21659: (Hermantin)Sun-Sentinel-Helping Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Helping Haiti



By Evelyn Knowles
Special Correspondent

May 2, 2004

Cap-Haitien, Haiti · This city, one of the poorest in the Western
Hemisphere, will see 200 of its residents employed manufacturing blankets
thanks to the American Woolen Co. of Miami and the Greater Fort Lauderdale
Sister Cities International Program.

Cap-Haitien, the most recent addition to Fort Lauderdale's sister city
program, also received a garbage truck courtesy of the city and, during the
Christmas holidays, Fort Lauderdale residents raised money to buy clothes
and toys for Cap-Haitien orphanages, according to Eddy Remy, chairman of the
Cap-Haitien sister city program with Fort Lauderdale.

"Since Cap-Haitien's inception into the program there have been five
delegations to the city, including a group from Fort Lauderdale's
International Swimming Hall of Fame who gave more than 550 children their
first swimming lesson and instructed firefighters in water safety
procedures," Remy said.

For an educational exchange, Remy said a distant learning program is being
implemented between North Side Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale and Roi
Christophe Elementary School in Cap-Haitien.

Besides the American Woolen Co. setting up manufacturing in the Cap-Haitien
area, products such as rum, coffee beans, coco, vanilla beans and arts and
crafts are being negotiated for export, said Remy, who also is head of the
Haitian American Business Council.

"A number of entrepreneurs are also studying the possibility of setting up a
casino and resort, cement company and boat manufacturing plant," he added.

A reason for the current economic interest in Cap-Haitien is its new sister
city status, said Nuccia McCormick, chairman of the board of the Greater
Fort Lauderdale Sister Cities International Program.

"A sister city status is helpful to get more done because activities and
interaction can now go through the diplomatic core," McCormick said.

A visit with Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle, a staunch supporter of the
sister city program, got Richard Marcus, president of American Woolen,
involved with Haiti.

"Cap-Haitien can compete with China or India for wages and products," Marcus
said.

Haiti's recent political turmoil prompted the Haitian American Business
Council to collect food, medicine and clothing for Cap-Haitien, Remy said.

Getting business projects off the ground and completed is easier once a city
is made a sister city, according to McCormick.

"For example, Venezuela, with all its political problems, the moment
Margarita became a sister city we were able to get things done. We are
working on a direct flight and they have sent people to research our marinas
and our sheriff's department security."

McCormick said thanks to the program, a good deal of business is under way
in Mar del Plata, Argentina, and Panama City as well as educational and
sporting exchanges with Rimini, Italy; Sefton, England; Haifa, Israel; and
La Romana, Dominican Republic.

"The secretary general of Israel asked if we would allow a soccer team from
Haifa to play against a team from Fort Lauderdale," McCormick said.

The program, which relies on donations and fund-raising for its income, also
sends students with good grades who cannot afford an international
experience to families in sister cities. Those cities, in return, send
students to families in Fort Lauderdale.

"We have had great success sending students to Rimini in Italy and we have
sent two students to the Dominican Republic to learn Spanish," McCormick
said.

The program members recently decided to send wheelchairs to all the sister
cities, which include Medellin, Colombia; Mugla, Turkey; Gold Coast,
Australia; Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and Quepos, Costa Rica.

A sister city is chosen according to its likeness to Fort Lauderdale and
whether both cities can benefit from the relationship, McCormick said. "It
has to be a courtship. Can we make it profitable for both cities?"

To be a Fort Lauderdale sister, a city must have a university, a hospital
and a population akin to Fort Lauderdale's 167,000.

There must also be a few other similarities, such as being on the water or
having tourism as part of its economy, McCormick said.

"We need cities in China, Japan. We also need Germany and France. We need to
become twin cities for our benefit," she said.

McCormick also mentioned possibly getting a sister city in Iraq. She thinks
the friendship generated by sister city programs contributes to world peace.


Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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