Actress Olivia Wilde is planning to turn director after signing on to make a movie about a Haitian children's baseball team. The Tron: Legacy star was among the first celebrity aid volunteers to travel to the Caribbean nation in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, which left Haiti devastated, and she admits the journey was an "amazing" experience.
Now, she's heading back to make a film about a group of young survivors.
She tells America's Glamour magazine, "I'm going to Haiti to work on a documentary about a Little League team."
The actress is hoping to turn the trip into an extended vacation, although she's hesistant to leave so soon after purchasing her first home following her marriage split.
She says, "I'm thinking about travelling, but I should stay in one place. I just bought a house (in Los Angeles)."
Wilde filed for divorce from Italian prince Tao Ruspoli earlier this year (11) after eight years of marriage.
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/olivia-wilde-to-film-haiti-baseball-documentary_1217582
mardi 10 mai 2011
Reno businessman under fire says plan to build houses for Haiti still under way
Despite losing the support of churches in Texas and Nevada and being sued, a Reno businessman said he plans to go forward with a plan to build some homes this month that will be shipped to help Haitian earthquake victims.
"We have a contractual obligation to fulfill these contracts for our sponsors," Mike Stickler, head of the nonprofit group Help Build Hope Haiti, said in a interview Friday. "As we sit here today, the build is going on."
Although most of the money he received from three Reno churches and four churches in the Dallas area was gone by February, Stickler said he has raised new funds for the build event on May 21 in Reno and has secured a new site in Haiti for the homes to be sent.
And he has new sponsors in Texas who want to participate in build events next year, he said. But he wouldn't reveal their names.
A Reno Gazette-Journal investigation published in April revealed that a year after Help Build Hope Haiti began gathering funds for their build events, many of the lead workers left claiming Stickler misused the funds, churches left when the money was gone, the Haiti contact in charge of securing the land said he hadn't been paid, and two groups filed lawsuits.
One of the suits filed in Texas said that Stickler made false claims to secure the funds -- an accusation Stickler denies. The other suit filed in Kentucky said the Help Build Hope name was trademarked and Stickler didn't have permission to use it.
Stickler said he plans to fight the suits, but as of Friday, he said he had not been served.
Since the RGJ stories were published, the Nevada Secretary of State's Office said it is working with the Nevada Attorney General's Office to look into Stickler's business practices to see if he had been involved in any "actionable conduct," secretary of state spokeswoman Pam duPre said.
And the Reno Police Department is investigating numerous bounced check claims against Stickler for possible fraud charges, police spokeswoman Michele Anderson said.
Pastor Paul Holland of the Cornerstone Foursquare Church in Sparks, which participated in a full sponsorship of $23,000, said they're done with the Haiti plan and don't plan to participate in the May 21 build.
"We're not involved at all as a church," Holland said. "There may be people, individuals, who may still want to be involved, but the church is not."
He said he didn't remember signing a contract to participate and said they were not expecting to get any the money back.
Stickler said that until he receives a cancellation notice from the sponsor churches, he considers them a part of the plan. As of Friday, Stickler said, none of the Reno churches have done so.
http://www.rgj.com/article/20110510/NEWS/105080367/Reno-businessman-under-fire-says-plan-build-houses-Haiti-still-under-way?odyssey=mod
newswell
text
Local%20News
s
"We have a contractual obligation to fulfill these contracts for our sponsors," Mike Stickler, head of the nonprofit group Help Build Hope Haiti, said in a interview Friday. "As we sit here today, the build is going on."
Although most of the money he received from three Reno churches and four churches in the Dallas area was gone by February, Stickler said he has raised new funds for the build event on May 21 in Reno and has secured a new site in Haiti for the homes to be sent.
And he has new sponsors in Texas who want to participate in build events next year, he said. But he wouldn't reveal their names.
A Reno Gazette-Journal investigation published in April revealed that a year after Help Build Hope Haiti began gathering funds for their build events, many of the lead workers left claiming Stickler misused the funds, churches left when the money was gone, the Haiti contact in charge of securing the land said he hadn't been paid, and two groups filed lawsuits.
One of the suits filed in Texas said that Stickler made false claims to secure the funds -- an accusation Stickler denies. The other suit filed in Kentucky said the Help Build Hope name was trademarked and Stickler didn't have permission to use it.
Stickler said he plans to fight the suits, but as of Friday, he said he had not been served.
Since the RGJ stories were published, the Nevada Secretary of State's Office said it is working with the Nevada Attorney General's Office to look into Stickler's business practices to see if he had been involved in any "actionable conduct," secretary of state spokeswoman Pam duPre said.
And the Reno Police Department is investigating numerous bounced check claims against Stickler for possible fraud charges, police spokeswoman Michele Anderson said.
Pastor Paul Holland of the Cornerstone Foursquare Church in Sparks, which participated in a full sponsorship of $23,000, said they're done with the Haiti plan and don't plan to participate in the May 21 build.
"We're not involved at all as a church," Holland said. "There may be people, individuals, who may still want to be involved, but the church is not."
He said he didn't remember signing a contract to participate and said they were not expecting to get any the money back.
Stickler said that until he receives a cancellation notice from the sponsor churches, he considers them a part of the plan. As of Friday, Stickler said, none of the Reno churches have done so.
http://www.rgj.com/article/20110510/NEWS/105080367/Reno-businessman-under-fire-says-plan-build-houses-Haiti-still-under-way?odyssey=mod
newswell
text
Local%20News
s
Clinton Bush Haiti Fund Invests to Complete Construction of Haitian-owned Hotel and Conference Center in Port au Prince
Project Expected to Create Hundreds of Jobs and Bring Many Long-term Economic Benefits to Haiti WASHINGTON -- The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund announced today that it would invest $2 million to complete construction on a major hotel project in Haiti that was abruptly halted following the devastating 2010 earthquake.
The 130-room Oasis Hotel was fully funded and construction was well underway prior to the quake. While the building itself remains structurally sound, work on the project ceased when several of the original Haitian shareholders perished while others suffered severe financial losses, making them unable to meet their investment commitments to the project.
“The Oasis Hotel symbolizes Haiti ‘building back better,’ and sends a message to the world that Haiti is open for business,” Clinton Bush Haiti Fund’s Vice President of Programs and Investments, Paul Altidor said. “For Haiti’s recovery to be sustainable, it must attract investors, businesses and donors all of whom will need a business-class, seismically-safe hotel.” In addition to sleeping rooms, Oasis will have significant meeting space and other business amenities.
Fewer than 100 hotel rooms survived the quake in Port-au-Prince, and today Haiti has a critical shortage of hotel space that meets even the most basic standards for business travelers. Jerry Tardieu, Chief Executive Officer of SCIOP S.A., the Haitian corporation that developed and promoted Oasis, highlighted that the project’s environmental and safety standards will serve as a model for future such developments in Haiti.
In mid-2010, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, provided $7.5 million in financing to restart construction of the hotel, which has a total cost of $29 million, but more funding was needed. The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund’s $2 million equity investment catalyzed new funding sources for the project, encouraging large investments from other groups that closed the funding gap. Investors included members of the US Haitian diaspora.
Oasis is creating employment for close to 400 workers in the construction phase, and will create 200 permanent jobs, 75% of them for women. The hotel will source nearly all of its goods and services from local vendors, providing added economic benefits to the community. Additionally, there will be 12 retail spaces, some of which will sell locally manufactured goods, Haitian paintings, and artisan crafts. Based on its experience and local market statistics, the IFC estimates that each job in a hotel project of this nature in Haiti, generates three indirect jobs in the community.
In addition to its equity investment, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund will make a $100,000 grant to create a training facility for the hospitality industry that will be available to all Haitians looking for employment in this sector. Both the Oasis Hotel and the affiliated training facility will be managed by Occidental Hotels and Resorts (OHR), a Spanish global hospitality chain.
The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded after Haiti’s January 12, 2010 earthquake, when President Barack Obama asked former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to lead a major fundraising effort to assist the Haitian people to “build back better.” The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund initially responded to the catastrophe with millions in humanitarian relief. By the time the Fund began independent operations in May 2010, it transitioned to primarily serving its longer-term mission of sustainable reconstruction efforts designed to promote job growth and economic opportunity, and enabling Haiti to chart its own successful future. To learn more visit www.ClintonBushHaitiFund.org.
Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/2011/05/09/3096354/clinton-bush-haiti-fund-invests.html#ixzz1LxaIgWp6
http://www.sunherald.com/2011/05/09/3096354/clinton-bush-haiti-fund-invests.html
The 130-room Oasis Hotel was fully funded and construction was well underway prior to the quake. While the building itself remains structurally sound, work on the project ceased when several of the original Haitian shareholders perished while others suffered severe financial losses, making them unable to meet their investment commitments to the project.
“The Oasis Hotel symbolizes Haiti ‘building back better,’ and sends a message to the world that Haiti is open for business,” Clinton Bush Haiti Fund’s Vice President of Programs and Investments, Paul Altidor said. “For Haiti’s recovery to be sustainable, it must attract investors, businesses and donors all of whom will need a business-class, seismically-safe hotel.” In addition to sleeping rooms, Oasis will have significant meeting space and other business amenities.
Fewer than 100 hotel rooms survived the quake in Port-au-Prince, and today Haiti has a critical shortage of hotel space that meets even the most basic standards for business travelers. Jerry Tardieu, Chief Executive Officer of SCIOP S.A., the Haitian corporation that developed and promoted Oasis, highlighted that the project’s environmental and safety standards will serve as a model for future such developments in Haiti.
In mid-2010, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, provided $7.5 million in financing to restart construction of the hotel, which has a total cost of $29 million, but more funding was needed. The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund’s $2 million equity investment catalyzed new funding sources for the project, encouraging large investments from other groups that closed the funding gap. Investors included members of the US Haitian diaspora.
Oasis is creating employment for close to 400 workers in the construction phase, and will create 200 permanent jobs, 75% of them for women. The hotel will source nearly all of its goods and services from local vendors, providing added economic benefits to the community. Additionally, there will be 12 retail spaces, some of which will sell locally manufactured goods, Haitian paintings, and artisan crafts. Based on its experience and local market statistics, the IFC estimates that each job in a hotel project of this nature in Haiti, generates three indirect jobs in the community.
In addition to its equity investment, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund will make a $100,000 grant to create a training facility for the hospitality industry that will be available to all Haitians looking for employment in this sector. Both the Oasis Hotel and the affiliated training facility will be managed by Occidental Hotels and Resorts (OHR), a Spanish global hospitality chain.
The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded after Haiti’s January 12, 2010 earthquake, when President Barack Obama asked former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to lead a major fundraising effort to assist the Haitian people to “build back better.” The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund initially responded to the catastrophe with millions in humanitarian relief. By the time the Fund began independent operations in May 2010, it transitioned to primarily serving its longer-term mission of sustainable reconstruction efforts designed to promote job growth and economic opportunity, and enabling Haiti to chart its own successful future. To learn more visit www.ClintonBushHaitiFund.org.
Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/2011/05/09/3096354/clinton-bush-haiti-fund-invests.html#ixzz1LxaIgWp6
http://www.sunherald.com/2011/05/09/3096354/clinton-bush-haiti-fund-invests.html
‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier enjoys perks of Haiti freedom
Nearly four months after his return from exile, Haiti’s former president-for-life says he’s home to stay. BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
JCHARLES@MIAMIHERALD.COM
THOMASSIN, Haiti -- They say he came home to die.
But almost four months after his shocking return, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc’’ Duvalier appears to be the epitome of life.
His once gaunt frame has filled out. His round-face, robust. And he is standing tall, moving about like a man with a purpose — not an accused criminal possibly facing prison.
A one-time despot driven from his homeland in disgrace, Duvalier, 59, has been acting like a president who left at the pinnacle of his popularity. He’s holding court at tony restaurants, hobnobbing with powerful players and greeting guests at his borrowed home high in the pleasant hills above the congested capital.
“The phone is ringing all of the time and I’m receiving a lot of visitors,’’ Duvalier told The Miami Herald, describing a typical day in the life of Haiti’s former president-for-life.
But as an aging Duvalier enjoys the perks of his new-found celebrity status in this earthquake-ravaged nation, he is igniting outrage and conflicted emotions. Former prisoners recalling his repressive regime demand justice, while others longing for the days of order insist on reconciliation. A former Haiti justice minister advising the government worries that Duvalier may never have his day in court to answer charges of corruption and crimes against humanity during his 15-year rule that ended in 1986. The judge tasked with investigating the charges has yet to issue his report and the longest imprisoned complainant, Claude Rosier, recently died of a heart attack.
Some find the timing of Duvalier’s return to Haiti peculiar. Last week the Swiss government announced it had begun procedures to return $6.7 million in frozen assets claimed by him to the Haitian government, a move some close to Duvalier said he plans to fight in European courts. And in just days, Haiti will inaugurate a new president with strong ties to supporters of his authoritarian regime.
“I did not send them and they are not there as Duvalieriests,’’ Duvalier said about President-elect Michel Martelly’s supporters who include Daniel Supplice, a childhood friend and former Duvalier minister heading Martelly’s presidential transition teams.
Martelly has suggested amnesty for Duvalier and Jean-Bertrand Aristide, another president recently returned from exile. Victims and human rights observers, who view prosecution of Duvalier as Haiti’s chance to break with impunity, call the suggestion disturbing.
The son of an often brutal dictator, Duvalier shrugs off reactions about his high-profile status and appetite for Haiti’s finest fare: “I’ve always participated in the social life of the country,’’ he said.
For those with tortured memories of the nearly three-decade venal Duvalier dynasty, however, the new reality is difficult to accept.
“People disappeared,’’ said Michele Montas, among scores of Haitian journalists and intellectuals jailed, some severely beaten and exiled by the regime’s boogeymen after their arrest on Nov. 28, 1980 under a 1969 anti-communist law that considered government criticism “crimes against the state.’’
Today, she’s among a growing group of Haitians who have filed formal complaints, accusing Duvalier of failing to prevent or punish crimes under his command, ordering arrests and prolonged detention, and in some cases of being an “accomplice’’ to crimes committed by his subordinates.
“The victims are constantly on the defensive, taunted every time they testify in front of the instructing judge by his (Duvalier’s) very aggressive lawyers, outside of the judge’s chambers, and the stress of seeing Duvalier freely moving about is difficult... for all of us,’’ Montas said.
While Montas has managed to avoid public run-ins with the deposed leader, fellow accuser and cellmate Dr. Nicole Magloire has twice lost her battle. The first run-in was in February during an after midnight visit to a popular Petionville restaurant. She stormed out in disgust, she said, after walking up on a laughing Duvalier listening to jazz while sipping red wine as patrons stopped to shake his hand.
The most recent was at the funeral for her uncle Jean Magloire’s widow. Jean Magloire was a staunch backer and former interior minister of Duvalier’s father, Francois “Papa Doc’’ Duvalier.
Like a number of politically involved middle-class Haitian families, Mangalore’s was divided on the question of Duvalier’s rule.
Duvalier’s re-emergence and her suit, to a degree, has reignited “the animosity between family members.’’
A student activist during Francois Duvalier’s rule in the 1960s, she vowed to stay out of politics when she returned to Haiti from medical school. Then on Nov. 28, 1980, she was arrested.
