A round-up of the first presidential debate in Haiti, sponsored by INURED and Haiti Aid Watchdog. More debates are being planned for the upcoming campaign season, October 26-November 26, so please check back soon for updates, information, and translated videos.
Below are video photos from the first debate, held on September 18 in Port-Au-Prince.
Fritay Foundation is an organization devoted to promoting minority youth education by providing scholarship, mentorship, and leadership training. On June 12, 2010, Fritay held the Fritay Change Fundrasing Dinner benefiting hungry children in Haiti and high school dropout prevention in Miami.
Marleine Bastien - Fritay Foundation Award Recipient
Rescued is a documentary about the Children of Haiti. This video highlights the première of Rescued, sponsored by FIAC, which was viewed at the University of Miami on Tuesday May 4. A panel discussion, facilitated by CNN Reporter Soledad O’Brien, was held afterwords with prominent community and world leaders such as: Edwidge Danticat, Haitian-American Author; Cheryl Little, Executive Director of Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC); Barth Green, Founder of Medishare Project; and Bobby Duval, Founder of L’Athletique d’Haiti. A team of KozeAyiti composed of UM faculty, employees, students, and volunteers covered the event.
Tod woke up sick, nauseous. He got a traveler’s bug, probably from the ice in the water he was drinking some time during the day. He managed to pack. And we checked out of the Olofson and had a quick continental breakfast with a German woman who was there to make a documentary about the hotel. She noticed my camera and asked me about security issues. We chatted. It turns out her project is being funded by Arte France.
We headed to CECOSIDA to meet up with two members of their team who were so inspired by the work we are doing at KOZEAYITI that they had asked yesterday if they could go with us to Grand Goave with stops in Leogane and Gressier. We agreed to let them join in and came to CECOSIDA. Also, we wanted to finally get some videos uploaded to our team in Miami. That unfortunately took a few hours due to very slow internet speeds.
At noon we were off to fight the famous traffic jams of Carrefour.
Sure enough we were stuck in traffic until 3:00 p.m. Beside the traffic jams, we also had a flat tire. But we were lucky enough to notice that right in front of a tire repair shop.
While our repairman was working, we manage to interview him. We learn that his work is providing food and shelter for a family of six, himself, his wife and his four children. We went through the cities of Gressier and Leogane characterized by a lot of camps along the road. We made a stop at l’Acul and distributed flyers of KozeAyiti, Ann Viv, and the magazines Attitude and Chimen Lakay. The population was very hungry for information and appreciated all the flyers they received.
We finally reached Grand-Goave around 4:00 and we only had two hours of daylight left to cover the story of the orphanage that Erlie and Jean Beauplan are opening. We spent the rest of the day taking pictures of the orphanage, playing with the first two children that are living at the orphanage: Jensly (Lucky) a one year little boy and Fevrier, an eleven year old boy. Our hosts were very busy receiving guests and couldn’t talk to us right away. We had been able to talk to them this morning before we head back to PAP.
Beginning of Day 6:
We finally interviewed our hosts Erlie and Jean Beauplan. Then we left Goave and came to CECOSIDA. Lots of traffic jams again. A water pipe broke on the Road of Carrefour. Very refreshing for us.
Just checking into CECOSIDA at noon today for internet access we find Haitian youth break dancing and Flipping!!!!
We traveled with a one cabin pick up truck and we were burning up in sun, specially Yanick and Jean Junior sitting in the back. We documented the fact that we noticed the work of different NGO’s working in Haiti. We saw lots of trucks, portable toilets, water and sanitation projects, and camp sites with banners and labels of worldwide NGO’s. We are now preparing for our last trip. We are heading to Arcahaie where a group of journalists and media workers are waiting for us.
We have been commuting the past couple of days, traveling to PaP from the Provinces for business.
I was back to PaP for technological successes and failures. But over all, this Wednesday August 18, 2010 was a huge day of success for KozeAyti. Many connections were made, especially with the local media during our press conference. Connections to the internet also were made, but most importantly were the connections made in person, face to face.
(Below is a construction site on the way back to Port-au-Prince from the rural provinces)
The day started by waking up at 4 am to prepare the equipment and bags for the day and then leaving Grand Goave at 5am for the two hour commute to the PaP. The commute is roughly the equivalent of driving from West Palm Beach to Miami.
