Yes - Boston Haitian Reporter

Transcription

Exploring
the haitian
american
experience
BOSTONHAITIAN.COM
© copyright 2006
www.bostonhaitian.com
Boston Neighborhood News, Inc.
BOSTON HAITIAN
REPORTER
Vol. 6, Issue 9
OCTOBER 2006
FREE
Bistro gets it right in Brockton
Tamboo Bistro and lounge in downtown Brockton, shown during a recent fashion show, is something that Haitian-Americans in the Boston area have longed
for: A trendy nightspot and fusion eatery that makes us proud of our Haitian roots. Story, page 10. Image courtesy: Tamboo
Inside the Reporter
In the footsteps of the masters
The paintings of Myrtelle Chery, pictured at left, are
reminiscent of Haiti’s great self-taught masters. This month,
the Reporter’s Steve Desrosiers introduces you to one of
Haiti’s great contemporary talents. Interview, page 13.
Behind the cameras
at Tele Kreyol
Twenty years ago, a dedicated group of
volunteers brought Boston Haitian faces
out from the shadows- and into the bright
lights of a TV studio. Today,
Tele Kreyol remains an important
medium for a growing community. Page 4
Page 2
BOSTON HAITIAN REPORTER
October 2006
Local Democrats seen as uniting behind Patrick
BY PATRICK MCGROARTY
REPORTER STAFF
Following Deval Patrick’s commanding victory
in Boston and across the state in the Democratic
Primary on September 19, seasoned pundits are
re-aligning before the general election on November
7 that will pit Patrick against Republican Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, Independent business
mogul Christy Mihos, and Green-Rainbow party
candidate Grace Ross.
In Dorchester, the state delegation and City Councillor Maureen Feeney endorsed Patrick after a group
meeting on Sept. 26 in an effort to create a united
Democratic front going into the November election.
Feeney, State Sen. Jack Hart, and State Rep. Marty
Walsh had endorsed Attorney General Tom Reilly in
the primary. They joined State Rep. Linda Dorcena
Forry in endorsing Patrick on Tuesday. State Rep.
Marie St. Fleur told the Reporter last week after a
strong primary victory that she would focus on her
race against Republican challenger Althea Garrison
in the general election.
Speaking to the Reporter after an appearance with
U.S. Sen. John Kerry at UMass-Boston on Sept. 22,
Patrick said a robust grassroots network was his
key to success in city neighborhoods..
“We were not talking about just how to build a
stronger Democratic Party or a stronger liberal
wing of the Democratic Party,” said Patrick. “We
were talking about citizenship and people who had
checked out checking back in and seeing their stake
in their own and their neighbors’ futures. And that’s
about rebuilding a community and that cuts across
all kinds of political forces.”
Patrick and Kerry spent a tightly scripted halfhour speaking with UMass students and faculty
about funding for higher education in Massachusetts.
At a brief press conference following the roundtable
discussion, Kerry said that while he too differs
with Patrick on the specifics of some issues, such
as Patrick’s support of granting driver’s licenses
to illegal immigrants, he endorses Patrick’s larger
vision for the commonwealth.
But while Patrick is capitalizing on connections
to the Democratic establishment, he has also made
attempts to distance himself from “politics as usual.”
In a televised debate between the four gubernatorial
candidates on Sept. 25, Patrick said, “Most people
don’t buy 100 percent of what either party is selling.
I don’t. I think the balance people want is between
a fairly entrenched inward-looking establishment
and an outsider in the corner office- someone whose
experience is broader, who didn’t grow up in the
Beacon Hill culture.”
Local elected officials who are supporting Patrick,
like Forry, said they believe he is committed to working closely with the legislature.
“You can’t get the job done by yourself, because we
do control many of the final decisions,” said Forry.
“I think he understands that he will need to build
relationships with legislators.”
Last week, Patrick told the Reporter that he would
accept the support of any elected official or union
that had previously backed one of his democratic
challengers.
“I would be proud to have the help of anyone who
wants to help,” he said.
Bill Walczak, CEO of the Codman Square Health
Center, backed venture capitalist Chris Gabrieli
in the primary and is now co-chair of the Ward 13
committee to elect Patrick.
“The role of the Democrats at this point is make
sure Reilly voters are solid Democrats in this election and win over independents that didn’t vote,”
Walczak. “We need to come out of the city with a very
large majority in order to ensure that the Democrats
can win this.”
Forry, who also supported Patrick in the primary,
agrees.
“It would be nice to get 75 percent, 80 percent
of the vote in Dorchester,” she said. “I think it is
achievable, as we come together as a Dorchester
delegation, as we work to support Deval across the
neighborhood.”
St. Fleur wins nomination to House seat
BY PATRICK MCGROARTY
NEWS EDITOR
State Representative Marie St. Fleur cruised to
victory in a bid for re-election last month against
two Democratic challengers in Boston’s Fifth Suffolk House district, defeating her closest challenger,
minister Roy Owens, by more than 2-1. St. Fleur will
next face off against Althea Garrison a Republican
challenger, in the November 7th election.
According to unofficial election results, St. Fleur
accrued 56 percent of the vote on Sept. 19 while
Owens earned 26 percent and MBTA bus driver
Severiano Cruz took 17 percent.
It has been a trying year, politically and personally, for St. Fleur, and she said on election night that
she felt grateful that her constituents had chosen
to return her to the State House.
“I think the district has spoken for itself,” she said.
“They want to send me back for two more years.”
In January, St. Fleur’s fleeting bid to run for Lieutenant Governor alongside then-Democratic front
runner Tom Reilly disintegrated amid revelations
that she had serious tax and student loan debt.
The night before the primary election, St. Fleur
made an unscheduled appearance at an Old Time
Political Rally in Dorchester’s Adams Corner. Candidates from the Fifth Suffolk were not formally invited
to speak because the district does not include Ward
16, where the rally was held. But the contingent of
Dorchester representatives with a piece of Ward 16
who are running unopposed this fall (State Senator
Jack Hart, State Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry and
State Rep. Martin Walsh) opted to share their time
onstage and used the opportunity to stand together
for St. Fleur.
St. Fleur used her impromptu speech to thank
residents in the Fifth Suffolk for their support.
“Thank you for your thoughts, thank you for your
prayers, thank you for sticking with me, because
believe it or not, some of us do work for a living,
some of us do experience hard times and the bottom line is we are a neighborhood that gets up and
keeps moving,” she said.
In an interview on Tuesday evening, St. Fleur
said she would take some time to enjoy her victory
before beginning her campaign against Garrison,
a former State Rep. and perennial candidate, and
considering her role in supporting the Democratic
campaign for governor.
“I can tell you all I’m gonna do is savor the moment,” she said.
In another contested state rep’s race in the city.
Willie Mae Allen, 69, a neighborhood activist and
retired mayoral aide, won a narrow victory in a
race to fill the Sixth Suffolk State Representative
seat that will be vacated by Shirley Owens-Hicks
when she retires at the end of this term. Allen beat
former Boston Police Deputy Superindendent William Celester, 63, who spent two years in prison for
fraud after a six-year tenure as a police chief in New
Jersey. Allen bested Celester by 400 votes.
The state’s other Haitian-American legislator,
Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry (D-Dorchester), is not
opposed in this fall’s elections.
Candidates for Governor – General Elections November 7th 2006
Candidate
1. How would you represent the needs and
opportunities of non-citizen taxpayers,
regardless of their immigration status?
Did not respond to survey
Kerry Healey
Republican
617-523-0844
www.healeycommittee.com
Did not respond to survey
Christy Mihos
Independent
617-399-2244
www.christy2006.com
Deval Patrick
Democrat
617-367-2006
www.devalpatrick.com
Grace Ross
Green Rainbow
508-754-3505
www.graceandmartina.org
Immigrant rights- just like civil rights – are a matter of
fundamental fairness and decency. A central tenet of the
American experiment is the ability of people to come to this
country in search of a better life, and to build that better
future.
I therefore specifically support the reform legislation
proposed by Senators Kennedy and McCain. My focus as
Governor will be on helping all people get and keep good
jobs, be assured quality public education and gain access
to affordable, safe, high quality health care.
We believe in the same rights and protections for all
residents of the state. Programs should serve all residents
equally and we would create the necessary state programs
to supplement federally-restricted ones. Our goal is a state
that honors and benefits from the full particiaption of all
residents and from the strengths that only the full rainbow of
cultural heritages of all people and communities can bring.
2 Would you allow
3. Do you support
the expansion of
English Classes
and Adult Basic
Education
programs?
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Massachusetts
immigrant students
to pay in-state tuition
rates at public
colleges and
universities?
“I think it’s wrong to
give in-state tuition to
illegal immigrants and
I will continue to
oppose that.”
WFXT/ Boston Herald
Debate, 9/25/06
“Mihos [is] opposed to
granting in-state
college tuition to illegal
immigrants and
granting driver's
licenses to illegal
immigrants.” Cape
Cod Times, 9/26/06
Graduates from our
high schools should
be entitled and
encouraged to pursue
higher education in
MA at favorable tuition
rates, regardless of
immigration status.
I have already lobbied
legislators in support
of such legislation.
4. Do you support state troopers enforcing
immigration law? (For example: Asking
drivers or victims of crime for their
immigration status)
Yes
“Our administration has already begun the process of
training our state police officers and working with the
INS so that they can, when they make a stop,
determine whether somebody is in the country legally
and if they are not, take them into custody and turn
them over into the proper federal authorities.” - WFXT/
Boston Herald Debate, 9/25/06
Yes
“One of the first bills I will pass is I believe anybody
riding around without a license, without a registration,
without insurance, I want to change that from a
misdemeanor to a felony. We've got to secure our
borders and yes, I will ask the state police to enforce
that, I will ask them to work with INS at that point” WFXT/ Boston Herald Debate, 9/25/06
No
No. The MA State Police have enough to do already
…without trying to enforce federal law, too. A more
constructive approach would be to support the
balanced legislation proposed by Senators McCain and
Kennedy in the Congress (and) to enforce our own
state laws concerning the employment of fully
documented workers.
No
We oppose local and state police acting as
immigration agents. Federal agents alone are
responsible for enforcing immigration laws and we
would use the governor’s office to oppose punitive
national policy reform however possible.
Candidates’ responses are answers to MIRA questionnaire unless otherwise noted. Question 3 responses were given at a Skillworks Forum on 6/29/06. The MIRA Coalition does not endorse any one party or candidate. This
document is intended solely for information and public education purposes, and is not intended to advocate for or against any candidate. For more information please visit www.miracoalition.org, or call (617) 350-5480 ext 206.
GENERAL ELECTION
Tuesday, November 7th
7 a.m.—8 p.m.
Where Do I Vote?
Massachusetts Secretary of State
800-462-8683
Visit: www.wheredoivotema.com
Need More Info?
Call: 617-350-5480 ext 206
Visit: www.miracoalition.org
October 2006
Page 3
New facility to help Brockton health center expand mission
BY SASHA LINK
SPECIAL TO THE REPORTER
If you have ever walked down Main Street in Brockton, you have most likely noticed people resting on
the sidewalk- some are homeless. That same group
constitutes a large percentage of people that are in
need of assistance. Which raises the question, what
kind of services are offered in the city of Brockton,
considering it is one of the larger Metropolis’s in
the Southeast area?
The answer is this: Brockton is filled with a handful of resources that cater to the needs of the people.
The Brockton Neighborhood Health Center (BNHC)
is one of those resources. Developed in the early
1990s and historically operating as a mobile medical
service, today BNHC is known for its solid history of
providing good health care, job opportunities, health
education and services to the community.
Now, the health center expects to expand on that
mission through a new facility which in now being
built in the heart of Brockton.
The health center received a great amount of
support from investors, donors, community leaders
and city officials. The Goddard Foundation gave a
generous gift of $1 million dollars to support this
endeavor.
“An investment in the BNHC is an investment in
the quality of life [in] our community,” said Maria
Unda, Executive Director of the Goddard Foundation.
The HarborOne Credit Union pledged to donate
$50,000 for the next five years to support the construction of a new, state-of-the-art, 58,000 square
foot facility.
“In 2004, the center provided care for over 15,000
people,” said James McCarthy, Board Chairman.
“This new centralized facility will continue to meet
the growing needs for quality health services.”
Today in 2006, BNHC is expanding just for that
reason: to make room for the growing services the
health center has to offer.
“Enlarging space will allow staff to treat more
patients, more room for quality equipment and more
privacy for patients,” said McCarthy.
Whether you are Haitian, Latino, African American or Portuguese—all are welcome. The mission of
BNHC is simply to provide high-quality health care,
adequate education and health orientated resources
A new state-of-the-art health center facility, depcited above, is now being built in downtown Brockton.
The ground-floor of the building will include space for a independent pharmacy.
to those in need.
Current services at the clinic include physical examinations, vaccinations, blood pressure screening,
routine doctor’s office visits, treatments of minor conditions, referrals to specialists, evaluation of health
conditions and family planning to list a few.
“The heath center is going to be an economic
boon for the community,” said Brockton Mayor
James Harrington during a recent groundbreaking
ceremony.
The new facility will be five stories high with
expected expansion of 210 employees.
Even before its expansion, the health center
has proven itself to be an asset to the community,
partnering with organizations like the Main Spring
Coalition, a community-based organization designed
to meet the needs of homeless individuals and
families, through education and financial support.
Three times a week, people are provided a space
within the Main Spring house to meet with a nurse
practitioner from BNHC.
“This is our collaborative effort for individuals
who come in, mostly a homeless population, who
usually don’t have access to any of these services”
said Ann Marie Polk, Director of Services at the
MainSpring House.
In addition, programs like The United Voices, a
Cape Verdean teen group was developed to reach
out to the teens within the city.
“We’re trying to reach out to as many teens as we
can, to teach them the effects of drugs and alcohol,
teen pregnancy and HIV/AIDS,” said Amelia Montrond outreach worker for BNHC.
Programs like these are an important parts of
BNHC’s services, all of which are expected to expand
with the new facility, which will be under construction starting this month.
Page 4
Reporter’s
October 2006
Men Nou
News about people
making moves in & around
our community
After 20 years, volunteers still keep Tele Kreyol on the air
BY YOLETTE IBOKETTE
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Tele Kreyol, the Haitian community’s public
access television station,
is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. It’s
success shouldn’t come
as a surprise, however,
with individuals such as
Wilner Auguste, Charlot
Lucien, Pierre-Paul Joas
and others providing
selfless and dedicated
service to our community.
To truly appreciate
Tele Kreyol’s contributions, one has to go way
back to the early 1980s
and the Boston-based
Family Interaction Circle group. It began meeting during that time to
bring Haitian parents
together to share their
experiences and challenges in Boston.
