St. Fleur on Haiti: “We can do better”

Transcription

BostonHaitian.com
Exploring
the haitian
american
experience
BostonHaitian.com
© copyright 2007
www.bostonhaitian.com
Boston Neighborhood News, Inc.
November 2007
Boston Haitian Reporter
Page BOSTON HAITIAN
REPORTER
Vol. 6, Issue 11
November 2007
FREE
St. Fleur on Haiti: “We can do better”
Rep. Marie St. Fleur reports on her
first trip back to Haiti in 38 years.
Exclusive: Page 7
country last month. It was St. Fleur’s first visit “home” since she left the country as a child in
INSIDE THE REPORTER of1969.the Photo
courtesy Rep. St. Fleur’s office.
Above, Rep. Marie St. Fleur visits the Citadel — Haiti’s legendary mountain fortress — during a tour
Sacrifice memorialized in Savannah
A new monument (left) in the historic southern city of Savannah, Georgia — dedicated on Oct.
8 — serves as a reminder of the sacrifice of Haitian soldiers in the cause of American freedom
and of the inexorable link between our two nations. Page 14
What does future hold for Carney?
Dorchester’s Caritas Carney Hospital has become a
leading provider of jobs and health care to the Haitian community. Reports of its potential demise may be premature,
according to doctors and other staff who say the facility
remains a vital engine for the community. Page 2
Preval: Let’s change term limits
Haitian president Rene Preval has introduced a
constitutional amendment that would allow for future
presidents to serve conseuctive terms in office. He did
so while emphasizing that he will not run for re-election. Page 5
How did Haiti avoid
the baseball craze?
CONCANNON- PAGE 6
C H I L D R E N ’ S H O S P I TA L O F F E R S
NUTRITION TIPS FOR TEENS AND TOTS
SEE PAGE 9
Page Boston Haitian ReporteR
November 2007
BostonHaitian.com
Local News
Carney closure alarm may have bright side
By Pete Stidman
Reporter Staff
Patients feared the worst
after a front page headline in
the Boston Globe on Oct. 24
announced that the Caritas
Carney Hospital might be
“sold or shuttered”. The hospital phone lines lit up with
hundreds of worried calls. The
influx forced the hospital to
distribute a “Talking Points”
handout to staff, instructing
them to tell everyone: “There
are NO plans to close Carney
Hospital.”
But, perhaps surprisingly,
staff morale seems to be a
notch higher this week.
“I think that this Globe thing
is going to be good for Carney
in the long run,” said Dr. Jeffrey Papma, director of invasive cardiovascular services.
Papma previously worked
at Brigham and Women’s
Hospital for eight years, and
now works for Caritas Christi
Health Care, spending one
day a week at the Carney.
“When you read the stuff in the
Globe, you might think you’re
not going to have a job in four
weeks. But I haven’t heard any
rumbling, other than to fix a
problem. One of the things that
I think is right for my soul is
making sure that this hospital
stays around for the people
who need its services.”
“I don’t think we’re in any
danger of closing,” agreed Dr.
David Lustbader, Carney’s
chief of medical staff. “The
article was a little disingenuous in that the headline didn’t
really match what the body of
the article said.”
Margaret Carr, Carney’s
spokesperson, said the reported internal document was
part of a budget report, and
other administration sources
confirmed that Caritas Christi
had told the document’s creators to outline every option
that could potentially solve the
chain’s financial problems.
“The good thing is, people
are now talking about how
the Carney can fit into the
healthcare system,” said Bill
Walczak.
Last Friday, City Council
President Maureen Feeney organized a meeting of Dorchester elected officials at the
Ashmont Grill on Talbot Avenue. According to Lustbader,
state and federal legislators
present divvied up tasks like
looking into “unfair payment
practices” from private insurance companies and federally
mandated programs, which
often compensate hospitals
with deeper levels of service at
higher rates for the same procedures than they do smaller
facilities such as Carney. The
meeting included Congressmen Michael Capuano and
The Caritas Carney hospital campus is shown in the foreground in this aerial photo. Reporter file.
Stephen Lynch, state Reps Monday. Later, in an e-mail, ment rates insurance com- Carney helped to establish
Linda Dorcena Forry and he added: “Right now we are panies and federal agencies a network of health centers
Martin Walsh, and state Sen. focused on hiring a permanent pay for providing the same in the neighborhood- among
Jack Hart.
CEO who can lead the system services. Anyone might see the them, Neponset, Mattapan,
“For right now this is a and who will, working with discrepancy as unfair at first Bowdoin Street, and Codman
fact-finding, info-sharing col- the boards in building on the glance. But Dorchester’s own Square- prior to entering the
laboration,” said Feeney. “We system’s current strengths, Jim Hunt Jr. of the Massachu- Caritas Christi chain, but
hope that we can evaluate all develop a strong strategic setts League of Health Centers over time could not afford
the things we can do to help direction for Caritas Christi warns against oversimplifying the financial support needed
this hospital stay in our com- Health Care over the next the matter.
to maintain affiliation with
Reimbursement rates take them. Now, many of them have
munity.”
months and years.” Caritas
“I personally don’t have has been without a permanent into account the depth of ser- struck deals with other hospifaith in the Archdiocese to get chief executive since May of vice offered at a particular fa- tal chains, but not all of those
the Carney out of the problems 2006, when Robert M. Haddad cility, said Hunt. For instance, deals are exclusive. Health
they’re having,” said Walsh. resigned amidst allegations of the difference between the centers could be a rich source
“We have to come up with a sexual harassment, and many services that could be provided of specialist referrals.
way of making the Carney within Carney believe that the by a state of the art Neonatal
“It’s a dialogue that needs
viable.”
vacuum at the top has put less Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to occur and hasn’t yet,” said
Another idea reportedly experienced church officials or by an Obstetrics/Gynecol- Hunt. “There are probably
included in the document, in more control of health-re- ogy practice. The overhead 10 health centers that proselling the Carney to another lated decisions at a time when investment in the first is far vide services to Dorchester
hospital chain, appeals to — with school closings and greater than the latter, even residents. Some are deeply
just about everyone involved, other major decisions pending though both perform certain connected to the Carney and
especially if it’s a chain with — there are simply too many services equally.
some are not.”
There is yet another layer
Next week, Carney employmoney to invest.
pressing matters for them to
of complication that Walczak ees will don Red Sox gear and
“I can tell you the staff consider at once.
would probably be happy if we
A case in point is Massachu- and Carney president Daniel attend forums with the team
were sold, but I don’t see that setts’ conversion to universal O’Leary have touched upon theme on a new Caritas Chrishappening anytime soon,” health care, which is tugging in previous interviews. If, for ti initiative called Achieving
said Lustbader. “We’re in a at the bottom line because the example, an obstetrics prac- Exceptional Care. They don’t
catch-22 where [officials at hospital’s payer mix includes tice can perform the service seem to be jumping ship.
the Archdiocese-run Caritas so many patients who still cheaper, shouldn’t there be a
“I’ve been here for 18 years
Christi system] don’t have depend on the Uncompensated patient incentive to go there? and all along there’s been
the money to fix us, but they Care Pool, and haven’t yet In today’s healthcare system, rumors the place is closing,”
don’t want to sell us either. gotten insurance through the patients rarely price shop. said Lustbader. “We exceed
Normally, a hospital would Health Connector. Around $6 And, if building and running every quality indicator for
have a $10 to $15 million million in annual state fund- an intensive care unit for in- just about every hospital in
investment every year. We’ve ing that traditionally came fants is more profitable than Boston. We just don’t have as
had no significant influx of from the pool to the Carney an obstetrics practice, the many bells and whistles as
capital, other than a little bit has been cut in half, said overall system runs the risk other hospitals. Unfortunately
of overbuilding its healthcare that affects patient choice. It’s
last year. We’re hoping for a Lustbader.
$40 or $50 million investment,
“One faucet was turned off, infrastructure.
very hard to compete in this
“It’s true that we have big, kind of environment.”
and the Archdiocese just isn’t and another one wasn’t fully
going to do that.”
turned on yet,” said Lustbader. giant systems,” said Hunt. “It’s
Pete Stidman is the news edi“There’s a lot of rumors out “Carney really depended on true that we need to save the tor of the Dorchester Reporter.
there that we’d dump it and that more than other hospi- small systems. But I would This article first appeared
prefer maximizing coopera- in the Nov. 1 edition of the
sell it to the highest bidder, tals.”
Dorchester Reporter.
and that’s just not the case,”
Another Carney trouble that tions.”
Most observers share that
said Archdiocese spokes- legislators are now investigatperson Terrence Donilon on ing is the different reimburse- idea as well. In the 1970s, the
News from Haiti
Police: Swiss filmmaker kidnapped in Petionville
By Associated Press
Haitian authorities have detained at least seven people for
questioning in the kidnapping
of a Swiss filmmaker, including a woman who was with
him at the time of his abduction, a police official said.
Thomas Noreille was taken
on Oct. 20 by three gunmen
while driving with a Haitian
woman in Petionville, a relatively wealthy district in the
hills east of Port-au-Prince
that is home to many foreigners and diplomats.
