21385: Esser: Haitian refugees find kindness in Jamaica (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
http://www.chron.com

April 16, 2004

Haitian refugees find kindness in Jamaica
Organizations created to aid immigrants with food, housing
By ALVA JAMES-JOHNSON

MANCHIONEAL, Jamaica -- A few years ago, two fishermen launched their
boat from this tiny village for a day's work and returned three weeks
later after seeing the worst and best of humanity.

Desmond Gordon and his friend were stranded for three days in Haitian
waters, then robbed at sea.

A Haitian fisherman named Oristel St. Joie took the strangers into
his home in a fishing village on Haiti's southwest coast, and helped
them fix their boat so they could return to Jamaica.

Last month, Gordon returned the favor.

When 32 Haitian refugees washed up here in a 15-foot, wooden fishing
boat on Feb. 23, St. Joie, his wife and seven children were among
them. Gordon and other Manchioneal villagers brought clean clothes,
food and water to the travelers.

"Even now I can't believe it," Gordon said, standing in front of the
Manchioneal police station where the refugees were processed. "It's a
very small world."

The world has indeed become smaller for Jamaica since mid-February,
when Haitian immigrants, fleeing the most recent political strife in
their country, started arriving on the island.

Although government relations between Haiti and Jamaica are in
tatters over the presence of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide,
in small, economically strapped villages, connections between the two
countries couldn't be stronger. Jamaican natives sacrifice the little
they have to ease the plight of the sea-borne refugees, whom they
consider their Caribbean brothers and sisters.

"It's humanity at its best," said Pierre-Henri Philippe, a Haitian
activist who's lived in Jamaica for 19 years. "Some of these people
are shack-dwellers, who have to send their kids to school, and still
they find enough to give to Haitians."

Over the years, Jamaica has been a refuge for Haitians, some of whom
head toward the island during political crises in their homeland.
Since Haiti began spiraling into chaos a month ago, 134 Haitian
immigrants have reached Jamaica's northeastern coast, where the
battered vessels that brought them through rough waters still lie on
the white sandy shores.

The Jamaican government and social service agencies are working to
build temporary homes for these refugees, and others who may come
later.

Jamaica's Minister of Land and Environment, Dean Peart, said the
government is refurbishing seven buildings and constructing two
additional barracks in the western part of the island, in Montpelier
in the parish of St. James, to provide the refugees with simple
housing and a place for educational and social activities -- even
though they may not stay long.

Food for the Poor, a Deerfield Beach-based organization, is
constructing the buildings and donating furniture and appliances.
Peart said the project will cost about $600,000.

Businesses and private contractors also have been donating money and
time to help the refugees.

"We have to look after the 134 that are here, and make provisions in
case more come," Peart said. "We want to accommodate them and make
them comfortable. We don't want them in a prison atmosphere."

Peart said he expects the refugees to return to Haiti in the next few
months when conditions settle down. The facility would then be handed
over to the Ministry of National Security, Office of Disaster
Preparedness and Emergency Management and Food for the Poor.

For now, the refugees are housed at three shelters in Port Antonio, a
town in the parish of Portland on the northeastern end of the island,
about a two and a half hour drive from Kingston. The shelters are run
by the Salvation Army, the Red Cross and the Seventh-day Adventist
Church.

Pastor Ian Grant said some of the refugees were fleeing political
persecution, but many are youths who had not formed any political
opinions. They just want a better life.

St. Joie and his family were among them. A resident of the fishing
village of Anse d'Hainault, he said, the family had to flee their
home to escape political persecution.

He said he was arrested five times by his local government for being
a member of Aristide's Lavalas Family party. The family was under
house arrest when they escaped one night and got on a boat with other
villagers trying to escape the island. The group included fishermen,
teachers, plumbers and carpenters, as well as two babies and several
older children.

They were so desperate to leave that they didn't care where they were
going.

"We were just fearful for our lives that anywhere we landed would've
been good," St. Joie said through an interpreter.

He and other immigrants said the sea was rough, and they had to
paddle when the wind died down. The children on board cried and
vomited throughout the five-day journey. When the group saw the
lights of Manchioneal they headed toward the island.

St. Joie said he had no idea that his friend Gordon would be there.
But when they arrived, one of his sons saw Gordon, who they knew as
"Soldier." The boy began yelling the nickname, and St. Joie realized
it was his friend.

"We embraced each other and held on strong," he said. "I gained
strength as I saw him."

St. Joie said he helped Gordon when he came to his country because
his mother was a Cuban immigrant who Haitians welcomed to Haiti. She
taught him to be kind to strangers, and he knew Gordon would
reciprocate.

Now that he's in Jamaica, St. Joie said he has no intentions to return.

"I'd rather die here than go back to Haiti," he said. "I want a better
life.

Such sentiments are not unfamiliar to the residents of Manchioneal, a
countryside village of about 2,000 people. It sits about 14 miles
southeast of Port Antonio, once a thriving tourist area, that has
lost cruise ship business to the more popular Ocho Rios area to the
west.

Residents said they are able to squeeze out a livelihood farming and
fishing, but things could be better.

On a quiet afternoon, Gordon and other fishermen hung out near the
beach. Across the street, Mabel Matthews, 65, cooked pea soup in her
kitchen, while her three grandchildren roamed about, surrounded by
chickens and goats. Her 77-year-old husband, Silburn, sharpened his
cutlass.

Matthews said she remembers the day the first boatload of refugees
arrived. Ten came on Feb. 14, among them eight armed policemen. They
said their original destination was the United States, but they
landed in Jamaica because of poor navigational skills, according to
the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper.

"I wouldn't mind if they come in the country," she said of the
Haitians. "There's a whole heap of wasteland here, not working. Let
them come and help themselves."

Errol Bennett, a district constable, said he assisted the refugees
when they were first brought on shore, and called the police station.

"I don't speak their language, so we made signs for them to sit down
under a cool tree," he said. "It was awful to see them. They were
very weak."

He said the first thing he did was group them together. They looked
so much like Jamaicans, he said, that he didn't want them to get lost
among the native population.

Winsome Knowles, Matthew's 46-year-old neighbor, said she is touched
when she sees the women and children.

"I cry when I see them come out the boat with little babies," said
the mother of three. "You should see the tears come from my eyes."
.