Wilner Auguste, Tele
Kreyol’s executive director, recalls, “We began meeting on Sunday
nights in the basements
of St. Matthews’ and St.
Angela’s churches.” The
group organized family
outings as well as conferences where doctors,
priests and pastors were
invited to come and talk
to families.
When the group - which
included trailblazers
such as Joel Doutre,
Eunice Brutus, Jonel
Dalexis, Daniel Auguste,
Jean-Claude Charlet
and others -learned that,
with some training, they
can have a television
program that can reach
even more families, Tele
Kreyol was born. It also
satisfied the need for
news from Haiti after the
fall of Jean-Claude Duvalier. With the pioneering Jean-Claude Sanon
at its helm, Tele Kreyol’s
initial mission was to
educate Haitian families
and children as well as
provide counseling to
couples. Later, immigration, social development
and economic programs
were added.
Secular
and religious music as
well as news from Haiti
served to attract viewers
who were then provided
with information on
family, health and other
important issues.
Community empowerment was and continues
to be an important aspect
of the programming at
Tele Kreyol. For the past
20 years, the station has
received many accolades
for its work in the com-
The Mattapan CDC
Asks you to join us to
celebrate our 10th Anniversary
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
6:00 PM - 9:30 PM
Milton Hoosic Club
193 Central Ave.
Milton, MA 02186
Dinner & Silent Auction
The Tele Kreyol team in the Roxbury studio.
munity. For example, in
June 1996, it received
numerous community
and media awards to
commemorate its 10th
year anniversary. Additionally, in June 2005,
Tele Kreyol received
the Best Television Programming
Award by the Haitian
American Media Association of Massachusetts. While the station’s
original target audience
was Kreyol speakers, its
programs aren’t limited
to that audience. About
80% of the programs are
conducted in Kreyol, 15%
are in English, usually
with non-Haitian guests
or youth, and about 3-5%
of the programs are in
Special Guest Appearances by
National Recording Artist
Andre Ward & Mattapan Trio
Honoree Paul Parks
Invitation to follow.
For more information,
sponsorship opportunities
and to purchase tickets,
please call Mattapan CDC.
617-296-2000
Haitian Multi-Service Center
2006-2007 Lecture Series
Wednesday, October 11, 2006, 7 p.m.
“The Cape Verdean Immigrant Experience”
Presented by Maria Coutinho, PhD Student, Boston College
In this lecture, Coutinha will primarily focus on Cape Verdean women, gender role attitudes, and
acculturation. There will also be a brief discussion of Cape Verdean racial identity development.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006, 6 p.m.
“Haiti and its Culture: How Did We Get Here”
Presented by Charlot Lucien, Haitian Creole “Kreyol” Cultural Griot
Lucien will discuss the history, culture, and artwork of Haiti, and how it has evolved over time.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006, 5 p.m.
“The United States and Haiti: Our Effort to Promote Democracy and Justice”
Presented by Erica Caple-James, Assistant Professor, MIT Anthropology Program
Caple-James’s presentation will focus on the United States’ policy toward Haiti, and its effort to
promote democracy, justice, and reparations.
Catholic Charities Haitian Multi-Service Center at the Yawkey Center
185 Columbia Road . Dorchester, MA 02121 . 617-506-6600 . www.ccab.org
French.
Tele Kreyol’s current
programs- aired on channel 23 in Boston’s cable
system- also cater to the
needs and interests of
the Haitian community.
Attorney Harvey Bazile
focuses on legal issues
while Pierre-Paul Joas
doubles as program announcer and host, providing guidance on business and economic matters. Similarly, Charlot
Lucien’s “Tete-a-Tete”
and “Les Dossiers de
L’Heure sur L’Ecran” (On
the Screen: Hot Topics
of the Hour) segments
inform on community as
well as cultural and political matters. Dr. Eno
Mondesir also provides
much-needed information on health issues that
concern the community.
An education program,
hosted by Oreste Joseph,
is temporarily off the air.
Furthermore, in order to
help voters prepare for
the upcoming elections,
Tele Kreyol’s Charlot
Lucien will air two shows
this month that will
focus on gubernatorial
issues such as immigration and taxes.
Tele Kreyol has no
physical location. The
programs are recorded
at BNN (Boston Neighborhood Network) TV
which is located on Warren Street. It can take
as many as 20 hours to
coordinate and produce
a one-hour show. In addition, since its creation
in 1986, due to lack of
funds, the station has
never had paid employees. Volunteer producers
and technicians have
always been its backbone. Yet life is not easy
life for these individuals
who have to juggle their
job obligations, families
and other commitments
to keep the programs on
the air.
While Tele Kreyol has
no reliable source of funding, it does have many
expenses. It doesn’t
pay for the studio space
or the training at BNN;
however, it must pay an
annual, organizational
membership fee of $250.
Producers and technicians also need basic
supplies such as tapes,
recorders, DVDs, etc.
Further, these individuals have to spend their
own monies for gas,
meals and other items.
In order to become more
efficient and continue to
provide quality programs,
Tele Kreyol will also need
to upgrade its technology.
“We’d like Tele Kreyol
to be in the forefront
when it comes to the latest in technology,” says
Auguste. “ We don’t want
to be behind.”
Since this is public
access television, commercials are not allowed.
Therefore, it’s difficult to
get sponsors to help with
funding. The station
incurs additional costs
because its programs are
also shown in the following cities: Newton,
Malden, Medford, Everett, Cambridge, Lynn,
Waltham, and parts of
Rhode Island.
Lack of funding has, of
course, had a negative impact on the programming
offerings. For example,
for the past two years,
the station has been unable to offer news reports
from Haiti. Tele Kreyol
relies on occasional, small
donations to survive. If it
could secure consistent
and reliable funding, the
station would recruit and
train more volunteers, do
more in-depth reporting
on various topics, produce
documentaries, etc. The
programs’ hosts do ask
viewers to help support
the station financially,
but their pleas have fallen
mainly on deaf ears.
Tele Kreyol had a board
of directors at one time,
but it currently has none
to guide and lead it.
Auguste hopes they can
create one in the future
or share the board of another organization. In the
meantime, its awesome
team of volunteers perseveres. Charlot Lucien’s
“Tete-a-Tete” program
has tackled issues such
as: housing, education,
immigration, health, politics and others. His “Les
Dossiers de L’Heure sur
L’Ecran probes more complex issues with invited
guests for 45 minutes to
one hour. One of these
programs featured four
women who compared
the plight of women here
in the United States and
Haiti.
“I love the freedom that
I have to cover any topic
that I want and to invite
any guest that I want,”
says Lucien. “I also have
a need to give back to the
community. I can’t be in
Haiti to help but feel I’m
still helping my country
through this work. This
eases my conscience.”
Pierre-Paul Joas who
announces all the programs also produces and
hosts shows that address
retirement plans; the
need for budgeting; credit
card debt, which is a huge
problem in our community, and other topics of
interest. Using his experience as a mortgage broker,
he also provides financial
advice to his audience.
Joas, who doesn’t hesitate to close his business to work for Tele
Kreyol, believes that
the Haitian community
needs leadership and
guidance. He points to
the class problem that
continues to plague the
community even in this
country.
“The community has
needs. Yet many professionals are hiding and
not offering their muchneeded services. We
need to unite instead
of criticize each other,”
Joas says.
Wilner Auguste appreciates these individuals and all others,
past and present, who
have made the station
so successful. He has a
lot of praise for BNN’s
Curtis Henderson for
training his staff and
supporting them along
the way. When asked
what he’s most proud
of during the past 20
years, he cites their
ability to mobilize the
community around the
AIDS issue to demand
that the government
remove Haitians from
the groups that spreads
the disease. Auguste is
also proud that Haitian
Heritage Month began
inside Tele Kreyol.
“It’s now celebrated
during the month of
May in New York, Florida, New Jersey and
other places,” Auguste
says. “We Haitians
have a month to celebrate our accomplishments, culture and
history.”
In the future, Auguste
plans to rename one of
the current programs,
Haitian community TV,
to cover everything that
takes place in the community. He would also
like to see more people
express interest in community television so
they can have more
volunteers, especially
the youth. Tele Kreyol
had a program specifically targeting young
people, but it was eliminated because they
couldn’t find youngsters
to host and produce it.
He concedes, “Some of
us are getting old and
may have to retire soon.
The younger folks could
replace us and continue
the work. They’ll have
one hour to voice their
opinions, problems, issues and concerns.” In
addition, if the station
continues to operate on
little funding, it may
have to close down.
Auguste continues,
“The community has
to step up too and support us. After all, it’s a
community station that
covers many events in
the community.”
Tele Kreyol is aired
in Boston on Thursday
from 8-9 p.m. on 23; and
on Fridays at 9 a.m.
October 2006
Page 5
Patrick’s struggle, ideas makes him best candidate for us
BY YOLETTE IBOKETTE
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Not only is the 2006 gubernatorial
race shaping up to be an exciting
one, it’s also historic. For the first
time in Massachusetts history, an
African-American individual and a
woman are the two top candidates for
the highest office in this state. The
Democrat, Deval L. Patrick, who is black, won the
primary election by a wide margin and defeated his
very well-funded rivals: Chris Gabrieli and Thomas
Reilly. The Republican, Kerry Healy, ran unopposed.
Two other candidates, Independent Christy Mihos
and Green party candidate Grace Ross, will also
appear on the November 7th ballot.
Next month, Haitian-Americans will have an
opportunity to vote for someone who will make a
real difference in their lives. Therefore, those of
us who are not registered to vote need to do so immediately- the deadline to register is Wednesday,
October 18.
It’s understandable that many Haitian-Americans
have difficulty believing in the power of the vote.
After all, a number of us were born and grew up
under dictatorial governments in Haiti. Indeed,
it’s a huge accomplishment that some of us actually
vote. However, more of us need to participate in
elections in order to make sure we elect individuals
who will help us improve our lives and the lives of
our children.
Many of us cynically believe that we don’t have a
stake in this election. Nothing can be further from
the truth. Haitian-Americans probably have more
at stake than most citizens of Massachusetts. Many
in our community work two or three low-paying
jobs to survive. In these jobs, they can’t afford to
be sick or take time off to care for their sick kids.
These people also can’t take time off to visit their
kids’ schools or pay for health and dental insurance
for themselves and their families.
In addition, many Haitian-Americans who graduated from college and/or worked in professional
positions in Haiti find themselves working as dishwashers or nursing assistants in this state. Of the
two major party candidates for governor, only one
can identify with the challenges faced by HaitianAmerican families: Deval L. Patrick.
As a boy in Chicago, Patrick watched his mother
work in similar low-paying jobs and struggle to
support her family. Patrick will work to create better-paying jobs with good benefits. He’ll also create
quality literacy and job-training programs as well as
plenty of English-as -second-language classes.
Additionally, one of the biggest challenges that
families experience in this state is lack of safe,
affordable housing. Unless a family qualifies for
public housing, it’s really difficult to afford a decent
apartment in a safe neighborhood. As a child in
Chicago, Patrick lived in such depressing conditions.
Therefore, he will create more safe and affordable
apartment and public housing units where parents
won’t be afraid to let their kids play outside.
Recent news reports have revealed that Boston
is now less safe than New York City. We hear of
another shooting or stabbing almost every other
day. While the violence is sometimes related to
gang activity, it’s also often random. Furthermore,
Boston youth admit that guns are easily accessible
to them. Patrick will work to curb the violence in
our cities and towns, take the guns off the streets
and give gang members hope for a better life.
More and more Haitian-American youth are joining gangs. One reason is because they’re dropping
out of school. Studies consistently show that academically, black kids continue to lag behind whites
and Asians. Poor and minority kids seem to get
the untrained and inexperienced teachers. They
also seem to be in the schools that are falling apart
and lack the necessary materials and supplies that
teachers need to teach effectively. Many of our children also seem to be in the schools with large class
sizes; the schools that can no longer offer music, art
and gym, let alone after-school programs. Patrick
will work to level the playing field for our children.
He knows the importance of a quality education.
After all, that’s what saved his life and made him
the success that he is today.
Many Haitian-American youngsters in this state
graduate from high school and want to pursue higher
education. Unfortunately, they can’t do so because
it’s too expensive, and they lack legal status to qualify
for in-state tuition. Patrick will support in-state
tuition for our youth because he knows it’s unjust
to penalize them for their parents’ actions.
Haitian-Americans must not only vote in the coming general election but also work to elect Patrick.
There are many ways to help get him elected: Donate
to his campaign. Any amount you can afford, even
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Deval Patrick campaigned alongside State Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry
at a Roslindale rally on Sept. 20, 2006. Photo by Don West.
$5 will be appreciated. Volunteer even 30 minutes
of your time to help at his campaign office. Talk to
friends, family members as well as co-workers and
encourage them to vote for Patrick. If they’re not
registered to vote, help them do so.
Don’t’ forget: The deadline to register is October
18th for those who plan on voting on November 7th.
Call your local Haitian radio station and discuss
how Patrick will help our community.If we all get
out there and vote on November 7th, Patrick won’t
be the only one who wins.
•••
As your child returns to school, here are some
suggestions to help her have a successful and safe
year:
• The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests
that young children have a responsible adult to get
them ready for school in the morning and to watch
them after school. Eleven and twelve-year-olds
should not come to an empty house after school
unless they’re very mature for their age. Give your
child a set time when they’re expected to get home,
and have them check in with a neighbor or a parent by phone.
• If your child is in an after-school program, ask
about the training of the staff. Make sure there’s
a high staff-to-child ratio, and the rooms and playground should be safe.
• Youngsters need a work space in their room
or another part of the home that offers privacy to
study and do homework. Allow plenty of time for
homework. Those Haitian parents who take their
kids to church at night should make sure that their
children do homework beforehand.
• The television set should not be turned on during the school week, and kids should definitely not
have one in their rooms.
• While you can help your child with homework,
never do the homework for him.
• If your child’s teacher or principal complains to
you about her, don’t panic or get defensive. Work
with the school staff to help your child.
• Attend parent conferences and meetings to
learn about your child’s performance. This shows
you care about him.
• Finally, don’t discipline your child by hitting
her. It’s imperative that parents find some alternate
forms of discipline, like withholding privileges such
as favorite toys, games or activities temporarily.
Yolette Ibokette’s column appears monthly in the
Reporter.
Page 6
October 2006
Teen, whose face had massive growth, smiles in public
BY JENNIFER KAY MIAMI- A Haitian teen
who once hid her grossly
distorted face, even from
her doctor, was not afraid
to dance last week.
When Marlie Casseus
arrived in Miami in
December, a 16-pound
tumor-like growth had
stretched her facial features so far apart that
only her eyes, nostrils
and a single tooth were
recognizable.
