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Haiti Benefit Concert

SATURDAY, SEPT 21, 2008

Amazura: Jamaica, NY

http://www.rockmasters.com/haiti-relief/ny-hmi-united-09-21-08.htm

World Food Crisis: NPR coverage

Broadcasted on NPR April 10, 2008 

Pedro Sanchez, director of tropical agriculture at The Earth Institute at Columbia University and co-chair of the Hunger Task Force for the Millenium Project, and Gawain Kripke, policy director at Oxfam, and Garry Pierre-Pierre, editor-publisher of the Haitian Times, talk about the global food shortage, what countries are affected—and why.

 

To be continued…

Carine drives Selena to the airport and drops off Ann and I at a house she was staying at near the airport, when she first came to Haiti last Thursday. These were our goodbyes with Selena, Carine and Dominique. It was sad. We spent a lot of time together.

We get to the house, and at this point I am beyond exhausted. Makini, a friend who was staying in the home too, says to me…”your last 24 hours, nothing but Kreyol!” A part of me collapsed inside…of course I want to learn, but at this point, I just wanted quiet time (impossible as my brain doesn’t know how to shut off ). But that didn’t happen, I slept a lot, took a warm running water shower, ate some mangos, etc. I look at this part of the trip as my relaxation/transition of thoughts to prepare myself to come back to the states. Not easy.

Even though I had people back home that I love and would usually miss…my mind and body were completely somewhere else…in Haiti. I questioned my feelings, my emotions, my intensions, my everything. I understand that I was taking in a lot around me, speaking different languages, etc., but this is a feeling I have never felt.

Haiti is one very special place.

Even as I was lifting my foot to climb the stairs to the plane I said to Ann “Our feet are off the land.” It was a sad thought. I didn’t want to leave…

I know I’ll be back…

to be continued…

And the trip continues…

TUESDAY, MARCH 25

We abruptly leave Souvenance when we learn that Joey and friends are leaving early Tuesday morning (as Carine and Dominque left the day before to return to work). It was a spur of the moment decision while drinking our sweet coffee and eating spaghetti and hotdogs for breakfast.

Others were leaving the following day, but Selena and I were ready to go back to Petionville and experience Carine and Dominique’s way of living, MORE DANCING!

When Hughes, Selena and I returned to Port au Prince, Carine was there to pick us up and bring us back to her home. There we te mange, te domi, te mange, te domi. We were exhausted!

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26 

Wednesday, we danced at the Ballet Folklorique d’Haiti (BFH) under the direction of Nicole Lumarque, but her son Djanaka taught the class. He was amazingly strong and a beautiful dancer.

Then we went about Carine’s day running errands with her to the post office, the market, the bank, etc. A great way to see the city. And then some more mange, domi, mange. That evening we went to get icecream, and Selena bumps into someone that she knows! A friend of a friend from college, Charlene. The magic of Haiti.

And then the rain came down hard, went back to Carine’s home and sat out on her balcony, surrounded by plants, drinking rum and speaking 4 languages…no wonder we’re so exhausted! Bon nuit!

THURSDAY, MARCH 27

Thursday was Selena’s last full day in Haiti. We packed in as much as we could.

Waking to a delicious breakfast, then visited by a friend of Selena’s father, Rea. Rea, started an organization for Women in Haiti, and then opened a school for children in Port au Prince. Selena and Rea visited the school, and Carine and I picked up Ann downtown.

Both pictures taken by Selena Rhine

Selena and I then decided that we wanted to visit a local hospital. So that is where Carine brought us. We walked through the pediatrics, the adults,and out we went. It was basically a bare bones hospital compared to an American hospital. Everything analogue, I saw no computers (at least where we visitied.) Passed a room with piles of paper work. Green metal barred beds.

In the car with Carine we listen to a Voudou radio show

koute

And then again, we dance. Vivian Gautthier holds classes every Thursday and Saturday at her home. A BEAUTIFUL home! We arrived late, but jumped right in. A man, whom we didn’t get his name! led the class as Vivian watched. Vivian is the teacher of many of the teachers I study under, it was a great honor to be there.

The wrap-around porch on which we danced of Vivian’s home.

Picture taken by Selena Rhine

Hear the drums of Vivian’s class

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Me, Vivian, Ann and Selena

Picture taken by Carine with Selena’s camera

Following Vivian’s class we went back to BFH and took another Haitian Folkloric dance class with Djanaka, then a yoga class directly after.

