Travel and Adventure: Should you visit Haiti?
When I told family and friends I was going to Haiti, the response was universal: "Why?" My answer: "Because I've never been there." And when I got there, I found that Haiti held so many surprises that can often happen when visiting a destination that is not overexposed.
In the late 1700s Haiti was the glory of the French colonies and one of the richest colonies in the world. The economy relied on slave trade and labor, which led to a successful slave revolt.
In 1804 Haiti became the first black independent nation. Over the years, poor leadership and other issues have caused economic troubles from which Haiti has never fully recovered. Still, I was impressed by the variety of things to see and the people who were very welcoming and proud to be Haitian.
Lire la suite:
http://www.wickedlocal.com/arlington/news/lifestyle/x1467743222/Travel-and-Adventure-Should-you-visit-Haiti
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Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra set in Haiti
MIAMI, USA (sentinel.ht) - A Haitian version of Shakespeare's famed tragedy of Antony & Cleopatra, set in Haiti on the eve of the revolution will have its opening night at the Colony Theatre in Miami Beach this month through a joint effort of GableStage, New York's Public Theatre and London's Royal Shakespeare Company.
The show will play from January 10 to February 9 with tickets starting at $65 and expected to sell strong. The stripped-down version was written by award-winning playwright and actor, Tarell Alvin McCraney.
The story line follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony from the time of the Haitian revolution to Cleopatra's suicide during the final battle. The major antagonist is Octavius Caesar, one of Antony's fellow triumviri and the future first emperor of Rome in the original version.
Many consider the role of Cleopatra in this play one of the most complex female roles in Shakespeare's work. She is frequently vain and histrionic, provoking an audience almost to scorn; at the same time, Shakespeare's efforts invest both her and Antony with tragic grandeur. These contradictory features have led to famously divided critical responses.
January 10 to February 9 at the Colony Theater. Tickets cost $65. Visit gablestage.org.
Read more: http://www.sentinel.ht/entertainment/articles/performing/5325-shakespeare-antony-cleopatra-set-in-haiti#ixzz2pKzAQyR2
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Ja, Like Haiti, Can Make Tablets
Richard Browne, Business Reporter
If Jamaica looks to Haiti, it, too, could produce high-tech tablet computers for the local and export markets, according to Brian Pengelley, president of the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association (JMA).
He was responding to a report by the Associated Press last weekend that two rival companies in Haiti had started to produce tablets for the local and export market in that country.
Jamaica's nearest neighbour to the east is still recovering from its devastating earthquake of 2010, but it is now seeing its small manufacturing sector move up the value chain from simple products such as T-shirts to one of the world's most technologically advanced consumer products.
Jamaica can "very easily" follow Haiti's lead, Pengelley said. "We certainly have the skills and the capabilities here."…
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20140103/business/business6.html
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GIRL'S ESCAPE
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — She was a 13-year-old girl who said she was beaten daily by strangers who forced her to work unpaid in their home, and she wanted to escape.
Marilaine was one of 200,000 or more Haitian children called restaveks, typically serving as unpaid maids in strangers’ homes, working for room and board. It is a vast system of child trafficking that is often characterized as a modern form of slavery. I followed Marilaine for a week in Haiti as she tried to flee, find her parents and start life over — and this is her story.
Marilaine grew up in a remote village where no family planning or public schooling is available, one of 12 children to impoverished parents who later separated. As Marilaine tells the story, one day when she was 10 years old, she walked to her father’s house to ask him to help pay her school fees. Instead, he dispatched her here to the capital to work as a restavek, a Creole term used to describe child laborers, without even telling her mother.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/02/opinion/kristof-a-girls-escape.html?_r=0
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Written by The Sweet Science
Stiverne Wants To Be 1st Haitian-Born Heavyweight Champ
OTTAWA, Canada (January 2, 2014) - On his mission to become the first Haitian-born heavyweight champion of the world, World Boxing Council (WBC) Silver champion Bermane "B. Ware" Stiverne (23-1, 20 KOs) still doesn't know exactly when and where he will be fighting for the vacant WBC heavyweight world title.
After patiently waiting 2 ½ years as the mandatory challenger, though, the 34-year-old Stiverne understands that he will be in his first world title fight sometime during the first-quarter of 2014 - date, place and network to be determined - in a rematch with Chris "The Nightmare" Arreola (36-3, 31 KOs).
Once Vitali Klitschko finally announced his retirement, the WBC mandated a title fight between its top two rated heavyweights, No. 1 Stiverne and No. 2 Arreola, ordering their respective promoters, Don King Productions and Goossen-Tutor Promotions, to begin negotiations. Stiverne-Arreola will go to a WBC purse bid in Mexico if an agreement is not reached by the January 17.
http://www.thesweetscience.com/news/articles/17808-stiverne-wants-to-be-1st-haitian-born-heavyweight-champ