Relatives were contacted on
Oct. 22 with a ransom demand
for an undisclosed amount of
money, U.N. police spokesman
Fred Blaze said.
Authorities are questioning the woman and six other
people, whose names have
not been released, said Police
Comm. Francene Moreau.
“We’re working very hard on
the case,’’ he said.
Members of the U.N. peace-
keeping force in Haiti are aiding the investigation, Blaze
said.
Officials at the Swiss Embassy in Port-au-Prince and
the Swiss Foreign Ministry
in Bern declined to comment Wednesday, saying they
did not want to jeopardize
Noreille’s safety.
Noreille has directed several
documentaries about Haiti, including one still in production
about singers active in political
protest, according to the Web
site of Digiprod, a production
company with offices in Switzerland and Haiti.
BostonHaitian.com
November 2007
Page News from Haiti
Floods kill at least 20 in Cabaret
By Jonathan M. Katz
CABARET, Haiti - Waters from a rain-swollen
river that flooded a Haitian town on Oct. 10 killed
at least 20 people and damaged dozens of homes,
government officials said, as residents tried to dry
out from the deluge and account for the missing.
Witnesses said the Bretelle River burst its banks
in the evening on Oct. 10, sending water 5 feet deep
surging through the dirt streets of this town.
“All hell broke loose,’’ said 42-year-old Terry BienAime, one of many residents who piled their belongings outside to dry. “I was scared for my life.’’
Interior Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime told
The Associated Press while touring the damage
that at least 20 people were dead and officials were
searching for more.
Word of the flooding did not reach the capital, just
20 miles away, until Oct. 12. Haiti, the Western
Hemisphere’s poorest country, suffers from poor
roads and communications.
The floodwaters overturned trucks, flattened banana trees and knocked down shacks of corrugated
metal. On Friday, families stood outside their homes
along the debris-filled streets, cleaning mud, banana
leaves and trash off their remaining possessions.
“I wasn’t able to save anything. I just closed the
house and the water came through,’’ said Jude
Beauvais, a 32-year-old school teacher.
Locals said many in the town of 70,000 were caught
off guard because it was only raining lightly when
U.N. Security Council
extends peacekeeping
mission, saying security
remains fragile
By Edith M. Lederer
Associated Press
Writer
UNITED NATIONS The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously
on Oct. 15 to extend
the U.N. peacekeeping
mission in Haiti for a
year, noting significant
improvements in security in recent months
but saying the situation
remains fragile.
The U.N. force of more
than 7,000 troops and
2,000 international police replaced a U.S.-led
force deployed after an
uprising toppled President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide in February
2004.
More than 400 people
died in clashes involving
pro- and anti-Aristide
street gangs, police,
peacekeepers and exsoldiers who helped oust
Aristide.
Haiti experienced relative calm after President
Rene Preval’s election
in February 2006, but
violence flared several
months later. A U.N.
crackdown on gangs
launched late last year
has led to a sharp reduction in shootings, but
many people still live
in squalor and are in
desperate need of jobs,
hospitals and schools.
In Port-Au-Prince,
Haiti, some political
leaders and residents
of the country’s largest
slum seemed to welcome
the extension, saying a
crackdown earlier this
year has made life easier
in a neighborhood previously run by gangs.
“Last year we couldn’t
have sat here playing
dominoes’’ because it
was so dangerous, 27year-old construction
worker Jean-Baptiste
Venel said in the seaside slum of Cite Soleil.
``If the U.N. is here for
another year it’s a good
thing for the country and
Cite Soleil.’’
Residents say that Cite
Soleil — where people
live in rows of bulletscarred hovels with no
electricity or running
water — is currently
safer than it has been
since Aristide’s departure.
Senate President Joseph Lambert praised
the U.N. resolution but
said Haiti must restore
its national sovereignty
after years of security provided by U.N.
troops.
In its resolution, the
Security Council acknowledged significant
improvements in the
country’s security situation in recent months,
but noted it remains
“fragile,’’ in part because
of continuing drugs and
arms trafficking.
Ban said in a report to
the council following his
visit to Haiti in August
that despite ``marginal
improvements,’’ the Haitian police force “remains
unable to undertake
crucial security tasks’’
without help.
The force’s mandate
covers mainly Haiti’s security needs, but Preval’s
government has been
pressuring the U.N. to
funnel more resources
into development projects.
The resolution urged
the U.N. country team
and all humanitarian
and development organizations in Haiti to
complement security
operations by undertaking activities to improve
living conditions in the
country.
AP writer Jonathan M.
Katz in Port-Au-Prince,
Haiti, contributed to this
report.
Peacekeeping force
distributes aid to
mark U.N. day
PORT-AU-PRINCEU.N. peacekeepers
gave medical checkups
and passed out food at
schools and orphanages
across this impoverished
Caribbean nation to
mark United Nations
Day on Oct. 24.
About a dozen events
were scheduled in poor
districts of the Haitian
countryside and the capital of Port-au-Prince,
where soldiers and police
from the 9,000-member
U.N. peacekeeping force
were scheduled to show
films and distribute
sports equipment.
Brazilian soldiers
handed out small bags
of food at an orphanage
in the seaside slum of
Cite Soleil, while 200
people waited at a school
and orphanage in the
neighborhood of Tabarre
to see doctors from the
Nepalese Army.
Bernadette Valdemont, 33, cradled her
toddler, Vansen, who
was crying after three
days of fever. “I hadn’t
taken him to a doctor
yet. Lucky for us this
was happening today,’’
she said.
Haiti, the poorest
country in the hemisphere, has hosted a
multinational U.N. force
since riots followed the
ouster of former President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide in 2004. The
U.N. Security Council
voted unanimously this
month to extend the
troops mission in Haiti
through at least October
2008. (AP)
the river jumped its banks, swollen by storms higher
up in the mountains.
It was the second time this year that the town had
been damaged by serious flooding.
Bien-Aime told a crowd on one of the hardesthit streets that the government was planning to
build dams relocate people who live too close to the
river.
At least eight people had previously been reported
killed by flooding caused by heavy rains in Haiti over
the past two weeks.
Haiti’s widespread deforestation, mountainous
terrain and large number of people living in poorly
constructed houses make it particularly vulnerable
to flooding. (AP)
November 2007
BostonHaitian.com
Mattapan teen heralded for her
positive approach to activism
Jacqueline Elysee, a senior at Madison Park Technical
Vocational High School, is awarded a scholarship for her
leadership and activism in her community.
By Martine Louis
Reporter Staff
Headlines about crime, school dropouts and
domestic violence has gripped the attention of our
community, but on Nov. 14 Wheelock College will
celebrate a number of youths who work to resolve
these issues. In a ceremony dubbed “Passion for
Action,” five Boston Public School students will
receive scholarships in honor of their commitment
to helping those in need. From working with homeless families to helping the victims of Hurricane
Katrina, these young activists have worked hard
to make a difference.
“We are a society very focused on the negativity surrounding us,” said Jackie Jenkins-Scott,
President of Wheelock College. “So much so that
we sometimes lose track of the positives, and the
youths who are doing what they are supposed to do
get lost in the shuffle. They are the ones who deserve
some recognition, yet we hardly ever here about
them. This ceremony is their time to be applauded
for their dedication and courage.”
Eighteen-year-old Jacqueline Elysee, a senior at
Madison Park Technical Vocational High School,
is known for her leadership initiative in working
to end youth violence in Boston.
“I have lost too many friends to violence,” said
Elysee, Mattapan resident. “Youths are dying and
unless they get the help and motivation they need
to guide them away from their negative environments, they will continue to die. I needed to do
something about it and it is a great feeling to know
that I am making a positive difference in the lives
of others.”
An active participant in programs such as The City
School, a Dorchester organization, and a student
leader for the Youth Outreach Weekend program,
Elysee has joined numerous student rallies to promote youth jobs and educational programs. She has
helped organize retreats for high school students
concerned with poverty and homelessness-- leading
workshops about inequality and organizing community service visits to Boston shelters and assisted
living sites. Elysee says she also went to New Orleans last April meet Hurricane Katrina survivors
and help clean up disaster areas.
“I love reaching out to those in need,” said Elysee.
“That’s what is needed in order to improve a society.
Without us working together our communities will
continue to crumble. I never expected to be awarded
for doing something that is necessary, but it feels
great to be appreciated this way. I hope to set an
example for my peers and youths to follow.”
Jackie currently works at the Court House in South
Boston as judge’s staff. She would like to attend
the University of Southern California and become
an entertainment lawyer.
The Passion for Action will be held at the Kennedy
Library next week.
South Shore Haitians to gather for annual awards dinner
By Martine Louis
Reporter Staff
Four community activists and local “heroes” will
be honored during the South Shore Haitians United
for Progress (SHUP) fifth annual gala on Saturday,
Nov. 24 at 7:30 p.m. The fundraising dinner, which
will be held at Lambardo’s in Randolph, will feature
art, entertainment and inspirational appearances by
men dedicated to helping their fellow citizens.