“You can’t have all of those people who died, who went to jail, and then just sit and say, ‘So what?’” she said. “I’m angry. But I am no longer afraid. I don’t ever want to be afraid again. At least today, we can say what we want and not be afraid again.’’
President René Préval has been credited with ending state-sponsored violence, political repression and silence in the country. He had successfully avoided running into Duvalier until the day of the funeral. Lise was the mother of one of his closest friends and advisers, Robert Magloire.
The first of the two handshakes happened in the middle of the funeral mass when Duvalier walked up to Préval and outstretched his hand in an offering of peace.
“It was not a meeting. We were at a funeral, our paths crossed,’’ Préval told The Herald a day later. “Justice will take care of the rest.’’
The funeral put into clear view Haiti’s troubled political history — and the challenges of Haitian justice. Sitting across from Duvalier was ex-wife Michele Bennett, a frequent visitor to Haiti despite being among the 38 other defendants named in the state’s corruption case against her former husband. Also in the audience was Prosper Avril, another controversial former president who escaped from prison in 2004 amid chaos after Aristide’s flight into exile.
Carves Jean, the judge investigating the case, said Duvalier is under house arrest. Duvalier and his attorney Fritzo Canto say no such thing exists under Haitian law. They punch holes in the government’s 25-year-old legal case, challenging it on procedural grounds and argue the statue of limitations has run out. Duvalier himself laughs at the state’s claims that he and his supporters pillaged the national treasury, and he spirited away $120 million in public money when he fled to France on Feb. 7, 1986.
In an hour-long interview, Duvalier said Haiti cannot have a fresh start without national reconciliation. He questioned the current government’s commitment to helping victims of the devastating earthquake and the role of non-governmental organizations. And he spoke of Foundation Duvalier, an organization he’s forming to prioritize education, health and environment in his mother’s hometown of Leogane.
“We are having meetings to evaluate the social and economic conditions of the country to see how we can help the people,’’ he said.
His heart aches for the peasants, whom he said, have been forgotten and says his failure to sell a schools’ Creole-language program, successfully used by Aristide and Préval, is the only do-over for his otherwise “progressive” government. He takes no responsibility for the weaken institutions and wrecked economy that characterized his last years in office, all of which, critics say, have made Haiti incapable of steering its own post-quake recovery.
“We realized progress in several domains....We were in a real fight,’’ he said.
As for the human rights abuses against him, Duvalier said, he released hundreds from his jails, and those arrested were done so because “they were a risk.’’
“You can’t ask the president to be behind every individual,’’ he said. “When I was made aware of an undisciplined act against someone, I took sanctions.’’
Bernard Diederich, a retired correspondent for Time magazine who has covered Haiti since 1949, isn’t surprised Duvalier and his supporters are revising history.
“Nobody has a memory of what happened including him,’’ said Diederich, who recently published the French-language book — L’Heritier, (The Heir) — about Duvalier. “He had the opportunity to be somebody, but he didn’t have it in him. He’s always been micromanaged by everyone. That is the sad thing. The guy could have done a lot. The people were ready, the people wanted it.’’
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/09/v-fullstory/2209133/baby-doc-duvalier-enjoys-perks.html#ixzz1LxYss1Aa
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/09/v-fullstory/2209133/baby-doc-duvalier-enjoys-perks.html
JCHARLES@MIAMIHERALD.COM
THOMASSIN, Haiti -- They say he came home to die.
But almost four months after his shocking return, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc’’ Duvalier appears to be the epitome of life.
His once gaunt frame has filled out. His round-face, robust. And he is standing tall, moving about like a man with a purpose — not an accused criminal possibly facing prison.
A one-time despot driven from his homeland in disgrace, Duvalier, 59, has been acting like a president who left at the pinnacle of his popularity. He’s holding court at tony restaurants, hobnobbing with powerful players and greeting guests at his borrowed home high in the pleasant hills above the congested capital.
“The phone is ringing all of the time and I’m receiving a lot of visitors,’’ Duvalier told The Miami Herald, describing a typical day in the life of Haiti’s former president-for-life.
But as an aging Duvalier enjoys the perks of his new-found celebrity status in this earthquake-ravaged nation, he is igniting outrage and conflicted emotions. Former prisoners recalling his repressive regime demand justice, while others longing for the days of order insist on reconciliation. A former Haiti justice minister advising the government worries that Duvalier may never have his day in court to answer charges of corruption and crimes against humanity during his 15-year rule that ended in 1986. The judge tasked with investigating the charges has yet to issue his report and the longest imprisoned complainant, Claude Rosier, recently died of a heart attack.
Some find the timing of Duvalier’s return to Haiti peculiar. Last week the Swiss government announced it had begun procedures to return $6.7 million in frozen assets claimed by him to the Haitian government, a move some close to Duvalier said he plans to fight in European courts. And in just days, Haiti will inaugurate a new president with strong ties to supporters of his authoritarian regime.
“I did not send them and they are not there as Duvalieriests,’’ Duvalier said about President-elect Michel Martelly’s supporters who include Daniel Supplice, a childhood friend and former Duvalier minister heading Martelly’s presidential transition teams.
Martelly has suggested amnesty for Duvalier and Jean-Bertrand Aristide, another president recently returned from exile. Victims and human rights observers, who view prosecution of Duvalier as Haiti’s chance to break with impunity, call the suggestion disturbing.
The son of an often brutal dictator, Duvalier shrugs off reactions about his high-profile status and appetite for Haiti’s finest fare: “I’ve always participated in the social life of the country,’’ he said.
For those with tortured memories of the nearly three-decade venal Duvalier dynasty, however, the new reality is difficult to accept.
“People disappeared,’’ said Michele Montas, among scores of Haitian journalists and intellectuals jailed, some severely beaten and exiled by the regime’s boogeymen after their arrest on Nov. 28, 1980 under a 1969 anti-communist law that considered government criticism “crimes against the state.’’
Today, she’s among a growing group of Haitians who have filed formal complaints, accusing Duvalier of failing to prevent or punish crimes under his command, ordering arrests and prolonged detention, and in some cases of being an “accomplice’’ to crimes committed by his subordinates.
“The victims are constantly on the defensive, taunted every time they testify in front of the instructing judge by his (Duvalier’s) very aggressive lawyers, outside of the judge’s chambers, and the stress of seeing Duvalier freely moving about is difficult... for all of us,’’ Montas said.
While Montas has managed to avoid public run-ins with the deposed leader, fellow accuser and cellmate Dr. Nicole Magloire has twice lost her battle. The first run-in was in February during an after midnight visit to a popular Petionville restaurant. She stormed out in disgust, she said, after walking up on a laughing Duvalier listening to jazz while sipping red wine as patrons stopped to shake his hand.
The most recent was at the funeral for her uncle Jean Magloire’s widow. Jean Magloire was a staunch backer and former interior minister of Duvalier’s father, Francois “Papa Doc’’ Duvalier.
Like a number of politically involved middle-class Haitian families, Mangalore’s was divided on the question of Duvalier’s rule.
Duvalier’s re-emergence and her suit, to a degree, has reignited “the animosity between family members.’’
A student activist during Francois Duvalier’s rule in the 1960s, she vowed to stay out of politics when she returned to Haiti from medical school. Then on Nov. 28, 1980, she was arrested.
“You can’t have all of those people who died, who went to jail, and then just sit and say, ‘So what?’” she said. “I’m angry. But I am no longer afraid. I don’t ever want to be afraid again. At least today, we can say what we want and not be afraid again.’’
President René Préval has been credited with ending state-sponsored violence, political repression and silence in the country. He had successfully avoided running into Duvalier until the day of the funeral. Lise was the mother of one of his closest friends and advisers, Robert Magloire.
The first of the two handshakes happened in the middle of the funeral mass when Duvalier walked up to Préval and outstretched his hand in an offering of peace.
“It was not a meeting. We were at a funeral, our paths crossed,’’ Préval told The Herald a day later. “Justice will take care of the rest.’’
The funeral put into clear view Haiti’s troubled political history — and the challenges of Haitian justice. Sitting across from Duvalier was ex-wife Michele Bennett, a frequent visitor to Haiti despite being among the 38 other defendants named in the state’s corruption case against her former husband. Also in the audience was Prosper Avril, another controversial former president who escaped from prison in 2004 amid chaos after Aristide’s flight into exile.
Carves Jean, the judge investigating the case, said Duvalier is under house arrest. Duvalier and his attorney Fritzo Canto say no such thing exists under Haitian law. They punch holes in the government’s 25-year-old legal case, challenging it on procedural grounds and argue the statue of limitations has run out. Duvalier himself laughs at the state’s claims that he and his supporters pillaged the national treasury, and he spirited away $120 million in public money when he fled to France on Feb. 7, 1986.
In an hour-long interview, Duvalier said Haiti cannot have a fresh start without national reconciliation. He questioned the current government’s commitment to helping victims of the devastating earthquake and the role of non-governmental organizations. And he spoke of Foundation Duvalier, an organization he’s forming to prioritize education, health and environment in his mother’s hometown of Leogane.
“We are having meetings to evaluate the social and economic conditions of the country to see how we can help the people,’’ he said.
His heart aches for the peasants, whom he said, have been forgotten and says his failure to sell a schools’ Creole-language program, successfully used by Aristide and Préval, is the only do-over for his otherwise “progressive” government. He takes no responsibility for the weaken institutions and wrecked economy that characterized his last years in office, all of which, critics say, have made Haiti incapable of steering its own post-quake recovery.
“We realized progress in several domains....We were in a real fight,’’ he said.
As for the human rights abuses against him, Duvalier said, he released hundreds from his jails, and those arrested were done so because “they were a risk.’’
“You can’t ask the president to be behind every individual,’’ he said. “When I was made aware of an undisciplined act against someone, I took sanctions.’’
Bernard Diederich, a retired correspondent for Time magazine who has covered Haiti since 1949, isn’t surprised Duvalier and his supporters are revising history.
“Nobody has a memory of what happened including him,’’ said Diederich, who recently published the French-language book — L’Heritier, (The Heir) — about Duvalier. “He had the opportunity to be somebody, but he didn’t have it in him. He’s always been micromanaged by everyone. That is the sad thing. The guy could have done a lot. The people were ready, the people wanted it.’’
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/09/v-fullstory/2209133/baby-doc-duvalier-enjoys-perks.html#ixzz1LxYss1Aa
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/09/v-fullstory/2209133/baby-doc-duvalier-enjoys-perks.html
Haiti: UN admits--and denies--role in cholera deaths
Submitted by Weekly News Update on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 09:34. On May 3 a panel of four experts presented United Nations (UN) secretary general Ban Ki-moon with their report on the origin of the cholera epidemic that broke out in Haiti last October. As of April 21 the disease had caused 4,575 deaths, according to the Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP). Almost 300,000 people have contracted cholera, and the number is expected to rise as the rainy season starts.
The report, made public on May 4, agreed with most of the conclusions of Haitian and foreign observers who blame the outbreak on bad sanitation practices at a base operated by the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), a 13,000-member military and police force that has occupied the country since June 2004 [see Update #1060].
The panel, which General Secretary Ban appointed in January, found that the cholera bacteria "did not originate from the native environs of Haiti," where the disease was unknown for nearly a century. "Preliminary genetic analysis…indicate[s] that the strains isolated during the cholera outbreak in Haiti and those circulating in South Asia, including Nepal, at the same time in 2009-2010 are similar," according to the report. The disease was first reported on Oct. 17 in Mirebalais in the Central Plateau, the panel found, and the "likely route of spread" to the rest of the country was from the Meye (or Meillé) River into the Artibonite, Haiti's largest river. MINUSTAH maintains a base on the Meye near Mirebalais. "The sanitation conditions at the Mirebalais MINUSTAH camp were not sufficient to prevent fecal contamination" of the river system, the report noted. The troops stationed there in October had just arrived from Nepal.
The report didn't suggest any possible source for the disease other than the MINUSTAH base. However, the panel's only stated conclusion was "that the Haiti cholera outbreak was caused by the confluence of circumstances…and was not the fault of, or deliberate action of, a group or individual."
At a May 5 French-language press briefing in Port-au-Prince, MINUSTAH spokesperson Sylvie van den Wildenberg repeated that the report blamed no one for the outbreak. "What's important, today, is the response to the epidemic," she told the reporters. "The priority of the UN in Haiti and of MINUSTAH is and will remain the response." She "invited" the Haitian reporters to read the 32-page report, noting that "[f]or the moment, unfortunately, the text is only available in an English version."
When a reporter from Radio Solidarité and Agence Haïtienne de Presse (AHP) asked "how we can hope the United Nations will accept its responsibilities," Van den Wildenberg answered that she was against "pointing a finger at some blue helmet [UN soldier] who might be responsible for a cholera epidemic and 5,000 deaths in Haiti. This makes no sense, it's reductionist, and it's not fair." (UN press release, May 4; AHP, May 5; National Public Radio blog, May 6; MINUSTAH press briefing, May 6)
The UN may be concerned about threats of legal action. Last January the feminist organization Haitian Women's Solidarity (SOFA) said the Haitian government should file a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) charging MINUSTAH with a crime against humanity and should demand compensation for the cholera victims and the farmers and vendors who have suffered economically because of the epidemic [see Update #1062].
http://www.ww4report.com/node/9861
The report, made public on May 4, agreed with most of the conclusions of Haitian and foreign observers who blame the outbreak on bad sanitation practices at a base operated by the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), a 13,000-member military and police force that has occupied the country since June 2004 [see Update #1060].
The panel, which General Secretary Ban appointed in January, found that the cholera bacteria "did not originate from the native environs of Haiti," where the disease was unknown for nearly a century. "Preliminary genetic analysis…indicate[s] that the strains isolated during the cholera outbreak in Haiti and those circulating in South Asia, including Nepal, at the same time in 2009-2010 are similar," according to the report. The disease was first reported on Oct. 17 in Mirebalais in the Central Plateau, the panel found, and the "likely route of spread" to the rest of the country was from the Meye (or Meillé) River into the Artibonite, Haiti's largest river. MINUSTAH maintains a base on the Meye near Mirebalais. "The sanitation conditions at the Mirebalais MINUSTAH camp were not sufficient to prevent fecal contamination" of the river system, the report noted. The troops stationed there in October had just arrived from Nepal.
The report didn't suggest any possible source for the disease other than the MINUSTAH base. However, the panel's only stated conclusion was "that the Haiti cholera outbreak was caused by the confluence of circumstances…and was not the fault of, or deliberate action of, a group or individual."
At a May 5 French-language press briefing in Port-au-Prince, MINUSTAH spokesperson Sylvie van den Wildenberg repeated that the report blamed no one for the outbreak. "What's important, today, is the response to the epidemic," she told the reporters. "The priority of the UN in Haiti and of MINUSTAH is and will remain the response." She "invited" the Haitian reporters to read the 32-page report, noting that "[f]or the moment, unfortunately, the text is only available in an English version."
