Let's follow her! Follow her to the bend. In the villages along the tracks of Malawi, The passage of a car is often the
sign that there is some money to be made. It must be said that even the best 4x4s
get trapped. Guys need to push
the car over there. Others stand here and lead there. And normally it should go like this. And then it goes quiet. It's always like that during the season of
rain, there is always a driver to help. Hey guys go y'all push this side. Be careful where you put your foot. For a few euro cents, these
men take big risks. And they are not at the end of their troubles. Go on ! Let's try to lift it. Not really a good idea. Six men against two
tons of steel. It hovers like an odor of tragedy. Stop it! We must also hoe here and
he can move faster. But no, the earth has again
soaked in two seconds. Gray, you don't always have to work hard,
try as he says. But no the car just has to
go through it and then it's over. Come on, let's go back. You are really stubborn. Keep the wheels straight. Men give their all
can without worrying about the danger. No one should have taken this side. It's too dangerous. We almost killed ourselves there! It's very dangerous.
Him and me, we were on the verge of going through it. Everyone is shocked. But 5 hours later
at nightfall, they are still there. Ready! And now, we are champions! Ok, who am I giving the money to? Hey man, we already told you!
It's 60 euro cents each! And chief, give us our money,
it was we who started pushing. Thanks ! See you soon ! In Malawi, the moods of nature do not
forgive the imprudent traveler nothing. This small country is considered the cradle of humanity. Almost 2 million years BC,
men had already settled there. Unlike many African countries,
Malawi has never been ravaged by war. It must be said that he does not have great wealth. Its entire economy is based on agriculture. But it is undermined by a climate that
oscillates between droughts and floods. As for its road network, of the 16,000 kilometers of roads
that runs through it, more than half is unpaved. It doesn't go there at all. The baby is not well. We go to the village of ****. I'm going
have a vaccination session. Sometimes we walk there when the cars
and even motorcycles cannot pass. It's very heavy. I always have my baby on my back. In these wild lands, it is better to be on your guard. Around here, you can come across lions and
elephants and they are not afraid of vehicles. Without weapons to defend themselves or even to hunt, Malawians
have developed ingenious traps to feed themselves. These swallows will never know spring. Every time the country falters, the supernatural remakes
surface. Men are persecuted for fear of the invisible. At night, we were able to observe different signs and
clues. This confirms that vampires are real. Despite the scourges that are ravaging it, the country is growing. It must be said that Malawians have the rage to live. There is no shortage of bush taxis in Malawi. Only the schedules are rather fanciful. That day, there are three of them on the start line, but the customers don't take any risks and jump on the first to leave. That's the capacity of my pickup. 18 people. Yeah, we're good! No problem. We will advance step by step. Indeed, the old pick-up has a hard time getting going. Gray, also a taxi, sees a
large part of his profit for the day. Madyo, go see the guy with his big bag. We try to find passengers who go up to
****. But today, there is hardly anyone. Bush taxis are a lifeline
essential to Malawi's economy. The country has only one old railway line. Without them, crops and goods could not
be transported to the four corners of the country. And you, do you get in the truck? Not me, only my daughter. - Are you coming too?
- Yes I'm coming. Let me help you. Their old gear also maintains a
essential social link between the villages. I return to take care of the children at home,
there is one who is sick, she has a fever. I'm afraid it's malaria. My daughter came to see me at the hospital.
There, she leaves and I go back to the hospital. And tonight we'll sleep on our stomachs
empty. We lack food. Don't be so desperate. maybe
patients will have to eat today. I take care of seven children, four of whom are mine. Also, I'm divorced and I live alone. Do not say that. Your husband is coming back. Let him try to come back. I am not
more married, that's all. It's like that ! With so few passengers, Gray has it all
just enough to pay for the fuel. Ok, gas level is good, that half is power
go up there, the other is to come back here. There is no gas station afterwards, you have to fill up here. Gray's truck has clocked up nearly 3 million kilometres. But miraculously, he still has his key. Let's push! Go on ! Only, the starter passed away a long time ago. The beautiful tongue of tar quickly gives way to the track. It is the only point of connection with the mountains
of the South where more than 200,000 people live. The kidneys of the passengers are put to the test,
but this is not the only disappointment that awaits them. One day the rain started right off the bat.
It took 20 hours to arrive. When it rains, it is a very difficult road. Gray never had the means to put up a tarp. It's not going at all there, the baby is not well. There he can easily fall ill, catch pneumonia. Despite the cold and the jolts, the passengers
endure the journey without ever complaining. Everyone accepts. Like a fatality. After 8 hours of washing machine and 60 kilometers
later, the good weather returns. It's the end of the trip. Well, not for everyone. The most remote villages are not
served because not very profitable for a taxi. Here is my business. Now we will continue on foot, go down the
hill, then continue a little further to the house. I have never been to school, but I
think it's about twelve kilometres. Lets' go ! Be well my sister. I have between 25 and 50 kilos on my head on each trip. We travel on foot all the time. When we have to go to the hospital or elsewhere, we go there on foot. The more things you need, the heavier it is. It's very heavy. I always have my baby on my back.
