Azerbaijan Trip November 4-10, 2005

There to cover the elections, but discovered so much more...

Baku... hopes, fears, politics, oil, irony, disloyalty, corruption, disillusionment, life, love and humanity

In Azerbaijan 40% of the population live below the poverty line. The families we talked to get only $7 a month from the government, which they call "bread money". Did you know that these families soak the bread in milk, water or stock just to soften it, so that they don't break their teeth when they chew it. Or that they are afraid to go out to work – mainly on construction sites – because if they get injured they don't know how they will pay for medicine. When we asked a father how how his children's health is, he replied "healthy... the children are never healthy". But ironically the country holds 1% of the world's oil resources, which for a population of 8 million seems like quite a lot, don't you think?

This is where...

These kids live...

This is where they buy their sweets...

This is where...

This woman cooks...

This is her front door ... when it rains the kitchen area floods and the water reaches her 82 years old knees...

Do you think these poeple have ever met...

These little people... or

This little person...

Do you think these people stay in town long enough to visit...

Here... or to understand...

This...

...the best gift of all... dreams of our future... humanity reigns here...