When a reporter from Radio Solidarité and Agence Haïtienne de Presse (AHP) asked "how we can hope the United Nations will accept its responsibilities," Van den Wildenberg answered that she was against "pointing a finger at some blue helmet [UN soldier] who might be responsible for a cholera epidemic and 5,000 deaths in Haiti. This makes no sense, it's reductionist, and it's not fair." (UN press release, May 4; AHP, May 5; National Public Radio blog, May 6; MINUSTAH press briefing, May 6)
The UN may be concerned about threats of legal action. Last January the feminist organization Haitian Women's Solidarity (SOFA) said the Haitian government should file a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) charging MINUSTAH with a crime against humanity and should demand compensation for the cholera victims and the farmers and vendors who have suffered economically because of the epidemic [see Update #1062].
http://www.ww4report.com/node/9861
Tous les anciens chefs d'Etat sont invités à la cérémonie d'investiture de M. Martelly
Jean Bertrand Aristide, Jean Claude Duvalier et tous les anciens présidents d'Haïti ont été invités à participer à la cérémonie de d'investiture de Michel Martelly le 14 mai 2011. Le coordonnateur de la cérémonie d'intronisation du 56 eme président haïtien, Fritz Jean Louis, donne l'assurance que des lettres d'invitation ont été adressées à tous les anciens chefs d'état y compris Lesly Manigat, époux de la candidate battue au second tour Mirlande Manigat. Le président sortant René Préval pourrait se retrouver aux cotés de Prosper Avril, leader d'un gouvernement militaire. D'autres présidents provisoires dont Ertha P. Trouillot et Boniface Alexandre résident également au pays.
M. Jean Louis annonce que plusieurs chefs d'Etats et dignitaires étrangers ont confirmé leur participation à la cérémonie d'investiture du 14 mai. Il n'a pas voulu toutefois révéler les noms des chefs d'état ou de gouvernement, et des artistes étrangers ayant confirmé leur présence. Des représentants de la diaspora seront également aux premières loges, explique M. Jean Louis.
Les festivités marquant l'investiture de M. Martelly débuteront le 13 mai avec des réunions de prières des églises protestantes et catholiques. Une réunion de prière spéciale, "veille de nuit", sera organisée par une association protestante devant le Palais national.
Les festivités de l'investiture prendront fin dans la soirée du 14 mai avec des programmes musicaux en plein air à la capitale et dans les principales villes de province.
LLM / radio Métropole Haïti
http://www.metropolehaiti.com/metropole/full_une_fr.php?id=19102
Commentaires:
Les dirigeants du p ays durant ces dernières 40ans: Jean-Claude Duvalier, Henry Namphy, Leslie Manigat, Prosper Avril, Ertha Pascale Trouillot, Jean bertrand Aristide, René Préval, Boniface Alexandre...On a envie d'une vraie photo pour l'histoire avec cette belle brochette d'anciens chefs d'états haïtiens. Dictateurs, militaires, civils, victimes de coups d'état aux côtés des puchistes! Excellente idée! Que celui qui a pris cette initiative sorte des couilles pour les asseoir au premier rang.
Et si le peuple haïtien voudrait demander des comptes sur les raisons de la situation d'Haïti, les intéressés seraient tous là...N'est-ce pas?
M. Jean Louis annonce que plusieurs chefs d'Etats et dignitaires étrangers ont confirmé leur participation à la cérémonie d'investiture du 14 mai. Il n'a pas voulu toutefois révéler les noms des chefs d'état ou de gouvernement, et des artistes étrangers ayant confirmé leur présence. Des représentants de la diaspora seront également aux premières loges, explique M. Jean Louis.
Les festivités marquant l'investiture de M. Martelly débuteront le 13 mai avec des réunions de prières des églises protestantes et catholiques. Une réunion de prière spéciale, "veille de nuit", sera organisée par une association protestante devant le Palais national.
Les festivités de l'investiture prendront fin dans la soirée du 14 mai avec des programmes musicaux en plein air à la capitale et dans les principales villes de province.
LLM / radio Métropole Haïti
http://www.metropolehaiti.com/metropole/full_une_fr.php?id=19102
Commentaires:
Les dirigeants du p ays durant ces dernières 40ans: Jean-Claude Duvalier, Henry Namphy, Leslie Manigat, Prosper Avril, Ertha Pascale Trouillot, Jean bertrand Aristide, René Préval, Boniface Alexandre...On a envie d'une vraie photo pour l'histoire avec cette belle brochette d'anciens chefs d'états haïtiens. Dictateurs, militaires, civils, victimes de coups d'état aux côtés des puchistes! Excellente idée! Que celui qui a pris cette initiative sorte des couilles pour les asseoir au premier rang.
Et si le peuple haïtien voudrait demander des comptes sur les raisons de la situation d'Haïti, les intéressés seraient tous là...N'est-ce pas?
Montréal passe à l'action avec Port-au-Prince
Agence QMI Josianne Desjardins
09/05/2011 14h16
Avec 51 missions réparties sur deux ans, pour un investissement de 1,2 million $, le maire Tremblay est confiant de renforcer l'administration de la Ville de Port-au-Prince.
© Agence QMI / Archives / Joël Lemay
MONTRÉAL - Plus d'un an après le séisme dévastateur en Haïti, le maire de Montréal, Gérald Tremblay, a signé lundi une entente avec le maire de Port-au-Prince, Jean-Yves Jason, afin de commencer les activités de coopération pour la reconstruction de la capitale haïtienne.
Avec 51 missions réparties sur deux ans et un investissement de 1,2 million $ en ressources humaines, le maire Tremblay est confiant de renforcer l'administration de la Ville de Port-au-Prince.
«Nous accompagnerons les directeurs des institutions pour que les services indispensables à la population puissent être donnés», a déclaré M. Tremblay.
Une collaboration devant durer cinq ans, entre Montréal et la métropole d’Haïti, avait déjà été envisagée à partir de janvier 2010, avant que le séisme ne survienne.
Si les actions concrètes sur le terrain ont tardé à prendre forme, M. Tremblay insiste sur les besoins nécessaires au niveau des équipements de communications.
«Avant de penser à poser des gestes concrets, il fallait collaborer avec la Ville de Port-au-Prince. Il faut rappeler qu’il n’y avait pas d’équipement, d’ordinateurs et de locaux pour travailler», justifie-t-il.
Actuellement, deux missions entreprises par Montréal sont en cours à Port-au-Prince afin d’améliorer la gestion des finances publiques.
L’un des projets visés par l’entente est celui du quartier Belosse dans la capitale haïtienne pour donner l’accès à l’eau potable et installer des lampadaires pour renforcer la sécurité des femmes qui y vivent. http://fr.canoe.ca/infos/quebeccanada/archives/2011/05/20110509-141625.html
09/05/2011 14h16
Avec 51 missions réparties sur deux ans, pour un investissement de 1,2 million $, le maire Tremblay est confiant de renforcer l'administration de la Ville de Port-au-Prince.
© Agence QMI / Archives / Joël Lemay
MONTRÉAL - Plus d'un an après le séisme dévastateur en Haïti, le maire de Montréal, Gérald Tremblay, a signé lundi une entente avec le maire de Port-au-Prince, Jean-Yves Jason, afin de commencer les activités de coopération pour la reconstruction de la capitale haïtienne.
Avec 51 missions réparties sur deux ans et un investissement de 1,2 million $ en ressources humaines, le maire Tremblay est confiant de renforcer l'administration de la Ville de Port-au-Prince.
«Nous accompagnerons les directeurs des institutions pour que les services indispensables à la population puissent être donnés», a déclaré M. Tremblay.
Une collaboration devant durer cinq ans, entre Montréal et la métropole d’Haïti, avait déjà été envisagée à partir de janvier 2010, avant que le séisme ne survienne.
Si les actions concrètes sur le terrain ont tardé à prendre forme, M. Tremblay insiste sur les besoins nécessaires au niveau des équipements de communications.
«Avant de penser à poser des gestes concrets, il fallait collaborer avec la Ville de Port-au-Prince. Il faut rappeler qu’il n’y avait pas d’équipement, d’ordinateurs et de locaux pour travailler», justifie-t-il.
Actuellement, deux missions entreprises par Montréal sont en cours à Port-au-Prince afin d’améliorer la gestion des finances publiques.
L’un des projets visés par l’entente est celui du quartier Belosse dans la capitale haïtienne pour donner l’accès à l’eau potable et installer des lampadaires pour renforcer la sécurité des femmes qui y vivent. http://fr.canoe.ca/infos/quebeccanada/archives/2011/05/20110509-141625.html
Haïti-Amendement de la Constitution : Opération en cours
P-au-P., 9 mai 2011 [AlterPresse]--- Les députés et sénateurs réunis en assemblée nationale projettent de conclure ce 9 mai le processus d’amendement de la constitution haïtienne, initié la veille et qui a déjà permis de modifier une quinzaine d’articles de la loi-mère, dont celle sur la nationalité haïtienne.
Le quorum indispensable exigé par la constitution a été confirmé avec la présence de 74 députés et 21 sénateurs, ce qui a permis d’approuver le rapport de la commission bicamérale « ad hoc », chargée de produire des réflexions « en urgence » sur le processus.
Les parlementaires ont vite commencé à statuer sur les articles proposés dans la déclaration d’amendement, dont l’article 11 qui accepte le principe de la nationalité multiple.
Malgré la réticence exprimée par plusieurs parlementaires, cet article a été adopté par 80 votes pour, 8 abstention et 0 contre.
Des délégations de la diaspora haïtienne portant des T-shirt favorables à la double nationalité ont assisté aux travaux. Depuis plusieurs jours ils se trouvent en Haiti afin de sensibiliser les parlementaires sur la nécessité de voter en faveur de la double nationalité.
Cet amendement en faveur de la nationalité multiple, entrera en vigueur après publication dans le journal officiel « Le Moniteur ».
Le ministre des Haïtiens vivant à l’étranger (MHAVE), Edwin Paraison, a déclaré que « c’est un pas historique dans les relations Haïti-Diaspora. » A la reprise de la séance ce 9 mai, les parlementaires devront décider si les Haitiens ayant également une autre nationalité pourront occuper toutes les fonctions politiques.
Soumise par le président sortant René Préval à la 48e législature en fin de session, le 4 septembre 2009, cette déclaration a été approuvée le 14 septembre.
Il appartient à la 49e legislature de se prononcer sur la déclaration d’amendement dans un délai ne dépassant pas ce lundi avant minuit, correspondant à la fin de la première session parlementaire, suivant les prescrits constitutionnels.
Dans le cadre de ce processus, plus de dix articles de la loi mère seront supprimés par la commission bicamérale présidée par le sénateur François Anick Joseph de la plateforme Alternative. Plus d’une vingtaine d’autres pourraient être modifiés.
Les sénateurs dont le mandat arrivera à terme en janvier 2012 seront aussi les bénéficiaires de l’amendement de la Constitution. Ces élus bénéficieront de quatre ans de mandat supplémentaires dans la perspective d’une diminution du cycle des élections dans le pays.
De même, les sénateurs récemment élus pour 6 ans pourraient voir leur mandat écouté d’un an, tandis que les sénateurs sortant auront un supplément de plus de 3 ans.
Les actuels députés et sénateurs devraient rester en fonction jusqu’au deuxième lundi de janvier 2016. [sfd apr 9/05/2011 13 :15]
http://www.alterpresse.org/spip.php?article11012
Le quorum indispensable exigé par la constitution a été confirmé avec la présence de 74 députés et 21 sénateurs, ce qui a permis d’approuver le rapport de la commission bicamérale « ad hoc », chargée de produire des réflexions « en urgence » sur le processus.
Les parlementaires ont vite commencé à statuer sur les articles proposés dans la déclaration d’amendement, dont l’article 11 qui accepte le principe de la nationalité multiple.
Malgré la réticence exprimée par plusieurs parlementaires, cet article a été adopté par 80 votes pour, 8 abstention et 0 contre.
Des délégations de la diaspora haïtienne portant des T-shirt favorables à la double nationalité ont assisté aux travaux. Depuis plusieurs jours ils se trouvent en Haiti afin de sensibiliser les parlementaires sur la nécessité de voter en faveur de la double nationalité.
Cet amendement en faveur de la nationalité multiple, entrera en vigueur après publication dans le journal officiel « Le Moniteur ».
Le ministre des Haïtiens vivant à l’étranger (MHAVE), Edwin Paraison, a déclaré que « c’est un pas historique dans les relations Haïti-Diaspora. » A la reprise de la séance ce 9 mai, les parlementaires devront décider si les Haitiens ayant également une autre nationalité pourront occuper toutes les fonctions politiques.
Soumise par le président sortant René Préval à la 48e législature en fin de session, le 4 septembre 2009, cette déclaration a été approuvée le 14 septembre.
Il appartient à la 49e legislature de se prononcer sur la déclaration d’amendement dans un délai ne dépassant pas ce lundi avant minuit, correspondant à la fin de la première session parlementaire, suivant les prescrits constitutionnels.
Dans le cadre de ce processus, plus de dix articles de la loi mère seront supprimés par la commission bicamérale présidée par le sénateur François Anick Joseph de la plateforme Alternative. Plus d’une vingtaine d’autres pourraient être modifiés.
Les sénateurs dont le mandat arrivera à terme en janvier 2012 seront aussi les bénéficiaires de l’amendement de la Constitution. Ces élus bénéficieront de quatre ans de mandat supplémentaires dans la perspective d’une diminution du cycle des élections dans le pays.
De même, les sénateurs récemment élus pour 6 ans pourraient voir leur mandat écouté d’un an, tandis que les sénateurs sortant auront un supplément de plus de 3 ans.
Les actuels députés et sénateurs devraient rester en fonction jusqu’au deuxième lundi de janvier 2016. [sfd apr 9/05/2011 13 :15]
http://www.alterpresse.org/spip.php?article11012
Un Haïtien accusé de crime de guerre par le Canada
Publié le 10 mai 2011 à 05h00
Louise Leduc, La Presse
Vous allez à la poste un matin, et vous recevez enfin une réponse de l'ambassade du Canada. Avant de vous assurer de ses «sentiments les meilleurs», le secrétaire de l'ambassade vous informe que votre demande est rejetée parce qu'il y a «des motifs de croire que vous avez été complice de crime de guerre contre l'humanité».
C'est ce qui est arrivé à Midi Cyrille Henry, qui vit en Haïti et qui a longtemps souhaité immigrer au Canada. Aujourd'hui, ce n'est plus sa priorité. «Venir au Canada, pour moi, c'est devenu secondaire. Ce qui m'importe, c'est de blanchir ma réputation devant un gouvernement qui m'a faussement accusé.»
«Quand on reçoit une telle lettre, on est vraiment en état de choc. D'être montré du doigt pour des crimes de guerre que l'on n'a pas commis, ça laisse un goût amer, et pour très longtemps. Si je suis vraiment un criminel de guerre, pourquoi le Canada laisse-t-il les choses comme ça? Ne devrait-il pas me traduire devant le Tribunal pénal international ou quelque chose?»
En Haïti ou ailleurs, M. Henry n'a jamais été accusé de quoi que ce soit. Dans les nombreux échanges qu'il a eus avec le gouvernement du Canada, il n'est nulle part fait mention de quelque accusation directe que ce soit.