I can't leave it. I am still breastfeeding her. We are going to these mountains. We will follow
this path and we will arrive in 3 hours. It takes courage to make this trip several times a month. Country of farmers, Malawi suffers
sometimes terrible droughts. Famine is never far away. Over the seasons, its inhabitants have learned to exploit
each of its most unsuspected riches. Catching ants for us is a delight. We eat them. During this period, we will regularly see ant holes after the rains, there are plenty of anthills on the road. After the rain, the first to come,
these are the little yellow ants. They are cleaned with water and boiled with salt and pepper, then eaten with maize porridge. Take your hand away! - Leave her, leave her!
- But she flies away! Corn porridge, we eat it every day while the **** is once a year. It's super good, it's really delicious. These flying ants are actually future queens. They
will not have time to found new colonies. On the other hand, their proteins easily replace
the meat that these children rarely taste. The next morning, before hitting the road for a
new destination, Gray makes sure his bush taxi, Won't sow bolts the whole way. This truck, I inherited it from my father. He had not
not enough money to pay for my studies, So he gave it to me to start this business. On rainy days, Gray takes the opportunity to double the ticket price, which is not to everyone's taste. - It's 20 euro cents.
- No, 10 cents no more. It's the price. No that's not true. Yesterday I paid 10 cents.
So do you agree? No, you pay what I ask of you. You can't take this ride
and pay only 10 cents. So, how much are you doing for me? It's 20 cents. Come on, you pay and let's go. We earn more because we charge more, But we also use more gasoline on rainy days. And today, I can't see anything with this fog. I'm going
drive very slowly, I couldn't go any faster. Anyway, on foggy days,
Gray is sure to load up on customers. No one ventures to walk along the misty paths. In Malawi, superstitions die hard and
beliefs sometimes turn into collective psychosis. This pea puree is one of the signs that announce
the arrival of the Anamapopa, the bloodsuckers. Vampire stories are not believed by many people. But I believe in it. In this country, vampires have nothing to do with the living dead. They would be humans with supernatural powers. They do not have large canines. They
draw blood with large needles. At night, we were able to observe different signs and
clues. This confirms that vampires are real. Legend has it that the blood would be
used for satanic rites. We tried to hunt these vampires,
but it was not possible to catch up with them. We couldn't see what they really looked like. People saw them, they chased them
without being able to catch them either. These people said that vampires were able to
suck blood. That they have magical powers. But if you can take refuge in
someone, you cannot be attacked. The hunt for vampires has taken
worrying proportions in Malawi. Militias have formed to flush out blood thieves. Several innocent people have died. Stoned by the people. Mabuka, the great traditional chief of the region,
narrowly escaped this mass hysteria. The crowd gathered in front of his house,
accused him of leading a group of vampires. We were sitting here and we heard a crowd singing. These people were coming towards us. Then they shouted, "Mabuka, give us back our blood!" He named me clearly. There I have
understood that they wanted my head. Mabuka tries to talk to them, to make them
come to his senses, but nothing works. They started breaking the windows. It was all shattered.