“These are people who have had a direct impact
on our community,” said Pierre Lubin, President of
SHUP. “They have selflessly committed themselves
to positive causes never asking for recognition, but
it is time that we show them our appreciation.”
Honorees include former Brockton NAACP
president, Stephen Bernard. A mentor to youths for
over 15 years, Bernard has worked to improve the
neighborhoods of Brockton. He is also a SHUP board
member. Morton Schleffer, director of emergency
management for Brockton, commended for always
being there to help and bring safety and security to
those who are in need.
“It has been a pleasure to work with the men and
women of SHUP,” said Schleffer. “Whether it be a
flood or a storm they are always there to back me
up. They are a great help to me and to the city of
Brockton.”
Chris Charlot, owner of the well-known Brockton
restaurant, Tamboo. Charlot is appreciated for
“reviving” the Brockton neighborhoods, which was
once known as being crime ridden. With Tamboo,
Lubin says Chris has created a whole other atmosphere in downtown Brockton. And former soccer
player, Gerald Romulus, who took Haiti’s team from
scratch to worldwide success. Romulus now lives in
Brockton and is said to be an inspiration for youths
who believe their dreams are out of reach.
“Many people do not believe Haitians can do great
things,” said Fred Fontaine, a clerk for SHUP. “But
these four men defy that judgment. They are role
models for the young men and women in our community.”
Also attending is State Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry
who will serve as keynote speaker. Successful artist
Jean-Claude Sainte will exhibit his work. Entertain-
ment will be provided by Bien-Etre, a mambo-salsa
dance troop, and a live musical performance by
Strings, an ensemble playing traditional Haitian
troubadour with influences of flamenco music.
Proceeds from the gala will help SHUP continue
to provide their services to the Haitian community. Programs include education and training, job
placement, ESL and basic computer training and
immigration and housing consultations. Additionally, a portion of the proceeds will go towards SHUP
wishes to fulfill it’s long term goal of purchasing it’s
own building.
“It has been a pleasure to work with the men and
women of SHUP,” said Schleffer, honored for 9 years
as an emergency worker. “Whether it be a flood or a
storm they are always there to back me up. They are
a great help to me and to the city of Brockton.”
Tickets are $75 per person and cannot be purchased at the door.
For more information call Jenny Elie at 774-2747028 or email at [email protected].
News from Haiti
Preval calls to amend constitution on term limits
By
Jonathan M. Katz
Associated Press Writer
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Haitian President Rene
Preval on Oct. 17 called for a constitutional amendment to allow presidents to serve consecutive terms
— a change he said would bring more stability to a
country frequently mired in political chaos.
Preval, in a speech at the National Palace, proposed overhauling the country’s entire constitution
to give the government more flexibility to promote
development and fight corruption.
He suggested holding all national and local elections on the same day every five years, and recom-
mended creating a constitutional court to interpret
the nation’s laws. He also said the president should
have the power to dismiss the prime minister — who
is now appointed by the executive, but can only be
ousted by parliament.
Current rules limit Haitian presidents to two
terms, with at least a five-year break in between.
Preval’s initial proposal, which spokesmen said
he would refine before submitting to parliament,
would allow future presidents to serve those terms
back-to-back.
Preval, who won his second nonconsecutive term
last year, assured legislators he could not, and would
not, seek office again.
“I know that as soon as the president asks to re-
flect on the constitution, it gives rise to suspicion,’’
Preval said. “I repeat once again for everyone: My
tenure comes to end on Feb. 7, 2011, period.’’
Haiti’s current constitution was signed in 1987
after 29 years of dictatorship and was intended to
impede any return to authoritarian rule.
Preval urged lawmakers to work with him to
overhaul the document, which he called the single
greatest threat to Haiti’s long-term stability.
Preval said the amendment process is slow, needing the approval of two-thirds of the Senate and
Chamber of Deputies and requiring they then wait
until the next session of parliament to implement
the changes. (AP)
UN calls for renewed probe into disappearance
of Haiti activist, senate hopeful
By Jonathan M. Katz
Associated Press Writer
PORT-AU-PRINCE- U.N. peacekeepers called for
a renewed police investigation into the disappearance of a Haitian human rights activist and senate
candidate who was reported missing more than two
months ago.
Since his abrupt disappearance, scant information has emerged about Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, a
high-profile activist and member of ousted President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas party.
The U.N. mission is “concerned to note that we
have still not received news about a person of stature, a political activist, who disappeared two months
ago,’’ said spokesman Mamadou Bah. He added that
Haitian police have not responded to U.N. offers to
assist with the investigation.
Police spokesman Frantz Lerebours said there was
no new information on Pierre-Antoine, and would
not provide further details.
Pierre-Antoine, a leader of the pro-Aristide September 30 Foundation and critic of both U.N. and
U.S. involvement in Haiti, was last seen leaving
his Port-au-Prince home shortly before midnight
Aug. 12, said Ronald Saint-Jean, leader of a coalition called the Group Initiative to Save Lovinsky
Pierre-Antoine.
Saint-Jean and other supporters say Pierre-Antoine had received threats because of his ties to
Aristide, and they believe he was abducted because
a rented SUV he was using at the time was found
abandoned outside his home.
No ransom note was ever issued, Saint-Jean said.
“We are putting pressure on the authorities to give
us an answer,’’ he said. (AP)
BostonHaitian.com
November 2007
Dear Dr. Johnson: We need your help!
concerned residents at
St. Angela’s Church in
Mattapan. In addition to
other issues, he promised
he’d have all administrators attend professional
development workshops
focusing on respect for all
immigrant cultures and
languages. To date, this
has not happened. As a
result, our children and
their culture continue to
be denigrated by BPS
teachers and staff. As worried as we are
about this, we’re even
more alarmed by what
we see as its serious
consequences.
First, some American students have felt
emboldened to verbally
abuse and commit violent
acts against our youngsters, knowing they will
not be punished. Haitian
parents also complain
that their children are
discriminated against by
BPS employees.
Second, and this is the
most detrimental to our
children’s future, these
teachers and staff have
low expectations of our
children. While a number of our kids may be
performing below grade
level when they arrive
in your schools, they
and their parents firmly
believe that a quality
education will lead to
dignity and financial
success.
In case you’re wondering how to help your
employees become more
sensitive to immigrants,
the Harvard Family
Research Project offered
some tips in an October 2006 brief titled,
“Lessons from Fam-
Yolette Ibokette
By Yolette Ibokette
Contributing Editor
An open letter to Dr.
Carol Johnson, Superintendent of Boston Public
Schools.
Dear Dr. Johnson,
On behalf of all the
Haitian parents and
students in the district,
I welcome you to Boston. We know that by
now you’ve probably
heard from the many
stakeholders in this city
about concerns with our
children’s education. We
in the Haitian community also have several
concerns we hope you’ll
address. While the vast majority of your employees
are dedicated and caring
individuals, some of your
teachers and staff have
subjected our students
to blatant disrespect and
insensitivity. Indeed,
this is not the first time
that our community has
asked a Boston Public
Schools (BPS) superintendent for assistance
with this issue.
In June 2006, Mr. Michael Contompassis met
with a large gathering
of frustrated Haitian
parents, students, and
Now: Read the
Reporter online each
month at
bostonhaitian.com
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difficult conversations
or situations involving
students and parents.
I would also suggest
having members of your
staff who come into contact with our children
meet with them and their
parents to learn more
about their lives. Additionally, we’re sure that
one of your goals as superintendent is to have
more parents participate
in their children’s schooling. However, this will
not happen when Haitian children go home
Page crying due to the horrible treatment they’ve
received at the hands of
BPS employees. Until the schools become more welcoming
to these children, engaging parents in their
children’s education will
remain elusive.
Yolette Ibokette is a
veteran educator who
lives in Randolph. Her
column on education
appears monthly in the
Reporter.
November 2007
BostonHaitian.com
Commentary
Why has baseball failed to capture imaginations in Haiti?
By Brian Concannon,
Jr.
When I e-mailed last May’s
column in to the Boston Haitian Reporter, I added: “My
November column is going to
be on the World Series victory,
so please put me down for the
BHR’s spot in the media seats
at Fenway. I kept checking the
mail; the tickets never arrived.
But I’ll keep my promise about
the November column.
The challenge is finding connections between the Red Sox
and Haiti. When I moved to
Haiti in 1995, I was surprised
to find no one playing baseball
in a country with 12 months of
good baseball weather. I knew
that elsewhere in Latin America there was a direct relationship between U.S. military
interventions and baseball.
Countries that have suffered
many interventions, such as
Nicaragua (8), Panama (7),
Cuba (4) and the Dominican
Republic (4) produce many
ballplayers. I also knew that
Haiti had suffered the longest
of these interventions (19151934), and that major league
baseballs were made in Portau-Prince’s factories.