Au ministère canadien de l'Immigration, on a refusé d'accorder une entrevue à La Presse. Pour seule réponse, on a envoyé un courriel officiel d'un paragraphe dans lequel on explique, en gros, qu'effectivement, la demande de M. Henry a été rejetée en vertu de la Loi sur l'immigration et la protection des réfugiés, selon laquelle «un individu ayant commis des crimes contre l'humanité ou des crimes de guerre à l'extérieur du Canada est inadmissible au Canada».
Policier depuis 1995
Ce qui nuit à M. Henry, c'est qu'il est policier à Haïti depuis 1995.
Or, comme le fait remarquer François Crépeau, professeur titulaire à la faculté de droit de l'Université McGill, la police haïtienne, particulièrement à cette époque, n'avait pas la meilleure des réputations.
D'ailleurs, dans la correspondance entre le Ministère et une cousine de M. Henry - que ce dernier a autorisée à accéder à son dossier -, les fonctionnaires mentionnent à plusieurs reprises les noms de policiers (parmi lesquels certains, selon eux, auraient été des supérieurs de M. Henry) qui ont été accusés de brutalité policière qualifiée de crime contre l'humanité.
La cousine, qui habite au Canada depuis l'enfance, est médusée par tout cela. Ici, dit-elle, elle est habituée à un système juridique qui passe par des accusations fondées sur des faits vérifiés et non sur des on-dit. Au Canada, les procès sont menés en bonne et due forme, on peut se défendre et interjeter appel d'une décision. Rien de cela en matière d'immigration, dénonce-t-elle. «Je ne crois pas qu'un seul Canadien accepterait docilement que lui, sa soeur, sa mère, son père, son cousin, son gendre ou son fils soit "interdits de territoire" et, du coup, stigmatisés comme "auteurs ou complices de crime de guerre ou crime contre l'humanité" en raison de leur "implication dans la police" sans que personne ne puisse dire de quoi on les accuse exactement... sans qu'ils puissent même être mis à procès et jugés.»
De fait, le Canada met de l'avant des règles tout autres selon qu'il a affaire à un citoyen canadien ou pas, confirme François Crépeau. «Dans ce cas-ci, manifestement, le demandeur est policier en Haïti depuis 15 ans, donc on l'accuse par association, chose qu'on n'admettrait pas en droit criminel interne.»
Criminalité par association
Pour le Canada, poursuit-il, la priorité en matière d'immigration, ce n'est pas la justice, mais la sécurité. «Le Canada décide de façon souveraine de ceux qu'il admet ici et il n'hésite pas à y aller de catégories très larges de criminalité par association. Souvent, l'argumentaire fourni ne fait pas sérieux, mais, à la limite, le Canada pourrait même ne pas se justifier du tout.»
Bien sûr, le Canada pourrait faire des enquêtes approfondies, mais comme cela concernerait des milliers de gens, «cela coûterait des millions de dollars aux contribuables canadiens», fait remarquer M. Crépeau.
En conséquence, le Canada s'en remet aux services secrets de différents pays, poursuit-il, qui lui transmettent des renseignements en précisant bien que la source doit être gardée absolument confidentielle, faute de quoi on sera rayé de la liste d'envoi.
Les renseignements transmis peuvent être d'ordre aussi général que des coupures de journaux, «ou des rumeurs de type "untel m'a dit". Encore une fois, devant nos tribunaux, ça ne passerait pas, mais pour un service de renseignement qui n'a que la sécurité en tête, cela suffit».
Tout cela, note M. Crépeau, dit en toute sympathie pour les demandeurs, dont les démarches peuvent coûter des milliers de dollars et dont le destin peut se jouer sur des informations parcellaires qui peuvent être ou pas dignes de foi.
C'est le cas de Midi Cyrille Henry, comme cela l'a été, dit M. Crépeau, pour ces Tamouls arrivés l'an dernier par bateau, dont on a redouté qu'ils puissent être des terroristes. «Dans certains cas, la preuve pouvait être aussi mince qu'une petite médaille au cou que le Canada associait d'emblée à un symbole tamoul, alors que la médaille est traditionnellement offerte lors de fiançailles.»
Deux exemples frappants
Autre exemple particulièrement frappant: celui de Sugunanayake Joseph, à qui le Canada a accordé l'asile après l'assassinat de son mari (parlementaire sri-lankais) durant la messe de minuit, à Noël 2005. Aux funérailles, rapporte le Toronto Star, Bill Graham lui-même - alors ministre des Affaires étrangères - avait pris la peine de se déplacer et avait dit de Joseph Pararajasingham qu'il était «un homme de paix».
Or, voilà que, cinq ans après, un ordre d'expulsion a été donné contre la veuve de 74 ans. Dans ce cas-ci, une série d'associations ont amené les autorités à conclure que Joseph Pararajasingham était un tigre tamoul terroriste et, partant, sa veuve aussi, ce qu'elle nie avec véhémence.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/justice-et-faits-divers/201105/09/01-4397748-un-haitien-accuse-de-crime-de-guerre-par-le-canada.php
Louise Leduc, La Presse
Vous allez à la poste un matin, et vous recevez enfin une réponse de l'ambassade du Canada. Avant de vous assurer de ses «sentiments les meilleurs», le secrétaire de l'ambassade vous informe que votre demande est rejetée parce qu'il y a «des motifs de croire que vous avez été complice de crime de guerre contre l'humanité».
C'est ce qui est arrivé à Midi Cyrille Henry, qui vit en Haïti et qui a longtemps souhaité immigrer au Canada. Aujourd'hui, ce n'est plus sa priorité. «Venir au Canada, pour moi, c'est devenu secondaire. Ce qui m'importe, c'est de blanchir ma réputation devant un gouvernement qui m'a faussement accusé.»
«Quand on reçoit une telle lettre, on est vraiment en état de choc. D'être montré du doigt pour des crimes de guerre que l'on n'a pas commis, ça laisse un goût amer, et pour très longtemps. Si je suis vraiment un criminel de guerre, pourquoi le Canada laisse-t-il les choses comme ça? Ne devrait-il pas me traduire devant le Tribunal pénal international ou quelque chose?»
En Haïti ou ailleurs, M. Henry n'a jamais été accusé de quoi que ce soit. Dans les nombreux échanges qu'il a eus avec le gouvernement du Canada, il n'est nulle part fait mention de quelque accusation directe que ce soit.
Au ministère canadien de l'Immigration, on a refusé d'accorder une entrevue à La Presse. Pour seule réponse, on a envoyé un courriel officiel d'un paragraphe dans lequel on explique, en gros, qu'effectivement, la demande de M. Henry a été rejetée en vertu de la Loi sur l'immigration et la protection des réfugiés, selon laquelle «un individu ayant commis des crimes contre l'humanité ou des crimes de guerre à l'extérieur du Canada est inadmissible au Canada».
Policier depuis 1995
Ce qui nuit à M. Henry, c'est qu'il est policier à Haïti depuis 1995.
Or, comme le fait remarquer François Crépeau, professeur titulaire à la faculté de droit de l'Université McGill, la police haïtienne, particulièrement à cette époque, n'avait pas la meilleure des réputations.
D'ailleurs, dans la correspondance entre le Ministère et une cousine de M. Henry - que ce dernier a autorisée à accéder à son dossier -, les fonctionnaires mentionnent à plusieurs reprises les noms de policiers (parmi lesquels certains, selon eux, auraient été des supérieurs de M. Henry) qui ont été accusés de brutalité policière qualifiée de crime contre l'humanité.
La cousine, qui habite au Canada depuis l'enfance, est médusée par tout cela. Ici, dit-elle, elle est habituée à un système juridique qui passe par des accusations fondées sur des faits vérifiés et non sur des on-dit. Au Canada, les procès sont menés en bonne et due forme, on peut se défendre et interjeter appel d'une décision. Rien de cela en matière d'immigration, dénonce-t-elle. «Je ne crois pas qu'un seul Canadien accepterait docilement que lui, sa soeur, sa mère, son père, son cousin, son gendre ou son fils soit "interdits de territoire" et, du coup, stigmatisés comme "auteurs ou complices de crime de guerre ou crime contre l'humanité" en raison de leur "implication dans la police" sans que personne ne puisse dire de quoi on les accuse exactement... sans qu'ils puissent même être mis à procès et jugés.»
De fait, le Canada met de l'avant des règles tout autres selon qu'il a affaire à un citoyen canadien ou pas, confirme François Crépeau. «Dans ce cas-ci, manifestement, le demandeur est policier en Haïti depuis 15 ans, donc on l'accuse par association, chose qu'on n'admettrait pas en droit criminel interne.»
Criminalité par association
Pour le Canada, poursuit-il, la priorité en matière d'immigration, ce n'est pas la justice, mais la sécurité. «Le Canada décide de façon souveraine de ceux qu'il admet ici et il n'hésite pas à y aller de catégories très larges de criminalité par association. Souvent, l'argumentaire fourni ne fait pas sérieux, mais, à la limite, le Canada pourrait même ne pas se justifier du tout.»
Bien sûr, le Canada pourrait faire des enquêtes approfondies, mais comme cela concernerait des milliers de gens, «cela coûterait des millions de dollars aux contribuables canadiens», fait remarquer M. Crépeau.
En conséquence, le Canada s'en remet aux services secrets de différents pays, poursuit-il, qui lui transmettent des renseignements en précisant bien que la source doit être gardée absolument confidentielle, faute de quoi on sera rayé de la liste d'envoi.
Les renseignements transmis peuvent être d'ordre aussi général que des coupures de journaux, «ou des rumeurs de type "untel m'a dit". Encore une fois, devant nos tribunaux, ça ne passerait pas, mais pour un service de renseignement qui n'a que la sécurité en tête, cela suffit».
Tout cela, note M. Crépeau, dit en toute sympathie pour les demandeurs, dont les démarches peuvent coûter des milliers de dollars et dont le destin peut se jouer sur des informations parcellaires qui peuvent être ou pas dignes de foi.
C'est le cas de Midi Cyrille Henry, comme cela l'a été, dit M. Crépeau, pour ces Tamouls arrivés l'an dernier par bateau, dont on a redouté qu'ils puissent être des terroristes. «Dans certains cas, la preuve pouvait être aussi mince qu'une petite médaille au cou que le Canada associait d'emblée à un symbole tamoul, alors que la médaille est traditionnellement offerte lors de fiançailles.»
Deux exemples frappants
Autre exemple particulièrement frappant: celui de Sugunanayake Joseph, à qui le Canada a accordé l'asile après l'assassinat de son mari (parlementaire sri-lankais) durant la messe de minuit, à Noël 2005. Aux funérailles, rapporte le Toronto Star, Bill Graham lui-même - alors ministre des Affaires étrangères - avait pris la peine de se déplacer et avait dit de Joseph Pararajasingham qu'il était «un homme de paix».
Or, voilà que, cinq ans après, un ordre d'expulsion a été donné contre la veuve de 74 ans. Dans ce cas-ci, une série d'associations ont amené les autorités à conclure que Joseph Pararajasingham était un tigre tamoul terroriste et, partant, sa veuve aussi, ce qu'elle nie avec véhémence.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/justice-et-faits-divers/201105/09/01-4397748-un-haitien-accuse-de-crime-de-guerre-par-le-canada.php
lundi 9 mai 2011
PUC faculty teaches in Haiti
By Andrea Drac Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, May 8, 2011
Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti and the area hit hardest by the January 2010 earthquake, had been the center of higher education, drawing in students from all over the country. 87 percent of Haiti's universities were located within or close to Port-au-Prince. Out of 32 major universities, 28 were destroyed and the rest were severely damaged, according to Phyllis Bergiel's, visiting instructor in philosophy, PowerPoint presentation.
Bergiel visited Haiti in March as part of an education mission program. Other PUC faculty members who visited Haiti are Neeti Parashar, associate professor in physics; Lynn Zimmerman, associate professor in education; and Kathy Tobin, associate professor in history who introduced the program to PUC.
"We went on a volunteer basis," Bergiel explained as she went through various PowerPoint slides.
University of the Nouvelle GrandAnse is a community college with two programs in agriculture and management, with no permanent staff available. Bergiel spent two weeks in Jeremie, with eight days of student contact. She taught the students for an hour and a half each day. Most of the students were adults, who had homes, family and work to take care of.
"I was surprised they could study with all of the work they had to do at home," she said. "They knew the readings back and forth."
When Bergiel was not teaching, she was networking with non-governmental organizations to coordinate efforts in Haitian agriculture. Other tasks she mentioned were getting back reliable electricity and getting more sanitary facilities such as toilets, clean water, etc.
One of the things Bergiel was surprised about was Haiti's close distance.
"I pictured Haiti to be further away than it was," she said. "But it was a two hour plane ride from Florida."
Bergiel said the conditions were dangerous, but the experience was very rewarding for her.
Zimmerman said the conditions in Haiti were different to what she is used to. To take a shower she had to stand under a single pipe with water running down it.
Zimmerman went to Haiti in November of 2010, but did not go alone. She brought along a friend, Karen Oswald.
"It was nice to have someone with me, to talk to," she said.
Zimmerman taught an English class at UNOGA. The lack of technology was the hardest thing for her to get used to.
"I never used electronics or technology, except for one time when we were showing a video, because it was too difficult," she said.
Without technology, Zimmerman had to make copies of everything and rely on the blackboard to write things down. However, she introduced her class to the concept of group work, which she said they did well with.
"Working with the students was rewarding," Zimmerman said. "(We were) able to give them something they couldn't get otherwise."
Parashar visited Haiti in November 2010 and taught two physics courses at UNOGA during her one week visit: mechanics and a class in electricity, magnetism and optics. She said the students were shocked to see a physicist who was a woman.
Besides teaching, Parashar enjoyed doing yoga with her class of 120 students.
Despite the language barrier, Parashar and her students connected well, thanks to a translator. Both Zimmerman and Bergiel expressed their thanks to their translators as well during the presentation, as they helped them with anything they needed in Jeremie.
"Despite all apprehensions, I was very glad to be a part of people who appreciate it (our help)," Parashar said. "It is our duty to help those in need."
http://www.pucchronicle.com/puc-faculty-teaches-in-haiti-1.2224352
Published: Sunday, May 8, 2011
Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti and the area hit hardest by the January 2010 earthquake, had been the center of higher education, drawing in students from all over the country. 87 percent of Haiti's universities were located within or close to Port-au-Prince. Out of 32 major universities, 28 were destroyed and the rest were severely damaged, according to Phyllis Bergiel's, visiting instructor in philosophy, PowerPoint presentation.
Bergiel visited Haiti in March as part of an education mission program. Other PUC faculty members who visited Haiti are Neeti Parashar, associate professor in physics; Lynn Zimmerman, associate professor in education; and Kathy Tobin, associate professor in history who introduced the program to PUC.
"We went on a volunteer basis," Bergiel explained as she went through various PowerPoint slides.
University of the Nouvelle GrandAnse is a community college with two programs in agriculture and management, with no permanent staff available. Bergiel spent two weeks in Jeremie, with eight days of student contact. She taught the students for an hour and a half each day. Most of the students were adults, who had homes, family and work to take care of.
"I was surprised they could study with all of the work they had to do at home," she said. "They knew the readings back and forth."
When Bergiel was not teaching, she was networking with non-governmental organizations to coordinate efforts in Haitian agriculture. Other tasks she mentioned were getting back reliable electricity and getting more sanitary facilities such as toilets, clean water, etc.