The whole house and the porch were filled with large stones, And bricks they threw. All that
to kill me and burn my motorcycles. My wife told me to go hide. I
took refuge in the toilet. One of the assailants poked his head
through a window and tried to set the fire. Seeing this, my son went to get empty bottles. My wife threw them at the man to stop him. It scared them away and they left
while running. The rampage continued here. It's my office. You see, it says chief on the door. You can see that I have 288 traditional leaders who
fall under my jurisdiction. All the names are there. This is surely the real reason for this attack. For Mabuka and his wife, he is surely one of the heads of
village that stoked the rumor mill in order to take his place. There are power issues under the guise of conflict
internal. This is the real reason for this attack. They put the reproach on him so that he would be killed
and thus take power without having to do anything. As long as Malawi is among the most
poor of the world, the fear of the vampire will endure. Superstitions feed on
poverty and deprivation of the people. Gray, the bush taxi, got out of the fog without a hitch. Yes just. You shouldn't have to push the truck. You are a good Gray. If Gray doesn't run into too many problems,
this is far from being the case of his friend Joel. He loaded his truck more than necessary. According
him, it's the only way to earn a little money. I like my job, but it's not a good job. In this country, a driver does not make a profit. And if by accident you kill someone you go to jail. Me, I made myself. I no longer have my father or my mother. I would dream of going to work in a foreign country. Under the onslaught of tremors, the goods piled up
quickly disintegrate over the kilometers. You saw that rope. She's just laying there, can you
tie it up properly please? By overloading his truck, Joël had
eyes bigger than stomach. Malawians tend to say that the one
who desires rain must also accept mud. And for Joël, the galley has only just begun. For his part, Gray also gets into trouble. A few years ago, this track was in better condition. Before the region is struck by a plague. Due to the road condition. There's no
factories, not plantations that employ people. This region of southern Malawi is stricken
because of the ruin of the banana growers. Two years ago, all the banana trees died, parasitized. Here before, there were bananas everywhere. If you had been sitting in my place, you could not have
see across the valley because of the banana trees. Now it's emptiness as far as the eye can see. How many people lived off bananas? Almost everybody. To this cataclysm were added periods of
drought and flooding due to heavy rains. In 2016, famine threatened 3 million
people, including 500,000 children. Even today, no one eats
to his fill in the mountains of the South. Especially since banana monoculture has impoverished the soil. Farmers are struggling to convert. So everyone counts their seeds and replants as they can. Here I have a new shoot of banana trees, underneath it's rotten. And that's what the parasite eats, those little roots. And the leaves are shrinking because these roots don't
are more functional. The plant becomes sterile. We grow maize only for our own food, while bananas bring cash. And now we lack everything. To survive, the children of the region have
developed treasures of ingenuity. He fishes for swallows. I have one that bit. She got caught. We tinker with hooks, we make them ourselves.
We fix it to the wire connected to this branch of reeds, We hang a bait on it. They are flying termites.
Then we cast our line. What are we fishing? I don't know how old they are.
They come in December. Every year they come back. We catch a hundred in a day. Tonight, bellies will be full. The flight of swallows also brings another part of dream,
that of flying away, very far, towards a lighter life. It's Gray's dream. When I was at school, I learned French but I couldn't continue for lack of money. I know how to say hello. Who is it ? It's me. You speak French ?
You speak French ? Very well. At the end of the day, the storm is announced.
Gray makes a stop in his village. Since the bananas disappeared, the hamlet has been in decline. Gray's family ran a grocery store.
His mother kept the counter, As for his father, He supplied the farmers with food and pesticides. Today, everyone is unemployed.
Without Gray, they would have nothing. You know it's a tour de force
to take care of all the children. Before, we ran a very
prosperous. But the business plummeted. I regularly went to South Africa for trade. Today, I sit here doing nothing.
I'm taking care of my ailing husband, that's all. And with my seven children, taking care of my husband is a challenge. Women will deceive me, deceive me, Here I have no money Mandela writes, They are waiting for me to erect a flag. Even at the time of its prosperity, the village did not have
never had the means to install electricity, And even less running water. Due to drinking water shortages,
people fetch it from the rivers. Water from the highlands flows there. But with the rains, it runs off with all the dirt. So sometimes cholera appears and
the epidemic hits the entire region. Last year it happened,
we suffered a cholera epidemic. The inhabitants have a tiny hope. The government promised to provide them with a new
variety of disease resistant bananas. Once the money has returned, he intends to modernize the village. In the meantime, the company's abandoned buildings
banana were recovered by a little hustler. I charge 10 euro cents per head per session. That to me
allows me to make some money to buy me food. And it distracts the children of the village. There you go, that's how my little one turns
business. But it's not that easy. Indeed... We're out of gas, we're going to turn everything off and refuel. People are getting impatient, they are waiting for the rest of the film. As long as the rain falls, Gray remains stuck. Without a tarp at the back of the truck, the
customers refuse to go back on the road. On the other side of the mountain, the weather is
more lenient, its load now well tied up, Joël tries to make up for lost time. But like
a bad twist of fate, the problems follow one another. Hello boss! Yes, we are back on the road.
We arrive at the gates of the park, On the other hand, the tire that we changed
the other day is almost flat. Joël does have a spare tire, but it's flat. And there, that's another story. It crosses Nyika National Park,
the territory of wild animals. The slightest breakdown can endanger passengers. Around here, you can come across lions and elephants. Are you afraid of it? Yes, many, they are very dangerous. They kill people. And they are not afraid of vehicles. And a few kilometers further, what had to happen happened. And that's not going to be his only disappointment. It's my lucky day. Without weapons to protect themselves from wild animals,
men resort to a good old method. We're going to make a fire. We make fire! Because otherwise the animals might attack us. Lions may be attracted to food being carried. They might pounce on us and attack us! Joël asks his boss to send him a
spare wheel. It remains to be seen when it will arrive. And that's what worries passengers. Spend the night with elephants
and other lions does not really enchant them. The arrival of the Rangers sounds like a deliverance for them. If the guards agree to take them away, neither of them will pay Joel. It is the law of the bush. Taxis
have an obligation to reach their destination. Come on, I'll take nine people and let's go! No, don't take so many clients from me. I need some to stay with me and wait. If you take everyone on board, you're also taking my money. And I can't afford the new tire. And you, you stay there! I will take you back
at home come rain or shine. Hey man, I'm gonna go. Your new tire is not going
not be there and maybe never arrive! But if ! I bring you back!