After embarrassing myself
in a futbol (soccer) game one
hot afternoon, I asked a Haitian friend why we could not
play a much more relaxing
game of baseball like they did
in the D.R. or Cuba. He talked
first about how football was
such a better game, then he
politely mentioned the U.S.
interventions. When I mentioned the other intervention
victims that had embraced
baseball, he replied, proudly,
“that is why ours was the
longest. The Americans could
occupy our land, but not conquer our heads. We would not
play their games, in sports or
politics. We resisted longer
than anyone else, so they kept
trying. But eventually we won,
and they left.”
Even if Haitians loved baseball, they would not root for
the Red Sox- at least not yet.
In football, Haitians support
perennial winners, especially
Brazil -- winners of five World
Cup championships, and the
Brian Concannon, Jr.
only team to qualify for every
World Cup final tournament.
Whenever Brazil played a
World Cup match, I could keep
score in Haiti without the TV
or radio, just by listening to
the cheers and sighs of the
neighborhood. When Brazil
won the Cup in 2002, the
party on the streets outside my
house seemed more jubilant
than the party televised from
Rio de Janeiro. Brazil reliably
provides its fans with cause for
celebration.
The Red Sox, meanwhile,
had not won baseball’s World
Series from 1918 (three years
after the start of the Occupation) until after I left Haiti in
2004, a span of 86 years. Along
the way, the team found so
many ways to snatch defeat
from the jaws of victory that
it was widely believed to be
subject to The Curse. After
reading in Haiti about one
particularly inexcusable Sox
loss, it occurred to me that
being a Red Sox fan was a
luxury: you could only afford
to emotionally invest in a team
that was bound to disappoint
you if other things in your life
were going pretty well. Like
most luxuries, this was one
that few people in Haiti could
afford: life in Haiti is just too
full of imposed heartbreaks
and difficulties for people to
voluntarily expose themselves
to more disappointment. The
opportunities to celebrate in
daily life are so few and far
between, that you cannot wait
86 years between your team’s
BOSTON HAITIAN
REPORTER
“An Exploration of the Haitian-American Experience”
A publication of Boston Neighborhood News Inc.
150 Mt. Vernon St., Suite 120 , Dorchester, MA 02125
Worldwide at bostonhaitian.com
Mary Casey Forry, Publisher (1983-2004)
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Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry (D-Dorchester) is shown holding the Red Sox’ latest World Series
trophy on Tuesday, Oct. 30 at Fenway Park, during the city of Boston’s celebration of the team’s
championship win. Rep. Forry is flanked by her son John Patrick, left, and family friend Justin
Lauture, right. Rep. Forry, who is Haitian-American, is a big Red Sox fan and reports that many
in her family — including aunts and uncles who were born in Haiti — have also become big
Red Sox fans. Photo courtesy Rep. Forry’s office.
championships.
In 2007, there is still heart- undoubtedly has friends and
In the fall of 2004, seven break in Haiti. Children still family members who are as
months after Haiti’s latest go to bed without dinner and vulnerable to misfortune as
coup d’état, I was back in the wake up with no school to are many people in Haiti.
U.S. But Haiti’s heartbreak go to. Adults are still wrongI am now looking forward
kept coming through in e- fully imprisoned, people of to a day when Haitians
mails, telephone calls and all ages die of the prevent- can embrace the Red Sox.
news reports. Several friends able and treatable diseases The 1915-34 occupation will
and colleagues were rotting of poverty. A friend and col- remain a hurdle: the U.S.in Haitian jails as political league, human rights activ- sponsored kidnapping of
prisoners, many more were ist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, Haiti’s President in 2004 did
in hiding. Two former clients has been missing since he not help anyone forget those
had been killed; many had lost was abducted on August 12. memories. But Haitians do
all their possessions. I was too But the systematic political play and watch basketball,
busy trying to respond to these repression has stopped, and another game invented in the
disasters to watch much base- with a democratic government U.S. The Red Sox, having now
ball, but as the Red Sox made in place for 18 months, there won two of the last four World
it into the second round of the are tangible improvements. Series, appear to be approachplayoffs, I started watching Even better, there’s hope for ing reliability- they will not
parts of games, and getting even more improvement.
win them all, but they will
excited.
So this year I jumped more at least win their share, and
Then the Red Sox lost the solidly onto the Red Sox band- maybe more. So rooting for the
first three games of the best- wagon. When the team was Red Sox will not be the mental
of-seven playoffs with the down again (this time 3-1), I health risk it once was.
rival Yankees. During one of did not disengage, but I did
But I really look forward to
those games, I started to get find comfort and wisdom in a day when Haitians have the
sad, and then realized that I the words of slugger Manny luxury of rooting for a team
just could not get sad about Ramirez, who said of a poten- that can break their hearts. A
baseball. There was just too tial loss “there’s always next day when fans can go to sleep
much other sadness in my year. It’s not like it’s the end of after a loss, disappointed but
life, and I could not afford the the world.” Those words gener- comfortable in a good bed in a
risk of more disappointment. ated a controversy that I did secure house. When the next
So I disengaged, and stopped not understand. Mr. Ramirez morning the kids are dragcaring whether the team won is a great player who played ging a little, from their team
or lost. great throughout the playoffs, losing or the lateness of the
The Sox, of course, then so could not be accused of game rather than an empty
made one of the most dramatic giving up. He has also seen stomach. When the prospect
comebacks in sports history. enough of life to know more of regular food and medical
They won four straight games about the difference between treatments makes “there’s
to eliminate the Yankees, then sports disappointments and always next year,” possible,
four more to win the World real disappointments than and a safe trip to a good school
Series. Most Red Sox fans most of his critics. Although makes “it’s not like it’s the end
were elated. I was happy, but he is now wealthy- he made of the world” easy to say.
not elated. When I disengaged $17 million this year playing
Brian Concannon Jr. directs
to limit the potential sadness baseball- he was born poor the Institute for Justice and
from a loss, I also limited the in the Dominican Republic, Democracy in Haiti, www.
potential exhilaration from a and grew up in a poor neigh- HaitiJustice.org. He lived in
victory. borhood in New York. He Haiti from 1995-2004.
BostonHaitian.com
November 2007
My Pilgrimage to Haiti
Page Potential of development — pulse of a proud people — give us hope
By State Rep.
Marie St. Fleur
Special to
the Reporter
From October 3rd through
October 8th, I had the opportunity to step on Haitian soil for
the first time since 1969.
Then, I was boarding a Pan
American flight from Haiti to
United States. I was a little
girl, apprehensive about her
new land, excited about the
chance to see her parents, yet
fearful of the unknown.
This time, it felt surreal as I
boarded the American Airlines
flight from New York to Port
Au Prince. I was joining a wonderful delegation organized by
the Haiti Support Project, led
by Ron Daniels and his wife
Mary France. While in Haiti,
I met a number of African
American and Haitian American activists, all committed to
advancing the ideal of intentional tourism for Haiti. Our
objective was to support the
people of Milot in their goal to
build a “Model City” in Haiti.
But I digress; I boarded the
plane after taking part in a
press conference where we
were greeted by dignitaries
and activists from New York
City. These supporters are
committed to seeing structural
change in Haiti in cooperation
with, and for the benefit of,
the masses.
I boarded that plane as a
blank slate. My heart and
mind were blank. The 747
was filled with people of color,
which was an unusual experience for me. I’m generally in
the minority. Around me the
chatter rang with a mixture
of Creole and French. It surprised me that the plane was
fully booked because of the
perception that no one travels
to Haiti. This was the first of
many myths about Haiti that
would be debunked.
My seat-mate was an older
woman who was part of the
business class in Haiti. She
was returning from a visit with
her children and grandchildren in New York City. She
explained to me how she loved
her country and felt that the
lack of security caused a lot of
stress and fear.
Last year, the lack of security cost her a son. Her son’s
death hastened the death of
her husband. Despite her
losses, she could not imagine
living anywhere else. As we
prepared to land in Haiti, I
looked out and saw this island approaching. From the
air, it looked like many other
Caribbean islands. Except for
curiosity, I still had no real
feelings about this journey.
We landed and made our way
to the Salon Diplomatique to
be greeted by a number of ministers, among them the Minister of Haitians Abroad, Jean
Geneus, who once had lived
in Massachusetts. During a
shuttle to another airport for
a quick flight to Cap Haitian,
I caught a brief glimpse of the
small huts called “bidonville”
but not enough of a glimpse
I could go on about the sites
but I would rather share some
of my observations about the
social challenges of the country. Contrary to all that I’ve
heard and read, Haiti is not a
poor country. It is truly an underdeveloped country whose
resources are unevenly distributed. That fact is compounded
by the reality of neglect by
the international community
and the flight of the middle
class, which has left masses of
people trapped in an early 20th
century agricultural economy
with illiteracy and poverty.