One of the things Bergiel was surprised about was Haiti's close distance.
"I pictured Haiti to be further away than it was," she said. "But it was a two hour plane ride from Florida."
Bergiel said the conditions were dangerous, but the experience was very rewarding for her.
Zimmerman said the conditions in Haiti were different to what she is used to. To take a shower she had to stand under a single pipe with water running down it.
Zimmerman went to Haiti in November of 2010, but did not go alone. She brought along a friend, Karen Oswald.
"It was nice to have someone with me, to talk to," she said.
Zimmerman taught an English class at UNOGA. The lack of technology was the hardest thing for her to get used to.
"I never used electronics or technology, except for one time when we were showing a video, because it was too difficult," she said.
Without technology, Zimmerman had to make copies of everything and rely on the blackboard to write things down. However, she introduced her class to the concept of group work, which she said they did well with.
"Working with the students was rewarding," Zimmerman said. "(We were) able to give them something they couldn't get otherwise."
Parashar visited Haiti in November 2010 and taught two physics courses at UNOGA during her one week visit: mechanics and a class in electricity, magnetism and optics. She said the students were shocked to see a physicist who was a woman.
Besides teaching, Parashar enjoyed doing yoga with her class of 120 students.
Despite the language barrier, Parashar and her students connected well, thanks to a translator. Both Zimmerman and Bergiel expressed their thanks to their translators as well during the presentation, as they helped them with anything they needed in Jeremie.
"Despite all apprehensions, I was very glad to be a part of people who appreciate it (our help)," Parashar said. "It is our duty to help those in need."
http://www.pucchronicle.com/puc-faculty-teaches-in-haiti-1.2224352
RAM members discuss Vodou culture and more at New Orleans Jazz Fest
Published: Sunday, May 08, 2011, 5:22 PM
By Laura McKnight, The Times-Picayune NOLA.com
Leaders of the Haitian band RAM spoke about music, mothers, politics and Vodou this afternoon as part of a New Orleans Jazz Fest dedicated to Haiti and its strong connections to New Orleans.
Grant Morris with ItsNewOrleans.com, left, interviews members of the Haitian band RAM on Sunday at the New Orleans Jazz Fest. RAM founder and vocalist Richard Morse, musician Gaston Gaspard and Morse's wife, Lunise, talked about Haitian culture and politics.
The sizeable band has delighted crowds with Vodou ceremonies, parades and other shows at this year's Jazz Fest. The group closed out the Jazz and Heritage Stage today at 5:45 p.m.
Grant Morris, a New Orleans singer and songwriter as well as webcaster for the site ItsNewOrleans.com, interviewed RAM founder and vocalist Richard Morse and his wife, Lunise, a Haitian native and vocalist for the band, at the Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage. RAM member Gaston Gaspard played keyboards for several songs performed during the interview.
RAM, formed in 1990, quickly became one of the most influential bands in Haiti through hopeful music that addresses government corruption and other social ills. RAM combines elements of rock; lyrics in Creole, French and English; and Haitian rhythms, melodies and instruments. The group's single "Ibo Lele (Dreams Come True)," is included on the soundtrack of the 1993 film "Philadelphia" starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington.
Morris mentioned how Morse has been called the Bob Marley of Haiti, a label Morse brushed aside.
"I doubt it," Morse said.
Morris prodded Morse for stories of military juntas angered by RAM's pro-democracy lyrics, death threats and possible assassination attempts on Morse and his band members and regimes that switched from friendly to ominous attitudes toward RAM and its music.
Morse tried to downplay his exposure to violence with generalized answers and subtle hints.
"This is all very delicate," he said.
Even through subtleties, the interview showed how music can form a powerful force, potent enough that lyrics can attract the attention -- both positive and dangerously negative -- of violent political regimes and countering would-be leaders.
Morris noted that it seems like Morse has angered every regime in Haiti at some point.
"Other people usually pick a side and stick with it," Morse responded. "We picked an ideal." As RAM's pro-democracy ideal falls in and out of favor with various groups, the band becomes a source of their ire, he said.
"Our alliances are with the Haitian people," he stressed, summing up RAM's stance as this: "Day by day, we try and do the right thing."
Morse described his background and personal ties to the island country. Morse was born in Puerto Rico to an American father and Haitian mother, singer and performer Emerante de Pradine, renowned for bringing Haitian music and vodou culture to the U.S. as entertainment.
"She's really a pioneer," Richard Morse said.
Morse was playing New Wave punk music in 1985 when he visited Haiti to retrieve world-music rhythms for his sound. He found not only rhythms but melodies, instruments, spirituality and a wife.
In contrast, Lunise Morse said she grew up in a nonmusical family.
"I'm the only crazy," she joked.
Lunise Morse said she started singing when Richard Morse recruited her from her dance troupe to perform with RAM.
"What she was doing was what I was looking for," Richard Morse said.
Richard Morse also addressed misconceptions about Vodou, which lead to misconceptions about the Haitian people.
People associate Vodou with Satan and other demonic spirits. He explained the island's beliefs with comparisons to concepts familiar to Americans.
"There is an American holiday that most resembles Vodou," he said, to which the crowd responded with "Halloween." "Everybody says that, but it's Thanksgiving."
The holiday resembles Vodou, because it centers on an offering placed on a table, giving thanks to spirits of the harvest, an idea the Pilgrims likely took from American Indians, he said.
Vodou also resembles an expansion of Catholicism, which forms an expansion of Protestantism in that the denomination includes a larger collection of deities, Morse said. Catholicism includes the Holy Trinity as well as the saints; Vodou includes the Holy Trinity, the saints, ancestors and a pantheon of Vodou spirits, he said.
Morris asked Richard Morse if he becomes possessed by some of these spirits while performing.
"I would assume that they come by and that they help us make the music that we make," said Morse, who arrived in Haiti as an atheist, but now believes in God, the Holy Trinity, the saints, spirits and ancestors.
People speak of Haitians as influenced by Satan, but outsiders should remember that westerners shackled Haitians and brought them to this land for money, Morse said.
"We have to face these crimes and we have to address them before we can move on as Americans, before we can move on as Haitians, before we can move on as a people," he said to loud applause.
Morris asked Morse why he stayed in a violent country known as the poorest in the Western hemisphere.
"It's the richest country in the Western hemisphere, too," Morse said. "You can't find these melodies just sitting around Connecticut."
Yet he admitted that with the abundance of Uzis and anger, "Anyone in their right mind would have left."
But he was determined to grasp the music.
RAM's involvement in politics will likely continue, especially since Richard Morse's first cousin, musician Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, was just elected president.
The group performed a melodic song in Creole during the interview, but ended with a song in English that expresses a major desire.
"We want justice for all our friends and neighbors," the Morses sang. "We want justice for people we don't even know."
http://www.nola.com/jazzfest/index.ssf/2011/05/ram_members_discuss_moms_polit.html
By Laura McKnight, The Times-Picayune NOLA.com
Leaders of the Haitian band RAM spoke about music, mothers, politics and Vodou this afternoon as part of a New Orleans Jazz Fest dedicated to Haiti and its strong connections to New Orleans.
 |
| Grant Morris with ItsNewOrleans.com, left, interviews members of the Haitian band RAM on Sunday at the New Orleans Jazz Fest. RAM founder and vocalist Richard Morse, musician Gaston Gaspard and Morse's wife, Lunise, talked about Haitian culture and politics. |
The sizeable band has delighted crowds with Vodou ceremonies, parades and other shows at this year's Jazz Fest. The group closed out the Jazz and Heritage Stage today at 5:45 p.m.
Grant Morris, a New Orleans singer and songwriter as well as webcaster for the site ItsNewOrleans.com, interviewed RAM founder and vocalist Richard Morse and his wife, Lunise, a Haitian native and vocalist for the band, at the Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage. RAM member Gaston Gaspard played keyboards for several songs performed during the interview.
RAM, formed in 1990, quickly became one of the most influential bands in Haiti through hopeful music that addresses government corruption and other social ills. RAM combines elements of rock; lyrics in Creole, French and English; and Haitian rhythms, melodies and instruments. The group's single "Ibo Lele (Dreams Come True)," is included on the soundtrack of the 1993 film "Philadelphia" starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington.
Morris mentioned how Morse has been called the Bob Marley of Haiti, a label Morse brushed aside.
"I doubt it," Morse said.
Morris prodded Morse for stories of military juntas angered by RAM's pro-democracy lyrics, death threats and possible assassination attempts on Morse and his band members and regimes that switched from friendly to ominous attitudes toward RAM and its music.
Morse tried to downplay his exposure to violence with generalized answers and subtle hints.
"This is all very delicate," he said.
Even through subtleties, the interview showed how music can form a powerful force, potent enough that lyrics can attract the attention -- both positive and dangerously negative -- of violent political regimes and countering would-be leaders.
Morris noted that it seems like Morse has angered every regime in Haiti at some point.
"Other people usually pick a side and stick with it," Morse responded. "We picked an ideal." As RAM's pro-democracy ideal falls in and out of favor with various groups, the band becomes a source of their ire, he said.
"Our alliances are with the Haitian people," he stressed, summing up RAM's stance as this: "Day by day, we try and do the right thing."
Morse described his background and personal ties to the island country. Morse was born in Puerto Rico to an American father and Haitian mother, singer and performer Emerante de Pradine, renowned for bringing Haitian music and vodou culture to the U.S. as entertainment.
"She's really a pioneer," Richard Morse said.
Morse was playing New Wave punk music in 1985 when he visited Haiti to retrieve world-music rhythms for his sound. He found not only rhythms but melodies, instruments, spirituality and a wife.
In contrast, Lunise Morse said she grew up in a nonmusical family.
"I'm the only crazy," she joked.
Lunise Morse said she started singing when Richard Morse recruited her from her dance troupe to perform with RAM.
"What she was doing was what I was looking for," Richard Morse said.
Richard Morse also addressed misconceptions about Vodou, which lead to misconceptions about the Haitian people.
People associate Vodou with Satan and other demonic spirits. He explained the island's beliefs with comparisons to concepts familiar to Americans.
"There is an American holiday that most resembles Vodou," he said, to which the crowd responded with "Halloween." "Everybody says that, but it's Thanksgiving."
The holiday resembles Vodou, because it centers on an offering placed on a table, giving thanks to spirits of the harvest, an idea the Pilgrims likely took from American Indians, he said.
Vodou also resembles an expansion of Catholicism, which forms an expansion of Protestantism in that the denomination includes a larger collection of deities, Morse said. Catholicism includes the Holy Trinity as well as the saints; Vodou includes the Holy Trinity, the saints, ancestors and a pantheon of Vodou spirits, he said.
Morris asked Richard Morse if he becomes possessed by some of these spirits while performing.
"I would assume that they come by and that they help us make the music that we make," said Morse, who arrived in Haiti as an atheist, but now believes in God, the Holy Trinity, the saints, spirits and ancestors.
People speak of Haitians as influenced by Satan, but outsiders should remember that westerners shackled Haitians and brought them to this land for money, Morse said.
"We have to face these crimes and we have to address them before we can move on as Americans, before we can move on as Haitians, before we can move on as a people," he said to loud applause.
Morris asked Morse why he stayed in a violent country known as the poorest in the Western hemisphere.
"It's the richest country in the Western hemisphere, too," Morse said. "You can't find these melodies just sitting around Connecticut."
Yet he admitted that with the abundance of Uzis and anger, "Anyone in their right mind would have left."
But he was determined to grasp the music.
RAM's involvement in politics will likely continue, especially since Richard Morse's first cousin, musician Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, was just elected president.
The group performed a melodic song in Creole during the interview, but ended with a song in English that expresses a major desire.
"We want justice for all our friends and neighbors," the Morses sang. "We want justice for people we don't even know."
http://www.nola.com/jazzfest/index.ssf/2011/05/ram_members_discuss_moms_polit.html
Saskatchewan Registered Nurses: Helping and healing in Haiti
By Debra Clarke, Leader Post May 9, 2011 4:09 AM "Every second was a new picture."
Patricia Zip still remembers the sights, sounds and smells of Port au Prince, Haiti, four months after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck on January 12th, 2010.
In the country to teach rehab staff and patients while facilitating safe, competent inpatient and community care, Zip remembers rubble being left where it had fallen, with paths cleared only to make room for people and vehicles involved in the recovery efforts.
"Extreme poverty and filth was everywhere. It was hot. Hospitals had no windows or doors; goats, chickens and children ran in and out. Women and men patients were separated by gender: one room for each group. TB, aids, maternity, spinal cord injuries were all in the same room. No regard for contagious diseases and little privacy. "
The continued political unrest in the country meant Zip and her medical colleagues always traveled with a Haitian guide while armed guards protected the hospital compounds or homes where they were staying. The threat of disease was also an ever-present danger.
"We took daily anti-cholera medications and were treated for malaria and other diseases. We slept under malaria nets. Some of the medical staff became ill. Our daily food was cooked by local Haitian ladies and consisted of a mixture of rice and beans, sometimes varied with a few small portions of goat or chicken added because we were 'honoured guests'."
Haiti would turn out to be a life-changing experience for Zip - one that would not only call upon all her training as a registered nurse but also one that would impact her as a person. "As a nurse, my training taught me to think critically but it was overwhelming walking into an area of devastation and destruction. It was the destruction of the human spirit which was the hardest to deal with."
Despite all they have endured, though, Zip says the Haitian people have great hope.
"We're taught to utilize many important competencies such as nursing care provider, counseling, teaching, and advocating. Nursing, as an evidence-based profession involves life-long learning. With experience comes adaptability without compromising standards of safe care. Haiti was certainly a test of commitment and adaptability."
A faculty member with the Nursing Education Program of Saskatchewan (NEPS), Zip has gained significant education and training, including Canadian Rehabilitation Certification Nurse. She teaches in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at the University of Saskatchewan and facilitates clinical students in Rehabilitation Medicine at City Hospital in Saskatoon.
After hearing about the destruction and the urgent need for medical help, Zip knew she had to go. A colleague put her in touch with the head of Team Canada Healing Hands, a group "committed to facilitate development of rehabilitation professionals to staff clinics and rehab facilities with a goal of training Haitian health care and community workers."
Another goal, says Zip, was "to construct and operate outpatient rehab services."
Zip was chosen to be part of the team because of her considerable training and expertise, particularly with Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI). "The majority of patients were paraplegics," she says. "These patients were situated in Fond du Blanc and Cap Haitian, on opposite sides of the island. I spent a week at each. I worked in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team of rehab specialists including a physical therapist and physiatrist from New Brunswick."
Zip also spent time teaching individual patients and staff, since the earthquake had destroyed the nursing school in Haiti. While most of the students were out of the school doing practicums on the day of the quake, sadly "the entire faculty died when the building collapsed."
She discovered Haiti's version of heath care is much different than Canada's. "Care was managed by family and nurses at the level of an aide or licensed practical nurse. Hospitals are scarce and sparse. Patients provide their own bedding, food, water and even medications in many situations. A lot of Haitians have strong Christian faith but turn to voodoo healers when sick and progress is not as hoped for."
With much of the population living in poverty, the focus for many became survival following the earthquake. Zip notes that most Haitians live on $2 a day or less, meaning there was little money to buy medication or supplies at treatment centre, which charged fees in order to pay for staff and upkeep - a source of both anger and despair for the Canadian medical teams.
