Humanitarian Work in Central & South America
from 1988–2008
“Without leaving a little proof, who would believe this?”
From 1988 to 2008, I traveled throughout Central and South America on self-funded humanitarian work, entering prisons and restricted areas rarely seen by outsiders. I brought prescription medicine, aspirin, supplies, and humanitarian assistance to people living in some of the most difficult conditions imaginable. Along the way, I was given unusual access to document what I saw inside. One of the prisons shown here no longer exists after being destroyed by Hurricane Mitch. I kept the camera running because I knew that without some record of what I saw, many of these places and stories could simply disappear. These videos preserve a small part of those twenty years and the people, places, and experiences I encountered.
My humanitarian work began after a trip to Haiti, where I had gone expecting to help build a school. What I saw there changed the way I thought about helping people overseas. I decided that if I was going to continue this work, I wanted to fund it myself and personally make sure the help reached the people who needed it.
A few years later, while traveling in Honduras, I passed the capital prison carrying medicine. I knocked on the door and asked to give it directly to the prison doctor. That decision changed the next twenty years of my life.
Footage from inside the capital prison of Honduras, a facility originally built for about 500 people but holding roughly 3,500 at the time of my visits. With no running water, one doctor, and little or no medicine available, the conditions inside were unlike anything I had encountered before. The prison was later devastated by Hurricane Mitch and permanently closed, making this footage a rare record of a place that no longer exists.
In 2008, near the end of twenty years of humanitarian work in Central and South America, I brought my son with me on a supply trip into one of Ecuador’s largest prisons. He was preparing to study film at university and brought a camera along to document the experience. This is the film he made from that trip, which later premiered at his high school film festival.
A rare look inside the punishment cells of a Central American prison. During my humanitarian trips, I was given unusual access throughout the prison system, including areas that were normally closed to outsiders. This footage documents some of the harshest conditions I encountered.
A prisoner proudly shows me the preserved pelt of his dead cat, which he was trying to sell. One of the stranger and more unexpected moments I captured during my years visiting prisons in Central America.
“I think I'm going to give up this hobby. It's getting a little too crazy down there for my humble taste.”
After twenty years, it was time to come home. I brought back a lifetime of memories, stories, and footage from a world very few outsiders ever had the chance to see.
Twenty years was enough. And it was the best job I ever had.
Thank you for watching and for taking the time to learn about a part of my life that very few people ever got to see. If you found the stories or footage interesting, feel free to send me a message to let me know what you thought.
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