Though her lower lip
now hangs open, causing her to drool slightly,
the 15-year-old smiled
broadly and shimmied
at reporters and television cameras. Without
music, she stood on her
own, held up her arms
and shook them and her
hips back and forth.
Once she recovers from
another surgery next
month, she will learn
to swallow and speak
again.
``Marlie is very happy
now. She is happy to
see the face now,’’ Maleine Antoine, the teen’s
mother, said in English
she has learned since
coming to Florida with
her daughter.
Surgeons removed the
massive growth, narrowed the separation
between her eyes and
lips and rebuilt the interior of her nose and
jaw in three surgeries
in the past year at Holtz
Children’s Hospital.
A reconstructive surgery to reshape a titanium plate previously
implanted in her jaw,
scheduled Oct. 5, will be
her last for now, said Dr.
Jesus Gomez, a maxillofacial surgeon at the University of Miami Miller
School of Medicine.
`Ìn the future she’s going to look like a normal
person,’’ Gomez said.
The series of surgeries
have progressively flattened Marlie’s cheeks,
centered her eyes and
defined her nose. Her
face is still elongated and
slightly asymmetrical,
and Gomez said she will
likely need additional
cosmetic surgeries once
she stops growing.
Marlie suffers from
a rare form of polyostotic fibrous dysplasia,
a nonhereditary, genetic
disease that causes bone
to swell and become jelly
like. The growth began
about six years ago,
and eventually prevented Marlie from eating,
breathing or speaking on
her own. Doctors in Haiti
gave her no hope to live,
Antoine said.
The teen, who wore
a Disney Cinderella
T-shirt and ribbons in
the braids in her hair,
breathes on her own but
cannot speak because of
a tube implanted in her
windpipe for surgery.
She also still has a feeding tube.
Doctors will continue
to monitor her condition, but the lesion that
deformed her face is not
expected to grow back
once she completes puberty, Gomez said.
The hospital’s International Kids Fund, which
seeks to provide medical
care for needy children
from around the world,
is asking for donations
to continue Marlie’s care.
The Haitian nonprofit
Good Samaritan for a
Better Life helped bring
the teen to the United
States.``Marlie is not
finished yet,’’ Antoine
said. ``Help me to finish
Marlie.’’ (AP)
Lawmakers propose new force to tackle insecurity
BY STEVENSON
JACOBS
PORT-AU-PRINCE
- Legislators have proposed creating a new
security force to bolster
Haiti’s outgunned police
- raising the possibility
of reinstating the Caribbean country’s notorious
and disbanded military,
an official said on Sept.
26.
The force would be
trained by Haitian and
foreign security experts,
and could take control of
guarding the country’s
coasts and it’s porous
border with the Dominican Republic, said
Sen. Youri Latortue,
president of the Senate
commission on public
safety.
``Haiti needs a force
to be able to protect the
country,’’ Latortue told
The Associated Press in
an interview. ``We think
that it’s the first step
in (restoring) security
because if our borders
aren’t protected, anyone
can come to Haiti and do
what they want.’’
Funds to study the new
force were included in
a draft national budget
agreed upon by lawmakers this week, Latortue
said. President Rene
`We think that it’s the first step
in (restoring) security because
if our borders aren’t protected,
anyone can come to Haiti and
do what they want.’’
- Sen. Youri Latortue
Preval must approve the
budget before sending it
back to Parliament for a
final vote expected later
this week.
Daily kidnappings,
killings and other violence has fueled debate
over the need for a security force to support Haiti’s ill-equipped police,
which has 4,000 officers
to serve a population of
8 million.
An 8,800-strong U.N.
peacekeeping force currently provides the only
real security in the impoverished nation, which
is still reeling from a
violent uprising that
toppled former President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
in February 2004.
Latortue, the nephew
and former security chief
of ex-interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue,
said he and other colleagues support a new
force to replace Haiti’s
demobilized military,
although other lawmakers have said they favor a
national police force.
Aristide dismantled
the military in 1995,
after a U.S. military
intervention restored
him to power following
the 1991 coup that first
ousted him.
The 1990-1994 military
coup regime is blamed
for the murders, rapes,
maimings and torture
of thousands of Aristide
supporters, and today’s
former soldiers include
convicted murderers.
Latortue said anyone convicted of human
rights abuses should be
barred from joining any
future security force.
``We are not going to
have people who violated
human rights in the past.
We are going to have
some new elements,’’ said
Latortue, who has denied
alleged links to drug and
arms trafficking.
The government offered no immediate reaction to the proposed force.
Before taking power in
May, Preval expressed
support for creating a
police force similar to
that of France’s national
force, but stopped short
of saying he would favor
reinstating the armed
forces.
(AP)
Former army colonel accused
in coup plots gunned down
PORT-AU-PRINCE - A
former army commander
twice accused of plotting
to overthrow Haiti’s
government was shot
to death in an upscale
suburb of the capital,
police said Sept. 15. ExCol. Guy Francois was
killed Thursday night,
said judiciary police chief
Michael Lucius. Police
have no motive or suspects in the killing.
Francois’s body was
found slumped behind
the wheel of his car in
Petionville, a wealthy
neighborhood in the
hills overlooking Portau-Prince, radio Kiskeya
reported. Francois, who
is the brother of Dr. M.
Rony Francois, Florida’s
health secretary, was
accused of helping plot
a December 2001 attack that then President
said was an attempted
coup. Francois spent
two years in prison for
his alleged role despite
maintaining his innocence.
In 1989, Francois,
then commander of the
feared Dessalines Battalion in Port-au-Prince,
was accused of conspiring with other officers
in a failed attempt to
topple dictator Lt. Gen.
Prosper Avril. After the
plot was foiled, Francois
fled to Venezuela and
returned to Haiti some
time after.
Separately, the U.S.
announced a $492 mil-
lion aid package aimed at
putting Haiti on a path
to stability and lifting its
stagnant economy.
The funds, to be disbursed over three years,
will address Haiti’s
`ènormous economic
challenges’’ by creating jobs, increasing access to health care and
education and fighting
HIV/AIDS, said U.S.
Ambassador Janet A.
Sanderson.
Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, is struggling to
recover from a bloody
2004 rebel uprising that
toppled then-President
and pushed the country
deeper into despair.
(AP)
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October 2006
Page 7
Haiti eligible for debt-relief under IMF program
SINGAPORE - Haiti
is eligible for debt-relief
under an International
Monetary Fund program, a fund official
said.
The fund’s executive
board earlier this month
in a debt sustainability
analysis determined that
the country was eligible
for assistance, Takatoshi
Kato, deputy managing
director of the fund, said
in a statement released
on Sept. 18.
The release didn’t say
how much debt relief
the country may receive. Haiti, the poorest
country in the Western
Hemisphere, has long
suffered from oppression
and instability and been
plagued by near constant
political turmoil the past
two decades.
The Caribbean country is struggling to recover from a bloody
2004 rebel uprising that
toppled then-President
and pushed the country
deeper into despair.
The board cited Haiti’s
Official: Brazilians to stay in
Haiti at least another year
BY MYRNA DOMIT
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WRITER
PORT-AU-PRINCE,
Haiti (AP) - Brazil will
keep its troops in Haiti
for at least another year
before deciding whether
to pull out of a U.N.
peacekeeping force sent
to stabilize the troubled
Caribbean nation, Brazil’s foreign minister said
Sept. 21.
Celso Amorim said the
length of the mission of
the 1,050 soldiers currently deployed in Haiti
will depend on how fast
the impoverished nation can rebuild its illequipped police force.
``How long will depend
less on a time scale but
more on our capacity to
help Haiti to develop its
own forces and its own
police,’’ Amorim told
reporters after meeting
with President Rene
Preval.
`Òne year will be
certainly in our consideration,’’ Amorim said.
``When that time goes
we will reevaluate the
situation.’’
A Brazil-led U.N.
peacekeeping force arrived in 2004 to quell
unrest after a violent
uprising ousted former
President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, currently in exile in South Africa.
The U.N. Security
Council recently extended the force’s mandate
for another six months.
However, it could take
Haiti years to rebuild its
battered police force, in
which 4,000 officers currently serve the nation’s
8 million people. Experts
say up to 10 times more
officers are needed.
Police are also limited
by a 15-year-old U.S.
arms embargo banning
weapons sales to Haiti,
often leaving them outgunned by gangs operating in dense slums.
Amorim said the embargo was needed to ``be
sure weapons don’t fall
into the wrong hands,’’
and predicted it would
not hinder Preval, who
took power in May and
has pledged to restore
order.
``When he is firmly
established in power it
will be easier to control
the criminal gangs and
facilitate the purchase of
weapons for the Haitian
police,’’ he said.
A World Bank report
last week included Haiti
in a list of about two
dozen countries at risk
of collapsing because of
conflict, poverty and bad
governance. (AP)
Haiti beats St. Lucia on
road to Gold Cup
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) - Jean Jacques Jamil
and Jean Baptiste Fritzson scored twice each to
give Haiti a 7-1 victory over St. Lucia on Sept. 29
and virtually guarantee it of a place in the second
round of the Caribbean Cup and CONCACAF Gold
Cup qualifying. Haiti’s victory gave it six points atop
qualifying group D, having outscored its opponents
11-1 in two games.
Jamaica, with three points, played St. Vincent,
which lost to Haiti in its opener, in a later game.
The top two teams from each of the six first-round
groups advance.
Jamil scored in fourth and 14th minutes, the latter
on a penalty, to put Haiti ahead 2-0, while Fritzson
added his goals in the 17th and 82nd minutes. Mones
Chery scored in the 42nd minute, Fabrice Neol in
63rd and Josue Mayard in the 80th for the Haitians.
St. Lucia played with 10 men after the 14th minute
when John-Perry Joseph was ejected for a foul on
Fritzson that resulted in Jamil’s penalty.
St. Lucia got a consolation goal in the 91st minute
when Germal Valcin converted a penalty after Titus
Elva was brought down in the area by Haitian goalkeeper Fenelon Gabart, who was red carded. (AP)
``satisfactory track record’’ under an emergency assistance program
from 2004-2006, said the
statement.
``They welcomed the
new government’s commitment to policies
aimed at sustaining
macroeconomic stability
and creating conditions
for sustainable growth,’’
Kato said of the IMF
board.
The board members
said that Haiti continues
to face ``daunting challenges, particularly in
the areas of security, social conditions, and sustained income growth,’’
according to Kato.
The directors encouraged Haiti to continue
efforts ``to enhance
governance, strengthen
public institutions, promote private-sector led
growth, and to orient
public expenditure and
the budget toward poverty-reducing activities.’’
Kato also called for
continued macroeconomic, structural, and
social reforms. (AP)
Page 8
October 2006
Commentary
Apre Bal, Tanbou Lou (after the ball, the drum is heavy)
BY BRIAN CONCANNON, JR.
The World Bank, the International Monetary
Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank
(known as the International Financial Institutions
or IFIs) helped finance
the balls of the dictatorships of Francois and
Jean-Claude Duvalier
(1957-1986), and now
it is Haiti’s poor who
are having to carry the
heavy drum. The IFIs
provided the Duvaliers
with generous loans,
with a ten year grace
period on repayments.
And now Haiti’s democratic government is
paying the banks over
$60 million a year,
money that could be
better spent developing infrastructure and
saving lives.
The IFIs were established after World War II, to promote global
financial stability (IMF), and economic growth and
poverty reduction (World Bank and IDB) through
outright grants as well as loans. Unfortunately,
some of these programs, especially the loans, have
in practice aggravated poverty, financial instability,
unemployment and other problems that the IFIs
were created to combat.
Human rights advocates have identified two types
of IFI debt that should not be repaid: onerous debt
and odious debt. Onerous debt is one that a poor
country simply cannot afford to repay without making life unacceptably difficult for its citizens. Odious debt is from loans given to a corrupt or brutal
government that did not help the average citizen.
Haiti’s foreign debt is now almost $1.4 billion, most
of it is odious, all is onerous.
The drum is especially heavy when the people carrying it were not invited to the ball. Almost half- 45%of Haiti’s current debt- is for loans granted to “Papa
Doc” and “Baby Doc” Duvalier. For nearly thirty
years, the Duvaliers diverted hundreds of millions
of dollars from loans and other foreign assistance
into their pockets and those of their allies, for grand
balls, extravagant European shopping, and financing of the infamous tonton macoutes, who terrorized
Haiti’s population. Jean-Claude Duvalier’s first
Lady, Michele Bennet, injected more than $20,000
in the New York economy in one weekend. While
most Haitians went without a single light bulb, at
the National Palace parties the air-conditioning was
turned up high enough for Michele and her friends
to comfortably wear their fur coats.
The IFI’s and the U.S. government, which had and
still has the largest voice in the IFIs, knew what the
Duvaliers were doing with the loans. They protested
the corruption and brutality and threatened sanctions if the Duvaliers did not stop. But they never
cut off support for the regime. The U.S. and the IFIs
felt that they could not push the Duvaliers too far,
because Haiti played a key role in the isolation of
Cuba. The two countries are 50 miles apart at the
closest point, and Haiti’s poverty was considered a
potential breeding ground for communism. When
called upon, Haiti delivered an important anti-
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)
Edward W. Forry, Associate Publisher
William P. Forry, Managing Editor
Steve Desrosiers, Contributing Editor
Yolette Ibokette, Contributing Editor
Jack Conboy, Advertising Manager
Richardson Innocent, Advertising/Sales
News Room Phone : (617) 436-1222
Advertising : (617) 436-2217
E-mail: [email protected]
Boston Haitian Reporter Reporter is not liable for errors appearing in
advertisements beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error.
The right is reserved by Boston Haitian Reporter to edit,
reject or cut any copy without notice.
Next Issue: November 2006
Next edition’s Deadline: Monday, October 23 at 4 p.m.
All contents © Copyright 2006 Boston Neighborhood News, Inc.
Mail subscription rates $20.00 per year, payable in advance.
Make checks and money orders payable to
the Boston Haitian Reporter and mail to:
Boston Haitian Reporter,
150 Mt. Vernon Street, Suite #120, Dorchester, MA 02125
Cuba vote in the United Nations or Organization
of American States.
For Americans in 2006, it is debatable whether we
gained anything that justified the resources invested
in fighting Cuba. For ordinary Haitians, there is
no debate- they received nothing sustainable from
the Duvaliers, other than scars and bodies in the
cemetery. Jean-Claude Duvalier’s party has now
been moved to France, but it is Haiti’s poor who are
stuck with the bill.
Even worse, Haiti’s debt is literally killing people.