(Below are some some scenes from a rainstorm in Port-au-Prince on Day 3)
The sunrise on the dawn of the new day was beautiful with the cool morning air and some mist and dew on the grass. We drove off the property of our hosts, Erlie and Jean Beauplan, past their cows grazing onto the road and then through the stream because the local bridge had been damaged in the earthquake. The early morning light made everything look beautiful, even the rural shacks and shanties that we sadly passed.
At one point, I saw tree limbs in the road and thought it was just damage from the heavy rain storms the night before. But then Erlie told me that it was a dead body. Someone had been hit by a car. The body was simply covered with branches until the government officials or the family members come to remove it. But who would come? How long it would take? How would they know about it? These were all unanswered questions.
We arrived in PaP early, 7:00 am. We had beaten the rush hour traffic. CECOSIDA opens at 8 am. That gave us time to eat breakfast in a nice restaurant at Lalue name C.Jean Restaurant. Then, we took a red ribbon cab, 10 blocks or so to CECOSIDA. The cab fare was 25 gourdes for each person, which is less than US$ 1.00.
Although, we had pre – set all the audio-visual equipment for the press conference, the day before, we still had technical difficulties. Just 10 minutes before the press conference was to begin, everything was working and I had time to quickly send the Day 3 report. But not enough time to send any videos or pics.
There were only two journalists by 10:15 when we started. One was from Radio Vision 2000, Marie Samuelle Charles and the other one from the newspaper Le Nouvelliste, Claude Bernard Serant. One of them left briefly and came back later. We were a bit disappointed but started the press conference anyway. We did a one on one interview with the young woman from Radio Vision 2000 for 45 minutes, until 11:00 a.m. Then CECOSIDA Conference room started to fill with reporters from Haitian media: radio, TV and newspapers.
(Checking out the video equipment before the news conference)
TNH, National Haitian Television came with a nice Canon XL1 and other TV stations also had nice HD cameras. There were about 15 in all representing: Vision 2000, Le Nouvelliste, Tropik TV, RNH, TNH, Tele Éclair, Tele Star, UN Radio, Radio Catherine Flon, Action Journaliste Humanitaire, the CECOSIDA team of reporters, and a few independent radio show hosts and reporters. I had to present Koze Ayiti three times due to late arrivals (Haitian time). But I didn’t mind at all because this is it! KozeAyiti was going to be on Haitian National TV as well as Haitian radio stations and local newspapers. Finally, the “koze” was taking place in Haiti. We were all very happy! The connections were made between Haiti and the diaspora; the diaspora and Haiti!
We then had lunch with a journalist from Arcahaie , Jacques Antoine Valtrin, and a more in depth screening of KozeAyiti videos. Some of the CECOSIDA team also joined us for the viewing of the videos, especially Soeurette’s interview done after the earthquake, the day in the life of Koze Ayiti, Haitian Flag Day in Miami, Flowfest, WLRN Podcast, Bob Lemoine’s podcast for KozeAyiti, etc. We also had several one on one interviews.
Before we said our thank you and goodbyes to the CECOSIDA team, I finally had a chance to try to onto upload the Flip videos on my computer, when suddenly the power grid failed and we lost connectivity. Then we were off to Digicel.
We had a 4pm interview with David Sharpe at Digicel Tower, at Turgeau, to talk about their support to the MIT Media Lab’s Konbit project. We had also decided to stay in PaP for the night. So, we checked into the Olofson Hotel, dropped our bags and then made it to the 9th floor of the Digicel building. We passed by Ave Christophe, Ave N, Rue 6, Armand Holly, Debussy and tried to connect to Turgeau through Impasse Duverger. But this small road was blocked by debris. We had to turn around, go back to Rue Armand Holly and turn right to Rue Martin Luther King to connect to Turgeau. We were on time at Digicel and met David in his office on the 9th floor. The interview was great and David was very generous with his time and provided lots of insights on the Konbit project. We stayed about an hour and a half and left around 5:30 pm.
Then we took another red ribbon cab back to Hotel Olofson. Yanick pointed at the buildings that we were passing: UNICEF, College Canado, College Saint Francois D’Assise (damaged), Sacre-Coeur and Pax-Villa du Sacre-Coeur (gone). UNICEF’s building is standing up. Yanick told me that she would like to go inside and visit her former workplace and co-workers but it was too late to do that. When she passed the School of Saint Francois D’Assise at Rue 6, she pointed out that Marly Lalanne, one of our volunteer at Koze Ayiti, and Yanick herself, they both went to school there.
