Madame La Presidente

The guy is from Ghana. I met him on South Beach. He works in Haiti for the Haitian Red Cross. He has no kind word for his host country. Everybody calls her Madame La Presidente, he said about the woman who runs the Haitian Red Cross. She is extremely arrogant; everybody is scared of her; whenever she comes about, everybody freezes; he maintained. And, about the Haitian system and culture, he sees corruption, outright prejudice and incompetence. What am I alluding to? Why do I even raise this subject? In the last few posts I was talking about keeping positive vis-a-vis our Haitian nature. Today, what I have here is totally the opposite.

Not too long ago the Miami Herald had reported that the Haitian Red Cross was looking into building a hotel. I thought, weird! Why would the Red Cross choose to build a hotel?  Even the news reporter appeared to be blurred by the idea. Why a hotel?

The Story - The Red Cross collected a great deal of money to help the Haitian mass during the seismic catastrophe that struck the country January 12, 2010. With some of that money, they acquired a massive piece of property for several millions of dollars. Now, on that land, they say they want to build a hotel with the rest of the cash. Why a hotel again? The money was supposed to help the poor wretched people of the devastated country. In fact, that's the mission of the Red Cross everywhere, helping poor disadvantaged individuals. Is the Haitian Red Cross now planning to put the poor people in a four-star hotel? Not likely. According to the report, they consider it a business opportunity. Our next question - A business opportunity for whom? Obviously not for the poor folks.

I was thinking about it. But I was thinking in the American way. I was asking myself. How could that be possible that they have collected money to help the poor mass of the people, and they turn around to use that money to build a hotel for themselves while the poor people are still desperately in need? So many people are still under tents; so many people are so hungry; so many people are dying with treatable diseases; and so on. The Red Cross does not see to help those people? It wants to build a hotel?

As I was talking with the African guy; he was telling me about Madame La Presidente; it came to me. It's Haiti! Madame La Presidente is Haitian! And, I should not expect much better from Haitian. The guy deplored the fact that he encounters so much discrimination in Haiti a black country. As he specified that he would walk into a party and he would be the only black person there. As we were talking about Madame La Presidente, I commented, no wonder that the Red Cross in Haiti is about to build a hotel. The guy laughed his butt out.

The report came out and it went away. Despite the fact the reporter questioned the logic of building a hotel with the money destined to help the destitute individuals, he did not try to make a case against it. I have no idea how Madame La Presidente is advancing with her project. I call it a negative example, as compare to the positive approach that we have been envisioning. The worst about it, Madame La Presidente very likely has carte-blanche to do her thing. There is no government to intervene; there is no organization to protest; the deprived mass has no voice. And. this is a good example of the guiltiness of us all. Nobody is challenging Madame La Presidente to do the right thing.

By E.C. GRANMOUN

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Yes You Can

We young Haitians who having been educated away from the fiasco that is Haiti, it is truly difficult to remain sane in relationship with our less learned brothers and sisters. We who have been schooled particularly in the United States and other developed countries, we are taught to live by knowledge, logic, reason, science, ethics, moral, and so on. Our less learned brothers live mostly by emotion, by instinct. When we come together, we clash. We don't belong together. I mean, we who have received a formal education from a developed environment, to borrow from another compatriot, we have traveled a long way ahead of our brothers and sisters. What we have learned, what we have seen, what we know; they don't fit in their world of unlearning.

They don't understand what we understand.

Imagine! We are Haitian; we have received an education; and we are ready to return to try to work with our brothers and sisters in Haiti. We are not welcome. In government and higher sectors, we are considered a threat that would come to steal jobs. They don't understand that we could come and participate and help create more jobs. Our poorer brothers and sisters themselves, they would do anything to keep us in the diaspora so that we could kill ourselves to send them money. They are ready to murder us if we should try to return to Haiti. In the Diaspora itself if you are prosperous, in the standard of the Haitian, you would be fine as long as you keep yourself from intermingling with the lower mass. That is. As an informed and cultured individual you are no longer a party to the mess, the smallness, the falseness, the illusion, the insincerity, and the self-depreciating pretension that the morbid unlearned culture harbors.

