World's Most Dangerous Roads - Guinea: Forgotten territories

[Music] uh [Music] in guinea the only certainty seems to be that people have to fend for themselves this order is ready today the challenge facing pierre and his assistants as to how to get these medicines in record time from conocry to kisidugu on the other side of the country we need more broncolin guinea conocry is still plagued by serious disease such as polio diphtheria and rabies the pharmacist's 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 the medicine arrives 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 the annoyed driver blasts his horn frightening a passerby now what are you doing trying to kill me you idiot [Music] you're insulting me but you're in luck i'll leave it to god to decide who's right and who's wrong he's full okay that's it that's it now [Music] conokry the capital is at a standstill [Music] petty salesmen and beggars try to make the most of the vehicles that are stuck stuck in one place for hours creeping forward at the snail's pace now it's the traffic jam otherwise we'd have done it in one hour 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 taxi the pharmacist makes his point listen what uh salui is wrapping 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 task's completed now i've dropped off the package made sure it's well taken care of and now i can go home for a few cents so-called cox's assist with placing the baggage and tying it firmly into place here's a coxswain he's a cox or two [Music] it's only a little work but it helps them get by [Music] has no railway and planes are prohibitively expensive taxis 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'll pay you all i've got is 10 euros i don't have enough the driver feels sorry for her 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 on a farm machine however the man in the baseball cap has reserved the seat listen i paid for the seat and you're not telling me now i have to move what do you want i want to be where i chose but he's injured if he was fine i wouldn't have asked you to change seats finally nine passengers two babies two drivers are packed on board abbas is proud of his car it's only 22 years old it doesn't look too new does it it is new i just bought it it's got only 450 000 kilometers on three hours later the passengers in 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 dugo in 16 hours the vaccines might as well be thrown away the national road to kisiduga 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 there are accidents one person fell off the terrible roads tire the already nervous drivers i'm at the end of my tether the delays paralyze the nation's economy it can 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 but the inhabitants see none of the benefits [Music] [Music] poverty is everywhere and families are forced to send their kids out to work i can't i can't do it do it like this [Music] for most unions life is a daily struggle [Music] the bush taxi driver's patience has tested to the limit even before leaving the capitol [Music] 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 [Music] the petrol fumes might keep the supernatural at bay but they can't stop the living highway robbers are a constant danger one week ago one of the gangs stopped some vehicles on this road and attacked it with weapons there were 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 the that is a welcome relief to the cramped passengers their body's ache and their stomachs are empty [Music] i'm 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 sharif is obliged to take it slowly [Music] even if we know that we're transporting urgent medicines that have to be rushed we can't because the road's so bad we'd have an accident such calls to order come all along the route the gamble seems to have paid off after 24 hours the bush taxi pulls into kisidu 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 among 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 conocry the pharmacist is on the way but when will he arrive one passenger is fed up are waiting than you are the pharmacist arrives one hour later the vaccines are put into a fridge relief all round as they're just about still in good condition and guinea conakry bush taxis 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 peoples there are hardly any tracks that serve their villagers a coniagi's clan are a case in point buba 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 pol 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 that snakes up the cliff face ever since god created the world it's been the only way up to the village we have to drag our baggage up on the way up and all the way down there have been accidents one woman was holding onto a creeper when it snaps she fell and she survived though [Music] uber's village honors its dead by giving them the best views something that raises a few logistical problems if someone dies down the plains we have to carry their body up the cliff we use a basket made from the creepers to hoist the body for burial at the top most villagers and even towns in guinea conakry are lacking the most basic services kisi dugo and its 200 000 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 mariam a nurse dashes off towards the only ambulance she has he 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 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 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 villagers and there are as many tracks as there are directions it's a real labyrinth do you know which is the way to telekoro yes it's the track over there first you go to and there you ask for directions to kampi and then you head to medina campaign okay thanks we're in a rush we have to go two hours later they still can't locate the pregnant woman that's the other direction to make things worse the old ambulance breaks down rope just a short piece will work thanks a lot come on as she waits for the makeshift repairs mariam bumps into the pregnant woman's father-in-law worried he'd set out on foot for help she's been sick since wednesday wednesday thursday friday today's saturday four days of agony mother and baby are both in danger why didn't you call wednesday it's been four days now a 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 suffering three hours after leaving the hospital mariam can finally attend to the patient the baby is poorly positioned and the 18 year old girl is in urgent need of a cesarean grandmothers 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 and she lies on some tarpaulin we need to change her position to make it less painful we have to lift her up she wants to turn over sit her up against yourself 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 [Music] 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 just think we went all that way to her village to bring her back here and the child doesn't make it it's just awful have foreign her legs the hospital has no suitable medicines in guinea conakry it's up to the patients to purchase them go and buy the medicines for your wife the 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 10 times less than the private sector but it still proves too expensive hello how much are the medicines three and a half euros i don't have that kind of money listen help i really need that medicine i don't have any money in guinea conokry life is worth as little as three and a half euros maybe it's the camera or genuine sympathy but in the end the pharmacist pays for the medicine himself [Music] according to unicef over 15 000 babies and almost 4 000 women die 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 late move the cans and put the medicines there and the transportation itself is by no means ideal for such fragile cargo as medicines alisan is the proud owner of this old truck come on get [Music] hey