I was anxious to send the Flip videos before the end of the day but technical problems intervened. I could not log onto to the WiFi network of the hotel and went to the front desk for help to no avail. There were at least half a dozen guests in the lobby using laptops which made me very frustrated, so much that Yanick had to walk away from me. Later, she told me she went to watch a Haitian dance class with drums and troubadours that she enjoyed while I was getting frustrated with the computer. And we misssed the KozeAyiti press conference on the news! I was so frustrated with no internet access and the missed TV news broadcast. Later, I realized we had no TV in our room anyway.
Finally, I met Yanick for dinner and she asked a gentleman if he could help me connect to the internet. It turned out that no one was connected. That gentleman told us that he was also frustrated. We all had signals but were only connected to their router. I was so happy when the young man told me that I just blurted out: “Can I buy you a beer!!!!” He accepted the offer and sat down with Yanick and I.
He then insisted I looked familiar and asked if we had met before, but I did not recognize him because his hair was shorter than when I first met him. It turned out that he was Herve Sabin whom I met in Miami Beach at the Sustainable Haiti Conference in March. We even have, on dot sub, a video of his project of art connected to environmental education for children. We had to tell him the reason why we haven’t posted his video on Koze Ayiti. It was due to a glitch in the audio. Then, after a nice “koze” with us, he left our table.
Walking to the counter to sign the bill, Yanick bumped into the famous Haitian-American writer that she loves and reads all the time, Edwidge Danticat, and also one of her former professors from Linguistics School, Dr. Yves Dejean, her Creole Language Teacher. Edwidge was telling Dr. Dejean how Koze Ayiti was doing a great job, that our website also had educational videos. She picked up a few business cards for Dr. Dejean and left after a brief but nice conversation. Yanick reminded me that she gave a KozeAyiti business card to Edwidge back in April, when she went to her lecture at the University of Miami, while we were receiving former President Clinton on campus. But who would know that Edwidge is a big fan of the KozeAyiti web site! Connections! Connections!
In a city of 3 million people, what are the chances of randomly bumping into three people that we knew, Yanick and I?
Before leaving the lobby to go to our room, Yanick introduced me to Mr. Richard Morse, the owner of the hotel and made a comparison between his story and mine, well ours. Richard, an American citizen (born from a Haitian mother) married to Lunise, a Haitian woman. And I, Tod Landess, an American citizen, married to her, Yanick, another Haitian woman. Richard and I, we were both connected to Haiti by our Haitian women, our heart. Connections! Connections!
We returned to PaP this afternoon via the same long and winding road through the mountains. It was a six hour ride. We left shortly after sunrise at 6am and arrived in PaP at noon. We stopped only twice along the way.
First we stopped at another permanent housing project, where the sounds of hammers echoed in the mountains. This project was different in that it was an entirely Haitian project. Deep in the Pine Forest National Park, old colonial homes from the 1940’s were being restored and made available for rent to tourists, NGO’s and Haitians alike through the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources. So, it is untrue that the government is not building or planning anything. Yes, the Haitian government is participating in the rebuilding effort.
The second stop was at Soryet to take a break and play in a cool mountain stream with some timoun playing, bathing and washing clothes. After leaving Soryet, we were told the story of a group of houses and families washed away by the river a few years ago. It was in Fonds-Verrettes. We visited the market there.
A view from the mountains in Haiti’s rural countryside
Several cities were on our way back to PaP: Fonds Parisien, Ganthier, Croix-Des-Bouquets. We drove through the busy open air market of Petion-Ville which was like trying to drive an SUV through the crowd of the famous Calle Ocho Festival in Miami. It’s a very colorful market. The merchants sit under multi-color umbrellas and praise their products loud to attract customers. A few sellers were selling as they were walked up and down the busy street.
We arrived for our noon meeting with Soeurette at CECOSIDA to plan for our KozeAyiti press conference on Wednesday, make important phone calls and use the internet. Like most things in Haiti, what we thought would be a quick one hour meeting turned into a four hour lay over. Technical problems plague Communication in Haiti. Problems range from no signal for cell phone service to slow internet speeds and computer hardware/software issues to not having electricity. But, CECOSIDA has a generator and we have been able to accomplish our goal there: plan and connect.
We left CECOSIDA having completed our invitations and press release in French and pre-setting all the A/V technical equipment. We also had a good meeting to cover our presentation and pro-actively anticipate Haitian media questions.