"I recall a baby denied inhalers for asthma because her family could not afford them," says Zip. "The volunteer nurses paid for some medication but the baby soon died because the family could not maintain supply of the meds. This would never happen in Canada. We cried."
The lack of supplies, medical aid and overwhelming destruction and devastation impacted Zip in many ways. She returned to Canada "with only the clothes I wore. I left everything I possibly could for them. I wish I could have given more."
She is also planning a return trip to the still-ravaged country, having been invited back by a prominent Haitian physiatrist and by Healing Hands Canada.
"Until the day that they have leaders who actually care for the people, volunteers are needed. I am not special. I simply gave of myself and did whatever I possibly could."
Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Saskatchewan+Registered+Nurses+Helping+healing+Haiti/4749877/story.html#ixzz1Lqc1HXiO
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Saskatchewan+Registered+Nurses+Helping+healing+Haiti/4749877/story.html
Patricia Zip still remembers the sights, sounds and smells of Port au Prince, Haiti, four months after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck on January 12th, 2010.
In the country to teach rehab staff and patients while facilitating safe, competent inpatient and community care, Zip remembers rubble being left where it had fallen, with paths cleared only to make room for people and vehicles involved in the recovery efforts.
"Extreme poverty and filth was everywhere. It was hot. Hospitals had no windows or doors; goats, chickens and children ran in and out. Women and men patients were separated by gender: one room for each group. TB, aids, maternity, spinal cord injuries were all in the same room. No regard for contagious diseases and little privacy. "
The continued political unrest in the country meant Zip and her medical colleagues always traveled with a Haitian guide while armed guards protected the hospital compounds or homes where they were staying. The threat of disease was also an ever-present danger.
"We took daily anti-cholera medications and were treated for malaria and other diseases. We slept under malaria nets. Some of the medical staff became ill. Our daily food was cooked by local Haitian ladies and consisted of a mixture of rice and beans, sometimes varied with a few small portions of goat or chicken added because we were 'honoured guests'."
Haiti would turn out to be a life-changing experience for Zip - one that would not only call upon all her training as a registered nurse but also one that would impact her as a person. "As a nurse, my training taught me to think critically but it was overwhelming walking into an area of devastation and destruction. It was the destruction of the human spirit which was the hardest to deal with."
Despite all they have endured, though, Zip says the Haitian people have great hope.
"We're taught to utilize many important competencies such as nursing care provider, counseling, teaching, and advocating. Nursing, as an evidence-based profession involves life-long learning. With experience comes adaptability without compromising standards of safe care. Haiti was certainly a test of commitment and adaptability."
A faculty member with the Nursing Education Program of Saskatchewan (NEPS), Zip has gained significant education and training, including Canadian Rehabilitation Certification Nurse. She teaches in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at the University of Saskatchewan and facilitates clinical students in Rehabilitation Medicine at City Hospital in Saskatoon.
After hearing about the destruction and the urgent need for medical help, Zip knew she had to go. A colleague put her in touch with the head of Team Canada Healing Hands, a group "committed to facilitate development of rehabilitation professionals to staff clinics and rehab facilities with a goal of training Haitian health care and community workers."
Another goal, says Zip, was "to construct and operate outpatient rehab services."
Zip was chosen to be part of the team because of her considerable training and expertise, particularly with Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI). "The majority of patients were paraplegics," she says. "These patients were situated in Fond du Blanc and Cap Haitian, on opposite sides of the island. I spent a week at each. I worked in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team of rehab specialists including a physical therapist and physiatrist from New Brunswick."
Zip also spent time teaching individual patients and staff, since the earthquake had destroyed the nursing school in Haiti. While most of the students were out of the school doing practicums on the day of the quake, sadly "the entire faculty died when the building collapsed."
She discovered Haiti's version of heath care is much different than Canada's. "Care was managed by family and nurses at the level of an aide or licensed practical nurse. Hospitals are scarce and sparse. Patients provide their own bedding, food, water and even medications in many situations. A lot of Haitians have strong Christian faith but turn to voodoo healers when sick and progress is not as hoped for."
With much of the population living in poverty, the focus for many became survival following the earthquake. Zip notes that most Haitians live on $2 a day or less, meaning there was little money to buy medication or supplies at treatment centre, which charged fees in order to pay for staff and upkeep - a source of both anger and despair for the Canadian medical teams.
"I recall a baby denied inhalers for asthma because her family could not afford them," says Zip. "The volunteer nurses paid for some medication but the baby soon died because the family could not maintain supply of the meds. This would never happen in Canada. We cried."
The lack of supplies, medical aid and overwhelming destruction and devastation impacted Zip in many ways. She returned to Canada "with only the clothes I wore. I left everything I possibly could for them. I wish I could have given more."
She is also planning a return trip to the still-ravaged country, having been invited back by a prominent Haitian physiatrist and by Healing Hands Canada.
"Until the day that they have leaders who actually care for the people, volunteers are needed. I am not special. I simply gave of myself and did whatever I possibly could."
Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Saskatchewan+Registered+Nurses+Helping+healing+Haiti/4749877/story.html#ixzz1Lqc1HXiO
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Saskatchewan+Registered+Nurses+Helping+healing+Haiti/4749877/story.html
Haiti debates dual citizenship change
Congresswoman Frederica Wilson visited Haiti on Saturday as a debate over dual citizenship got underway. By JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@MiamiHerald.com
PORT-AU-PRINCE -- As the representative of Haitians living abroad on a commission charged with rebuilding quake-ravaged Haiti, Joseph Bernadel, a retired U.S. army major from Delray Beach, can have an opinion — but he doesn’t get a vote.
That harsh reality is just one of many examples of how Haitians who have accepted citizenship from other countries have been left out when it comes to deciding on the future of their unlucky homeland, Bernadel said.
But he and some other Haitians living outside the country are hoping that will change soon. Members of Haiti’s parliament began debate Saturday on several changes to the country’s 1987 constitution, including one that would do away with a law banning dual nationality.
“More than anything else, this double nationality gives a clear message to people of Haitian ancestry who have gone to the diaspora that there is a place for them in Haiti, not only in the reconstruction aspect, but in the everyday life in Haiti,’’ Bernadel said.
The recognition of dual or multiple nationalities for Haitians has the support of the U.S. government.
Miami Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson, who visited Port-au-Prince Saturday for a few hours, said she also supports the concept. “What they are describing is fine,’’ said Wilson, who represents the largest constituency of Haitian-Americans in the United States.
It was the first time she had seen the devastation unleashed by the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake. “I wanted to see what we were deporting people back to,’’ she said. “Even today, more than a year after, the place still looks like a war zone. It’s heartbreaking.’’
Wilson not only got a helicopter-tour of the country, courtesy of president-elect Michel Martelly, but she also received a crash course in the constitutional reform debate sweeping the nation.
Of equal concern to her, she said, is the fate of thousands of Haitians who received Temporary Protected Status in the United States following the quake. TPS comes up for renewal in June, and she and members of the Congressional Black Caucus are fighting to keep the benefit that allows Haitians to legally live and work in the U.S. temporarily.
Meeting with Haitian senators inside the broken parliament building, Wilson was told she was visiting Haiti on a “historic weekend.’’ Fifteen lawmakers had spent 48 hours drafting a report on proposed changes to the constitution. In addition to the nationality issue, they will debate a 30 percent quota for the hiring of women and changes in the election cycle for senators.
They have until midnight Monday to make changes, or wait four more years.
Earlier in the day, several senators — including many up for reelection in November — went to meet with President René Préval to seek an automatic extension of five years on their terms in exchange for an amendment allowing a president to serve back-to-back presidential terms. Préval had previously sought the presidential term provision but was rejected.
“It’s going to be a long day today and Sunday,’’ said Sen. Steven Benoit, a former member of the lower house who was recently elected to the Senate.
For days, the issue of dual nationality has dominated the airwaves and the Internet in Haiti and abroad.
At the very least, say supporters, the proposed changes redefine what it means to be Haitian, benefiting countless stateless immigrants living in the Dominican Republica, Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas.
But how far the changes should go is hotly debated. Some Haitian-Americans simply would like the chance to own and inherit land legally in Haiti without hassle; others would like to hold political office. As the amendment is currently proposed, it prohibits a run for the presidency, or to be named prime minister, head of the government. It also would prohibit dual-nationals from being police chief or head of the supreme court.
“We still can’t agree on what it means to be Haitian,’’ said Sen. Francois Anick Joseph, another newly-elected senator.
Even though he said he supports the concept, he said the lack of clarity has him hoping the proposed version of the law won’t pass.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/07/2206555/haiti-debates-dual-citizenship.html#ixzz1Lqax3MIQ
jcharles@MiamiHerald.com
PORT-AU-PRINCE -- As the representative of Haitians living abroad on a commission charged with rebuilding quake-ravaged Haiti, Joseph Bernadel, a retired U.S. army major from Delray Beach, can have an opinion — but he doesn’t get a vote.
That harsh reality is just one of many examples of how Haitians who have accepted citizenship from other countries have been left out when it comes to deciding on the future of their unlucky homeland, Bernadel said.
But he and some other Haitians living outside the country are hoping that will change soon. Members of Haiti’s parliament began debate Saturday on several changes to the country’s 1987 constitution, including one that would do away with a law banning dual nationality.
“More than anything else, this double nationality gives a clear message to people of Haitian ancestry who have gone to the diaspora that there is a place for them in Haiti, not only in the reconstruction aspect, but in the everyday life in Haiti,’’ Bernadel said.
The recognition of dual or multiple nationalities for Haitians has the support of the U.S. government.
Miami Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson, who visited Port-au-Prince Saturday for a few hours, said she also supports the concept. “What they are describing is fine,’’ said Wilson, who represents the largest constituency of Haitian-Americans in the United States.
It was the first time she had seen the devastation unleashed by the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake. “I wanted to see what we were deporting people back to,’’ she said. “Even today, more than a year after, the place still looks like a war zone. It’s heartbreaking.’’
Wilson not only got a helicopter-tour of the country, courtesy of president-elect Michel Martelly, but she also received a crash course in the constitutional reform debate sweeping the nation.
Of equal concern to her, she said, is the fate of thousands of Haitians who received Temporary Protected Status in the United States following the quake. TPS comes up for renewal in June, and she and members of the Congressional Black Caucus are fighting to keep the benefit that allows Haitians to legally live and work in the U.S. temporarily.
Meeting with Haitian senators inside the broken parliament building, Wilson was told she was visiting Haiti on a “historic weekend.’’ Fifteen lawmakers had spent 48 hours drafting a report on proposed changes to the constitution. In addition to the nationality issue, they will debate a 30 percent quota for the hiring of women and changes in the election cycle for senators.
They have until midnight Monday to make changes, or wait four more years.
Earlier in the day, several senators — including many up for reelection in November — went to meet with President René Préval to seek an automatic extension of five years on their terms in exchange for an amendment allowing a president to serve back-to-back presidential terms. Préval had previously sought the presidential term provision but was rejected.
“It’s going to be a long day today and Sunday,’’ said Sen. Steven Benoit, a former member of the lower house who was recently elected to the Senate.
For days, the issue of dual nationality has dominated the airwaves and the Internet in Haiti and abroad.
At the very least, say supporters, the proposed changes redefine what it means to be Haitian, benefiting countless stateless immigrants living in the Dominican Republica, Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas.
But how far the changes should go is hotly debated. Some Haitian-Americans simply would like the chance to own and inherit land legally in Haiti without hassle; others would like to hold political office. As the amendment is currently proposed, it prohibits a run for the presidency, or to be named prime minister, head of the government. It also would prohibit dual-nationals from being police chief or head of the supreme court.
“We still can’t agree on what it means to be Haitian,’’ said Sen. Francois Anick Joseph, another newly-elected senator.
Even though he said he supports the concept, he said the lack of clarity has him hoping the proposed version of the law won’t pass.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/07/2206555/haiti-debates-dual-citizenship.html#ixzz1Lqax3MIQ
Haiti among LCDs to benefit from new programme
CMC Monday, May 09, 2011
UNITED NATIONS (CMC) — Haiti is expected to benefit from a new 10-year programme for the world's poorest nations.
Talks have started in Turkey bringing together heads of state, lawmakers, civil society organisations, the private sector and chiefs of international agencies as the least developed countries (LDCs) seek to implement measures for building infrastructure to attain economic self-sufficiency, decrease poverty and create decent jobs.
A UN statement said that Haiti is among the 48 nations — 33 in Africa and 14 in Asia — that will benefit from the initiative.
Among the features of the May 9-13 UN conference will be an LDC trade fair as well as a private sector forum and CEO summit on international business opportunities in these countries.
"But the LDCs average a 50 per cent rate of extreme poverty, are victimised by deadly disease and climate change and remain highly vulnerable to political or external economic shocks.," the UN said.
A report released in late March by an expert panel appointed by the UN secretary general warned of continued marginalisation of these countries.
"Rising food prices pose a severe challenge and an opportunity. Most LDCs are net food importers and one third of their populations are chronically malnourished.
"But if modern infrastructure is in place and local farmers have access to necessary support, they might benefit from firm prices and launch a turnaround in low-productivity agriculture, the UN statement said.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Haiti-among-LCDs-to-benefit-from-new-programme_8776186#ixzz1Lqa7que4
UNITED NATIONS (CMC) — Haiti is expected to benefit from a new 10-year programme for the world's poorest nations.
Talks have started in Turkey bringing together heads of state, lawmakers, civil society organisations, the private sector and chiefs of international agencies as the least developed countries (LDCs) seek to implement measures for building infrastructure to attain economic self-sufficiency, decrease poverty and create decent jobs.
A UN statement said that Haiti is among the 48 nations — 33 in Africa and 14 in Asia — that will benefit from the initiative.
Among the features of the May 9-13 UN conference will be an LDC trade fair as well as a private sector forum and CEO summit on international business opportunities in these countries.
"But the LDCs average a 50 per cent rate of extreme poverty, are victimised by deadly disease and climate change and remain highly vulnerable to political or external economic shocks.," the UN said.
A report released in late March by an expert panel appointed by the UN secretary general warned of continued marginalisation of these countries.
"Rising food prices pose a severe challenge and an opportunity. Most LDCs are net food importers and one third of their populations are chronically malnourished.
"But if modern infrastructure is in place and local farmers have access to necessary support, they might benefit from firm prices and launch a turnaround in low-productivity agriculture, the UN statement said.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Haiti-among-LCDs-to-benefit-from-new-programme_8776186#ixzz1Lqa7que4
Local doctor helping in Haiti.- He aids hospital with rebuilding
By Alyssa Sunkin
Times Herald-Record
Published: 2:00 AM - 05/09/11
Nearly 16 months ago, when orthopedic surgeon Ronald Israelski heard of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti, he knew what he needed to do.
The Goshen resident stuffed 10 large duffle bags with equipment from Orange Regional Medical Center, Catskill Orange Orthopaedics and Crystal Run Healthcare.
Then, about 19 days after the quake that killed more than 230,000 people and injured 300,000 others, he left his wife and three children behind and set out for the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.
There, he set up shop for seven days at Hopital de l' Universite d'Etat d'Haiti — the nation's largest hospital and its teaching hospital — reduced to rubble by the quake. There were no X-rays. No sterile environment. No overhead lighting.
