24419: Hermantin(News)Central Florida Haitians endure sleepless nights (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


>From Orlando Sentinel

Central Florida Haitians endure sleepless nights



By Víctor Manuel Ramos
Sentinel Staff Writer

March 1, 2005

When the phone rings late at night in the Conway home of Emmanuel Sanon, it
startles him right out of bed. His first thought: Haiti. His second thought:
Something bad must have happened to one of his many relatives there.

Fortunately for Sanon, those fears haven't proved true yet.

Sanon, like many others who have moved to Central Florida from Haiti, says
the country is no better now than it was under the overthrown government of
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

"I have cousins, uncles, nieces, friends, people I care about who live in
Haiti," said Sanon, 53. "It's really scary, and it's a big drain financially
for us here."

Sanon and others who make up Central Florida's growing Haitian population
find themselves in a predicament -- unable to go back to a country that
shows no signs of improvement, striving to have better lives here and
splitting their income to support those left behind.

The 2000 census showed that Haitians were the third-largest group with
foreign roots here, with more than 17,000 immigrants counted in the
seven-county area surrounding Orlando. Some say they have grown skeptical
about their country's future.

"It's a hopeless situation because many here don't feel the life conditions
are favorable to them here, because of the low-paying jobs, but they can't
go back either. Right now they are stuck here," said Wallace Rozéfort,
director of Haitian Social Services, a Pine Hills-based organization.

Rozéfort said many Haitians are frustrated that they find themselves with
little say over what happens in the country they support with their
hard-earned dollars. They can't vote from abroad as some other expatriates
in the United States do.

Fritz Jackson Seide, who sells real estate to Haitians in west Orlando, said
the financial drain has affected businesses that cater to the community
here.

"People sacrifice buying a home and just rent, because half of their income
is going to their people. So it's a problem," Seide said. "It's like if you
had more than one home to support. You have a home here, and you have a home
or more than one back in Haiti who depend on you."

Víctor Manuel Ramos can be reached at vramos@orlandosentinel.com or
407-420-6186.


Copyright © 2005, Orlando Sentinel