Most Haitians scrape by on $1 a day or less, and
have no room to tighten their belts. Life expectancy
for men is below 50, one half of Haitian children
are malnourished. Less than half have access to
clean water. In this context, $60 million a year scattered around the country from a helicopter would
save lives, simply by allowing some people to buy
food and basic medicines. $60 million a year would
save even more lives if invested on potable water
projects that prevented people from getting sick in
the first place.
The IFIs have recognized the negative impacts
of their loan policies, and all three are considering
proposals to relieve Haiti’s debt burden. Yet there
is concern that the IFIs’ cure may be worse than
the disease: their debt relief program will require
painful austerity measures that will make Haitians
even more vulnerable to death and disease. Past IMF
conditions imposed on Haiti – including curtailing
government support for agricultural production
and cutting social spending – have worsened Haiti’s
chronic poverty, and made the country more dependent on foreign aid. Moreover the relief programs
under consideration will take time-probably at least
three years- every day of which children will die of
preventable water-borne diseases.
A bill currently before the U.S. Congress, called
the “Haiti Debt Relief Resolution” does better. It
attempts to save lives immediately by calling for
immediate and unconditional cancellation of Haiti’s
debt. It has 64 co-sponsors, both Republicans and
Democrats, including Boston Area Representatives
William Delahunt, Barney Frank, Stephen Lynch,
Jim McGovern and Martin Meehan, but not Edward
Markey and Michael Capuano.
Immediate debt cancellation is not only the right
thing to do; it is also the practical thing to do. Cancellation would allow the government to immediately
invest a large amount of money in projects that would
make Haitians healthier, better educated and more
productive. In the long run, cancellation as part of
an effective foreign assistance would make Haiti
self-sustainable, no longer dependent on foreign
aid, and politically stable. That makes sense for
Haiti, and for us.
Human Rights lawyer Brian Concannon Jr. directs
the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, ijdh.
org. For more information about debt relief for Haiti,
see www.jubileeusa.org.
News Background
Wyclef’s Yéle getting results on the
ground to Haiti’s kids, poorest
Editor’s Note: The following is a press release
submitted to the Reporter by Yéle Haiti, the chairtable relief organization founded by recording artist
Wyclef Jean.
While Wyclef Jean has been touring with Colombian superstar Shakira, singing their worldwide
summer hit Hips Don’t Lie and stopping over at the
World Cup to perform, Yéle Haiti also had its own
show taking place on Haitian soil!
Wyclef Jean and Yéle Haiti have been very busy.
There are 16 projects underway. We just concluded
a soccer tournament, the Yéle Regional Summer
Soccer Tournament 2006 (for players over 20) and
are about to start another one, the Yéle Youth Soccer
Tournament 2006-2007 (for players under 20). As
you probably know, the whole country is obsessed
with soccer, and we want to give them more of it.
The Yéle Haiti team brought down soccer balls
and 300 pairs of slightly used cleats, donated by
Jackie Sullivan, a young woman from Long Island
who organized a drive at the East Meadow Soccer
Club through the Passback program, and we gave
them to the children at L’Athletique d’Haiti, the
soccer program offered to children from the slums.
Every donation helps so much, as only 4 schools
out of 1,032 in Port-au-Prince offer sports to their
students. We can always use more cleats and soccer balls – we have a group of hip hop musicians
that travel around the country to areas that don’t
have electricity (which is 65% of the country) to rap
about HIV/AIDS, and we would love to be able to
give out sports equipment during these trips. Sports
will give them something to do, will give them self
esteem and confidence, and who knows, maybe we’ll
see Haiti at the next World Cup!
To wrap up the soccer tournament, Yéle Haiti had
a parade to show the public what the foundation has
been doing. Each of the 16 projects paraded, holding up colorful banners and dressed up to represent
the project. Scholarship recipients were in school
uniforms. Soccer players were in soccer uniforms.
University students were in graduation gowns holding signs that said “Future Civil Engineer, Future
Lawyer.” The women cooking the lunches for the
children in school through the Yéle Cuisine program
wore aprons and carried pots and wooden spoons.
The children who plant trees for Ecole Verte carried
bamboo plants. Each group was so big that more
than 400 people were in the parade. While the
Fanfare band piloted the 400 participants down the
streets of Petion Ville, residents waved from their
homes and businesses welcoming the spectacle.
The parade began at City Hall and finished at the
Parc St. Therese Soccer Stadium, where 5,000 fans
waited for the 2006 Yéle Regional Summer Soccer Tournament All Stars match to begin. When
the parade got to the soccer stadium, a ceremony
started to showcase the projects to the community.
First up were the 10 projects sponsored by Comcel,
Yéle Haiti’s largest funder. The Mayor of Petion
Ville opened the ceremony. It was a hot day, and
Yéle Haiti made sure all the paraders were given
food and water.
It is easy to take free education for granted if
you live in the US. In Haiti, it’s a different story.
When available, free education in Haiti lacks basic
infrastructure, qualified teachers and a curriculum that conforms to international standards. If
you want to go to school, you have to pay a US$60
per year tuition and another $30 for 2 mandatory
school uniforms. If you belong to the 50 percentile
of the population receiving US$1 per day to feed
your entire family, tuition money is nowhere near
what you can afford. As a consequence 500,000 to
1,000,000 children cannot go to school resulting in
a 60%+ overall illiteracy rate only in Haiti.
The 4 pillars of focus for Yéle Haiti’s projects are
education, environment, health and community
development, fusing music, sports and the media
to create a positive movement embodying unity and
progress for all. Besides the soccer matches, parade
and ongoing progress made in different projects, Yéle
Haiti has also taken big steps towards education
this year. In 2005, after Tropical Storm Jeanne hit
Gonaives, killing thousands and devastating homes
and schools, Yéle Haiti provided 3,600 scholarships
to primary schools in that region, funded by Comcel!
This year, the number of scholarships has doubled
to 6,800 also covering 5 regions in the country:
Gonaives, Cap Haitien, Cayes, Port-au-Paix and
Port-au-Prince. Comcel funds these, making them
the largest corporate sponsor of scholarships in the
country.
Of these 6,800 scholarships, Yéle Haiti held a
ceremony this past Sept. 15 to gather the 1,700
children who were receiving scholarships and the administrators from the 34 schools where the children
went to school in Port-au-Prince, Cite Soleil and Bel
Air. Of these schools, 16 have, and will continue to,
receive teacher training, to upgrade their teaching
abilities. Currently in Haiti, children are taught
mainly rote memorization. Now, through teaching
teachers how to teach better, they are employing
participatory learning techniques. They’re getting
the children to think about answers and conclusions
rather than just memorize words. They’re also
teaching the teachers how to teach without corporal
punishment – without whipping the children. At
this event, each child also received a backpack and
school supplies.
On September 28th, the same event took place in
the north of the country, Cap Haitien. 17 schools
and 741 children gathered together in a ceremony to
receive backpacks and school materials, and school
administrators received certificates, acknowledging
that they are recipients of Yéle Haiti’s scholarship
program for the 2006-2007 school years. The young
students, who are the future of Haiti, danced at
the event, sang the national anthem and thanked
Wyclef and Comcel for giving them the opportunity
to go to school!
October 2006
Page 9
Letter to the Editor
Justice, not charity, needed in addressing Haiti
BY ANTHONY PHILLIPS
In July, international diplomats and
financiers in Port-au-Prince met in
Haiti and committed $750 million for
economic and infrastructure projects
over the coming year. This money
will be useful in the short term - it is
earmarked by the Haitian government
for road, school and hospital-building
projects that will make an immediate
difference in people’s lives. However,
the donors passed up an opportunity
to make a permanent difference, by
refusing to discuss the one certain and
durable solution to Haiti’s grinding
poverty: The independence debt owed
Haiti by France. The debt – calculated at $21 billion in current dollars
– dwarfs the current aid commitments
and its payment would allow Haitians
to develop their country as they see fit,
without the attached strings that keep
so many poor countries dependant on
international aid.
In 1804, Haiti became only the second independent country in the Americas, the world’s first ‘Black Republic’
and the only nation in history born
of a successful slave revolt. Haitians
won their independence by beating
the French army in a bloody twelve
year war that cost 150,000 rebel slaves
their lives. But European countries
and the United States forced them to
pay a second price to gain entry to the
international community. The world
powers refused to recognize Haiti’s
independence, while France posted
warships off her coast, threatening
invasion and the reinstitution of
slavery. After 21 years of fighting this
isolation, Haiti succumbed to France’s
unjust terms in 1825. In exchange for
diplomatic recognition, the Haitian
government agreed to take out a loan
from a designated French bank and
pay compensation to French plantation
owners for their loss of “property,” including the freed slaves. The amount of
the debt – 150,000,000 French Francs
- was ten times that of Haiti’s total
1825 revenue and twice the price of
the Louisiana Purchase, paid by the
United States to France a year before
Haiti’s independence for seventy-four
times more land.
This imposition of compensation by
a defeated power and reimbursement
by freed slaves of their former owners
is unique in history and violated international law, even in 1825, including
treaties signed by France to abolish the
slave trade. The 1825 agreement began
a cycle of debt that has condemned the
Haitian people to poverty ever since.
Haiti did not finish paying the loans
that financed the debt – made under
terms dictated by the 1825 agreement
– until 1947. Over a century after the
global slave trade was recognized and
eliminated as the evil it was, the Haitians were still paying their ancestors’
masters for their freedom.
The crippling legacy of debt begun
in 1825 has stifled Haitian development ever since. In 1826, the Haitian
government had to radically restructure its domestic tax code in order
to generate revenue to pay the debt
while simultaneously reducing import
tariffs on French goods by half (another
condition imposed by the loan agreement). The government was forced to
cede control of the Haitian national
bank to French interests and could
not invest in education, healthcare
or infrastructure projects because all
available funds went overseas. While
Haiti’s public schools were closed in
order to finance the debt, in 1915, for
example, 80% of government revenues
went to debt service on loans from
French and US banks. Long before
the term was coined, Haiti was laboring under the world’s first structural
adjustment program.
The need for hard currency forced
Haitian agriculture to exclusively farm
risky cash crops such as coffee and
hardwood, at the cost of developing a
diverse, sustainable national economy.
Over-farming and over-logging has led,
in turn, to catastrophic deforestation
and soil erosion which put more pressure on the remaining arable land and
has left Haiti vulnerable to devastation
and flooding by even minor tropical
storms.
Economic instability has engendered political instability and a cycle
of violence that has paralleled that of
Haiti’s economic woes: Haiti has been
beset by dozens of coups, rebellions,
assassinations and dictatorships.
Foreign military interventions and
“gunboat diplomacy” were a common
menace to the weakened Haitian government throughout the nineteenth
century, culminating in the invasion
and occupation of Haiti by the United
States from 1915-1934. The pattern of
instability persists today with ongoing
political insecurity and coups d’etat,
followed by foreign intervention in
1994 and 2004.
Today Haiti is the poorest country in
the Western Hemisphere with 80% of
its people living below the poverty line
and is ranked 153rd out of 177 on the UN
Human Development Index, far behind
all of its Caribbean neighbors.
The international community’s response to the Haitian government’s
request was generous, but justice
would help Haiti’s poor more than
generosity. The amount that France
owes Haiti is much larger than what
the international community is likely
to ever want to give - $750 million is
far less than one year’s interest on $21
billion. The commitments made in
July are not binding, will take months
to fulfill at best, and at worst will not
be fulfilled at all- donor countries’
disbursements routinely fall short of
their expressed intentions (for Haiti,
for example, loans approved by the Inter-American Development Bank were
suspended between 1999 and 2004 for
political reasons). Furthermore, international aid almost always comes with
strings attached, such as import tariff
reductions, privatization of government services and restrictions on the
projects money can be spent on.
A just repayment of the independence
debt would be free of these strings, and
would let Haiti develop like the United
States and other wealthy countries did
– according to national priorities set
inside the country, not imposed from
without. Repaying the debt would
free Haiti from dependence on foreign
aid, not extend it. If the international
community were serious about lifting
Haiti out of its desperate poverty,
repayment of the independence debt
would be at the top of the agenda, not
off the table.
Anthony Phillips is a student at the
University of San Francisco School of
Law and an intern with the Institute
for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
(IJDH).
Letter to the Editor
Voting is an obligation
To the Editor:
Don’t just talk about it, vote about it
instead. Vote so we can be united, vote
so we can be represented, vote so we
can push our own agenda, we should
make it a must to participate in the
system and not be negligent about it.
Unfortunately, for an underprivileged community, we are very neglectful when it comes time to take matters
unto our hands, seeking a helping hand
all the time, remaining parasites and
not making the efforts to help ourselves
is an abomination for our nation. For
every time a minority neglects to participate in any given election, that he
is qualified for as a constituent and a
registered voter, he or she failed our
own people.
It is pitiful; when we do not fulfill our
civic obligations, learn to helplessness.
This is a right that our ancestors have
fought for, and other nations are still
striving for, a privilege that millions
throughout this planet aren’t so lucky
to enjoy. By being negligent, by not
fulfilling and pursuing the dream, how
can we over come some day?
Voting is expressed in action,
throughout education and participation. It has a strong signification, and
whenever it follows by mass reaction,
and it may be converted unto big solution. In the political arena, every single
vote counts. A candidate only needed
just one vote extra to win the election
from his opponent. Therefore, a vote
can break a tie, within an election
campaign, it can toppled an unwanted
candidate, it can deny a poll result favoritism of front runner, which means
that a vote, your vote, my vote is important, let us make it an obligation to
participate in the upcoming election.
As a matter of fact, from 2006 to 2008
elections, let us get together on the
trail of this learning experiment, and
becoming great accomplisher in the
years to come.
As a foreigner, coming from an underprivileged society, it should be a
shame when you refuse to participate
in the elections, this exercise can help
you motivate people from your homeland, and who knows, it may operate
changes in the future. Therefore, vote
for your children, my children and our
children and that way our ancestors
will not be ashamed of us. In closing,
let me tell you, we are only being
considered as serious voter, not when
we vote for the first time, neither the
second time around, but when we start
taking the third step, heading for the
fourth time to the poll, the candidate
will take us more seriously, it is a
continuous exercise repetition that
one can’t neglect. Remember to vote
on the General Election on November
7th. “Stop complaining. Vote.”
- Jean-Claude Sanon
Moms of victims, offenders unite to combat urban terror
BY MARIO RODRIGUES
Editor’s note: A fundraiser is planned for Sunday,
October 8 at Russell Auditorium on Talbot Avenue
to benefit Massachusetts Moms on the Move, a
program of the Dorchester-based Louis D. Brown
Peace Institute.
For many years now minority parents from the
inner cities have been losing their children to
homicide. When a teenager walks out of his parents’
door, either to go to school or to the store, there is
no guarantee that the youngster will ever came
back home.