He amputated limbs. He closed deep gashes. He watched an 18-month-old toddler, with flies swarming around his eyes, die in front of him.
"The howling and crying of the family members was almost unbearable," recalled Israelski, 51, Orange Regional's director of education and founder of its bone and joint center. "This poor young child staring out into space, flies on his eyelids, never had a chance to even have a semblance of a real life."
As the son of Holocaust survivors, the Haiti disaster struck a chord with him. "When I saw the piles of bodies and heard the unprecedented suffering, it was the closest — with the sights, sounds and smells — that my parents and dead relatives witnessed in the Holocaust," he said.
He's submitted a business plan to hospital administrators in Haiti detailing six steps he believes will help rehabilitate the orthopedic services department.
Israelski hopes that by rebuilding the department's infrastructure and obtaining equipment, then sending down teams from our area hospitals once a month and establishing a permanent affiliation, he can jump-start the operation.
He has since been back to Haiti three more times — totalling about two weeks — talking to hospital orthopedic residents, administrators and others about his agenda.
He's sent down portable X-ray and ultrasound machines and other equipment, courtesy of Radiologists Without Borders, Hudson Valley Ambulatory Surgical Center and the Fox Hill Community in Walden.
And he plans to establish a nonprofit, Do The Right Thing, for which he'll soon apply for
501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. Once that's set up, he hopes to collect donations to fund his efforts.
"Having seen the entire department, hospital operating rooms and infrastructure in shambles," he said, "it has become extremely important to me to try to make an impact."
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110509/NEWS/105090324/-1/SITEMAP
Times Herald-Record
Published: 2:00 AM - 05/09/11
Nearly 16 months ago, when orthopedic surgeon Ronald Israelski heard of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti, he knew what he needed to do.
The Goshen resident stuffed 10 large duffle bags with equipment from Orange Regional Medical Center, Catskill Orange Orthopaedics and Crystal Run Healthcare.
Then, about 19 days after the quake that killed more than 230,000 people and injured 300,000 others, he left his wife and three children behind and set out for the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.
There, he set up shop for seven days at Hopital de l' Universite d'Etat d'Haiti — the nation's largest hospital and its teaching hospital — reduced to rubble by the quake. There were no X-rays. No sterile environment. No overhead lighting.
He amputated limbs. He closed deep gashes. He watched an 18-month-old toddler, with flies swarming around his eyes, die in front of him.
"The howling and crying of the family members was almost unbearable," recalled Israelski, 51, Orange Regional's director of education and founder of its bone and joint center. "This poor young child staring out into space, flies on his eyelids, never had a chance to even have a semblance of a real life."
As the son of Holocaust survivors, the Haiti disaster struck a chord with him. "When I saw the piles of bodies and heard the unprecedented suffering, it was the closest — with the sights, sounds and smells — that my parents and dead relatives witnessed in the Holocaust," he said.
He's submitted a business plan to hospital administrators in Haiti detailing six steps he believes will help rehabilitate the orthopedic services department.
 |
| After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, orthopedic surgeon Ronald Israelski of Goshen went to help. He's shown in a medical tent in Port-au-Prince that served as a treatment center after Haiti's largest hospital was damaged. He now hopes to rebuild the hospital's orthopedic services department with the help of our local hospitals |
He has since been back to Haiti three more times — totalling about two weeks — talking to hospital orthopedic residents, administrators and others about his agenda.
He's sent down portable X-ray and ultrasound machines and other equipment, courtesy of Radiologists Without Borders, Hudson Valley Ambulatory Surgical Center and the Fox Hill Community in Walden.
And he plans to establish a nonprofit, Do The Right Thing, for which he'll soon apply for
501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. Once that's set up, he hopes to collect donations to fund his efforts.
"Having seen the entire department, hospital operating rooms and infrastructure in shambles," he said, "it has become extremely important to me to try to make an impact."
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110509/NEWS/105090324/-1/SITEMAP
Haitian orphan having surgery in Austin
Leonise Louima, 10, to undergo heart surgery Published : Sunday, 08 May 2011, 6:14 PM CDT
Jacqueline Ingles
AUSTIN (KXAN) - Leonise Louima, a 10-year-old Haitian orphan, arrived in Austin Sunday evening after a long day of travel.
She will undergo heart surgery mid-week at Dell Children's Hospital .
Leonise Louima was born with patent ductus arteriosus or PDA . PDA happens when a blood vessel called the ductus arteriosus fails to close normally in an infant soon after birth. The condition leads to abnormal blood flow between the aorta and pulmonary artery – two major vessels that carry blood from the heart.
"I feel good," said Leonise after she arrived. Her host mother, Yvrance Joseph Volcy, a Haitian native who moved to the United State 30 years ago, translated for her. Leonise speaks French. This was her first time on an airplane.
With Haiti recovering from the devastating earthquake of January 2010, she can't get the surgery she needs at home.
"I am going to be there for her," said Volcy, who is also hosting the girl's aunt during her brief stay.
Lewis Lucke, a former U.S. Ambassador to Swaziland , was also at ABIA Sunday, but couldn't stay to meet Leonise when her flight became delayed.
He led the U.S. response team following the devastating earthquake in Haiti in January 2010. He will meet with her Monday and serve as her translator.
"I'm just going to be around to greet her, to make her feel at home and we have gifts for her and her aunt," said Lucke.
Lucke has never met Leonise or her aunt, but he did help them get visas to travel to Texas.
Austin-based HeartGift Foundation is helping this third-grader get the life saving surgery she needs at Dell Children's Hospital . The foundation provides life-saving heart surgery to children from developing countries.
Leonise couldn't undergo this type of surgery in Haiti.
Lucke, who visits there twice a month, said the country is still devastated.
"The crisis really has continued. The Haitian people are incredibly resilient. They need everything but mostly the world's attention," Lucke explained.
Leonise is from Gonave, about an hour drive from Port-au-Prince.
She herself is resilient, having lived through three hurricanes prior to that deadly earthquake.
She has also had to deal with the death of both her parents. Her father died in 2001; her mother died in 2005.
Volcy told KXAN she will sing to Leonise to help her feel at home.
"I will see Fara Jacka to her. All French children love that song. I will give her hugs too," Volcy explained.
Leonise is slated to undergo surgery on Wednesday at Dell Children's Hospital.
Lucke said Leonise will likely head back to Haiti a week after surgery.
Leonise lives with her aunt, her grandmother, her four sisters, her brother and several cousins back in her home country.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Homes-for-hundreds-going-up-outside-Haiti-s-capital_8776563
Jacqueline Ingles
AUSTIN (KXAN) - Leonise Louima, a 10-year-old Haitian orphan, arrived in Austin Sunday evening after a long day of travel.
She will undergo heart surgery mid-week at Dell Children's Hospital .
Leonise Louima was born with patent ductus arteriosus or PDA . PDA happens when a blood vessel called the ductus arteriosus fails to close normally in an infant soon after birth. The condition leads to abnormal blood flow between the aorta and pulmonary artery – two major vessels that carry blood from the heart.
"I feel good," said Leonise after she arrived. Her host mother, Yvrance Joseph Volcy, a Haitian native who moved to the United State 30 years ago, translated for her. Leonise speaks French. This was her first time on an airplane.
With Haiti recovering from the devastating earthquake of January 2010, she can't get the surgery she needs at home.
"I am going to be there for her," said Volcy, who is also hosting the girl's aunt during her brief stay.
Lewis Lucke, a former U.S. Ambassador to Swaziland , was also at ABIA Sunday, but couldn't stay to meet Leonise when her flight became delayed.
He led the U.S. response team following the devastating earthquake in Haiti in January 2010. He will meet with her Monday and serve as her translator.
"I'm just going to be around to greet her, to make her feel at home and we have gifts for her and her aunt," said Lucke.
Lucke has never met Leonise or her aunt, but he did help them get visas to travel to Texas.
Austin-based HeartGift Foundation is helping this third-grader get the life saving surgery she needs at Dell Children's Hospital . The foundation provides life-saving heart surgery to children from developing countries.
Leonise couldn't undergo this type of surgery in Haiti.
Lucke, who visits there twice a month, said the country is still devastated.
"The crisis really has continued. The Haitian people are incredibly resilient. They need everything but mostly the world's attention," Lucke explained.
Leonise is from Gonave, about an hour drive from Port-au-Prince.
She herself is resilient, having lived through three hurricanes prior to that deadly earthquake.
She has also had to deal with the death of both her parents. Her father died in 2001; her mother died in 2005.
Volcy told KXAN she will sing to Leonise to help her feel at home.
"I will see Fara Jacka to her. All French children love that song. I will give her hugs too," Volcy explained.
Leonise is slated to undergo surgery on Wednesday at Dell Children's Hospital.
Lucke said Leonise will likely head back to Haiti a week after surgery.
Leonise lives with her aunt, her grandmother, her four sisters, her brother and several cousins back in her home country.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Homes-for-hundreds-going-up-outside-Haiti-s-capital_8776563
Homes for hundreds going up outside Haiti's capital
AP: Monday, May 09, 2011
CABARET, Haiti (AP) — A religious charity said Friday it has started a housing project north of Haiti's capital that will ultimately provide low-cost shelter for about 2500 people, many of them victims of last year's devastating earthquake.
The Mission of Hope project near the town of Cabaret will consist of 500 simple homes in bright pastel colours, each with a couple of fruit trees to provide food and a source of extra income to the families, said Jay Cherry, who is co-ordinating the project for the charity based in Fort Myers, Florida.
Haiti's government provided 120 acres for the project and Mission of Hope is raising the $3-million cost of construction through donations, Cherry said.
Residents will pay a small monthly rent that the charity plans to use to provide services to the community.
The project comes amid frustration over the slow pace of reconstruction from an earthquake that the Haitian government said killed more than 300,000 people and displaced about 2 million.
Haiti's reconstruction commission approved the housing project in September and it is scheduled to be completed in December 2012.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Homes-for-hundreds-going-up-outside-Haiti-s-capital_8776563#ixzz1LqUjUvf5
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Homes-for-hundreds-going-up-outside-Haiti-s-capital_8776563
 |
| CABARET, Mission of Hope 500 housing project in homeless by the January 2010 earthquake. (Photo: AP) |
The Mission of Hope project near the town of Cabaret will consist of 500 simple homes in bright pastel colours, each with a couple of fruit trees to provide food and a source of extra income to the families, said Jay Cherry, who is co-ordinating the project for the charity based in Fort Myers, Florida.
Haiti's government provided 120 acres for the project and Mission of Hope is raising the $3-million cost of construction through donations, Cherry said.
Residents will pay a small monthly rent that the charity plans to use to provide services to the community.
The project comes amid frustration over the slow pace of reconstruction from an earthquake that the Haitian government said killed more than 300,000 people and displaced about 2 million.
Haiti's reconstruction commission approved the housing project in September and it is scheduled to be completed in December 2012.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Homes-for-hundreds-going-up-outside-Haiti-s-capital_8776563#ixzz1LqUjUvf5
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Homes-for-hundreds-going-up-outside-Haiti-s-capital_8776563
Printemps théâtral à Kourou : Ayiti de Daniel Marcelin
Le vendredi 13/05/11 - Kourou
Le Théâtre de l'Entonnoir, en partenariat avec le CUCS de Kourou, l'ACSE, la DRAC de Guyane et
Le Conseil Général de Guyane, fête le printemps théâtral à Kourou les 13 et 18 mai
2 spectacles au programme
AYITI de Daniel Marcelin: le 13 mai à 19h30 au pôle culturel de Kourou, (entrée libre)
(et L'Enfant, de Marie-Thérèse Picard le 18 mai)
AYITI : Véritable défi pédagogique et artistique, la pièce de théâtre Ayiti de Daniel Marcelin pose là l’interrogation quintessentielle qui taraude Haïtiens et amis d’Haïti. Comment la première république noire et le 2e pays à s’émanciper du joug du colonisateur après les États-Unis dans cette région, est-il devenu le pays au revenu par habitant le plus bas des Amériques même s’il concentre une grande richesse sur le plan historique et culturel ? Daniel Marcelin choisit l’angle didactique et interprète en plus de son propre rôle, tour à tour, gouverneur, empereur, roi, présidents et autres chefs d’État, qui ont dirigé le pays depuis le face à face de Toussaint Louverture et Napoléon jusqu’à Jean-Claude Duvalier dit Baby Doc, par ailleurs actuellement sous le feu des projecteurs depuis son retour inopiné en Haïti le 16 janvier 2011. Endosser la casquette de personnalités aussi hallucinées – des mégalomanes déjantés, dictateurs sanguinaires, analphabètes ou lettrés, mulâtres ou noirs matant les paysans cacos, matant les plus démunis, matant toute velléité de rébellion ; tous ou presque lucides sur leur fonction suprême : « vider les caisses de l’État et partir ! » – n’a sans doute pas été de tout repos pour Daniel Marcellin dont nous saluons la performance.
La pièce s’ouvre sur l’annonce dans les médias du séisme du 12 janvier 2010. Miné dans un premier temps par une angoisse exponentielle, le comédien reclus dans une chambre à Bruxelles, cherche à obtenir des nouvelles de sa femme, de ses enfants. Passées les premières 24 heures mortifères, il obtient au bout du fil des paroles rassurantes de ses proches qui coïncident amèrement avec le dénombrement innombrable des cadavres et du très lourd bilan matériel. Partout les mêmes questions. Pourquoi tant de morts là où ailleurs un séisme de cette amplitude aurait causé dix à cent fois moins de victimes ? Les causes trouvent-elles leur source dans une quelconque malédiction immémoriale ou découlent-elles de l’appréciation historique de tous ceux qui, depuis 1804, ont occupé les rênes du pouvoir ? Étant entendu que s’il s’agit principalement de mal gouvernance, alors il y a des raisons d’espérer…
L’exercice loin d’être aisé, si tant est qu’il s’agisse d’un exercice ou plutôt d’une catharsis dramaturgique, est planté dans un décor minimaliste composé de bagages et peu d’apparats, entrecoupé par des chants et musiques populaires et traditionnels. Et pourtant, Daniel Marcelin réverbère le temps de la pièce, une gamme d’émotions allant de la tristesse, au malaise, en passant par la colère, l’empathie et les rires.
http://www.blada.com/sorties/prochaines/4385-Printemps_theatral_a_Kourou_Ayiti_de_Daniel_Marcelin.htm
Le Théâtre de l'Entonnoir, en partenariat avec le CUCS de Kourou, l'ACSE, la DRAC de Guyane et
Le Conseil Général de Guyane, fête le printemps théâtral à Kourou les 13 et 18 mai
2 spectacles au programme
AYITI de Daniel Marcelin: le 13 mai à 19h30 au pôle culturel de Kourou, (entrée libre)
AYITI : Véritable défi pédagogique et artistique, la pièce de théâtre Ayiti de Daniel Marcelin pose là l’interrogation quintessentielle qui taraude Haïtiens et amis d’Haïti. Comment la première république noire et le 2e pays à s’émanciper du joug du colonisateur après les États-Unis dans cette région, est-il devenu le pays au revenu par habitant le plus bas des Amériques même s’il concentre une grande richesse sur le plan historique et culturel ? Daniel Marcelin choisit l’angle didactique et interprète en plus de son propre rôle, tour à tour, gouverneur, empereur, roi, présidents et autres chefs d’État, qui ont dirigé le pays depuis le face à face de Toussaint Louverture et Napoléon jusqu’à Jean-Claude Duvalier dit Baby Doc, par ailleurs actuellement sous le feu des projecteurs depuis son retour inopiné en Haïti le 16 janvier 2011. Endosser la casquette de personnalités aussi hallucinées – des mégalomanes déjantés, dictateurs sanguinaires, analphabètes ou lettrés, mulâtres ou noirs matant les paysans cacos, matant les plus démunis, matant toute velléité de rébellion ; tous ou presque lucides sur leur fonction suprême : « vider les caisses de l’État et partir ! » – n’a sans doute pas été de tout repos pour Daniel Marcellin dont nous saluons la performance.