Heavy rains hit in PaP around 5:00 pm and the pedestrians had the advantage over cars. The rains were intense, like the strong tropical downpours we get in Miami. People started streaming into the streets like ants while cars and trucks stood idle in the rising street floods. As we drove past Portail Leogane and Cite L’eternel, we saw people pushing the huge mounds of trash on the side of the street into the water rushing into the canals. It’s been a long drive. We reached our destination, Grand Goave, at 8:00 pm.
Tod and Yanick on their way to Haiti. Photo by Tod Landess
As part of our on-going efforts to build media connections in Haiti, two key members of the KozeAyiti team - Tod and Yanick Landess - are traveling to Haiti.
While there, they will be meeting with potential Haitian media partners with the goal of creating a long-term media consortium, helping to increase recognition of the organization and its goals in Haiti, as well as gathering content for Kozeayiti.org.
Tod and Yanick will be sending updates from their trip, so please check back in to learn about their experiences in Haiti!
Day 1 Hour 1
We arrived in Port-au-Prince at 8:30 a.m. to the sounds of the troubadours (Haitian Band) as we came down the escalator to get on the modern shuttle bus to take us to baggage claim. The rest of the main terminal was
damaged 1/12.
Leaving the airport I knew I had arrived in a large vibrant city. The sights and sounds of city life were everywhere and made a much more powerful first impression than the blue tarps and sporadic earthquake damage.
I was taken aback by the fact that I saw 6 working traffic lights in the first 15 minutes of driving through the city. I knew then that it was a myth that PaP had no traffic lights and no infrastructure.
Working traffic light in Port-au-Prince. Photo by Tod Landess
By 11 am our truck broke down but luckily only blocks from my father-in-law.
By 12:30 we were off to Tchiotte in rural Haiti. Unfortunately our truck broke down a second time on the hot streets of PaP. Shortly after that the sole of my boot came off and lay in the street next to the broken truck.
Tod's boot sole and the truck both give out at the same time. Photo by Tod Landess
Yanick walked back to her Dad’s and I stayed with the truck taking in the sights and sounds of a busy PaP street for nearly two hours. Welcomed with a seat in the shade by a street vendor selling avocados and peanut butter. I had transitioned quickly from tourist to city dweller in PaP.
We salvaged the day with an important meeting regarding our media outreach with Wilkair Fegond and he gave us several media contacts.
Left PaP for Grand Goave via Boulevard La Salin to the south on a national road going past the overwhelming poverty of Cite Soleil, Cite L’Eternel, and earthquake refugee camps.
'Boston' neighborhood, Cite Soleil, June, 2010. Photo by Moses Shumow
Left the city for rural provinces, breaking down two more times. Sunset over Leogone a nice distraction from the poverty that, combined with fatigue, left me speechless. Nearly dark, the next breakdown was in front of a rural police post - a bit of a relief. We arrived safely at our gracious hosts Jean and Erlie Beauplan with the truck giving up one last time at the gate - but we were home.
Day Two:
We left Grand Goave early to take Debra, a registered nurse visiting our hosts Jean and Erlie Beauplan, to the airport in PaP.
Typing my day one report on the bumpy National Highway distracted me from the scenes of poverty that so upset me the night before. Besides, it was a new day and I was well rested and we had a new mission. We would head out of PaP to rural Haiti, Thiotte to exact. We were supposed to be there for the 15th to celebrate the Notre Dame d’ Assumption and visit Benjamin Francois, Coordinator APRECIAB, (Association pour la Protection de l’Environnement et des Citoyens de l’Arrondissement de Belle-Anse).
However, the truck problem intervened but for a reason I believe, for as we arrived in Tchiotte on a Monday we were able to interview the Mayor of Tchiotte, The Honorable Labner Rabel. Then Benjamin hosted a meeting of APRECIAB at a local school, introducing KozeAyiti to the community. Yanick had an interview with Madame Julianie, Benjamin’s mom and I interviewed Benjamin and an agronomist Witzer Cyprien. The evening ended with Yanick playing street soccer with the kids and then she had a street Koze with the chiuldren as the populaiton surrounded us.
Yanick having a Koze with community members in Thiotte. Photo by Tod Landess
Soccer celebrations in Thiotte. Photo by Tod Landess.
But the long journey to Thiotte was the real adventure of the day and the stories of hope started shortly after leaving PaP. Less than 30 minutes out of PaP in Fonds Parisien, we came accross the first sign of permanent housing being built. We asked our driver Manno, to pull over so we can take a closer look. It was the first sound of hammers and saws that we encountered since our arrival. We were able to conduct an interview with the founders of “Love a Child, Inc” and some of their staff members both Americans and Haitians.