No matter where you live, if it’s Roxbury, Dorchester, or Belmont, no parent can believe something this
simple can have such a devastating result. But it’s
real and it’s a part of our lives.
For over 11 years the Louis D. Brown Peace
Institute has been helping victims’ families deal
with their loss in many different capacities. But
the Institute has gone one step further and is now
reaching out to help the offenders’ families as well.
This may seem shocking to some, but it is a necessary
step if the goal is to really stop violence and create
peace. As long as two parties remain separated in
their differences, their feud will continue to exist and
spread to others. There’s no need for our mothers
to be enemies when they had nothing to do with
our actions. Their only fault is raising a child in a
dangerous environment as a single parent. Even
though they tried to raise us right, the streets can
be overwhelming for a child.
Before we had the chance develop into men, we
made mistakes as adolescents. In some cases those
mistakes resulted in the loss of two young lives and
two devastated families; while one prepares to meet
the heavenly father the other spends eternity in a
prison cell.
Our mothers didn’t raise us to be criminals. We
don’t blame them for the bad decisions we make,
and they shouldn’t blame themselves either. At
this moment all of these mothers are suffering.
Regardless of how they lost their child, to murder
or to prison, their child is gone. They need to know
there is a place they can go for support. By supporting each other they can find strength together that
they can use to help others. Mothers on the Move
in Massachusetts (M’MOM) is a program developed
to help mothers move forward through their pain to
help their children and the community. Mothers are
our first teachers in life and our stone of strength
during our weakest time.
This Sunday’s event is intended to raise money
so the mothers can build a financial foundation so
they don’t have to depend on anyone to help them
or they’re children. For too long now every time a
tragedy occurs within our community we are quick to
say “white people don’t care about us.” We shouldn’t
have to depend on any other race to take care of us
when we have each other. The problem is we spend
too much time arguing and pointing fingers at people
and each other that it’s keeping us from concentrating
on how to build our own foundation.
Minorities as a group spend more money on worthless material then any other race. We finance cars
that we cannot afford because we want to impress
others, we buy expensive clothes that we wear once
and forget about. We are trying to hide our poverty
and shame through physical appearance, but we
are not doing anything constructive as a whole to
end our poverty which can end our hatred towards
each other, which leads us to killing and robbing
each other.
We have a deep internal problem that we did
not create; but we are not doing anything to end it
either. Our mothers are tired of complaining and
depending on help that will never come fast enough.
$30 is nothing compared to the amount of money
we spend on worthless materials. Every time the
Peace Institute host an event hundreds of people
show up and we would like to thank every single
one of them. Even when they are unable to attend
they send a donation, and this money is always
used to help families. We have to stay focused on
our future and forget about the past because it’ll
only keep us stuck.
This fundraiser is an open invitation to everyone
from all walks of life, and we hope to see you there.
It’s during the Columbus Day weekend, so come out
this Sunday, October 8, 2006 for dinner, dancing,
and entertainment, and listen to a host of guest
speakers.Tickets are $30. Call 617-825-1917.
Mario Rodrigues of Dorchester is a staff member
at the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute.
Page 10
October 2006
Tamboo: A new rhythm in Brockton
BY SASHA LINK
SPECIAL TO THE
REPORTER
In 1990 the Charlot
family opened a homey,
neighborhood restaurant on Blue Hill Ave.
in Dorchester. During
this time, while studying
computer engineering at
Northeastern University, Chrismin Charlot
was also gaining hands
on experience working
in the family restaurant
Bon Appetit—one of the
most popular Haitian
restaurants in Massachusetts.
Sixteen years later,
the entrepreneur has
breathed a new rhythm
into Brockton- and the
Haitian dining scenewith the distinctive
restaurant and lounge
Tamboo, which is an
outer expression of his
inner drive.
“Do what makes you
happy and dedicate your
life to it,” recommends
Charlot, the 36-year-old
owner of Tamboo BistroUltra Lounge.
With the crafty design
of two architects Glenn
and Gary Lepore of
Rhode Island, Tamboo
is one of the most extraordinarily designed
restaurants in the city of
Brockton- and the sleekest, most modern and appealing Haitian-inspired
eatery in Greater Boston.
Tamboo combines exquisite dining with inspiring music, in a visually
stimulating setting that
might be right at home
on Miami’s South Beach
or Montreal’s Sainte
Catherine Street.
“We took a girlfriend to
Tamboo for her birthday,”
said long-time Brockton resident, Patricia
Selden. “Everybody had
a wonderful time. The
waitstaff were very accommodating, along with
that and the atmosphere,
we were satisfied.”
“You could hear other
people in the establishment talking about
how the jazz just complemented the place,”
Selden added.
This unique lounge is
completely captivating,
elegant and chic. With its
custom designed leather
seating, the atmosphere
is comfortable and appealing for any occasion.
In fact, Yves Cazeau, an
advisor to the Tamboo
team, explained the
venue is used to host
various events, from live
Jazz, Haitian, Rhythm
and Blues bands, wine
testing dinners—to deejays nights where they
come in and mix.
“Bands come totally
prepared to play,” said
Cazeau.
When building the
restaurant, Charlot and
company added a full
surround sound high
tech, deejay ready equipment room that houses the state-of-the art
soundboard for deejays
and bands to use.
Tamboo’s setting is
breathtaking. The handcrafted paintings import-
The cool, sleek dining room at Tamboo rivals spaces found along Miami’s South
Beach or Montreal’s Sainte-Catherine Street. The fact that it’s in Brockton?
Well, it’s certainly a much shorter commute!
ed from Haiti, strategically placed throughout
the restaurant, line the
walls with a true island
feel. Each room is vibrantly painted with an
array of warm, welcoming colors, shadowed
with natural lighting.
Intricate. Rich in food,
entertainment and culture, Marie Charlot and
Verney Teixeira’s cooking
is an additional feature
that sets Tamboo apart
from other restaurants.
Mother of Chris Charlot and Executive Chef,
Marie travels back
and forth from the Bon
Appetit restaurant in
Dorchester to assure
that Tamboo is not only
aesthetically pleasing to
the eye but is also to the
senses.
“She is a perfectionist,”
says Chris Charlot about
his mother’s cooking.
Known for using authentic recipes and
blending fresh ingredients with a touch of love,
she considers cooking as
“not just adding recipes
to a pot, [but] finding the
perfect flavor through
tasting and loving what
you do,” says Ms. Charlot.
In addition, kitchen
director Varney Teixeira
extracts from his experience cooking in places
like Brazil. He artistically brings forth exquisite,
extraordinary, mouthwatering dishes. He prepares dishes like Mahi
Mahi, one of Tamboo’s
most popular entrée’s,
served with fresh orange
ginger sauce. This spicy
authentic sauce is made
per order, using white
wine, orange juice and
garlic.
With every dish Teixeira adds a touch of his
creativity and tops it
with a beautiful presentation.
“I have been cooking all
my life,” says Teixeira.
Mrs. Charlot and
Venny together make a
perfect pair; they complement one another
in this American-Haitian fusion restaurant.
An experience that has
customers like Ricardo
Jerome of Brooklyn New
York stopping by each
time he is in town.
Tamboo’s retro lounge is the scene of regular live
music - from R&B to straight-up Haitian.
Tamboo’s menu fuses traditional Haitian offeringslike plaintains and taso- with American stylings.
“The chef[s] in particular, [their] style and
the different cultures all
in one make it special,”
acclaimed Jerome.
The menu is extensive
and deciding on what to
eat can be tricky, considering that everything is
described so elegantly. In
addition to the description of these delicious
dishes—the appearance,
smell and taste is exceedingly above what one can
ask for.
Some notable appetizers are the Haitian
fried meatballs, served
with a tasty Haitian
dipping sauce; the coconut shrimp with orange
marmalade and the taso
sliced beef strips are all
popular starters.
For lunch one can
choose from the Goat
meat entrée, stewed
in Creole sauce or the
marinated steak tips,
served with white rice,
onions and portabella
mushrooms.
The dinner menu is as
intense. Two of the most
ordered dishes are the
seafood Creole, which
is prepared with fresh
shrimp, conch, garlic,
onion herbs and peppers,
and the Sea Bass, which
is topped with calypso
sauce.
Some favorable desserts are the chocolate
Trilogy, which is a combination of white, milk and
dark chocolate mousses
that are soaked in Grand
Marnier and served with
dark chocolate shavings, and the hazelnut
mousseline, chocolate
ganache, marble chocolate shell both send
chocolate lovers home
totally satisfied.
“Eating at Tamboo was
a fresh new experience,
cultural and passion-
ate,” said Bena Berry
of Brockton. “One that
I come back to often,”
she adds.
Several customers can
attest to that same special feeling that Tamboo
brews.
Last year Chris Charlot’s hopes were to attract
business largely from
the courthouses, City
Hall and Main Street
businesses. Today, Tamboo is attracting people
from Rhode Island to the
Cape.
In addition to all the
amazing features of this
bistro-style restaurant,
the V.I.P. room off to the
left side of the bar is an
intimate area that accommodates six guests
comfortably, ideal for
any special occasion. The
wine room is a private,
comfortable setting with
a double-sided television
as a backdrop. Customers are welcome to make
reservations for any of
these private dining
areas for no additional
charge.
Brockton is changing
and expanding fast. And
with the construction of
newly built condominiums, warehouse renovation and redevelopment of the city, Charlot
wanted to be apart of this
history.
“It’s a great thing that
is happening in Brockton. It’s almost like a
renaissance I wanted
to be at the forefront of
everything that is going
on,” said Charlot.
“Its fashion, its hip,
its food. It’s hot,” attests
owner Chris Charlot
about the new Bistro and
Ultra-Lounge.
Stop by Tamboo on
any given day and experience what keeps
customers coming back
to this extraordinary
restaurant. Packed
with sophistication and
welcoming waitstaff,
enjoyable entertainment
and delicious cuisine,
Tamboo is a wonderful
additive to the city of
Brockton, that serves appetizers, dinner, desserts
and specialty drinks in a
ambient setting, seven
days a week.
Hours of operation
are Monday through
Thursday 11:30 a.m. to
1 a.m. Thursday through
Friday 11:30 a.m. to 2
a.m. Saturday 5 p.m.
to 2 a.m. and Sunday 5
p.m. to 1 a.m. The address is 252 Main Street,
downtown Brockton. For
more information- and a
virtual tour- check out
the website tamboolife.
com.
New this month: Read us online!
Starting with this edition, you
can now download and read
each edition of the Reporter
online in PDF format.
Just go to our website:
bostonhaitian.com
Since 2001, a monthly exploration of the
Haitian-American experience.
October 2006
BOSTON HAITIAN REPORTER Page 11
Page 12
October 2006
Music Spotlight
Skah-Shah’s survivors come up short on latest release
FELD ENTERTAINMENT
RD0604964
gagement City: BOSTON, MA
No.:
Ad Size: 5.75” x 10”
members
wherever
Shahs that never lived
ENTERTAINMENT
Section: they
BY STEVE DESROSIERS
dia:
go. The dissolution of up to the standards of
C
ONTRIBUTING EDITOR
ertion Date(s):
Skah-Shah in the late the original. The reunion
The long awaited re‘80s was a heartbreak- of so many among the
lease from the reunited
ing experience for Konpa founding members is a
remnants of the legendlovers as they watched significant event; one
ary group Skah-Shah #1
founding members take that is celebrated in this
is finally available. The
their talents and the album.
band’s latest is a 10-song
band’s name to create a
There are quite a few
long album is an Antilles
handful of semi-Skah- good songs on this reMizik release.
lease. The album’s lead
track, “Lague Jazz la”
(release the band) finds
everyone in great shape:
Cubano’s voice is strong
and adventurous, the
backing vocals feature
that bold masculinity
that is the charm of the
older albums, the horn
arrangements are great
and the song itself is
a treat. The beautifully performed ballad
“Padonne’m” while no
match for former hits
like “Caroline” shows the
performers more than capable of coming up with
the kind of material that
made them stars. Singer,
“Zouzoul”, shines in the
song “Anakaona”, flowing up and down a cycle
of fifths with youthful
vigor and his usual dramatic precision. The nostalgic “Port-au-Prince”
also numbers among
the album’s memorable
songs.
While the album is
good overall, there is a
glaring and consistent
void that almost nullifies
this release. It is the near
absence of significant
features for the band’s
third “vocalist”, Alto sax
player Loubert Chancy.
Loubert’s spot is consistently replaced (possibly
in a bid to lure a younger
Fr.
Sat.
Sun.
Mon.
Thu.
Fri.
Sat.
Sun.
audience) by tons of
OCT. 6
OCT. 7
OCT. 8
OCT. 9
OCT. 12 OCT. 13
OCT. 14
OCT. 15
predictably long-winded
11:00 AM 12:30 PM 12:30 PM
11:00 AM 12:30 PM
3:00 PM
4:30 PM
4:30 PM
3:00 PM
4:30 PM
synth solos. The decision
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
to almost not feature
Loubert’s Alto sax promiFor the fastest and easiest way to order tickets, go to www.Ringling.com
nently makes the album
Ticket Centers, TD Banknorth Garden Box Office
a very average one and
a total disappointment
or call (617) 931-2000
to hardcore fans who
For Information call (617) 624-1000 • Groups (617) 624-1805
were expecting a full
treatment. What is full
TICKET PRICES: $13.50 - $18.50 - $24.50
treatment? Check out
Limited number of Circus Celebrity, Front Row, and VIP seats available. Call for details. (Service charges and handling fees may apply. Prices include $1.50 facility fee.)
the classic Skah-Shah
Come one hour early to meet our animals and performers at the
albums “Ozanana”, “Forever”, and “Message”,
All Access Pre-show - FREE with your ticket!
Skah-Shah holds a special place in the hearts of
many Haitians. It has
celebrated the heights
and depths of the Haitian
experience at home and
abroad with a fearless
musical pride and its
legacy is such that it
precedes individual band
©2004 Feld Entertainment
OCT. 6 - 15
listen to this sax master
solo and compare those
albums to this release!
Another unfortunate
aspect of “Lague Jazz
La” is that it finds the
musicians rehashing
old ideas. A Skah-Shah
album in its hey-day
went head to head with
the best rhythm and
horn sections of the best
Afro-Cuban music of
the late 1970s and early
1980s, but while our
cousin musicians have
used innovations in Jazz
to propel their music to
meteoric heights, this album finds our musicians
theoretically speaking
where they left off 20
years ago. It is almost as
if these astute performers have listened to nothing new or competitive in
20 years. The album is
good but for musicians
who have spent most of
their lives playing music
at a very high level, it
should be more adventurous, more creative, an
engagement at least with
the current international
trends in music.