Go above and beyond

As I have been arguing for us to remain connected, this is my advice. Go above and beyond. I mean. Stay away from the mess and try to help from distance. I know that some of you have argued that you cannot do anything for those people. But, you already know my position. Yes you can, as said Obama. You would do whatever positive deeds that you can. For instance, one of my friends who are followers of this blog has always been a positive influence on me and many other young Haitians. Perhaps he was not even been aware of that. I guess he was just doing his thing as of his personality and was not even thinking about it. But I must give him some credit if I can be strong and writing this blog today. What I am trying to say. We can help our Haitian system in whatsoever positive way our ability allows. It does not have to be politics; it does not have to be religion; we don't have to go sit and play dominoes together or anything like that.

We go above and beyond. That means. We do our own things without trying to assimilate. We live our own lives as to our financial ability, do the right thing, and others would take notice. We could always look behind and try to see what we could do to help our Haitian nature. In the U.S., they say you give back to your community. Many of us would argue that Haiti did not give us anything, and we don't have to give back. Yet, remember! We are Haitian. Whatever we could do to make Haitian look good, it would worth the efforts.

By E.C. GRANMOUN

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Follow up 2 - Do not give up on yourself

I mean, whatever minor positive contribution does worth the effort.
As educated individuals in a developed societal environment that's what we do daily for ourselves -keeping positive and doing what is under our power and ability to improve our condition of being. As Haitians, we also owe that much - a positive contribution - to our collective haitianess.

I mean, we cannot sit around and allow the Haitian to continue its destructive course without our intervention. The same way we struggle to keep our personal selves; the same we should do for our Haitianess. In the United States, we hear all the times how the American man is struggling to leave a better country for his children. In Haiti, the destructive nature of our leadership has continued to produce the chaos that we know as Haiti. As I said last time, borrowing from Felix Morisseau Leroy, We are all guilty... I mean, unless you could consciously declare, "I have done my best," you cannot frankly claim innocence.

Toussaint Louverture, Dessalines, and others had given their lives to leave the Haitian man freedom. Unfortunately, our men of today have not fought as hard to maintain it. Now, let us ask ourselves a question. How much have I done in comparison to my fellow Haitians? I mean. Do you think you have contributed enough to the betterment of our Haitian nature for you to have a conscience to blame others and not yourself?

When you land at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-prince, you immediately smell the misery that is waiting you. Even in the air as the airliner is cruising over the desolated dry, rocky, treeless landscape, your heart is wrenching for a motherland on its death bead. Many of us have experienced a certain urge to simply run away from the decrepit environment and never to return. This means that our national land environment has become uninhabitable. No surprise! That is why many of us had left in the first place. But what concerns me is the 9 to 10 millions brothers and sisters stuck back there on that wretched rock with their bags on their backs. And, there is no more Kannter. Imagine yourself one of those lowly forty, fifty year-old, dark, dirty, emaciated father in ghettoes of Port-au-prince or deep into the countrysides! Imagine, you out there with no hope and no one is working to give you a better day! Forget politics; forget those who could fetch a visa to board the American's airliner for the moment. Just focus on our simple illiterate poor brothers and sisters who need our sympathy. That is why I am writing this.

If I don't do a little; if you don't do a little; if the others don't do a little; there would never be a better day for our poor uneducated relatives, and thus Haiti. And, you and I don't even have to lose time blaming others since we have failed as much as all the others.

By E.C. GRANMOUN

E.C. Granmoun is the author of "Bully: A Novel" ebook on amazon.com
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Follow up - Do not give up on yourself

When it was announced that mineral wealth was found in Haiti, I was so glad that I instantaneously forwarded the good news to all my friends and readers. I took no time to think. Perhaps if I did I would have not passed the news on. I'm glad I did. For, a good news is a good news - even when it is about Haiti. Not too long ago a friend was telling me about a documentary on NPR indicating that Haiti has been doing relatively well in controlling the AIDS virus. They did not expect that. Good news again. We all who are of age would never forget when AIDS was very bad news for Haitian. The fact is there could be bad news; there could be good news.