We then met up with Hughes at an Art Gallery in P-au-P then went out to dinner at a local restaurant. Back to Carine’s to bathe before another night of RAM at the Hotel Oloffson.

We had so much fun at RAM. There were much less people than the previous week, they played inside, Daniel drummed with them, we sat at a nice big round table, ordered food and drank some rum. There was lots more dancing in us. We did some chair dancing at the table, which was hilarious and fun…then the rhythm of nago got me out of my seat, there is a warrior inside of me! The girls followed and we had such intense energy surrounding us, it was beautiful.

The night ended with the quote, “fucked up, fatigue and fou.” Indeed we had a good evening.

Family photo in Carine’s kitchen, where we spent a lot of our time in Petionville.

Ann, Carine, Me, Hugues, Selena and Dominique. (taken with Selena’s camera)

Souvenance, sounds

hear Souvenance

hear Souvenance 2

hear Souvenance 3

hear Souvenance 4

hear Souvenance 5

hear Souvenance 6

hear Souvenance 7

hear Souvenance 8

Souvenance, pictures

The grounds were beautiful. We made a many of friends everywhere we went. The children were beautiful and instantly our friends. Everywhere we walked we would feel a hand grab ours and always have a trail of children. Again, verbal communications was limited to Hello, How are you? What is your name? and from there we danced, laughed and played together.

Ann gave us a quick tour. She showed us where the row of food and water was, the poo houses, the showers with running water, the stations for ceremonies, the peristyle, the mapou tree, etc.

A beautiful woman walking to the Mapou tree.

A little boy holding the door for his mama

Selena and I near the Mapou tree

The Mapou tree

I asked Neg Mawon if he knew how old the Mapou tree, (please note that the people above are sitting on the roots of the tree!) He then asks someone in kreyol and all i hear is pa pa pa pa…Neg Mawon comes back to me and the man said to him, “Even his great great great grandfather couldn’t tell you how old this tree is.”

Carine and Dominique: Picture taken by Selena Rhine.

Joey in his kay

Hugues and I

The procession representing the crossing of the ocean from Africa to Haiti

The ceremonies of drums and dancing were amazing and overwhelming with energy. We only stayed until Tuesday morning ( 2 nights). We spent the evenings in the peristyle or hanging with friends in their kay, or trying our darndest to speak Kreyol with our new friends. I had about a 2 hour conversation (in kreyol) with Hugues about how I want to learn more Kreyol. The points we got across to one another within this time: Kreyol is more than a language, you need to be Haitian to fully communicate/understand Kreyol, and then I tried hard to say to him…”Maybe I was Haitian in a previous life”… and how I ended up having to say it was “before I was born.” Best to simplify when you don’t know so many words, point made, point taken.

Sunday, March 23

Bright and early, Hughes and Dominique meet us at Carine’s so we can all travel together up to Gonaives and then on to Souvenance.

The pilgrimage to Souvenance, like other Voudou rituals, often coincide with events and people in the Catholic faith imposed upon African slaves. In that way, the slaves disguised the practice of their religion, concealing it from the slave masters, who feared its power.

Residents said the Souvenance holy site was founded by a group of freed slaves from an area of West Africa they called Dahomey, now part of Benin. This place is sacred because of that direct link to the ancestors.

Nestled in the Artibonite Valley, Souvenance lies at the center of Haiti’s revolutionary heartland. Haiti’s independence from France was declared in 1804 in Gonaïves.

We walked up a big hill to catch the tap tap to the bus to take us to Gonaives.

The bus, which looks like a school bus, is packed with people. Luckily we were one of the first travelers to board the bus and got seats…although, within the hour wait before leaving, more and more people were packed in, hip to hip and standing, people selling sunglasses, dlo, sweets, food, etc. out the window and on the bus until it leaves.

The sounds of the Gonaives bus

After a 3 hour dusty ride we reach Gonaives. Then we hop on some motos and make our way to Souvenance (about a 25 minute ride)

Selena and Dominique on the moto

We reach Souvenance and immediately we see people we know, Yatande and Neg Mawon who bring us to Ann and Isa. Originally I was to meet Ann and Isa last Thursday at the hotel, but as the trip progressed, this was how it worked out for us all. Ann and Isa arrived at Souvenanance Friday evening.

Isa directs us to our kay, right next to theirs.

That evening

Carine picked us up at the Oloffson that evening and brought us back to her home in Petionville. She has a very nice, spacious home with about 3 women roomates and her daughter living with her.

Dominque comes over and we pick up Emmanuel for a night at the disko.