Skah-Shah’s latest is
collection-worthy because it is a good album
which shows our guys in
fine form as songwriters
and performers but we
hold onto high hopes
for the band’s future
releases.
T-Tabou
Jazz La Lou
T-Tabou is the Florida based brainchild of
Tabou Combo founding member Adolphe
Chancy. The former
Tabou Combo bassist
is making a spring for
hearts of Florida-based
concert-goers with his
band’s latest 10-song
release, “Jazz La Lou”
(the band’s heavy).
The move to Florida
for a band like T-Tabou
is significant for one that
was formerly expecting
to make it among New
York concert-goers. Florida, unlike New York, has
become the new capital
of the Haitian Music
Industry and one of the
places where the “heavy”
Konpa tradition of bands
like System Band and
Zenglen continues to be
popular. T-Tabou seems
to have a product closer
to the old school mandates of that market,
especially in long running songs like the title
track, “Jazz la lou”. The
melodic “Byen lwen” a
seductively performed
ballad that displays the
subtle swing that is the
charm of this style of
Konpa, is sure to number
among the album’s hits.
The intensely catchy
“Strategy” laced as it
is with Ralph Conde’s
incessant guitars is sure
to inspire dancers to the
floor.
T-Tabou’s latest is a
decent effort. One thing
is certain; the band
is loaded with talent.
Patrick St. Clair’s vocal
work is mostly consistent
and shows much promise. The band’s guitarist
Jo Chris seems to take
a backseat to Ralph
Conde’s meteoric performances on most songs
but his supporting parts
hold up well. The overall
song arrangements are
good. The backing choral
work of vocalists Etzer
Laurore, John Clark
and Ronsard Robillard,
while at times overdone
in songs like “Strategy”,
is consistently catchy
and easy on the ears.
The album does suffer
from some predictable
songwriting, and popcorn animation but it’s
not overdone.
T-Tabou’s “Jazz La
Lou” should definitely
please fans of the K-Direk tradition but it’s not
a must have!
The
Reporter
Thanks: Patrick St.
Germain of International Perfumes and
Discount for availing
the CDs for review. All
releases are available
at 860 Morton Street
Dorchester, MA (617)
825-6151.
October 2006
Profiles in Haitian Art
Painter Myrtelle Chery channels modern masters
BY STEVE DESROSIERS
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
The paintings of artist
Myrtelle Chery are, in
part, snapshots of the
happy events that are
the hallmark of Haitian
adolescence. The humble
elegance of such moments are the treasures
that many mourn after
leaving the Island for
foreign shores.
If you were lucky
enough to number among
the attendees in last
August’s Nasyon Soleil
exhibition of Chery’s
work at the Cambridge
Cultural Arts Center,
you might have confronted Chery’s painting
of a young Haitian girl
showered by colorful rays
of light as she glanced at
us through the chaos of
carnival season. Or perhaps met a bare-chested
young boy holding on to
his straw hat amidst the
rush of a busy downtown
market, his small frame
surrounded by island
vegetation; a suggestion
that he is the son of a
cultivator.
A broad assortment of
colors animate Chery’s
works and it is astounding to see the varied
tones blend so wonderfully. The astute observer might also notice
the artist’s tendency to
frame her subjects, in a
style more elegant but
nonetheless reminiscent
of Hector Hyppolite and
others among Haiti’s
great self-taught masters. The habit may
not be accidental as
Myrtelle was tutored at
the Port-au-Prince headquarters of the Haitian
indigenous movement,
the Centre D’Art. Myrtelle’s importance as one
among the few female
Haitian painters who
come from the Centre
cannot be overstated.
Hers is a uniquely playful departure from the
masculine perspective
on life in Haiti.
The Reporter engaged
the talented artist after
her well attended exhibit
and enjoyed the following exchange:
BHR: When did you
develop an interest in
painting?
MC: I started painting
when I was very young,
8 years old. My father
took the initiative when
he noticed I had talent
and encouraged me to
take lessons. I studied
with artists at the Centre D’Art in Port-auPrince.
BHR: Who were the
artists at the Centre
who really influenced
your style?
MC:There were three
artists who influenced
me during my schooling at the Centre D’Art.
There was Frank Louissaint, one of our greats. I
don’t follow his technique
one hundred percent
but he taught me to
draw perfectly. I have
a method for drawing
and was taught to study
the human anatomy
like any doctor and to
dress bones with muscle,
muscle with skin and
then pants and a shirt.
I say this to show that
he went through every
detail of the peculiarities
of movement, shade and
light, and more.
When you have a
teacher like that you
can’t help but become
very good at drawing. I
was lucky to have been
able to study with him
and he is one of reasons
why in my paintings are
of people.
I learned about color among other things
from the artist Antonio
Joseph. He was born
outside of Haiti in the
Dominican Republic but
he had a touch that was
slightly outside of the
Haitian context. His
colors were slightly outside of the usual Haitian
palate and I learned to
take chances with color.
He taught me to dare, to
try something that others haven’t.
There was also Gesner
Armand who worked a
lot with textures. His
canvases were always
well done meaning the
paste (oil-based paint
color) was not floating
like ice on top of the
canvas. One could touch
the canvas and it felt
smooth, like the surface
of an actual photograph.
You could not tell that
a brush was ever used
on the canvas; the color
was just there. He also
worked his paste a lot
to get that effect, and so
all of these factors have
helped to bring about
the Myrtelle that you
see today.
Myrtelle Chery has learned the art of paitning from some of the island’s greats. One look at her impressive
collection of work proves she is herself destined for greatness.
BHR: How were you
able to popularize your
work as a young artist?
MC: I had various
exhibitions and found
that people responded
positively to my work.
I started by doing one
sporadic event after
another, whether it was
an invitation to showcase
in private exhibitions,
people’s homes or in various hotels.
BHR: You are probably one among very few
artists who manages a
gallery with a mission.
Can you tell us how you
came to that decision?
MC: In the course of
doing my work, I met
other artists and even-
tually felt the need to
have my own place where
people could come see my
work and the work of the
artists I knew and that
is how the MozaikArt
Gallery came to be established.
The mission of MozaikArt is to promote the
diverse forms of Haitian
art and artists. Haitian
art no longer comprises
art made by Haitians
in Haiti, but also those
living abroad who document their experience
as members of the Diaspora.
BHR: One of your
objectives with MozaikArt is, “D’etre un lieu
d’echanges ou se re-
definit le bonheur par
la rencontre des cultures
et le partage a travers l’art”. How is that
achieved?
MC: A part of the
work I do with the artists involves coming up
with ideas for works that
have an impact on the
surrounding community.
Where the community
feels that they are a part
of what is being represented and when I say
community now, I don’t
just mean the Haitian
community, but the communities that may have
always seen Haiti in a
negative light. How do
we incite their interest
in buying Haitian art or
at least getting them to
appreciate its value? As
an administrator I address that challenge.
BHR: Has managing
a gallery impacted your
time to actually produce
art?
MC: Since I’ve founded
the Gallery, I do produce
a bit less. But by the time
I established the Gallery, I was pretty much
established, people knew
me and I’d sold a lot of
paintings. So it helps
now that I don’t produce
as much, whenever I do
produce something it
sells quickly.
For more on Myrtelle’s
work, see the website
mosaikart.ca
BHR: Was it difficult
to retain all that information at such a young
age?
MC: I was only 8 or 9
years of age learning all
this stuff but that’s also
when people give all the
help they can and that
is also the age when one
can absorb all of this
information.
BHR: Can we say then
that you are a part of
the Haitian indigenous
movement?
MC: Because I went
to school at the Centre
D’Art, I started out as
a member of the indigenous school. I was
inspired by all that was
naturally Creole. And
the objective of that
school was to apply
academic principles in
dealing with local subject
matter: Haitian merchant women with their
loads on their heads, a
market scene, a flowing
river, all of that but with
the classic European
principles.
I learned these techniques but as I matured
as an artist I became
a part of the school of
expressionists and that
is where I am today.
Ghardy Daniel
Sr. Mortgage Specialist
Broker/Realtor/Notary
(508) 333 - 9176
Page 14
October 2006
Community Health News
State launches new health insurance program for poorest
BY STEVE LEBLANC
Massachusetts began
signing up it poorest
residents for virtually free
health insurance Monday
under the state’s landmark health care law, even
as administration officials
urged lawmakers to close a
``loophole’’ they say could
let thousands of children
go uninsured.
``This is a historic day
for us,’’ Gov. Mitt Romney
said at a news conference
trumpeting the milestone
at the Neponset Health
Center. ``Today is the first
day that we have someone
actually applying for Commonwealth Care. It’s real
today.’’
As reporters and
administration officials
looked on, Madeline
Rhenisch, a 56-yearold Boston woman who
said she’s spent the
money she’d been saving for her retirement
to pay for doctor’s visits
and medication, became the first to sign
up for Commonwealth
Care, the new stateadministered plan.
Rhenisch will be followed by about 62,000
of the state’s poorest
residents living at or
below the federal poverty line of about $9,800
a year. If she qualifies,
the state will pay her
premiums and she will
be responsible for just
nominal co-pays.
It’s a first step toward
Massachusetts’ ultimate
goal of becoming the
first state to require all
its citizens have health
insurance.
Rhenisch, who says
she works only sporadically now and has been
without health insurance for the past eight
years, said she looked
forward to having insurance again.
`Ì’ve worked hard all
my life. I’ve paid benefits all my life. I never
wanted to be a burden
on my family or friends,’’
she said. `Ìt’s been very
embarrassing to have to
beg and scratch.’’
Romney officials used
the news conference
to press lawmakers to
close what they called
a ``loophole’’ in the law
that fails to require all
children have health
insurance.
Health and Human
Services Secretary Tim
Murphy said he’s asked
lawmakers to ``clean up’’
the law, which currently
only requires adults over
18 have insurance.
``We felt that that
should extend not only to
people 18 and above, but
also younger,’’ he said.
`Ìf there are affordable
products out there, all
the evidence suggests
that parents will cover
their children.’’
Murphy said as many
as 40,000 children might
fall through the holes,
but Democratic lawmakers said they have
already taken steps to
expand coverage for
children, over the objections of the Romney
administration.
Rep. Patricia Walrath,
D-Stow, who helped
write the final version
of the bill, said most of
the children reported as
uninsured by Murphy
live with parents who
make less than three
times the federal poverty
level and will be covered
under the state’s Medicaid program.
Walrath said lawmakers expanded the Medicaid definition despite
opposition from the administration, which preferred requiring parents
to buy health insurance
for their children.
`Ìf after that we still
find that there are children who are not covered,
UNLOCKING THE MYSTERY
OF LUPUS
A Free Community Forum
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Morning Star Baptist Church
1257 Blue Hill Ave., Mattapan
9:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Lupus is a serious chronic disease. Common symptoms
include painful joints, fever, skin rashes and extreme
fatigue. Learn the facts about lupus and tools for managing pain and fatigue. Share stories of people in the community living with this disease.
Speakers: Elinor Mody, MD, Rheumatologist;
Leera Briceno, MD, Dermatologist … and more
Registration
Program and lunch
9:30 a.m.
10:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Seating is limited; please register by October 9.
For information about workshops, call the Lupus
Foundation toll free at 1 877 NO LUPUS
(1-877-665-8787) or e-mail [email protected].
We thank the Office of Women’s Health, Region 1, US Department
of Health and Human Services for its support.
Sponsored in part by an unrestricted educational grant from Genentech
we will certainly fix it,’’
she said. ``We really
think it’s a non-story.’’
Those being enrolled
in the new Commonwealth Care insurance
program are currently
part of Massachusetts’
``free care pool.’’ A goal of
the new law is to replace
that pool by giving those
same individuals health
insurance.
Romney called the
new health insurance
program `à first-class
product that as good as
anybody else has in the
commonwealth’’ that will
let the poor have access
to preventative medicine
instead of relying on hospital emergency rooms
for their health care.
Most of those in the
first batch of 62,000
are already known to
the state and will be
automatically enrolled.
Others who match the
criteria can sign up at
community centers or
hospitals.
While the poorest residents will essentially
receive free health care,
those earning up to three
times the federal poverty
level won’t get off free.
Beginning in January,
they will be required to
pay a portion of their
monthly premiums, from
$18 to $106 per month
depending on their income, with the state
picking up the balance of
the full premiums, which
range from $280 to $387
a month.
Finally in July 2007,
all Massachusetts residents earning more than
three times the federal
poverty level will be required to have health
insurance - on their own
or through work - or face
tax penalties.
(AP)
Read the
Reporter
online
at boston
haitian.com
Caritas Carney Imaging Center
A new facility bringing the most sophisticated technology
to our community.
The Imaging Center now offers MRI testing, using a state-of-the-art scanner
that delivers greater diagnostic detail in making more precise, faster
diagnoses for all forms of disease.
•
Convenience. Located on hospital campus.
•
Allows for feet first examinations greatly decreasing anxiety for patients who
are uncomfortable in small spaces.
•
Less discomfort - faster patient set-up, low-to-floor table position.
•
Faster appointments with dedicated scheduling system.
•
Acquisition speed reduces exam time, decreases anxiety.
•
No repositioning.
•
Reduced noise - quieter than conventional MR scanners.
The Imaging Center
617-506-4100
October 2006
Mosquito threat still alive, as state confirms second EEE death
BY PRISCILLA YEON
STATE HOUSE
NEWS SERVICE
A 58-year-old woman
who fell ill Sept. 11 and
was hospitalized the
next day died on Sept.
18 due to Eastern equine
encephalitis, state public health officials announced today.
Officials said it was
likely that the Everett
woman was exposed
to EEE over the Labor
Day holiday, when she
traveled to southeastern
Massachusetts, an area
where many mosquito
pools have tested positive for EEE.
Officials also announced that a third
case of West Nile Virus
has been confirmed.
The EEE case confirmed today is the fifth
of this year.
Public health officials
said the chances of people getting the mosquitoborne illness is less likely
from now on and have
ruled out the possibility for another aerial
spray.
According to DPH
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Al DeMaria, mosquitoes that carry the EEE
virus are not as active
as they were in August.
“Mosquitoes are still active when there is warm
weather, the weather has
been unusually warm
in the past days,” said
DeMaria, adding August
was a month of “greater
risks” than September.
Once the weather
starts to cool down,
mosquitoes carrying
EEE will likely die off,
he said. Public officials
say the risk of EEE will
continue until “the first
frost.”
According to DeMaria,
the first frost often occurs
the first week of October
and he hopes the life
cycle of EEE mosquitoes
will cease in the state
next week. He was cautiously optimistic that
the latest case of EEE
might be the last this
year. “There is a possibility,” said DeMaria, adding aerial spraying was
likely the main reason
for reducing the spread
of EEE.
