[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

29341: Lauredansr (announce) conference




From: Lauredansr@aol.com

FOR IMMEDIATE  RELEASE
CONTACT:  Dr. Bernier Lauredan (973) 371-0089,  lauredansr@aol.com

HAITIAN-AMERICAN LEADERSHIP  CONFERENCE LAUNCHES
INTERNATIONAL “LAKOU CENTERS”  PROGRAMS
Two original programs for community  and human development in Haiti and the
United States were launched this weekend  in Newark, New Jersey at a leadership
conference of The Haitian League, an  international citizens’ organization
founded in 2003. The programs, called “Lakou-Haiti” and “Lakou-USA” are modeled on the traditional family compounds – “Lakou” – that once provided protection and livelihoods for poor Haitians in the early years of that country’s
independence.
As an emergency employment and rural  renewal program, “Lakou-Haiti” will
establish fast-track, intensive education  and job-skills training courses in
locations across the country where large  numbers of youths from 15-25 are
unemployed.  The centers will foster dialogue and  cooperation among groups of
towns and villages that seek housing, economic  development, health care,
alternate energy, agriculture and reforestation, tourism and other assistance that
thousands of graduates of lakou centers each  year can provide.  The Georgia
chapter of The Haitian League has proposed to established the first center near
Belladere, in the Central Plateau of Haiti, where chapter members have
proposed  the City of Atlanta as a sister city for cultural exchange, trade,
education and  other forms of community development.
For Haitian-American communities,  the “Lakou-USA” program will establish
neighborhood centers to offer immigration  assistance, family counseling,
remedial education, job preparedness and placement, recreation and other social and
cultural services that are presently  absent in areas of Haitian density,
including Boston, New York City, Newark,  Atlanta and Miami.
In both Haiti and the United States,  lakou centers are intended to address
the sense of urgency that members of The  Haitian League often express about
the poor conditions that surround millions of  Haitians living in their own
country and abroad. In particular, the centers will provide a focus of attention
and coordination for Haiti’s Diaspora and hundreds of  citizens
organizations, churches, doctors, engineers and other professionals who maintain numerous
but relatively isolated human and economic development  projects in Haiti.
The need for  coordination, crossover and national coverage of assistance
programs in that  country has been often expressed, but never fulfilled.  The
Haitian League believes the lakou  centers can answer this need.
CD-ROM copies of the  “Lakou-Haiti” and “Lakou-USA” proposals and slide
shows are available upon  request.  Membership in The Haitian League is open to
all.  An  informative website is maintained at <http://_www.haitianleague.org_
(http://www.haitianleague.org/) . >.  Contributions are  tax-deductible.
[Quotes from leadership conference  follow.]

“NOTABLE  QUOTES” FROM THE HAITIAN LEAGUE’S
INTERNATIONAL  LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
OCTOBER  14-15, NEWARK, NEW JERSEY
“The  conference has accomplished its goal of gathering the Haitian American
and  Haitian leadership to work together to better the lives of Haitians here
in the  United States and in Haiti. Lakou centers in Haiti shall create
structures to adapt to the needs and the economic and social realities of such a poor country. Educating Haiti’s young and unemployed shall bring hope, cohesion
and renewal to  rural areas and decrease lawlessness. We will soon launch a
pilot project in  Belladere, along with other centers in Haiti’s ten
departments. This challenge is well worth our efforts,” said Dr. Bernier Lauredan,
President, The Haitian League.
- - -  - - - -
“The mission of The Haitian League’s Lakou Project is ‘way overdue. We need
to get it  started as soon as possible, with significant cooperation and
assistance from both the Haitian and U.S. governments,” said Nancy Charles, of
the Haitian League  Florida delegation.
- - -  - - - -
“Seeing  the large number of Haitians and Americans sitting around a
conference table, debating about projects to rebuild our homeland Haiti, has left me
with a  profound sentiment of hope and respect for The Haitian League and its
founder  and my colleague, Dr. Bernier Lauredan. Haiti is in dire need of
almost  everything:  education, health care,  water, agro-industry, etc. Its
government cannot have the answers for so much…We, Haitians living abroad, ought
to support actions such as the U.S.  Congressional Resolution HR611 “Haiti
Reconstruction Ability Act” to be voted this session, and programs of non-profit
civic organizations such as The Haitian  League. We should set forward and
serve our ‘alma mater’ so that we can soon redeem our title of Haiti as “La Perle des Antilles,” said Gracial Mayard, M.D. and Haitian radio personality of
Brooklyn.
- - -  - - - -
“Haiti is a country with a population of  two million hopeless kids looking
for work. This six-month fast-track program of  lakou centers in Haiti is a
positive solution to the development of the country,” explained Mr. Jan Roc of
The  Haitian League’s Haiti chapter.
- - - - - -
The  meeting represented a very positive action from the Diaspora to focus on
 cooperation on the development of Haiti. In that sense, the “Lakou”
represents a brilliant new proposal in favor of the rural sector of Haiti and to
promote  human development. Therefore, I’m grateful to the delegates from
Atlanta, of The Haitian League-Georgia who committed to build the first Lakou center
in Haiti’s  border area, in the commune of Belladere, and to establish a
sister city program  between Belladere and Atlanta,” said Max  Antoine II,
Executive Director of the Commission for Development Border of  Haiti
- - -  - - - -
“While  media attention has constantly focused on sporadic violence in a tiny
portion of  Haiti, the fact is that 99.9% of Haiti is ‘alive and well’ and
seeking tourism  and industrial development,” said Michael Spinelli, past
president of the American Association of Travel Agents and Special Assistant to
the Chairman of  the Haitian League.
- - -  - - - -
“The  Lakou Project is modeled on Haiti’s traditional small rural community
or family  compound that is both productive and protected. The new Lakou model
will add  elements of intensive education and job training for thousands of
Haitian youth  and others each year. The lakou subjects and skills cover the
spectrum of  critical needs, including construction, agriculture, research,
technology, business, culture and tourism,” said Stuart Leiderman, advisor to
the Haitian League.
-         - - - - -  -
This  is the most important step of Haiti’ Diaspora to positively help Haiti.
The  Government of Haiti has to positively encourage the Diaspora by adopting
double  nationality to end the system of taxation without representation,
said Frantz  Bourget, of the Haitian League Georgia delegation.
------------------
I am  excited to see the progress being made on unifying the Haitian
community in the U.S. with those in Haiti. I look forward to the day when we can all
speak with  one voice  - Ayiti Cherie (Haiti, I cherish you.).  The Haitian
League is proving that careful planning and determination yields  positive
results, said John Rigdon, Technology adviser to the Haitian  League.
-----------
It  is great to be a part of the Haitian League's aggressive grass roots
approach to  addressing the crisis in Haiti.  With the increase support of the
international private sector and the Haitian government, substantial changes can
 be made, said Simona DeFeo, Independent Growth Consultant and Advisor to the
 Haitian League
---------------
“The  meeting was not a brainstorm but a ‘brain hurricane” concluded New
Jersey Judge Sybil Elias, co-founder  and legal advisor of the Haitian League.
----------------
Please  be part of the solution by helping the hopeless youth in Haiti.
Donate to Lakou  Haiti@ _www.haitianleague.org/Lakou  Haiti_
(http://www.haitianleague.org/Lakou Haiti) .

Bernier  Lauredan, MD
Chairman,
The Haitian  League
http://www.haitianleague.org
973 371 0089 (O)
908 265 6199 (C)