Tchala, the Currency of Dreams

“You go to bed poor, but wake up rich.” That is the dream of Haitian people who have lost all hope in life, except for the lottery that they passionately play every day. A huge borlette lottery network covers the whole country and earns almost 250,000 U.S. dollars a day. The balls bearing two digit numbers that gamblers can bet on are being drawn every night in different cities abroad, in order to avoid fraud: New York, Miami, Santo Domingo, Caracas. This privately run, very popular game is present in all segments of everyday life – from business offices to bars, sidewalks and the presidential palace. Even in the remote countryside, salesmen walk from hill to hill to sell their numbers. This interesting, entertaining and humourous story is actually a great portrait of social and political life in Haiti, where a huge monetary mass floats on the dreams of people. Borlette has become a real myth for the desperate: they dream of lucky numbers, dive into their subconscious to find the winning combination and search for happiness beyond reality. Even the voodoo priests are enlisted for help. The thin line between dreams and reality is blurred, and magic and dreams become part of a survival strategy.