DeMaria said another
aerial spray before the
first frost arrives is unlikely. “It is cool and they
are not flying in the air,”
said DeMaria. If there
are infected mosquitoes
active now, they are
likely active in the afternoon. “We cannot spray
in the afternoon.”
The West Nile case confirmed today involves a
55-year-old woman from
Billerica, a family member of a WNV-infected
Caritas Carney to offer free
vascular screenings
On Wednesday, October 11, from 9 a.m. to
5 p.m., Caritas Carney
Hospital will work in
conjunction with Life
Line Screening to provide a free screening
program for local residents who may be at risk
for vascular disease and
stroke.
Millions of men and
women 60 and older are
at risk for vascular disease and stroke. Vascular disease encompasses
serious conditions such
as: peripheral artery
disease (PAD), carotid
artery disease, and abdominal aortic aneurysm
(AAA).
•
Peripheral artery disease (PAD), sometimes known as hardening of the arteries, is a
blockage of the arteries
that supply blood to the
arms and legs. PAD may
lead to loss of limbs.
•
Carotid artery
disease occurs when
there is a blockage in
the arteries within the
neck that supply blood
to the brain. Carotid
artery disease is the #1
cause of stroke, a leading
cause of US disability
and death.
•
Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is
an enlargement in the
lining of the artery that
leads from the heart
to the lower abdomen.
Rupture of an AAA often results in sudden
death.
People who are 60
years of age or older
and have at least one
risk factor for vascular
disease—smoking, high
blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, pulmo-
Center for Community Health, Education & Research, Inc (CCHER
The Alcide Center for Counseling & Family Services (ACCFS)
Mental Health Services
CCHER is pleased to announce its Mental Health Services to the
Community at Large. CCHER is recently licensed by the Department
of Public Health to provide Mental Health Services to individuals
and families who reside in the Greater Boston Metropolitan area and
elsewhere. Our commitment is to make culturally competent mental
health services widely available to individuals and families
CCHER offers an array of direct care services including:
• Diagnosis evaluations;
• Crisis intervention;
• Psychopharmacological assessment and
intervention;
• Individual, family and group counseling; and
• Community education and outreach
Mental health providers include:
• A licensed psychologist,
• A psychiatrist,
• Social Worker
• Other Mental Health Counselors
All are clinicians are fluent in Haitian Creole, French, English, and
Spanish
Office location: 745 River Street, Hyde Park, MA 02126 (Border of
Mattapan)
Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday (9AM-5PM)
Thursday: 10AM-6PM
For more information about our services or to make a referral, please
contact CCHER at:
(617) 265-0628 ext 240
(617) 364-3035
nary disease, or family
history of AAA—should
call 1-866-220-7283 for a
free screening. An expert
can help confirm positive
risk factors and set up
your appointment for a
screening exam.
Caritas Carney and
Life Line Screening
urge patients and family members who think
they may be at risk to
call the toll-free number
right away. Early detection of vascular disease
can prevent serious and
even fatal outcomes.
Screenings will be held in
the hospital auditorium,
2nd floor, by appointment
only.
person from Arlington,
whose case was diagnosed earlier in the year,
according to DPH.
The Billerica woman
is reported to be recovering.
DeMaria said the life
cycle of mosquitoes carrying West Nile runs
until sustained cold
weather.
DPH continues to recommend that individuals limit exposure to
mosquitoes by wearing
repellents whenever
outside, curbing outdoor activities, installing
and repairing screens,
and draining standing
water.
Free Mammography
screenings at Carney
October is designated as National Breast Cancer
Awareness Month. The American Cancer Society
recommends that all women have their first mammogram at age 40, then annually. At the very least, it
is important that women have annual mammograms
starting at age 50.
Caritas Carney will hold a free mammography
screening for women over 40 years old who are uninsured or underinsured. This is a routine screening
and not intended for patients with known breast
problems. The screening will be held on Thursday,
October 26, 2:00-5:00 pm in the hospital’s Women’s
Imaging Suite, 1st floor. Call the Caritas DoctorFinder
at 1-800-488-5959 to schedule an appointment.
Chiropractor
River Street Spine Clinic, P.C.
Ryan M. Warnock, D.C.
-Back Pain
-Personal Injury
-Neck Pain
-Wellness Care
-Workman’s Comp
-Sports Injuries
500 River Street
Mattapan, MA
Phone: 617-298-1776
Nous Pare Creole
Page 16
October 2006
Immigration Q & A
About marriage, Green Cards and evidence you’ll need
Q. I’m married
to a US citizen, and
I’ve applied for
adjustment to Legal Permanent Resident (green card)
status. We have an
interview scheduled
soon with the US
Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS). I understand
that the main purpose of the interview
is to assure USCIS
that we have a genuine marriage and
didn’t get married
just to get me a green card.
We’re supposed to take
evidence of the marriage relationship
to the interview.
What kinds of evidence
is CIS looking for?
A. CIS wants to
see the kinds of documentation that
people normally
can produce when
they have a genuine
marriage, evidence
that shows them in
a real relationship
financially and in
Haitian
American
Public Health
Initiatives, Inc.
10 Fairway Street • P.O. Box 260386 •
Mattapan, MA 02126 • Tel: (617) 298-8076
Fax: (617) 296-1570
FREE, FREE, FREE
ESOL CLASSES
IMPROVE YOUR:
• SPEAKING & LISTENING
SKILLS
• READING COMPREHENSION
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FOR LOW INTERMEDIATE & INTERMEDIATE LEVELS
WHERE:
WHEN:
HAPHI 10 FAIRWAYSTREET,
MATTAPAN
NEXT TO FARMER’S MARKET
Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursdays
9:00 AM TO 12:00 PM
CONTACT:Rhode LeBlanc (617) 298-8076 x13
other typical ways.
Every couple has
some of this evidence, though every
couple will have its
own unique combination of documentation. The kinds of
things that would be
relevant include the following:
1. Birth certificates
of children born of the
relationship, show ing the applicant
and spouse as the
parents.
2. Copies of joint tax
returns.
3. Evidence of joint
checking, savings,
or other accounts
or assets (stocks,
bonds,
mutual
funds, etc.), or joint
obligations on any
JOHN C.
GALLAGHER
Insurance Agency
HOME
&
AUTO
INSURANCE
Specializing in Homeowners and Automobile
Insurance for more than a
quarter century of reliable
service to the Dorchester
community.
New Accounts
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1471 Dorchester Ave.
at Fields Corner MBTA
Phone:
265-8600
“We Get Your Plates”
loans.
4. Photo ID cards
(such as driver’s licenses, school IDs,
or amended passports)
showing the wife’s married name.
5.Anapartmentleaseor
a letter from the landlord
indicating
that
both spouses live at
the apartment, or
copies of rent receipts
showing both parties’
names.
6. House deeds or
mortgage documents
showing joint tenancy
and obligation.
7. Credit cards
showing both spouses’ names on the
accounts.
8. Documents from
an employer showing
a change in records
to
reflect
the
spouse’s new marital status or showing
designation of the
spouse as the person to be notified in
event of accident, sickness, or other emergency.
9. Evidence of life
insurance policies
where the spouse is
named as beneficiary.
10. Evidence of
a medical or health
insurance plan that
has coverage for the
spouse.
11. Evidence of correspondence between
the parties during
their relationship, including letters, birthday and
holiday cards, telephone
calls, e-mails, and other
correspondences addressed to the parties.
12. A religious
marriage certificate if the couple was
married in a religious
ceremony.
13. Copies of gas,
e l e c t ri c, t e l e p h o n e ,
cable, and other
utility bills showing both parties’
names (or at least the
same mailing address).
14. Evidence of
joint ownership of
an automobile (title,
insurance, registration). (If one
spouse owns the car,
show at least that
the other is covered
as a driver on the
insurance policy.)
15. Evidence of vacations and other
trips taken together,
including airline tickets
and hotel bills.
16. Evidence of major purchases made
together, such as
stereo,
television, refrigerator,
washer, dryer etc.,
including any financing
documents.
17. Photographs
that show both spouses together, and with
family and friends.
These can be taken
at the wedding, at
other functions or events,
and throughout their
r e l a t i o n s h i p .
Note that if you
have been married
for fewer than two
years on the date
you receive your
Lawful Permanent
Resident status,
you will have to file
form I-751 with
USCIS to remove the
conditions on your
green card during
the three months before the two-year anniversary of your
grant of residence.
The evidence you
submit with form
I-751 would be the
same as described
above, but for the
period after you received your green
card, and with one
addition: With form
I-751 you also need
to submit at least
two sworn affidavits from people who
personally know you
and your spouse as a
married couple.
The government
takes the issue of
marriage fraud very
seriously. A couple of weeks ago US
Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, working with a
host of other federal,
state, and local law
enforcement agencies, arrested 22
people in the Washington, D.C. area in
the culmination of a
three-year investigative operation
aimed at a marriage
fraud ring. A number
of immigrants were
paying large sums
to be paired with
U.S. citizens in sham
marriages to support
applications for permanent residence.
The immigrants
involved face removal
from the U.S., while
those running the
scheme face prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s office for
serious
federal
criminal offenses.
Such enforcement
efforts
demonstrate two important
points. First, anyone
contemplating arranging or entering into
a sham marriage
to obtain a green card is
taking a major risk in the
current enforcement climate. Second, even those with
genuine marriages need
to pay careful attention to
assembling the re quired documentation
so that they do not
come under suspicion when their cases are reviewed by
USCIS.
If you have an adjustment of status application pending or
need to file the I751 form, you can
call the IIC at (617)
542-7654 to arrange
to have one of our immigration lawyers
help you through the
process.
Disclaimer: These
articles are published to inform
generally, not to advise in individual
cases. Areas of law
are rapidly changing. US Citizenship
and Immigration
Services and the 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.
BHA reopens Section 8
housing waiting list
The Boston Housing Authority (BHA) announced
this week that it will re-open its Section 8 Housing
Choice Voucher Program waiting lists for Priority One applicants. Priority One applicants are
those families and individuals in most urgent need
of housing such as victims of domestic violence,
homelessness, displacement by fire or condemned
housing and no fault eviction. The waiting list has
been closed since May 7, 2004 due to federal funding
cuts to the Section 8 program.
“This reopening has been made possible due to
careful management by the BHA and some restored
funding. The reopening will enable the BHA to
provide much needed affordable housing subsidies
for families in need,” said Sandra Henriquez, commissioner of the BHA.
The city will accept applications from October 18
through October 31. A computerized random lottery
process will be used to determine the exact application date and time for the purpose of placement
on its waiting list in addition to the self-certified
Priority One status.
The random lottery will be held at 9 a.m. on
November 22. The BHA will place the first 8,000
applications on its waiting list in accordance with
the results from the lottery.
Applications and Priority One Self-Certification
forms will be available at the BHA Housing Service
Center, 56 Chauncy Street, Boston, MA 02111; or by
mail by calling the Status Information Line at 617988-4200 or 617-988-4549. Interested applicants
should submit an application and a Priority One
Self-Certification form in person no later than 5:00
p.m. on October 31, 2006 or by mail postmarked no
later than October 31, 2006 to the BHA’s Housing
Service Center at the above address.
October 2006
Ruth’s Recipes for Life
Amid hustle and bustle, make time to balance your life
BY MARIE RUTH
AUGUSTE
SPECIAL TO THE
REPORTER
School is now in session and so is the rising
barometer of the every
day hustle and bustle
every where. You and
the kids have to be up
earlier to get to school
and work. Breakfast has
to be ready, eaten, and
lunches must be packed.
Hurry here, rush there,
grab this, grab that,
don’t forget to sign this
form and, “remember
to send milk money”
“and don’t forget about
money for snacks” and
the list goes on and on.
I’m sure you’ve noticed
that the traffic congestion has gotten worse
almost every where and
the train stations are
super-packed. I don’t
know about you, but to
me, it certainly feels like
this time of year brings
a rush, it feels hectic
almost every where.
On top of back to school
time we have a change
of season at hand, temperatures are dropping.
Additionally, the holiday
season is just around
the corner, or should I
say upon us with Halloween coming in just
a few weeks. The long,
relaxing and lazy summer days are surely gone.
Just check your watch at
sunset, the time? Early.
People are back from
their summer vacations
recharged and ready to
conquer projects, initiatives and wrap-up the
year.
For many, the hustle
and bustle of the fall season brings excitement,
motivation, even determination. That’s great,
but at the same time, this
change of pace can also
increase stress. As you
go about your days getting through the hurdles
of living remember to
stop and balance. The
Marie Ruth Auguste
professionals (doctors,
life coaches, teachers,
etc.) say it all the time:
“You need to find ways
to achieve a balanced
life.”
I agree, but the truth
is, it’s not so easy. There
are several things that
we cannot control for
example the weather.
We can however begin
by making good choices
whenever possible. Try
to make time for things
that matter and you may
just feel the positive difference. Here are some
suggestions to consider
to help you maintain
serentiy and to help you
move toward a balanced
life.
1.
LIVE by a listthis is a must if you are
a busy person. Be sure
to include the things
that are important for
your body, mind and soul
for example spirituality,
family and loved ones.
2.
Avoid distractions- FOCUS on the task
at hand; cross things off
as you complete them!
3.
Make time to
EXERCISE- even if it’s
just a 10-minute walk.
Experts say that physical activities even in 10minute increments tone
our hearts and help our
emotions.
4.
Make time for
MEALS- if you don’t have
time for a full meal break
it up into several smaller
meals. One banana here,
a few nuts there, half a
sandwich now and a soup
in a couple of hours. You
may have heard that
many small meals per
day keep your metabolism going, this is helpful
if you’re trying to lose or
maintain weight. (I can
tell you that it works for
me!)
5.
Take time to
UNWIND- when you get
home before you engage
in conversations on the
phone or jump into your
house activities change
your clothes and wash
your face.
6.
STOP- take five
minutes to focus on
your breathing alone,
(I learned this in Yoga
class a few years ago, it
helps every time!) Drop
from your thoughts the
things that you cannot
do anything about until
the next day. Let go and
let GOD!
7.
CONQUER clutter- clutter creates visual
chaos, it adds stress and
clouds your thinking (I
don’t know about you but
clutter drives me nuts).
Getting rid of clutter may
help you become more
productive.
8.
Don’t drive yourself crazy- decide to be
POSITIVE and accept
that things are just not
perfect. For example,
don’t let a bad commute
ruin your entire day and
don’t spend all your energy fussing over finances.
Author Burton wrote “if
your biggest problem is
money related consider
your self blessed.” There
are more substantial issues that require your
attention i.e. health and
relationships.
9.
Keep it SIMPLEfind nutritious meals
that are easy as 1-2-3 and
try healthy snacks such
as fruits and veggies. Try
different varieties so that
you won’t get bored, mix
fresh and dried fruits.