Failure to develop the provinces and lack of modernization of the agricultural
system has encouraged the
continued migration from the
countryside to the cities for
opportunity. The cities are
packed with a population that
its infrastructure is incapable
of handling. The lack of management and maintenance of
Rep. Marie St. Fleur tours the Citadel, near Milot, on her visit to Haiti last month. Rep. St. Fleur basic transportation, sanitation and other systems is a
was part of a delegation led by the Haiti Support Project. Courtesy Rep. St. Fleur’s office.
laboratory for the incubation
to cause an emotional stir. Commerce and some from the The square looked wonderful of a host of public health and
However, as I flew north to- town of Milot. After a group with artists well represented safety concerns. Yet in the
wards Cap Haitian and saw orientation, we left to rest along with displays of their midst of crumbling cities, you
the beautiful terrain below, for the trip to Milot the next hand carved sculptures and find hopeful children neatly
something began to open up morning. Milot is a town that paintings. The Committee dressed in their uniforms
and pull at my heart. It was is home to the international for the Development of Milot walking miles to school. They
a connection that I did not tourist attraction, the Citadel. had requested support from are a generation filled with
anticipate.
Milot also boasts of the Sans the Haiti Support Project to hope.
The topography was moun- Souci Palace, which was built rebuild the square. It was
I salute the Committee
tainous and green. I antici- by Henry Christophe, who evident that the work was well for Development of Milot for
pated brown and woody. The decreed himself king of the done. The Committee publicly embracing a model of self deL’Artibonite Valley, the bread island.
shared an accounting with the termination as a means of debasket of the north, was fertile.
The next morning’s trip to residents for every dollar that veloping its city and residents.
It was amazing to see the plats Milot was quite an adventure. was forwarded to the project. The committee has a developof farmed land surrounded by The roads were horrible but Through this arrangement, ment plan and believes that
these wonderful hills. A sig- I was amazed at the ordered the locals did the work and enhancing access to education
nificant portion of the country and disciplined movements the money was reinvested into for young people; building on
is uninhabited.
of the people. At first, the the economy of Milot.
existing natural resources
Hundreds of children from by promoting tourism; and
Traveling from the airport to movement of bodies and liveour hotel in the center of Cap stock appeared chaotic but as all of the area public and pri- finding the means to provide
Haitian, I was assaulted by the I watched over the couple of vate schools were present to technical assistance and capidismal lives of the populace. hours that I traveled, I realized greet us. They performed in tal to merchants will shore up
It was as if I had left the 21st that the people had a system. expression and appreciation the economy and allow Milot
century for a world trapped be- The tap-tap slows down just for our visit. I was reminded of to be self-sustaining.
tween the early 1900s and the long enough for the passenger the stories that my father told
This is a vision that em1950s. The road to the hotel to throw in his packages. No of growing up in Haiti in the braces the concept that the
was unpaved and filled with sooner than the packages land, 1930’s and 40’s. In that square development of Haiti is in
potholes. No working traffic the tap-tap resumes its speed. at the foot of the Citadel and the hands of its residents, not
signals were evident and the The people on board pull the the Palais of Sans Souci, the NGOs and not well meaning
traffic moved at a good clip.
struggling passenger onto the children of Haiti captured my Haitians abroad or any foreign
The streets were teeming tap-tap, which is always full. heart with their rendition of government. The infrastrucwith people. There were stacks Every inch of the vehicle is “Haiti Cherie”.
ture and structural problems
We were guided partially up in Haiti are immense, but not
of trash in various sections as used, including the roof. I don’t
if there was no appointed place know how they manage to stay the mountain and invited to insurmountable. There is not
for disposal. Vendors balanced on top of the roof with the quick mount a horse to the Citadel. a government elected or soon
their merchandise on their curves and unanticipated ma- This was a twenty minute trip to be elected by the Haitian
heads. The tap-tap (bus) was neuvering around potholes and that felt like an hour. I am a people that can solve these
city girl. I was scared out of problems on its own.
piled high with passengers pedestrians.
and merchandise. I had never
Sometimes a divided high- my wits of the horse and the
The people must take the
witnessed human beings liv- way becomes a single lane be- steepness of its trek. The lead and folks like us should
ing in such squalor. And yet, cause a section is unavailable guides reminded me over and support them, not criticize or
they carried themselves with due to debris or abandoned over again that the horse did give unconstructive advice. It
grace and purpose.
vehicles. If a vehicle is “an not want to die from falling is always easier to speak the
Traveling towards the Bou- panne”, it is reason enough to off the side of the mountain. language of destruction than
levard de Carenage I saw leave it in the middle of the The mountains of Milot are that of construction. I, for one,
the Notre Dame, the City road. I am positive that if we still recoiling from the screams am privileged to have had the
Square, the grace of the bor- created this obstacle course in of that woman from Uphams opportunity to catch a glimpse
dering ocean, the sweep of the the middle of New York City, Corner but the view and the of the African people that
boulevard and the detailed we would have police officers opportunity to see this part of have inhabited this island for
architecture of many old build- stationed at various intersec- history was incomparable.
well over two hundred years.
The Citadel, which is lo- They are proud, disciplined
ings still standing. I was left tions to prevent road rage. Yet
with the impression that the in Haiti, these inconveniences cated at the summit of the and resourceful. The populafading grand dame had been are taken in stride, often with- Bonnet a Leveque Mountain, tion is overwhelmingly young.
badly neglected. The charac- out police officers or military was built in 1804. It took 13 These young people live in a
years to complete and serves 20th century world. I would
ter and the beauty of a once personnel in sight.
beautiful city could still be
On our way to Milot, we as a living testimony of engi- surmise that in about five to
seen and felt. Sadness does passed beautiful mango, coco- neering and military genius ten years, they will demand
not adequately describe the nut and plantain trees. The — a testament to the work their place among us. Haiti
feelings these scenes evoked. mangoes were ripe and over- of over 20,000 Africans. It is our neighbor. It sits at the
Over the course of the trip, I flowing. We saw rows of sugar has the largest stockpile of tip of southern Florida. If we
was to spend two days in Cap cane and breadfruit trees. The pre-civil war cannons num- in America wish the world
Haitian at a wonderful hotel closer we got to Milot, the bet- bering approximately 45,000. to truly believe that we care
An immense stone structure about the spread of democratic
called Auberge Picolet.
ter and cleaner the roads.
That evening, we were welIn the Milot town square, we with walls over twelve feet, it systems and ideals, what betcomed at a reception sponsored were greeted by the delegation dominates the Bay of L’Acueil. ter place to prove it than in our
by Patrick Delatour, the Min- that has worked with Ron Reaching the summit alone is own backyard? To date, our
ister of Tourism. We had a Daniels and the Haiti Sup- well worth the trip to Haiti. half hearted attempts have
chance to meet many members port Project for several years. Subsequent views paled in been wrapped in failure. We
of Cap Haitian’s Chamber of They were happy to see us. comparison.
can do better.
November 2007
BostonHaitian.com
BostonHaitian.com
November 2007
Page Page 10 Boston Haitian ReporteR
November 2007
BostonHaitian.com
Restavek problem exposed in Florida
Human trafficking case exposes practice of child servitude among immigrants
By Jennifer Kay
MIAMI - The teen slept on a rolled-up mattress
on the dining room floor and bathed in the backyard
with a garden hose. For six years, she washed dishes,
made beds and cooked for a family that beat her
and hid her in a closet when visitors arrived. She
never went to school.
Simone Celestin’s story sounds like a slave narrative from another century, but federal prosecutors
say it happened in South Florida. They say Celestin
is one of an unknown number of children and teens
called “restaveks,’’ who are hidden as slaves within
the Haitian immigrant community.
“Restavek’’ is a Haitian Creole word meaning “one
who stays with.’’ The term applies to an estimated
300,000 poor children in Haiti, mostly girls, who are
given or sold by their parents to wealthier families,
or taken from orphanages.
The children work in exchange for food, shelter
and the promise of school, but often end up victims
of physical and sexual abuse, according to the U.S.
State Department’s annual report on human trafficking.
Some sneak into the United States when their host
family emigrates, then hide in a Haitian-American
community, which is often loath to discuss the
practice with outsiders.
Haitian-American advocates recall about 30 instances that have come to light since 1999, when a
12-year-old came forward with an appalling story
about being a Broward County couple’s household
servant and a sex slave for their son.
But authorities believe those examples are probably just a small fraction of the actual number,
because so few cases are reported.
“Haitians don’t see those kids as slaves,’’ said
Jean-Robert Cadet, a former restavek who published
a memoir tracing his journey from Haiti’s poverty
to the American middle class.
Marleine Bastien, executive director of Haitian
Women of Miami, said some Haitians view the
practice as an informal foster care system.
“They may feel they were helping the little child
by bringing the child here and express bewilderment
that they are being prosecuted for ‘doing the right
thing,’’’ Bastien said.
Maude Paulin, a teacher, and her mother, Evelyn
Theodore, are scheduled to stand trial in January on federal charges that they illegally brought
Celestin into the country in 1999 and kept her in
involuntary servitude. Prosecutors say Celestin,
then 14, was taken from an orphanage Theodore
owned in Haiti, the least developed country in the
western hemisphere.
Paulin’s ex-husband is also charged with human trafficking, and her sister faces forced labor
charges. All four could spend decades in prison if
convicted.
Richard Dansoh, Paulin’s attorney, said this is
a case of cultural misunderstanding. He said Celestin had been the favorite of Paulin’s late father
at the orphanage, and the family took her in at his
wishes.
