a1945: Haitian roots deepening (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Haitian roots deepening
The number of Haitians in the bay area has more than doubled in recent
years. They come for better opportunities.
By TAMARA LUSH, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 6, 2002


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The number of Haitians in the bay area has more than doubled in recent
years. They come for better opportunities.
TAMPA -- For Pierre Paul, the move from New York City to Tampa was like
coming home. No more cold winters and gray skyline. Paul, who was born and
raised in Haiti, was back in the steamy, tropical air that he loved.

But one thing was missing: When he arrived in Tampa in 1994, the Haitian
community numbered just 8,000 people -- far fewer than in New York. The
church he attended here had just 25 members.

Then came the migration.

In the past several years, the Haitian population in the Tampa Bay area has
more than doubled to roughly 20,000. Paul's church has outgrown its building
three times. Sunday church services now routinely draw 200 people.

"We've got a community growing every day," says Paul, 49. "Tampa is 10,000
times better than New York."

Haitians are coming here for the same reasons as everyone else: nice
weather, a low cost of living, the desire to be near elderly parents.

By all accounts, the community is thriving.

Haitian immigrants have opened medical practices in St. Petersburg and small
restaurants on Tampa's west side.

A 28-year-old Haitian is trying to start the area's second French-Creole FM
radio station. A Haitian doctor living in St. Petersburg was chosen to paint
this year's theme poster for the Mainsail arts festival.

A lilting Creole accent can be heard in at least 20 churches, at a student
group of 40 people at the University of South Florida and in countless
classrooms in New Tampa.

On most Sunday nights, one of Tampa's six Haitian men's soccer teams is
playing. Sometimes the teams play each other or Haitian teams from other
cities. Usually, though, they play a Mexican or Cuban team in the field
adjacent to the Boys and Girls Club of Ybor City.

Sometimes, 500 Haitians watch the games.

"Every year, I meet new people," says Dr. Ludner Confidant of St.
Petersburg, an anesthesiologist and painter who moved to Florida from Haiti
in 1975. "The growth is noticed at all levels of the community:
professional, nonprofessional and retirees."

Shattering stereotypes
For many Floridians, the mention of Haitians conjures up images of desperate
people adrift on makeshift rafts and of a population afflicted with AIDS.

Those are stereotypes, which Haitians in Tampa face constantly and strive to
break each day.

"Certainly some of the problems we face originate from the fact that our
people come from an underdeveloped country," says Dr. M. Rony Francois, a
Haitian who is an assistant professor at USF's department of Environmental
and Occupational Health. "To some people, that denotes a sense of emptiness.
They have no clue that even in an underdeveloped country you have brilliant
people who can rise not only to their level but beyond that."

In South Florida, Haitians have gained a measure of political clout, in part
because they live in close proximity to each other, most notably in a Miami
neighborhood called Little Haiti. In 2000, the Legislature's first
Haitian-American member, Democratic Rep. Phillip Brutus, was elected by the
voters of Little Haiti.

The Tampa Bay area does not have an identifiably Haitian neighborhood. From
Sarasota to Tampa and from Wimauma to St. Petersburg, Haitians have settled
where they can find jobs and reasonably priced housing.

So far, they have amassed no political power.

But that may change.

Saintil Romelus, a 28-year-old who lives in Tampa, has applied to the
federal government for permission to start a French-Creole radio station.

Romelus, who drives a truck during the day, wants to broadcast information
about U.S. laws and educational opportunities, along with Caribbean music
and news of Haiti. He also wants to start a French-Creole public-access TV
show for Haitians, and he foresees a day when the community will open its
own school and have its own political representatives.

"We need a lot of things for our community," Romelus says.

What they need most of all is proficiency in English.

Non-English speaking Haitians have a far more difficult time in Tampa than
they do in South Florida or New York. There is no infrastructure of stores,
community groups and resources.

Cuban immigrants who settle in Tampa have a wide array of bilingual services
available to them.

"There are places for Cubans to go, clubs and grocery stores with bilingual
clerks," says Dave Schmidt, the manager for adult and community education
programs in the Hillsborough school district. "Haitians don't have that
luxury."

Schmidt runs a program called C.A.R.I.B.E. (Career Recruitment and
Instruction in Basic English) that helps refugees from Haiti and Cuba.

Four years ago, the program helped 15 Haitians, Schmidt said. Last year, it
helped 150.