10. Last but not least
get the SLEEP you needhave a plan for supper
before you head home,
pick up what you need
on the way to save time.
Again, try to make easy
meals on week nights.
You will thank your self
when your head hits the
pillow at a decent time!
In the spirit of Fall
(and by popular demand)
try this delicious easy to
make butternut squash
soup.
Butternut Squash
Bisque (Serves 6 to 8)
6 cups butternut
squash (cubed- approximately 2 inch pieces)
4 cups organic chicken
stock (a 32 fl. oz. qt.)
4 garlic cloves (smashed
& peeled)
4 scallions or green
onions cut in half
1 medium onion (quartered to 4 pieces)
4 cloves
1 pinch fresh thyme
2 tablespoons extra
virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon flat leaf
parsley chopped
kosher salt and fresh
black pepper to taste
1 cup light cream (or
use water for lighter
bisque)
Combine chicken
broth, garlic, scallions,
thyme, cloves, onion, oil
and squash. Bring to a
boil on high temperature.
Reduce heat to medium
and cook covered for
45 minutes or until 3
quarters of the broth is
gone and the squash is
very tender. Turn off fire
and transfer everything
to a blender, add cream
or water, salt to taste
and blend on the puree
setting. Return puree
to the pot, add fresh
crushed black pepper to
taste and simmer on low
for a couple of minutes.
When serving, garnish
with parsley and drizzle
with drops of extra virgin
olive oil. Serve warm in
pretty bowls!
Please note: you can
cut the cooking time
significantly by using
frozen cooked squash;
they come in small boxes
in the frozen isle, use
two packages. Follow
the same steps except
the cooking time. Cook
covered for 15 to 20
minutes or until hot
and incorporated. Also,
a hand held blender is a
great investment when
it comes to maximizing
time. Check it out! Feel
free to email me your
questions and comments
at ruthsrecipes@yahoo.
com. For more information about my column,
Ruth’s Recipes the book
and, coming soon, the
website: ruthsrecipes.
com.
Page 18
October 2006
Pan-Caribbean News
With Fidel ailing, Raul Castro and Chavez star at
Nonaligned Summit in Cuba
BY OLGA R.
RODRIGUEZ
HAVANA - World leaders at the Nonaligned
Movement summit
agreed on the need to
make the United Nations
more democratic, with
Raul Castro sitting in for
his ailing older brother
and leading a chorus of
criticism of the United
States’ veto power in the
Security Council.
The Nonaligned Movement was formed during
the Cold War to establish
a neutral third path in
a world divided by the
United States and the
Soviet Union. With Haiti and St. Kitts joining
this week, it now counts
118 member nations.
With Fidel Castro out
of sight, Raul presided
over the Sep. 15 meeting of two-thirds of the
world’s nations, rallying
some of the most outspoken U.S. foes with a
speech blaming America
for much of the planet’s
woes.
``When there no longer
is a Cold War, the United
States spends one billion
dollars a year in weapons and soldiers and
it squanders a similar
amount in commercial
publicity,’’ he said. ``To
think that a social and
economic order that has
proven unsustainable
could be maintained by
force is simply an absurd
idea.’’
In speech after speech,
leaders of the world’s less
powerful nations said
reforming the U.N. Security Council to balance
U.S. veto power should
be their key priority.
``The U.S. is turning
the security council into
a base for imposing its
politics,’’ Iran’s President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
said, echoing comments
by Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus and many
others. ``Why should
people live under the
nuclear threat of the
U.S.?’’
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who has
been trying to manage
a showdown between
the United States and
Iran over the Islamic
country’s nuclear program, agreed the Security Council must be
more responsive to less
powerful countries.
``The Security Council
must reform _ for the
sake of the developing world, and for the
sake of the United Nations itself,’’ Annan told
the Nonaligned leaders.
``The perception of a
narrow power-base risks
leading to an erosion
of the U.N.’s authority
and legitimacy _ even,
some would argue, its
neutrality and independence. I have in the
past described this as a
democracy deficit.’’
Annan also told the
group that the world has
changed dramatically
since Cuba last hosted
the movement in Havana
27 years ago, and that
developing nations have
new responsibilities to
promote democracy, protect human rights and
develop civil societies.
``The collective mission of this movement is
more relevant than ever,’’
Annan said.
Many leaders also
said the movement will
be much stronger with
Cuba in charge, but it
was unclear whether
the 80-year-old Castro
has recovered enough
from intestinal surgery
to make an appearance
at the summit, let alone
guide the group during
the next three years. The
ailing leader was under
doctors’ orders not to
preside over the summit,
Cuban officials said.
While Raul had his
first opportunity to show
his leadership qualities
before a large audience,
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Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez repeatedly asserted himself as
Castro’s natural heir.
With next week’s U.N.
General Assembly session looming, Chavez
and Ahmadinejad called
on Nonaligned nations
to support Venezuela’s
bid to win the next rotating spot on the Security Council. The United
States, uneasy about
Venezuela’s close ties
to Cuba and Iran, has
supported Guatemala’s
bid.
``To be radical is not
to be insane, it’s to go to
our roots. Let’s go to our
roots, let’s be truly radical,’’ Chavez declared,
concluding one speech
with a favorite Castro
rallying cry: ``Patria o
Muerte!’’ - ``Fatherland
or Death!’’
Guatemalan Vice President Eduardo Stein told
The Associated Press his
country has secured 90
of 128 necessary votes,
and denied that U.S. support for Guatemala’s bid
has made his country a
``puppet’’ of Washington.
Venezuela, however, is
confident it will win the
seat.
Guatemala has
stressed its conciliatory
foreign policy in the U.N.
campaign, while Chavez
has made it clear that
if chosen, Venezuela
would support Iran in its
nuclear standoff.
Several difficult disputes were addressed on
the sidelines. Bolivian
President Evo Morales
suspended a threat to
increase control over
Brazilian energy assets
in Bolivia. India and
Pakistan planned to
meet, possibly reviving
peace talks over their
disputed border. And
Cuba was trying to bring
Morocco and the Western Saharan separatist
movement to some agreement. (AP)
Open Studios in Dorchester
The doors to Dorchester’s art community will be
open the weekend of October 20-22, as the neighborhood celebrates its fifth annual Dorchester Open
Studios. On Saturday and Sunday, from noon to 5
p.m., about 80 visual artists will exhibit their work. D
About 40 artists who don’t have studios in Dorchester
will be exhibiting at the historic First Parish Church
and The Great Hall in Codman Square. For more
information go to dorchesteropenstudios.org.
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October 2006
Pan-Caribbean News
US embargo has cost Cuba more than $4 billion
BY VANESSA ARRINGTON
HAVANA - A tighter
U.S. trade embargo cost
Cuba more than US$4
billion (euro3.2 billion)
over the last year, a
Foreign Ministry official
said on October 2. Cuba’s
losses increased from
July 2005 to July of this
year because the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush
has steadily tightened
the embargo at the same
time Cuba’s economy is
growing and spending
more money abroad, Vice
Foreign Minister Bruno
Rodriguez told a news
conference.
He cited tougher U.S.
scrutiny of Cuban nickel
exports and of Cuban
use of dollars in international transactions.
The government claimed
a loss of US$2.8 billion
for the mid-2004-2005
period.
``This is a policy that
causes suffering,’’ he told
a news conference.
U.S. officials defend
the embargo - which
allows the sale of some
U.S. food and medicine to
Cuba - saying unfettered
trade and travel to the
island would prop up the
communist government
led by Fidel Castro.
They say Cuba’s imprisonment of dissidents
and restrictions on economic and political freedoms justify the policy,
aimed at pushing Castro
and his associates out.
But Rodriguez called
it `ùnilateral and criminal.’’
The official said that
in addition to lost busi-
ness with U.S. and other
companies, Cuba also
misses out on revenue
from American tourists,
whose visits to the island
fell about 15 percent last
year because of travel
restrictions.
About 101,000 Americans, including CubanAmericans visiting their
native country, came here
last year, he said. More
than 108,000 Americans
visited in 2004, a dramatic decline from the
200,000 Americans who
came in 2003.
Those who defy the
travel ban to come to
Cuba face heavy penalties. Rodriguez said
that last year the U.S.
Treasury Department’s
Office of Foreign Assets Control fined 487
Americans some $530
million (euro418 million)
for unauthorized travel
here.
``These fines are illegal
... and violate the rights
of Americans,’’ he said.
The typical fine for
first-time offenders who
travel to Cuba is $7,500
(euro5,900) each, according to Treasury Department figures.
Ahead of an upcoming
vote on the embargo at
the United Nations, Rodriguez released a report
outlining the damages
Cuba says the policy has
caused to the country’s
economy, foreign trade,
and health, education
and cultural sectors.
The U.N. General Assembly has condemned
the embargo for 14
straight years, urging
the United States to
Swiss urge other countries to speed return
of ‘dictator cash’, including Baby Doc’s
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) - Rich countries should speed up
procedures to return to
third-world countries the
money stolen by deposed
dictators, Swiss officials
said Oct. 3 during an
international conference
on the subject. Switzerland, which hosted
the gathering, said the
return of stolen assets
was an important issue in the fight against
international financial
crime.
While previous meetings have been held over
how to make repayments
``brisk, efficient, amicable and transparent,’’
this week’s meeting was
the first to include poor
countries that have been
the victims of disappearing government funds,
the Swiss Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The conference was
attended by 40 experts
from 20 nations and included World Bank and
U.N. officials.
``The principle is that
illegal money from corrupt rulers, so-called potentates and kleptocrats,
needs to be restored
to the affected country
within the scope of legal
possibilities,’’ the ministry said.
It urged financial institutions and countries
to work together on the
``fight against kleptocrats.’’
Switzerland has traditionally been a favorite
location for potentate
money because of its
banking secrecy rules.
But reforms over the last
two decades have made
it harder to hide money
in Switzerland, and the
country has become a
world leader in returning cash.
Of about $730 million
in Swiss accounts linked
to the late Nigerian
dictator Sani Abacha,
virtually all has been
returned to the African
country.
Other prominent cases
in which the Swiss have
acted include the 2003
decision to return hundreds of millions of dollars stashed in Swiss
banks by late dictator
Ferdinand Marcos back
to the Philippines government. The Swiss
funds were the largest
amount recovered from
the billions of dollars
Marcos and his wife
allegedly acquired in
power.
A year earlier, the
government returned to
Peru about $77.5 million
linked to former Peruvian spy chief Vladimiro
Montesinos, saying the
money came from corrupt arms deals.
Smaller amounts of
money linked to former Haitian dictator
Jean-Claude ``Baby Doc’’
Duvalier and Zairean
President Mobutu Sese
Seko remain blocked by
Swiss authorities pend-
dent Rene Preval’s new
government and gang
members blamed for a
wave of violence that
threatens to destabilize
the impoverished Caribbean nation.
Hundreds of people
cheered as dozens of
heavily armed police
walked through the lawless slum, not far from the
bullet-riddled shell of the
area’s old police station
- destroyed during a Feb-
very happy day,’’ police
inspector general Jean
Saint-Fleur said as U.N.
troops atop armored
cars kept guard, their
rifles trained down dirt
alleys.
Saint-Fleur called the
police visit ``the first
steps’’ at reopening a
base in Cite Soleil but
declined to say when
that would happen.
Many Haitians said they
couldn’t remember the
government. The government recently began
negotiating with gang
members in Cite Soleil
to persuade them to
lay down their arms
and dozens have so far
agreed.
``We welcome the
police back. Maybe now
we’ll have peace in Cite
Soleil,’’ said Gillen Jean,
a 26-year-old fruit vendor. (AP)
ing resolution of legal
disputes.
In other cases, more
than $130 million in alleged bribe money paid
by U.S. oil companies to
Kazakh officials remains
frozen, as does a similar
amount tied to Raul Salinas, brother of former
Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
end it. Last year’s U.N.
resolution was approved
by a 182-4 vote, with Micronesia abstaining and
only the United States,
Israel, Marshall Islands
and Palau opposed.
Cuba says it has lost
US$86 billion (euro68
billion) in trade - an
average of about US$1.8
billion a year - since the
first U.S. sanctions were
imposed in 1960, a year
after the Cuban revolution thrust Castro into
power.
President John F. Kennedy strengthened the
sanctions during the
Cold War with the aim
of isolating the Cuban
government economi-
cally and depriving it of
U.S. dollars.
Critics say the embargo is outdated and has
not worked, given that
Castro’s government
remains in power and
the nation is still communist. They also say
the United States trades
with other communist
countries, such as China
and Vietnam.
Democrats and freetrade Republicans in
the U.S. Congress have
pushed for easing the
sanctions, but they have
yet to make headway
against an administration determined to keep
up the pressure. (AP)
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Applied Scholastics™ Association for Better Living and Education International PADCO/AECOM
(http://www.padco.aecom.com), an international
development consulting firm based in Washington, DC, is
requesting expressions of interest in an upcoming proposal
from consultants with fluent French and experience in
either the Caribbean or francophone Africa.
Skills are needed in: urban planning, job creation,
local government service delivery; local government
associations; decentralization policy, regulations,
and training; public administration; public-private
Police make goodwill visit in Cite Soleil partnerships; municipal elections; and civil society
PORT-AU-PRINCE- ruary 2004 revolt that last time they saw police
Police entered Haiti’s toppled former President inside the staunchly areas such as community participation, community
worst slum for the first Jean-Bertrand Aristide. pro-Aristide slum, a
Smiling and waving, warren of scrap metal awareness raising, community mobilization, conflict
time in nearly three years
on Oct. 3, strolling past the police chatted with shacks where clashes management, information dissemination, public
bullet-scarred buildings residents and visited a between militants and
and shaking hands with U.N. military base that U.N. troops are com- education campaigns, youth program design,
has served as the slum’s mon.
onlookers in a
Haitian police were and gender assessment; IT. Program skills are
goodwill visit aimed only authority since the
accused of summary
at restoring order in the revolt.
“The people of Cite executions and arbitrary needed in USAID project management and grants
gang-controlled area.
The hour-long tour Soleil have been waiting arrests of pro-Aristide
of Cite Soleil was the a long time for police slum dwellers during management. USAID Chiefs of Party and Deputy
latest sign of easing to have a presence in the 2004-2006 rule of
tension between Presi- the community. It’s a a U.S.-backed interim Chiefs of Party are also needed.
Please send CVs in reverse chronological format to
[email protected] or fax to D. Read at
1-202-944-2351.. Insert Local Government Project
in the subject line. U.S. citizenship is not required.
PADCO/AECOM is an Equality Opportunity Employer.
Page 20
October 2006
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

Yes - Boston Haitian Reporter

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