Selena, Emmanuel and Carine

We daaaanced, spent some time in the car getting some fresh air, and laughed so hard just because we were trying to ask Carine how her day was…and just couldn’t get out the Kreyol words (for about 15 minutes), instead we just laughed some more. Put on our serious faces and walked back into the club.

Good times.

Then spent the evening speaking 4 languages back at Carine’s: English, French, Kreyol and Spanish.

PART II, Haiti on our own

SATURDAY, MARCH 22 

Our plan was to head up to Souvenance with Joey today, but instead we meet Jean Ristil at the last morning breakfast at the Oloffson. He was here to meet with Oneza, Ninaj and family. Jean is a journalist/activist in Cite Soleil, I shared his site earlier, but here it is again.

http://www.freewebs.com/kolezepol/

Jean invited Selena and I along to visit Cité Soleil. Change of plans! Now to quick figure out how we were getting to Souvenance…easy! Peniel helps translate that Carine and Dominique are leaving tomorrow and Carine has invited us to stay with her that evening, PERFECT! Very sweet of Carine to open her home to us.

Selena and I say goodbye to Peniel and the gals.

And off we are, beyond the gates of the Oloffson to experience a whole different Haiti.

I don’t quite know how to verbalize my experience of Cité Soleil, I think I’m still processing what my eyes have seen. I do know that they seemed to be a wonderful people living in a very difficult situation with the quesitonable UN presence. Please educate yourselves and be aware as to what is going on.

In an article dated August 2006, Jean Risitil was interviewed and asked,

Tell us about your home, Cité Soleil.

Ristil: These people living in Cité Soleil had jobs before the coup; some had 5 or 6 kids who they could pay for school. Each person with a job helped benefit 20 or 30 people around him. But after the coup these people were cut off, they had no more money. No money for his home, no money for his family. So when he could not pay for his family to live, he had another idea. Before these people would get 5,000 gourdes a month they could take care of their family, mother, father, kids. This is the reason of the Chimeres. The society is corrupt because the state and church are failures they do nothing for the people. A MINUSTAH tank can cost several million dollars. If you did social work with this money you could change the situation of Cité Soleil. When Aristide was President it was better because people were working and all those who were not working still had help. They had potable water. People had access to food. Many handicapped people got food and a fund each month. Now things are horrible. For 100 gourdes people get sexual relations. People have no money making it difficult to live. They destroyed our lives. Many children have no fathers now.

Full article here:

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/409/1/

Full moon, dogs sing

After a night of some wine, sweets and good company, I lie on my bed to have a peaceful night’s sleep, my last night in the Oloffson. I lay down and hear a dog singing to the moon. Never a quiet moment in Haiti, I love it.

sing 

Friday, March 21

The last full day with Peniel’s organized trip.

As per our daily schedule, breakfast at the Oloffson. Then we were bussed to our first destination, Fort Jacques. We had a few local kids as our tour guides.

I like his first words to me, a quick 6 second clip.

that’s…

The tour begins

History

Giving thanks (in one of the conference rooms of Fort Jacques, picture a cool-temperatured cave within the Fort)

love one another

Our next destination, Leogane. Every year, beginning during Lent and culminating on Good Friday, rara bands march the rural roads of Haiti. The musical instruments of a rara band are unique. They include drums carried on shoulder straps over miles of dusty country roads. Horns made from beaten out hunger-relief oil tins, with “Gift of the American People” still clearly marked on them, make trumpet sounds, one note from each horn. The pitch of the note is determined by the size and shape of the horn.

a passing rara band on the bus ride up to Leogane

Here’s a really good example of how a rara band is heard in the distance and then consumes your ears body and mind, then proceeds on…

ya just have to dance!

Picture taken by Selena Rhine

Once we get there, we learned that they are only preparing for the next day, so there’s not too much for us to see…little did we know how great of a night this would be.

Starting with Selena having to take a pee! First gal off the bus…and one by one, for the first time we are off our protected bus and interacting with the people! And especially the kids!!! Oh how wonderful they are. It’s amazing how much you can communicate without knowing another’s spoken language. Smiles, dancing, lots of creative body language can communicate more than verbally speaking.

Picture taken by Selena Rhine 

And then come the magical Snake men

And an appropriate song on the bus following our trip to Leogane

Damballa Wedo

Oneza speaks of our experience

No police, no barracades

And oh how I felt the full moon that rose that evening…although, I kept saying to Selena…”I think it’s a full moon in Haiti every day.” That’s how connected I felt.

Port-au-Prince