25766: Nlbo: (Comments )Educating Haitian Youth and Misinterpreted Post (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Nlbo@aol.com

Hyppolite,

I am not the only person who  misinterpreted your post.  I thought you meant
â radicalâ in a negative sense.  âN ap  bouleâ was also taken pejoratively. I
 have been told that my stance on youth,Education, community building,
setting goals, is a  radical position that hurts peopleâs feelings. My approach
which is most of the time putting things on paper and sharing articles to support
what I am saying âirritatesâ some of my fellow compatriots.  A Haitian faith
leader whom I have high regard for told me onceâ I irritate people.â  A
Haitian woman I also admire told me she agrees with me , but my approach is ânot
good.â  I thought you were another Haitian who was unhappy with me. I once
asked  several  committee members  for a meeting  to  tell me how to approach "
things" differently besides supportive articles on  issues I have been
addressing for many years.   One of the members in that committee said to me â Nou pa
oblije rankontre avà ou.â  (We donât have to meet with you).

The young Haitianâs life in the diaspora will be affected or is being
affected by those attitudes. Letâs look at todayâs 20 year old Haitian, for
instance. He/she was born during a year of disputes and uprisings, especially the
slaying of the three young men  in Gonaives that led to Jean Claude Duvalierâs
departure Mackenson Michel, Robert Cius, (I forgot the name of the other one) .
For the past two decades, in the Haitian  radios, newspapers, discussion lines,
the majority of the news, editorials, or comments have been on the political
issues of Haiti, not on Education and the Youth.  I rarely hear or read about
the achievement gap of Blacks, of Haitians who will contribute or change this
200 year âmess.â   If we observe the political saga that a 20 year old
Haitian was born into, being raised in today's 21rst century, multiply it by 10, and
add some of the aforementioned  attitudes of not talking with one another in
the diaspora,of not having subsequent â Town Meetingsâ to set goals, assess,
and evaluate our diasporic communities, of depending on others to solve our
problems, and to financially provide educational programs for our young people,
of the "stakeholders" not knowing or not taking advantages of  myriad of
resources that are available in the United States for young people and bring them
to the Haitian communities, we will see the same issues that Bill Cosby is
addressing and a very fragmented and â unhealthyâ community.

I apologize for using my interpretation of your post to talk with my fellow
Haitians whom I irritate, who will not talk with me , who find my position on
youth and Education âradical.â

To be frank with you, I am feeling somewhat like Bill Cosby.  Historically,
besides Henri Christophe, no Haitian government had made Educating young people
their priorities. I researched this point and wrote  an article earlier this
year on the history of Education in Haiti which you can read in the Education
link of <windowsonhaiti.com.> As an  educator at the elementary level, I canât
be happy living  in Boston, Massachusetts the âon goingâ story/history of
not collectively paying attention to young Haitians, the future members of
society.

I, also am a second, should I say third language learner. I am glad that you
agree with me as most âon lineâ contributors do. There could have been some
semantic nuances that corbeteerâs linguists could clarify for us, but these
exchanges were useful. Others who are concerned about the future of the Haitians
both in the diaspora and in Haiti can also add to this particular conversation
on Education and participation of Young people in various Haitian
communities, as a long term solution to Haitiâs 200 plus years âcurseâ.

Thanks,
Nekita