La pièce s’ouvre sur l’annonce dans les médias du séisme du 12 janvier 2010. Miné dans un premier temps par une angoisse exponentielle, le comédien reclus dans une chambre à Bruxelles, cherche à obtenir des nouvelles de sa femme, de ses enfants. Passées les premières 24 heures mortifères, il obtient au bout du fil des paroles rassurantes de ses proches qui coïncident amèrement avec le dénombrement innombrable des cadavres et du très lourd bilan matériel. Partout les mêmes questions. Pourquoi tant de morts là où ailleurs un séisme de cette amplitude aurait causé dix à cent fois moins de victimes ? Les causes trouvent-elles leur source dans une quelconque malédiction immémoriale ou découlent-elles de l’appréciation historique de tous ceux qui, depuis 1804, ont occupé les rênes du pouvoir ? Étant entendu que s’il s’agit principalement de mal gouvernance, alors il y a des raisons d’espérer…
L’exercice loin d’être aisé, si tant est qu’il s’agisse d’un exercice ou plutôt d’une catharsis dramaturgique, est planté dans un décor minimaliste composé de bagages et peu d’apparats, entrecoupé par des chants et musiques populaires et traditionnels. Et pourtant, Daniel Marcelin réverbère le temps de la pièce, une gamme d’émotions allant de la tristesse, au malaise, en passant par la colère, l’empathie et les rires.
http://www.blada.com/sorties/prochaines/4385-Printemps_theatral_a_Kourou_Ayiti_de_Daniel_Marcelin.htm
dimanche 8 mai 2011
Le modèle de gouvernance de Ste-Julie enseigné en Haïti
SAINTE-JULIE - La salle du conseil municipal de Sainte-Julie, en Montérégie, s’est transformée en local de classe, mercredi matin, lors du passage d’une délégation d’élus et d’administrateurs haïtiens.
En pleine reconstruction de leur pays, ceux-ci sont venus apprendre ce qui se fait ailleurs, dans le cadre d’une mission d’assistance technique sur le leadership municipal. Les maires haïtiens sont élus démocratiquement que depuis 2006.
«Ce sont de nouveaux élus. Ils ont beaucoup de formation à recevoir et de modèles innovants à côtoyer pour leur permettre de se mettre à niveau dans leur propre pays, surtout dans le contexte actuel où il y a tout à faire, tout à reconstruire, tout à rebâtir, incluant les institutions», a expliqué Louise Duquet, directrice des relations internationales à l’Union des municipalités du Québec (UMQ).
L’UMQ est l’un des trois partenaires à l’origine du Programme de coopération municipale Haïti-Canada, avec la Fédération canadienne des municipalités et la Ville de Montréal.
Mme Duquet a souligné que les villes québécoises jouissent d’une très grande autonomie par rapport à celles d’Haïti, où les communes s’insèrent dans une structure centralisée de l’État. Ce programme de coopération municipale tente donc de les aider à s’approprier certaines responsabilités.
Tous ces apprentissages doivent avoir lieu pendant que les communautés continuent d’être ébranlées par des phénomènes hors de tout contrôle humain. Le président de la Fédération nationale des maires d’Haïti, Moïse Charles Pierre, en sait quelque chose.
«Les communes d’Haïti sont très vulnérables aux points de vue administratif et financier. Il y a pas mal de problèmes, mais la période des cyclones va bientôt arriver. Dans ma région du nord, il y a un risque de tremblements de terre et de tsunamis. Nous sommes en train de nous préparer à faire face à ce genre de catastrophes naturelles», a affirmé le maire de Fort-Liberté.
http://fr.canoe.ca/infos/quebeccanada/archives/2011/05/20110504-144555.html
En pleine reconstruction de leur pays, ceux-ci sont venus apprendre ce qui se fait ailleurs, dans le cadre d’une mission d’assistance technique sur le leadership municipal. Les maires haïtiens sont élus démocratiquement que depuis 2006.
«Ce sont de nouveaux élus. Ils ont beaucoup de formation à recevoir et de modèles innovants à côtoyer pour leur permettre de se mettre à niveau dans leur propre pays, surtout dans le contexte actuel où il y a tout à faire, tout à reconstruire, tout à rebâtir, incluant les institutions», a expliqué Louise Duquet, directrice des relations internationales à l’Union des municipalités du Québec (UMQ).
L’UMQ est l’un des trois partenaires à l’origine du Programme de coopération municipale Haïti-Canada, avec la Fédération canadienne des municipalités et la Ville de Montréal.
Mme Duquet a souligné que les villes québécoises jouissent d’une très grande autonomie par rapport à celles d’Haïti, où les communes s’insèrent dans une structure centralisée de l’État. Ce programme de coopération municipale tente donc de les aider à s’approprier certaines responsabilités.
Tous ces apprentissages doivent avoir lieu pendant que les communautés continuent d’être ébranlées par des phénomènes hors de tout contrôle humain. Le président de la Fédération nationale des maires d’Haïti, Moïse Charles Pierre, en sait quelque chose.
«Les communes d’Haïti sont très vulnérables aux points de vue administratif et financier. Il y a pas mal de problèmes, mais la période des cyclones va bientôt arriver. Dans ma région du nord, il y a un risque de tremblements de terre et de tsunamis. Nous sommes en train de nous préparer à faire face à ce genre de catastrophes naturelles», a affirmé le maire de Fort-Liberté.
http://fr.canoe.ca/infos/quebeccanada/archives/2011/05/20110504-144555.html
samedi 7 mai 2011
Foie gras et champagne pour les expatriés en Haïti
Publié le 06 mai 2011 à 07h19
CLÉMENT SABOURIN, collaboration spéciale
La Presse
(PORT-AU-PRINCE) Les verres de shooters s'enchaînent avec allégresse au rythme de la musique latine. Certains dansent à en défoncer les planchers. D'autres, accoudés au comptoir, pestent contre telle agence de l'ONU ou tel ministère haïtien, puis se lancent dans le récit de leurs faits d'armes au Darfour, au Timor ou en Afghanistan. Avant de commander un autre verre à 6$.
«On a parfois besoin de faire la fête, lance Vanessa, jeune travailleuse humanitaire française. Si on ne se vidait pas la tête, on ne tiendrait pas longtemps.»
La nuit tombée, alors que les ténèbres s'emparent des rues de Port-au-Prince, quelques oasis sont prises d'assaut par les expatriés. Une véritable vie nocturne qui ne cesse de se développer depuis le séisme du 12 janvier 2010, portée par les contingents de travailleurs humanitaires et d'employés de l'ONU venus au secours de l'État le plus pauvre des Amériques. Mille, dix mille? Personne ne sait combien d'ONG sont présentes dans le pays. Mais une chose est sûre: une véritable «bulle économique» a été créée.
La plupart de ces bars et restaurants se situent à Pétionville, sur les hauteurs de la capitale. Souvent installés à quelques mètres d'un camp de sinistrés, tous sont cernés par de gros VUS qu'entourent des gamins en guenilles, en quête de dollars en échange de la «protection» des véhicules.
Parmi ces lieux à la mode, le Café des arts. Ambiance lounge et DJ derrière leurs ordinateurs portables, l'endroit a été ouvert par un ingénieur québécois trois semaines après la catastrophe qui a fait au moins 230 000 morts.
Après un bon début, les affaires ont ralenti l'automne dernier en raison des violences postélectorales, entre autres. «Il y a beaucoup de nouveaux endroits qui ont ouvert après le séisme», note Philippe Larouche, natif de la Vieille Capitale.
Avec des bavettes au roquefort à 26$ et des oeufs bénédictine à 12$, les tables du Quartier latin, elles, ne désemplissent pas. En plus des expatriés anonymes, ce restaurant voit défiler les célébrités de passage, de Sean Penn à Demi Moore en passant par Ben Stiller.
À ceux qui dénoncent extravagance et indécence, la propriétaire répond avoir rouvert sous la pression de ses employés. «C'est 50 familles qui dépendent de nous», dit Myriam Padberg.
Si l'affluence des expatriés lui assure une bonne fréquentation, cette Néerlandaise déplore comme beaucoup la forte inflation qui a accompagné le débarquement des humanitaires. Il faut désormais compter au minimum 1000$US par mois pour louer une chambre. «Les loyers ont doublé, si ce n'est plus. C'est la même chose pour l'essence qu'on utilise pour les générateurs, les produits frais, etc.», dit la trentenaire.
Foie gras et champagne
Illustration de cette forte demande, un nouveau supermarché à deux étages a ouvert dans le quartier en août dernier: le Giant. Foie gras du Périgord, champagne Dom Pérignon 2002 et fromage français, le magasin propose des produits de luxe dans un pays où 80% vit avec moins de 2$ par jour. Reste que son stationnement gardé par des vigiles, armés de fusils à canon scié, ne se vide jamais.
«Le secteur des restaurants, des bars, des supermarchés est en pleine expansion. Mais on ne peut pas vraiment en bénéficier: ce qui est consommé n'est pas produit ici, tout cela est éphémère», déplore le politologue Jean-Robert Simonise, visant la «nouvelle classe de rentiers qui font de l'argent, mais n'habitent pas en Haïti».
Le chef du patronat haïtien, Réginald Boulos, nuance: «Ça crée de l'emploi: serveurs, chauffeurs, domestiques, maraîchers... si le pays est calme en ce moment, c'est qu'il y a eu distribution d'argent.»
À titre d'exemple, un serveur dans un hôtel chic de Pétionville gagne environ 150$ par mois, avant pourboire. «On se débrouille avec ça», dit humblement Rochel, employé au restaurant de l'hôtel Kinam.
Reste qu'un jour ou l'autre, les contingents d'expatriés commenceront à se retirer de la Perle des Antilles. «Il faudra s'assurer que l'atterrissage se fasse doucement, que cette bulle n'éclate pas en faisant des dégâts», prévient M. Boulos.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/international/amerique-latine/201105/06/01-4396723-foie-gras-et-champagne-pour-les-expatries-en-haiti.php
CLÉMENT SABOURIN, collaboration spéciale
La Presse
(PORT-AU-PRINCE) Les verres de shooters s'enchaînent avec allégresse au rythme de la musique latine. Certains dansent à en défoncer les planchers. D'autres, accoudés au comptoir, pestent contre telle agence de l'ONU ou tel ministère haïtien, puis se lancent dans le récit de leurs faits d'armes au Darfour, au Timor ou en Afghanistan. Avant de commander un autre verre à 6$.
«On a parfois besoin de faire la fête, lance Vanessa, jeune travailleuse humanitaire française. Si on ne se vidait pas la tête, on ne tiendrait pas longtemps.»
La nuit tombée, alors que les ténèbres s'emparent des rues de Port-au-Prince, quelques oasis sont prises d'assaut par les expatriés. Une véritable vie nocturne qui ne cesse de se développer depuis le séisme du 12 janvier 2010, portée par les contingents de travailleurs humanitaires et d'employés de l'ONU venus au secours de l'État le plus pauvre des Amériques. Mille, dix mille? Personne ne sait combien d'ONG sont présentes dans le pays. Mais une chose est sûre: une véritable «bulle économique» a été créée.
La plupart de ces bars et restaurants se situent à Pétionville, sur les hauteurs de la capitale. Souvent installés à quelques mètres d'un camp de sinistrés, tous sont cernés par de gros VUS qu'entourent des gamins en guenilles, en quête de dollars en échange de la «protection» des véhicules.
Parmi ces lieux à la mode, le Café des arts. Ambiance lounge et DJ derrière leurs ordinateurs portables, l'endroit a été ouvert par un ingénieur québécois trois semaines après la catastrophe qui a fait au moins 230 000 morts.
Après un bon début, les affaires ont ralenti l'automne dernier en raison des violences postélectorales, entre autres. «Il y a beaucoup de nouveaux endroits qui ont ouvert après le séisme», note Philippe Larouche, natif de la Vieille Capitale.
Avec des bavettes au roquefort à 26$ et des oeufs bénédictine à 12$, les tables du Quartier latin, elles, ne désemplissent pas. En plus des expatriés anonymes, ce restaurant voit défiler les célébrités de passage, de Sean Penn à Demi Moore en passant par Ben Stiller.
À ceux qui dénoncent extravagance et indécence, la propriétaire répond avoir rouvert sous la pression de ses employés. «C'est 50 familles qui dépendent de nous», dit Myriam Padberg.
Si l'affluence des expatriés lui assure une bonne fréquentation, cette Néerlandaise déplore comme beaucoup la forte inflation qui a accompagné le débarquement des humanitaires. Il faut désormais compter au minimum 1000$US par mois pour louer une chambre. «Les loyers ont doublé, si ce n'est plus. C'est la même chose pour l'essence qu'on utilise pour les générateurs, les produits frais, etc.», dit la trentenaire.
Foie gras et champagne
Illustration de cette forte demande, un nouveau supermarché à deux étages a ouvert dans le quartier en août dernier: le Giant. Foie gras du Périgord, champagne Dom Pérignon 2002 et fromage français, le magasin propose des produits de luxe dans un pays où 80% vit avec moins de 2$ par jour. Reste que son stationnement gardé par des vigiles, armés de fusils à canon scié, ne se vide jamais.
«Le secteur des restaurants, des bars, des supermarchés est en pleine expansion. Mais on ne peut pas vraiment en bénéficier: ce qui est consommé n'est pas produit ici, tout cela est éphémère», déplore le politologue Jean-Robert Simonise, visant la «nouvelle classe de rentiers qui font de l'argent, mais n'habitent pas en Haïti».
Le chef du patronat haïtien, Réginald Boulos, nuance: «Ça crée de l'emploi: serveurs, chauffeurs, domestiques, maraîchers... si le pays est calme en ce moment, c'est qu'il y a eu distribution d'argent.»
À titre d'exemple, un serveur dans un hôtel chic de Pétionville gagne environ 150$ par mois, avant pourboire. «On se débrouille avec ça», dit humblement Rochel, employé au restaurant de l'hôtel Kinam.
Reste qu'un jour ou l'autre, les contingents d'expatriés commenceront à se retirer de la Perle des Antilles. «Il faudra s'assurer que l'atterrissage se fasse doucement, que cette bulle n'éclate pas en faisant des dégâts», prévient M. Boulos.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/international/amerique-latine/201105/06/01-4396723-foie-gras-et-champagne-pour-les-expatries-en-haiti.php
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