“They took her to improve her chances of having a
good life. This is not a slavery case,’’ Dansoh said.
Dansoh said Celestin could not be enrolled in
school because she lacked the proper documents, but
Paulin home-schooled the girl. Celestin protested
when the family tried to curtail her involvement
with older men who had promised to help her gain
permanent residency in the U.S., he said.
Paulin and her family were trying to “shield her
from a life of inappropriate relationships,’’ Dansoh
said.
Prosecutors and Celestin’s immigration attorney
declined to comment because her case is pending.
They declined to make her available for this story.
It’s not clear how Celestin’s situation came to the
attention of authorities.
U.S. immigration authorities and advocates call
human trafficking a hidden crime because victims
do not contact police. They say law enforcement and
school officials often miss the warning signs in young
people, such as missing identification, isolation or
behavioral problems.
Advocates say it’s difficult to coax suspected
restaveks to open up, even when they are identified,
because they are told their work supports family
members back in Haiti, and they fear relatives will
suffer retribution.
Cadet remembers the shame he felt as a teenager
when a high school teacher discovered he was homeless and asked why. Cadet spent his childhood in
Haiti as a restavek for a prostitute and her son,
then continued working for them after the family
emigrated to New York. They kicked him out when
school interfered with his chores.
“For me to tell that teacher I was a restavek was
like telling him I was a dog. In Haiti, a restavek
and a dog share the same social status. For me to
tell this man that, I am not really a human being,’’
said Cadet, who is now a college professor and an
advocate for restaveks.
Danielle Romer, president of Haitian Support Inc.
in Homestead, recalled one 15-year-old girl whose
experience showed why restaveks don’t reach for
help: “She was working a.m. to p.m., not going to
school, but where she sleeps is better than what
she had in Haiti.’’
Dwa Fanm, a Brooklyn-based women’s rights
organization, decided in 2004 not to renew a federal
grant for services directed at Haitian restaveks because the 20 women who came forward did not want
to register as human trafficking victims. Registration would have allowed them to apply for asylum
or specific visas to stay in the U.S.
“As soon as we said, ‘You have to report it, we
have to report it so you can be certified,’ they said,
‘Never mind, I’ve changed my mind,’’’ said Farah
Tanis, the group’s executive director. “They didn’t
want to prosecute. It makes sense — people are
afraid for their lives.’’
On the Net: Jean-Robert Cadet’s Restavec Foundation: http://www.restavecfreedom.org
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BostonHaitian.com
November 2007
Page 11
Ex-Playboy Playmate fights for Haiti’s orphans;
memoir traces her
By Stevenson Jacobs
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Glassyeyed and so thin his bones
protrude through his skin, a
newborn infant named only
Rony stares up at a dirty ceiling hour after hour, frozen in
his crib because of a softballsized tumor on the back of
his neck.
Then an hourglass-shaped,
platinum-haired woman flashing a megawatt smile and
wearing diamond earrings and
designer blue jeans leans over
his crib in the steamy hospital ward, locks her long arms
around the child and gently
pulls him toward her.
“They don’t hold the children
much here,’’ says Susie Scott
Krabacher, a former Playboy
centerfold who over the last 15
years has become an unlikely
patron savior for scores of
abandoned Haitian babies.
Krabacher, 43, founded the
Mercy and Sharing Foundation, an Aspen, Colo.-based
charity that has provided
shelter, schooling and health
care to thousands of children
from the poorest slums of this
troubled Caribbean nation.
The charity, funded mostly
through private donors, runs
six schools, three orphanages,
an abandoned-baby ward and
a cervical cancer screening
center.
“If it wasn’t for her, all of
those kids would be dead
today,’’ said Bob Lataillade,
who runs Mercy and Sharing’s
main orphanage in Port-auPrince.
Krabacher chronicles her
unusual journey — from partying in Hugh Hefner’s mansion to setting up Haiti’s first
hospital ward for abandoned
babies — in a memoir to be
released in October called
“Angels of a Lower Flight’’
(Simon & Schuster).
The book, which is expected
to be made into a Hollywood
film, details Krabacher’s
childhood growing up poor in
Alabama and her wilder days
at Playboy, where she had a 10year career, including a May
1983 centerfold spread.
Susie Scott Krabacher, right, visits the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, July 31, 2007. Krabacher, 43, a former Playboy
centerfold, founded the Mercy and Sharing Foundation, an Aspen, Colorado-based charity that has provided shelter, schooling and health
care to thousands of children from the poorest slums of this troubled Caribbean nation. AP Photo/Ariana Cubill
With her long blonde locks
and statuesque figure, Krabacher cuts an odd figure in
the streets of Haiti’s gritty
capital. She has been known
to waltz into the most dangerous slums wearing platform
boots and flowing skirts to ask
tattooed gang leaders to allow
her charity work to proceed
without being robbed.
On her first visit to the
country in 1994, Krabacher
visited Port-au-Prince’s bleak
General Hospital and was
shocked to find scores of unwanted babies left abandoned
and without food in their cribs,
including one who had died
AVOCAT
CLAUDIAGRÉGOIRE
Née en France,
Langue maternelle française,
B.A., Harvard University
Immigration &
Criminal Law
[email protected];
tel.: 617-399-7770 ext. 5
without anyone noticing.
“There were rats the size
of Chihuahuas. They would
run all over the place and bite
the children. It was horrible,’’
Krabacher, who lives in Aspen
but visits Haiti several times
a year, told The Associated
Press during a recent trip
here.
Krabacher eventually persuaded hospital officials to
allow her and her husband,
Joe, to pay to fix up the ward,
which today cares for about 20
children.
Like little Rony, many were
left outside the hospital entrance, often frail and barely
clinging to life.
“He’s going to suffer his
entire life. But at least we
can give him some humanity so he doesn’t have to die
in utter misery,’’ Krabacher
says, gently swaying Rony in
her arms.
A couple of weeks later,
Rony died. He was three
months old. Krabacher has
had to overcome setbacks in
her mission to help Haiti’s
neediest.
When the abandoned baby
ward first opened, people stole
the ceiling fans, the refrigerator and baby mattresses.
After rebels forced President
Now: Read the
Reporter online each
month at
bostonhaitian.com
Customer Service position available at a
progressive community bank in Boston, Massachusetts.
For the latest news
log on to dotnews.com
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to existing and prospective customers.
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Jean-Bertrand Aristide from
power in 2004, Krabacher flew
into the chaotic capital and
found that looters had broken
into a food warehouse and
stolen the orphanage’s supply
of rice, beans and milk.
For her work, Krabacher
was made an honorary Haitian citizen and in 2004 was
invited to Buckingham Palace
to receive the Rose Award,
presented by the foundation
established to further Princess Diana’s commitment to
the poor.
On the Net: Mercy and
Sharing Foundation: www.
haitichildren.com
Page 12 Boston Haitian ReporteR
November 2007
BostonHaitian.com
Music Reviews
Former Platinum keyboardist puts Miami back on map
By Steve Desrosiers
Contributing Editor
Billy Tha Kid
Baby Now
The sunshine state is once
again confirming its position as the center of Haitian
musical activity these days
especially through the release
of albums like Billy Tha Kid’s
“Baby Now”. The former keyboard man for the short-lived
band Platinum presents his
first 13 song solo release. The
new album is being distributed
by none other than Haiti’s renowned, Mini Records label.
I must admit that I totally
slept on this release! I was
turned off after the first track,
which I thought to be yet another Miami talent doing a bad
job of melding old and dated
rhymes from Rap’s yesteryears with a modern Haitian
rhythm – Zenglen style. I still
feel the blend is a flop but the
rest of “Plat Complet” is a
great example of the distinctly
groove heavy sound of Miami’s
Konpa scene.
The album’s second single
is great dance tune with
fantastic vocal, guitar and
horn arrangements that are
otherwise disturbed by the
intrusively ill timed rapping.
The follow up ballad “Lage’l
nan ke’m” is a fine composition
that places a short but effective a rap section in a much
better musical context – just
to show I’m not hating on our
“Ahtist’s” desire to incorporate
the hot energy of Hip-Hop in
Konpa. The romantic “Emotion Love” ranks among the
album’s finer numbers due to
its adventurous and at times
unpredictable melodic twists
and turns. The Zouk flavored
“Min Pouki sa” has a distinct
Carimi flavor in both vocal
and synth solo approach that
should please Zouk-Konpa
lovers to no end.
Billy’s first release is a
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good start. The great weakness of most of the work is
in the vocals which at best
do momentary service to the
album’s many songs. At worst
it shows that Billy should have
opted to use a more seasoned
singer to deliver these otherwise decent pop songs. The
best aspects of “Baby Now”
lie in the fine work of leading
musicians like Ralph Conde
and former Nu Look guitarist
Laporte whose efforts make
the groove sections of songs
like “Move Tandans” very
memorable. Zenglen’s horn
section lends their smooth
touch in a few numbers and
should be commended for the
quality of their input on this
release. Billy himself proves
to be a fine and consistent
musician on keys throughout
the release-especially in the
song “Let Me Love You”. No
upcoming keyboardist should
be without this release if only
to learn what sounds and melodic choices work in today’s
pop market.
