea Conakry one in ten children died before reaching the age of five no doctors ever visit these remote villages benjamin tries to fill the void but he's just a nurse even though an experienced one [Music] Benjamin says this 50-year old man has a burst aneurysm he treats him as best he can [Music] given this medicine twice a day it will help what will happen to this mansion [ __ ] well he'll stay like that he can't talk anymore sake what we did what we can for him this family has what he needs to help him I can't say he'll be cured but it's a step in the right direction goodbye have a good day in Guinea Conakry life expectancy is about 50 everybody knows me here [Music] [Music] you [Music] you

Channel: Free Documentary

Views: 1,361,764

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, most dangerous roads, most dangerous journeys, worlds most dangerous roads, worlds most dangerous journeys, deadliest roads, deadliest roads in the world, dicing with death, deadliest journeys, deadliest journeys guinea, dangerous guinea, dangerous roads guinea, deadliest roads guinea, most dangerous roads guinea, dicing with death guinea, Documentary, Guinea, Conakry, Africa, West Africa

Id: aLqW3OtAyig

Length: 49min 45sec (2985 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 23 2020