I had the repairman on the phone, he's coming. Joel, everyone's leaving. Yeah, but please bring them back.
I'm really going to lose too much money! Hey, are you leaving too? Please, you are my brother!
You can't leave me. Please don't go away. Come on, those who come must board! Let's go ! And driver! Stop! Stop ! Guys, don't play it like that! Go on ! Let's go ! Go ahead ! Alright now, enough is enough!
Get your guys out of the pickup. We're not going to spend the night talking! We are human beings! We must help each other! If tomorrow it's you who has a breakdown,
would you like me to be like you? All these passengers abandon him. His pay will go into the pockets of the rangers. Start by earning your salary
honestly. Then we'll talk! Some people are just plain cruel. They see someone down and they're just looking to
take advantage of the situation. And she leaves you there with nothing. Legend has it that under the midnight moon, no lion
does not risk disturbing the sleep of a stripped man. Joël and his two assistants will be
repaired the following afternoon. His colorful motorcycle is known throughout the region. The music it broadcasts announces a good
news. Lives will be saved. We go to the village of ****. I'm going to do a vaccination session. We fight to reach the vaccination center.
Sometimes we walk there when the cars, And even motorcycles cannot pass. The whole village has been waiting for him for several weeks,
but no one would dare remonstrate with him. Emmanuel is the only medical assistant
of this district which has 28,000 inhabitants. His arrival is hailed as a blessing. Now we are going to move on to vaccines so that
our children can grow up properly. They should grow well. Anti polio, diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis are maybe
the only drugs they will ever receive. When it is an emergency, it is much more problematic. Because the villagers have to manage on their own for transport, to take the patients from here to the dispensary. They are on their own. Sometimes patients die on the way. Same
sometimes, some die as soon as they reach the hospital. Patients walk up to 40 kilometers
to join the dispensary where Emmanuel works. Sometimes for nothing. The medical antenna lacks everything. We take care of you ? Someone checked our child and then he walked away. - From where ?
- Over there. - He gave her an injection?
- Nope. - Gloves ?
- They should be here. Gentamicin, where is it? There is one there! - Do you have a little needle left?
- Yes yellow. - Compress?
- Yes. It's not enough, but it'll be fine. He is so weak. I can't make out his veins. His veins literally disappeared. Oh no. It's open, it's leaking! Bring me another. We're not going to fix that here. Quickly. He carried his son on his back, And he walked 28 kilometers to come here. He'll be fine, he'll be fine. The infant mortality rate remains very high in Malawi. Especially since doctors must
fight again with beliefs. At sunset, some patients put off
their lives in the hands of healers. Today is Saturday, we're dancing
the Vimbuza on Wednesday and Saturday. The Vimbuza is a nocturnal dance. It is a healing dance. When someone is sick for a long time or not and it is discovered that he is a victim of the Vimbuza, he is possessed by the spirits. The whole village is gathered around the
sick to invoke the helping spirits. The sick go into a trance and dance their illness. This lady is a patient. She is everything
the weather depressed, she no longer sleeps at night, She shivers as if suffering from malaria.
At the hospital, they said, "It's malaria!" But when she went to see the traditional doctors, they said, "No, no. She is suffering from Vimbuza." And the Vimbuza cannot be cured by modern medicine. And now that she's danced, she feels better. The uniforms they wear were chosen by the spirits. Your problems will be revealed to me.
I will have visions while dancing. Sometimes you're out of breath
as if your heart was compressed. Yeah, I faint too. Absolutely, you fainted. - And you persist in looking for reasons.
- Yes. The reason is because
you don't face your problems. I hear a voice telling me that
you should go back to where you came from. Yes but I have two children with
who I have to travel to get home. I know you dreamed of those voices
who told you to go home. "Make the magic speak!"
"Make the magic speak!" We Africans, when we are sick, we turn to
this traditional medicine that we find everywhere here. The hospitals are isolated, one here, another there. Traditional doctors are everywhere. They know our problems. The name Malawi would evoke the twinkling of the sun. To emerge from the shadows, this small country will have to find a
subtle balance between ancestral traditions and modernity.