Baby Now is worth checking
out. It is a fine snack for those
of you awaiting new releases
from Miami’s reining heavyweights.
Daan Junior & D’5
Mete’m Alez (Live)
Just a few years ago Daan
Junior’s first album rocked the
industry as his efforts almost
bested those of his mentor and
idol, Zin’s own Alan Cave. Unfortunately, the Paris based
artist barely survived his
first few live appearances in
the States, fronting a band of
relatively inexperienced musicians. Daan’s latest release is
poised to make it up to fans
who may have witnessed those
first shows and to convince
skeptics he’s got what it takes
to make a strong come back in
the near future.
“Mete’m Alez” establishes
a mellow and easy going pace
that displays Daan’s fine vocal ability with slow and mid
tempo tunes. The live arrangement for the hit, “J’ai Soif”,
sets things off nicely with
good guitar work, inventive
soloing on keys and of course
the usual word play that is
a big part of live versions of
Haitian songs. The groove
section of “Cheri’m Cole” is
very impressive both in the
way the band animates the
composition and allows their
gifted musicians free reign to
excite the audience with quality solos and grooves. The hits
“Kite’m Ale” and “Sou Do” are
here in extended version and
one has to show appreciation
for the significant improvements the artist and his band
members, D’5, have made in
the extended arrangements
for these hits.
“Mete’m Alez” is a good album. The interesting aspect of
the release is that it does manage to maintain a listener’s
interest. I’m still making up
my mind that is due to the
sparse but effective playing
or the tasteful word play that
adds an additional rhythmic
element to the percussion
and groove sections in all the
songs. One thing is for sure
something must be said for the
expansive dexterity of guitarist Polo. The overall mix of the
album could have been a bit
better but that takes nothing
away from the quality of Daan
Junior’s live side.
Treat yourself to this release
before Christmas!
The Reporter Thanks:
Patrick St. Germain of
International Perfumes
and Discount for availing
the CDs for review. All CDs
are available at 860 Morton
Street, Dorchester, MA (617)
825-6151.
Free flu shots planned across neighborhoods
Influenza starts to make its presence known in October and
November. For some – especially senior citizens and health
care workers — the dangers are especially acute. Vaccines are
available and, once again this year, a number of opportunities
are available to get free flu shots. Caritas Carney Hospital will
have two clinics inside the hospital next month. The first is on
Wednesday, Nov. 7 from 9-11 a.m. at the hospital’s basement
level medical clinic. A second clinic is set at Carney on Thursday, Nov. 15 from 4-6 p.m. in the Area C basement.
Caritas Carney is also taking flu clinic ons ther road to local churches “in an effort to seek out the hard to reach elders,
disabled and others at risk.” The clinics are free and open to
the general public. TThe schedule for the church-based clinics
includes St. Peter’s Church, Sunday, Nov. 4, 9 a.m.-12:00 p.m.;
St. Ann’s Church, Saturday, Nov. 17, 3-5 p.m.; St. Mark’s
Church, Sunday, Nov. 18, 9-11:30 a.m.; Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta, Sunday, Nov. 18, 9-11:30 a.m.; St. Ambrose
Church, Sunday, Nov. 18, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Uphams Corner Health Center is also providing free flu clinics. The shots and nasal vaccines will be available of Monday,
Nov. 5 from 9 a.m.-noon and on Wednesday, Nov. 7 from 5-8
p.m. The health center is located at 415 Columbia Rd.
BostonHaitian.com
November 2007
Page 13
Ruth’s Recipes
Go fresh and natural with this delicious
Thanksgiving meal
By Marie Ruth Auguste
Special to the Reporter
Fresh herbs and natural seasonings are loaded with enough flavors to make
your turkey finger licking. Yes! I’ve been cutting back on highly processed
seasonings and increasing the amount of natural seasonings and herbs.
The results are truly delicious! The proof is in the taste and the benefits
go a long way. See for yourself by trying the following recipes.
Marie Ruth Auguste
Stove top to bottom roasted turkey
Garlic mashed potatoes-topped
Approximately 5 pounds turkey
drumsticks and wings
(cut to smaller pieces)
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh sage, chopped
5 garlic cloves, peeled
5 fresh green onions or scallions,
remove roots
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt (or to taste)
Fresh ground pepper
(savory blend preferred)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon natural mayonnaise
2 tablespoons organic
chicken bouillon base
(Better than Bouillon Base recommended)
Half cup tomato basil sauce
1 quarter teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 green Tabasco peppers (sold in brine)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, sliced & drizzled with
balsamic vinegar
Sweet bell peppers, sliced & drizzled with
balsamic vinegar
with garlic shrimp
Bring a large stockpot of water to a boil, add a handful of sea salt,
squeeze in 2 limes and include the lime peels. Turn off fire, add turkey
pieces and keep covered for 5 minutes. This is to clean the meat and
prepare it for seasoning. Meanwhile dilute chicken bouillon base in half
a cup of hot water then combine it with tomato sauce and set aside. To
make the marinade combine garlic, scallions, salt and ground pepper
and pulse in a food processor or blender. Next, add mustard, mayonnaise, tomato sauce/chicken base mix, lime juice, balsamic vinegar and
cayenne pepper. Mix well until fully incorporated. You should have
a nice thick marinade. Remove turkey from hot water and place in
large bowl. Add marinade and fresh herbs (thyme, parsley, sage and
rosemary). Cover and let marinate for 2 hours- or more.
Heat oil on high heat and add turkey, cook for two minutes and turn
bottom pieces to the top and top pieces to the bottom, cook another
minute and then add marinade and those Tabasco peppers. Reduce
heat to medium and cook covered for 1 hour.
Be sure the temperature is not too high; you’ll know it’s the right
temp if the amount of broth increases; otherwise your turkey is cooking too fast. Just thirty minutes before dinner time, pre-heat oven to
475, remove turkey pieces from broth and place in roasting pan, drizzle
with oil. Roast turnkey in oven for about 15 minutes or until golden.
Remember, the turkey is already cooked; this is to add color and to give
it that outer roast feel. Use broth to make sauce. Bring to a simmer
on low temperature and then add onions and peppers. Combine sauce
and roasted turkey to serve.
This is absolutely delicious and goes well with rice and beans.
Roasted mixed bell peppers
Fresh colorful sweet bell peppers, sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
(Savory blend preferred)
Fresh basil, chopped
Combine all ingredients and roast in oven at 375 for approximately 30
minutes or until semi- tender.
For the garlic paste
1 whole garlic head
1/2 cup olive oil
Gray sea salt and freshly ground pepper,
to taste
For the mashed potatoes
2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes
2 sticks unsalted real butter
1 tablespoon garlic paste
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons cream cheese
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper,
to taste
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Peel the outermost layers of skin off the head of garlic. Cut off the
top of the head to expose the cloves. Heat olive oil in a pan and sauté
garlic over medium heat (cut sides up) for 10 minutes. Season with
salt and pepper. Transfer to oven and roast for 15 minutes (be sure to
use a pan safe for oven). Remove from heat and cool-off. Remove garlic
cloves from skins and place cloves in a food processor or blender, add
1 tablespoon uncooked olive oil. Puree until smooth; you should have
a nice garlic paste.
For the potatoes: Cut the potatoes into large cubes. Then put the
potatoes in a large pan with sea salted cold water and place in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, bring to a boil over high heat. Cook
until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and place potatoes in a large bowl
smash with a large fork or potato masher.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large saucepan over low heat
until the butter stops foaming and begins to turn brown. Stir in the
garlic paste quickly. Add cream, season with salt and pepper, to taste,
and bring to a simmer. Turn off heat and then fold in potatoes with a
wooded spoon or whisk. Add the remaining butter one tablespoon at a
time, mixing after each addition. Adjust salt and pepper as needed.
For the shrimp topping:
2 table spoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pound cold cooked shrimp
2 garlic cloves, shaved
Sea salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
Red cayenne pepper, to taste
1 half cup tomato basil sauce
Half teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
Heat oil on medium high and add shrimp, stir and add garlic. Season
with salt, pepper, cayenne and thyme. Cook for 2 minutes and add tomato sauce. Mix and serve on top of mashed potatoes.
Steamed and sautéed string beans
Fresh string beans
Shallots, chopped
Olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper,
to taste
Steam string beans in double boiler for 5 minutes. Next, heat oil in
skillet on medium high. Add shallots, string beans, salt and pepper.
Cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Really simple and very delicious!
November 2007
BostonHaitian.com
Monument dedicated to Haitian soldiers in Savannah
By Russ Bynum
SAVANNAH, Georgia
- Haitians learn it in
school, but it is virtually
unknown in the United
States: In the American
Revolutionary War’s
bloody siege of Savannah, hundreds of Haitian
soldiers were there for
the colonies.
That contribution to
American independence
has been honored with
a monument dedicated
Oct. 8 in Savannah’s
Franklin Square. Lifesize bronze statues of
four soldiers now stand
atop a granite pillar 6
feet tall and 16 feet in
diameter.
