13093: tou_dwat: Re: 13086: KenbeFo Post RE: 13081 Danger in Haiti

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: tou dwat <tou_dwat@hotmail.com>


Again, be indulgent with my English…

Cute story :

I was working in Haiti in 2000 – 2001 while maintaining a shared custody of
my 2 kids in Montreal. The deal was 10 days in Haiti – 10 days in Montreal…
After a few months working in popular parts of PAP, I installed myself in
Tabarre and made friends in Léogane, Jacmel whom I visited on week ends… at
some point, the set up was right to introduce my kids during school break. I
tried to get my kids to spend a week with me in Haiti… Wow.. even if the
mother of the kids lived in Africa, her reaction to Haiti was fueled by the
state dept and Canadian foreign affaires alarms… No way my kids are going in
SUCH A PLACE…. was her definitive position…

So I went to court to have a rational decision made on the right of my kids
to travel….

The state dept notice came up in court, but also…the opinions of the haitian
diaspora who was even worse than the government position…. To top it off,
came up a  National Post article made by Claude Adams saying that the
Haitian were out after the blancs ! The story was a piece of TRASH (I can
say that since he used a rumor about me, which is false, to beef up his
pretensions that the Haitians were after the blancs…) Looking back, Adams
only justified himself for staying at the Oloffson terrace sipping punch for
the whole length of his stay….

In the light of this overwhelming devilish description of the Haitian
society, the arguments of responsible parents actually bringing there kids
to Haiti was rejected… the fact that the Canadian ambassador had bring his
own grandchildren for Christmas was also rejected, based on the presumption
that he had armed guards with him…

The kids lost there right to travel….

Fighting against that ‘evil other’ is almost impossible for now (specially
post 9-11)…but what’s more disturbing, is that if we don’t fight it…people
like my kids will be part of those who perpetrate false justification of
they own insecurity….

Looking back, the ones I really resent in this story (beside Claude ADAMS)
are the some members of the Haitian Diaspora depicting their origin in the
same way a human would distinguish himself from monkeys…

PS… if anybody has had experience of bringing their kids to haiti during
that period, my kids and me would like to hear from you…
PS 2 : for those who will land in haiti for their first time… during your
first evening, please go have a beer on champ de mars and make up your own
mind….


>From: Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>
>To: Haiti mailing list <haiti@lists.webster.edu>
>Subject: 13086:  KenbeFo Post RE: 13081 Danger in Haiti (fwd)
>Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2002 18:55:31 -0500 (CDT)
>
>
>From: Stay Strong <kenbefo2004@yahoo.com>
>
>Bob Corbett wrote:
>
> >I'd be very curious if any of the scholars on the
> >list who watch such
> >things have any idea of just how much of the past 20
> >years, and especially
> >since about 1983 when Haiti's popular movements began
> >to gain public
> >strenght -- in those years how often has Haiti been
> >on that U.S. warning
> >system? It would seem to me like it's there most of
> >the time.
>
>Yes, you are correct.  And it isn't just the State
>Dept. that sends out this kind of "Haiti hysteria" --
>it's the general public, as well.  I don't know how
>many times I've told a fellow American that I've been
>to Haiti, and the response is incredulity and some
>comment about the "danger."  This kind of collective
>consciousness here bothers me deeply, but perhaps it
>is changing with an ever-greater Haitian presence in
>the States.  In any event, I try to use the moment for
>education regarding Haiti.
>
>Of course, think of it from another perspective.  How
>did the Arawaks and Tainos feel in 1492 in terms of
>feeling threatened by danger?
>
>
>
>
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