The rest of the trip to Thiotte through the mountains and the Pine Forests (Foret des Pins) of Haiti. Yes! Haiti myth # 2: Haiti is not completely deforested. The cool mountain brise and gentle rain had washed the despair of Port-au-Prince.
Tod Landess discusses the contrasts between rural and urban Haiti. Video by Yanick Landess.
Myth # 3: Haitian time really does exists. It took us around 6 hours to get to Thiotte while we expected to be there in 3 hours. In addition, from town to town, we stopped to ask how much longer. And every time, the answer was the same, in 10 minutes, very close (tou pre). In Thoman “tou pre”. In Fonds Verrettes, “tou pre”. In Foret des Pins, “Tou pre”. In Savane Zombi, “tou pre”. And finally, we saw signs ofThiotte, we asked for our host, Bnjamin Francois, they said: “Kay manmi li tou pre”. And we were there. More to come tomorrow.
Opening reception of Haitian Art on May 7, 2010, at Regions Bank in Coral Gables, FL. KozeAyiti, represented by Tod and Yanick Landess, covered the event, which celebrated Haitian Heritage Month and raised funds for Lucienne Deschamps Foundation. Yanick Landess interviews Michele Frisch, the curator of the show, and Rachelle Moscoso Denis, the event organizer.
On June 30, 2010, WLRN’s radio documentary program Under the Sun hosted hosted a live event at Archbishop Richard Curley High School in Little Haiti, Miami, called “An Evening Under the Sun.”
The event showcased Under the Sun’s upcoming radio special on June 17, which will center on how life life in South Florida has changed after the earthquake in Haiti. It also raised money for relief efforts in Haiti by Food for the Poor.
At noon on July 17, KozeAyiti will be hosting a listening party for the program’s broadcast at Konbit for Haiti.
521 NE 81st St. (NE 79th St. and Biscayne Mall). Miami, FL.
Yanick Landess interviews audience members and panel participants after the première of CNN’s Rescued with Soledad O’Brien on May 4 at the Unversity of Miami School of Communication’s Bill Cosfrod Cinema. The event was presented by the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center. Interviewees include, NickyMix, TV host and DJ; Elizabeth Guerin, journalist and TV-Radio Host; and Robert Duval, president of L’Athletique D’Haiti.
Check KozeAyiti for more video from this event, including an extended interview with CNN reporter Soledad O’Brien.
On Saturday June 5, 2010, The Konbit for Haiti Community Center and the Trauma Resolution Center with KozeAyiti.org hosted an event to provide hands-on experience with the rescue dogs from the National Assisted Crisis Response Team.
The event was part of the weekly series of events hosted by TRC and KozeAyiti.org Cyber Café at the Konbit for Haiti Community Center every Saturday from 12 – 3 pm.
On Saturday May 22, the Trauma Resolution Center inaugurated an inviting coffee lounge area at the Konbit For Haiti Center in Little Haiti as the “Konbit Community Corner”. KozeAyiti.org, has partnered with TRC to provide a free Cyber Cafe, focused on connecting the local community to those in Haiti.
Through a partnership with ArtStudioMiami, children and adults had a wonderful time painting and describing their hope for Haiti on a paper leaf, that was then mounted to a tree of life panorama mural.
KozeAyiti presents a sneak preview of an exclusive interview with CNN reporter Soledad O’Brien, in which she discusses the challenges she faced in reporting on Haitian children, working with local Haitian media, and the importance of keeping this story alive in the mainstream media. O’Brien recently visited the University of Miami to discuss her upcoming documentary, “Rescued,” and lead a panel discussion on the challenges facing Haiti. Journalism and Communication with be a regularly featured topic on KozeAyiti moving forward, so stay tuned for related stories on the importance of the media, both local and international, as Haiti begins to recover.
Billie G Lynn, an art professor at the University of Miami, explains a sculpture that she donated to auction at the Lowe Art Museum for Project Medishare in Haiti. (Filmed on April 10, 2010)
Prof. Dixon discusses the general geologic situation of Haiti, geologic and other hazards associated with the Haitian environment and prospects for rebuilding Port au Prince and other damaged urban areas. (Filmed on February 19, 2010)
As media accounts have reported, the impact of the earthquake on higher education in Haiti has been devastating. The Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development (INURED) and the Haitian Education & Leadership Program (H.E.L.P.) have conducted an assessment of this situation over the past month, and prepared a joint report on their findings. (Filmed on March 2, 2010)