Churches also are helping to fill the vacuum. As has been true for centuries
in Haiti, churches are the people's main -- and sometimes only -- source of
support and assistance.

Pastor Josias Jocelyn of the Pinellas Christian Center in St. Petersburg
says his church gets calls every week from Haitians wanting to relocate in
the area. He helps them find homes, health insurance and jobs. Many of the
church's Haitians work in nursing, hotels or retirement homes.

Almost everyone who moves here says Florida reminds them of Haiti, Jocelyn
says.

"They like it here," he says.

Performing with Grace
About 200 people clap and hoot wildly when the band Grace slides into its
first set. The band is crammed onto a makeshift stage, which also doubles as
a pulpit for the Assemblie Christianne, a tiny church a few blocks off
Nebraska Avenue. The music has a conga beat, gospel Christian lyrics and a
soulful trumpet.

It is Easter Sunday. Little girls are dressed in frilly, pink taffeta
dresses, and their mothers are wearing sharp, jewel-toned suits. The men and
boys wear pressed pants and shirts, and a lot of cologne. It is hot inside
the tiny room, and the fans are working overtime.

No one seems to mind the heat. Instead, members of the all-Haitian crowd
dance in their seats and the aisles, while singing along to songs such as
Fave Bon Dye (God's Favor) and Padon Segne (Forgive Me).

Pierre Paul greets the people in Creole. They respond with wide grins,
whistles and loud clapping. Paul is the leader and founder of Grace.

He learned to play guitar when he was a teenager in Port-au-Prince. He loved
playing the popular Haitian Compas music -- a blend of merengue with a touch
of jazz and guitars. But he added a twist: Christian lyrics.

When Paul moved to New York, he started a family and worked in a lamp
manufacturing business. There was little time for music. When he moved to
Tampa, he felt it was God's will for him to play again and to sing the
gospel. But he wasn't sure if he would find enough Haitian musicians to help
him.

The community's startling growth took care of that concern.

Paul assembled three singers, a keyboard player, two drummers, a bass player
and another guitarist. Their first show was at Paul's church, Assemblie
Christianne. That was four years ago.

Now Grace plays in Haitian churches all across Florida. During a recent
funeral in Tampa for a popular Haitian pastor, Grace played a somber song
for 500 people. The group is releasing its second CD this month and plans on
going back to Port-au-Prince this summer to play a large Christian revival.

Paul, who is a cabdriver during the day, had to cut down on the hours that
he drives so he can rehearse and play with Grace.

"It's inside you," he says of the Compas music. "It's our rhythm."

Clinging to Haitian roots
Six-year-old Ralph Duvers reads aloud from a book as he sits in the corner
of the library at Roosevelt Elementary School in South Tampa. Three other
children listen. Ralph furrows his brow as he successfully sounds out the
word "magical."

"Ralph, you are really improving," says Josette Toulme, a Haitian-born woman
who volunteers in Tampa schools to help young French-Creole speakers learn
English. "You do your words and you call me tonight."

Ralph moved to Tampa with his mother from Haiti last year. He spoke no
English. Now Ralph is reading and helping to teach his mother English words.

The number of children speaking French-Creole in Hillsborough's schools has
grown exponentially: In 1992, the district counted 10 Haitian students. In
2001, there were 304.

Like many immigrant populations, Haitian families place a high premium on
learning. The kids -- especially those who don't speak English when they
arrive -- soak up the language like sponges.

"Everything amazes them," Toulme says. "They adjust really well."

Many of the new Haitians in Tampa are under 30, which means they are
marrying and starting families. Their children represent a new generation of
Haitian-Americans, and Toulme is determined that the young don't forget the
island's rich heritage.

Toulme, 74, is president of the Haitian Association Foundation of Tampa Bay.
She spends her days teaching English to young Haitians and speaking French
to her grandchildren. In her off time, she is helping to organize the annual
Haitian Flag Day celebration, set for May 18 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Catholic Church in Ybor City.

Toulme also is trying to work with city officials to obtain a low-cost
building for the association; the group hopes to hold informational
meetings, cultural events and health care clinics there.

Toulme moved to Tampa in 1974 and has watched the Haitian community grow
from a handful of professionals to a diverse population.

People from Haiti will continue to arrive in Tampa as long as the island
country continues to face political strife, poverty and a shortage of
educational opportunities, Toulme says.

"We're coming here like everyone else came," said Toulme. "For better
opportunities. There are no opportunities in Haiti."

-- Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report.



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