“This is a testimony to
tell people we Haitians
didn’t come from the
boat,’’ said Daniel FilsAime, chairman of the
Miami-based Haitian
American Historical
Society, one of many
Haitian Americans who
came to Savannah for
the dedication. ``We
were here in 1779 to help
America win independence. That recognition
is overdue.’’
In October 1779, a force
of more than 500 Haitian
free blacks joined American colonists and French
troops in an unsuccessful
push to drive the British
from Savannah in coastal Georgia. More than
300 allied soldiers were
gunned down charging
British fortifications Oct.
9, making the siege the
second-most lopsided
British victory of the war
after Bunker Hill.
Haiti’s role in the
American Revolution is
a point of national pride.
After returning home
from the war, Haitian
veterans led their own
rebellion that won Haiti’s independence from
France in 1804.
“It’s a huge deal,’’
said Philippe Armand,
vice president of the Association of American
Chambers of Commerce
in Latin America, who
flew to Savannah from
the Haitian capital of
Port-au-Prince. “All
the Haitians who have
gone to school know
about it from the history
books.’’
Fils-Aime’s group has
caption
A newly unveiled monument to Haitian soldiers who fought on behalf of the American colonies in the 1779 battle of Savannah was
unveiled in that Georgian city on Monday, Oct. 8. AP photo
spent the past seven
years lobbying Savannah leaders to support
the monument, which
the city approved in
2005, and raising more
than $400,000 in private
donations to pay for it.
Fils-Aime said the
historical society still
needs $250,000 to finish
two additional soldier
statues.
As it stands now, the
monument features statues of two Haitian troops
with rifles raised on
either side of a fellow
soldier who has fallen
with a bullet wound to
his chest.
The fourth statue, a
drummer boy, depicts a
young Henri Christophe,
who served in Savannah
as an adolescent and
went on to become Haiti’s
first president — and
ultimately king — after
it won independence.
It is unclear exactly
what role Haitian troops
played in the battle at
Savannah because Haitian records from that
era were destroyed by
fire in the 1830s, said
Scott Smith, director
of Savannah’s Coastal
Heritage Society, which
was dedicating a park on
the battlefield site last
month.
But surviving records
show 545 Haitian soldiers sailed to Savannah
in 1779 — making them
the largest military unit
of the Savannah battle.
The Haitians are also
believed to have been
the largest black unit to
serve in the American
Revolution.
On the Net: HaitianAmerican Historical
Society http://www.haitianhistory.org
Nov. 10 gala benefits Haitian Multi-Service Center
By Martine Louis
Reporter Staff
Celebrating years of service to the community,
the Haitian Multi-Service Center will host its 12th
annual gala on Saturday, Nov. 10 at the UMassBoston campus center in Dorchester. Featuring live
musical performances, dinner and dancing— as well
as a silent auction of works done by local Haitian artists-- this fundraising event will help fund HMSC’s
youth services, job placement programs, elderly
social services and family support counseling.
Their goal is to prepare and assist immigrants in
their quest to build a successful life—socially and
economically — in the United States. The center
promotes community development through a “Haitians-serving-Haitians” mission, which has served
nearly 5000 individuals and families each year
mostly from Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury, Hyde
Park, Jamaica Plain communities-- as well as other
neighborhoods outside of greater Boston.
“We strive to welcome and integrate our Haitian
community,” said Riche Zamor, executive director.
“We have gotten a lot of positive feedback. People
feel this is a good thing—having the opportunity
to be able to come together and help one another
move forward.”
The gala will go from 6 p.m to 11:30 p.m. Tickets
are $100 per person in advance and $ 125 at the
door. For more information call 617-506-6600 or
e-mail Haitian_center @ccab.org
BostonHaitian.com
November 2007
Page 15
Community Health News
Mattapan woman gets to bottom of her sleep troubles
By Martine Louis
Reporter Staff
Darralle Boyd, 41, had a problem. This Mattapan
mother and school teacher would nap every chance
she got: during breaks at work, before picking up
her child from school. She would even drop off her
young daughter with relatives so she could stay
home and sleep.
“I was too exhausted to spend any time with my
child or any one else,” said Boyd. “It felt like I always
had a wet blanket over me and I was constantly dragging. My family didn’t understand it and thought I
was being lazy. I lived like this for three years before
finally deciding to seek medical attention.”
After meeting with doctors who told her she was
simply tired, Darralle met with a sleep physiatrist
who recommended a sleep study.
“They discovered that during the night I would
wake up from 87 to 97 times because my airway
would collapse and I couldn’t breath,” said Boyd.
Boyd was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea
and doctors prescribed CPAP (Continuous Positive
Airway Pressure). Darrelle would have to use the
machine nightly in order to her airway open as
she slept.
While treatment options often depend on the severity of the problem, Dr. Douglas Kirsch, Medical
Director of Sleep Health Centers at Massachusetts
Eye and Ear Infirmary, says CPAP is the most effective treatment for OSA.
“It is a device that takes air in, pressurizes it,
and then blows it into your nose and mouth. The
continuous pressure of the air acts like a splint
and keeps your airway from closing,” said Kirsch.
“It improves daytime functioning, and increases
energy levels during the day, but CPAP does not
train the airway to work better. Therefore, if you
stop using it, without making other changes, your
sleep apnea will return.”
Dr. Kirsch says society is slowly becoming more
aware of OSA and many people now know someone
who has the sleep disorder. Yet, they do not fully
understand it and ignore the symptoms, which is why
sleep physicians continually work to educate other
physicians and the public. “Obstructive sleep apnea
can cause many effects such as daytime sleepiness,
which can lead to car accidents from driving while
Immigration Q & A
drowsy,” said Kirsch. “Other consequences include
poor concentration, decreased memory function,
inadequate work performance and may also be associated with symptoms of depression.”
Sleep apnea affects some 18 million people, says
Kirsch, and can be both inherited through familyhistory obesity and developed through excessive
weight gain.
“As weight is gained the size of the airway decreases
and it becomes more difficult to breath effectively
while sleeping,” said Kirsch. “ Research evidence
suggests CPAP helps with nightly metabolism,
which may also aid in the effort to lose weight. If
significant weight loss occurs, OSA symptoms may
improve.”
Darrelle Boyd says since beginning treatment
she has become more active than she has been in
a long time.
“I spend a lot more time with my daughter, walking her to daycare, taking her to the park—having
fun,” said Boyd. “I walk to work all the time and
have even lost 30 pounds. The most amazing thing
is that I feel like my depression has lifted.”
Prepared by the Irish Immigration Centre
Warning:
Beware of Diversity Visa Scams
Q.
I’m about to apply for the latest Diversity
Visa Lottery. I heard that the application is very
complicated and that there are services available
on-line to help people with the paperwork. Can
you recommend these services? A.
No, there is no need for you to pay for
any on-line service to file your application. While
some of these services may not be scams, they do
charge you a fee for filing your application through
them. This is unnecessary. The lottery application
is free and should be done directly with the U.S.
State Department. Go to their web site at www.
travel.state.gov for an explanation of the process
and access to the electronic application form. The
IIC can help you with all aspects of the application,
including digital photo requirements. Some diver-
sity visa lottery web sites may be outright scams,
either promising to increase your odds of winning or
just taking your money and providing no service
in return. There are a great many websites referring to
the lottery. A Google search for “visa lottery”
results in over 300,000 hits - again, some perhaps
legitimate and others fraudulent. It can be difficult
to tell which is which. For example, the first website that comes up on the Google search displays
images of the American eagle and flag, the Statue
of Liberty, the U.S. Capitol, and President Bush. Only in the fine print at the bottom of the page is
there a disclaimer that the organization is not a
U.S. government agency -- which is clear in any
event because the website’s address does not end
in “.gov.” Fraudulent or not? It is difficult to say. The
website offers assistance in filing the visa application (for a fee, of course - the amount of which is
not disclosed until the applicant provides personal
information), which may be legitimate if a waste
of money. But it also strongly implies without an
overt statement that using the service increases
the odds of winning, which is impossible. So the
prudent course is to avoid all websites that sell
lottery visa application services. There is another
issue here: Some websites may not just take
your money; they also may steal your identity and
use your credit card number, etc. to rob you. This
is one more reason to stay away from commercial
on-line visa services. For a confidential consultation about this or any other aspect of immigration
law, contact the IIC at 617-542-7654 or visit one
of our legal clinics. Disclaimer: These articles are
published to inform, not to advise. Areas of law
are rapidly changing. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and US Department of State
regularly amend regulations and alter processing
and filing procedures. For legal advice seek the
assistance of an IIC immigration specialist or an
immigration attorney. Want Boston? We’ve got you covered.
The Reporter Newspapers
have been telling the
stories of Boston’s
neighborhoods since
1983. And we’re just
getting started.
Read our
publications online.
Go to
BostonHaitian.com
Reach your audience. Advertise in the Reporter. 617-436-1222 x22
November 2007
BostonHaitian.com
BostonHaitian.com
November 2007
Page 17

St. Fleur on Haiti: “We can do better”

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