there's an old 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 [Music] the poor man's dish the entire family depends on allah'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 my truck's too old i hardly make any profits from it at all but without making these trips we'd have nothing to eat yeah take this money for expenses is it's not enough to feed nine people if you don't give me some more i don't know how i'll manage too many of us for this just take it back no no take it take it it's all i've got so what do you expect me to do with one and a half euros we need twice that at least look there's nothing in my pockets i don't want your money take it back listen you know my truck's old don't push me that's not enough for everyone all right all right i don't have any more what do you want me to do well you've given isn't enough i have no more if you don't give me more then no one will have anything to eat until you come back that's your problem i'll give you some when i cut back the old engine groans away and alassane wonders whether he'll be able to make it all the way to tacono 65 kilometers away the journey costs less than a bush taxi but passengers are taking a greater risk falling off is common as the ancient truck's carcass is shaken every which way it's 65 kilometers to tokono that'll take us about six hours six hours to cover 65 kilometers because the road is so bad there holds everywhere and a lot of [Applause] accidents for each delay the passengers and clients want compensation [Applause] i own the truck i bought it on credit and i need to repay my loan the road is slowly destroying my vehicle and soon it'll completely break down i'm at the end of my tether the road is hardly if ever repaired [Music] 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 so we can survive [Music] go and there are also bandits who might attack us any time it's terrible i don't know how much more we can put up with roberts 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 i've now had enough for hours passengers alternate between walking and riding in the truck [Music] 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 it's not easy but it's all we've got [Music] the downpour lasts just 10 minutes it's enough to keep them cold for the rest of the trip at tokonu the truck's 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 well let's get going then [Music] cater makes 50-some teams for every errand the pharmacy doubles as a green grocers [Music] medicines are stacked in between the cigarettes and cans of jam and condensed milk the medicines are sold individually regardless of the number of days of treatment i want anti-malaria appeal to my child it's been sick for two days it's very expensive one dose costs 50 some teams a fortune few guineans 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 nonstop 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 woodwork shop or according to the foreman they goof off he claims all attend school and they're here on internships to learn about the trade where's your sandpaper don't you have any yeah take it take it and then come over here there now you need to rub it against the wood that's the way up and down all those bigger kids over there they all started at this age [Music] thanks to these internships he's helped many find their vocation but the foreman then forgets he's still wearing a microphone [Music] they should come here to get some training so they have something to occupy themselves so we shouldn't say anything that might upset them what does he want [Music] i like it a lot his kids aged between 5 and 16 all work 12 hours a day and the physical cost is quite shocking are you tired after working all day very tired how do you feel when work's over it hurts there my shoulders they really ache the mean age nine repeats the same movements all day it really hurts if you're not used to it you see those marks in my hand my palm gets very hot it's the time to go home the small army of little workers lives in a dormitory three kilometers away [Music] their desperately poor families have rented them out in exchange for some money some kids haven't seen their parents in six years he's 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 after a day's work the 108 kids have little time for rest each has a domestic chore to fulfill [Music] [Music] not one of these kids will ever see a school book but for the boss that's not really important [Music] out until they learn the business i've done this since 1966 this is my 30th group of kids according to unicef 25 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 [Music] there's a lot of mud down there and a lot of holes wasn't meant to be a trucker his father wanted him to be someone important and his family made many sacrifices to pay for amaka'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 brazil it's russian it's more than 30 years old i inherited it from my father is it a good inheritance oh yes during the 1960s president secretary allied himself with the soviet union the communists imported their ideology along with russian heavy-duty trucks the zil130 is one of the last survivors if i leave in the morning i should get there by the evening but often i don't get there until the following morning it can take two hours or three just to make it up one slope it's tough the mule track is actually a regional road it connects kisi dugu and koniadu 45 kilometers away [Music] [Music] 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 it makes good the big ones with redheads the insects are sacrificed in vain fascinated by the old truck members of an italian catholic mission stop by to take some photographs man flanked by two italians as a priest why are you here they're friends they've come with me to visit the parish are you sure you can carry me of course [Music] or have you just met a new boyfriend [Music] yes i am but maybe she's found another fiance is it the hand of god as soon as the priest leaves in his four-wheel drive the truck emerges from the quagmire the pebbles are all from the bush this time they had a few too many and they dumped the excess [Music] [Music] foreign that everything gets recycled i can tie up the bags of rice with it or we can use it to but as they get back on board by nightfall they've been driving for 10 hours i'm cold [Music] the nurse at 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 well that's no good [Music] among the medicine benjamin has received are vaccines against measles diphtheria tetanus and polio he'll start vaccinating children first thing the following day as he has no means to conserve the precious serums the money don't know cut it in winder [Music] um [Music] [Music] [Music] this two-year-old baby is too weak to be [Music] vaccinated [Music] i visited the family yesterday and told them to bring their baby along you have to go and see them [Music] [Applause] six kilos thirty-five always had stomach aches if you [Music] he wasn't growing so his mother has taken her child and we've gone back to live with her parents [Music] i sometimes use part of my own salary to help out women like this but we don't have the means either so we can't help everybody maybe just one in a hundred the rest we can't help 1 in ten children die before reaching the age of five no doctors ever visit these remote villages benjamin tries to fill the void and he's just a nurse even though an experienced one 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 he can't talk anymore goodbye have a good day in guinea conakry life expectancy is about 50. everybody knows me here [Music] you

Channel: Show Me the World

Views: 199,372

Rating: 4.8049383 out of 5

Keywords: documentary, roads, National Geographic, waterways, travel, truck, adventure, danger, most dangerous roads

Id: g87NxyQTSaA

Length: 48min 41sec (2921 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 25 2021