We are the ones who should continue to work to bring more good news and reduce bad news.

I don't want any of my friends and readers to give up on the mother country. Haiti is us. Of course one could take certain standing against what is wrong in Haiti or with Haitians. I have no problem with that. In fact, I encourage that. We should never accept what is wrong. For instant, I strongly deplore the current government's aggressive taxing of the Diaspora, (phone, transfer, airplane ticket, etc.). Likewise, some people may support that. That's okay. The point is, we are all still Haitian. In the industry that I am, almost a day does not go by that someone does not ask me where I am from. And, I am always obliged to respond, "Haiti." No matter how negative it may sound, I cannot deny my nationality. And, many people would not buy it from me anyway. For, they are quick to respond, "I thought so," when hearing that I am Haitian. Plus, they are quick too to make you feel the negativeness of yourself, as they would begin to throw sympathy on the poor Haitian nature. Still, after all, Haitian we are.

We have the tendency to blame all others for what has gone wrong. We are innocent? I don't think so if I could believe Felix Morisseau Leroy's "We are all guilty and likewise innocent..." You may ask yourself, "What have I done wrong?" Good question. You probably have done nothing right and nothing wrong. That justifies Tonton Moriso then. What that means? We all have some responsibility to our Haitian nature. And, if we don't fulfill such responsibilities, we are as guilty as the other guy. I mean, I may be opposing Marteley's aggressive taxing of the Diaspora; yet, I could remain positive to contribute to something else - as I would like to implement a project of alternative ways for Haitians to cook their foods instead of destroying the land environment by cutting down all the trees.

Do not even thinking of given up. Haitian is us. If you don't agree with something, there is always something else you could do to bring some good news. Some people must be doing a good job with the AIDS epidemic. Also, I was in Haiti when the cholera struck. The people of Doctors without border did a magnificent job attacking it. There are always other things to do to bring good news. The international community is always ready to come to our rescue, even when it could be of mercenary nature. Still, we Haitians have to strive to make good news happen for our nation. Then we could take Tonton Moriso on his words.

By E.C. GRANMOUN

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E.C. GRANMOUN is the writher of "Bully: A Novel" on amazon.com /book.

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Do Not Give Up On Yourself

I grew up in a Christian family. I take pleasure to call it an orthodox Christian family - so much that the rules and regulations were stringent. It was during the Duvaliers' era, (the much feared Tonton Makouts). One principal rule that I remembered too well as a Christian child was that "Christians do not get involved in politics." Nobody in my actual family circle was involved in anything political or governmental. In fact, nobody I knew in my church environment did. One distant cousin of mine who was a police chief, he was considered evil. When I became adult and started to understand the world environment, I drew an inference: "God had given up to the devil in Haiti." So it is no surprise that the country is in such a state of shame. Good gave up to evil. The Duvaliers' reign has remained one of the most ignoramus and fearful dictatorship in history. And, with all the shameful past, Haiti is what it is today.

Why do I want to remain concerned as to the Haitian cause?

The ignominious fiasco that all our unlearned leaders have caused through time has brought us to the ultimate shame of today. Still, when I look at it, we have all remained Haitian. Unfortunately we have scattered all about. Yet, I think none of my readers would have the courage to deny his nationality. Thus, whatever Haitian has become today; whatever Haitian represents; that's what we all are. That's what gives me the urge too to continue to keep concern about Haitian and to look for ways to improve our lot. In my view, if we are given up like that and allow things to continue in their decrepit ways, we are contributing to the failure that we have become. We could of course sit here and blame others, utilizing the state of defense mechanism of Haitian alienation. However, the big question remains hanging: What and how much have you and I contributed to change the course of thing? And, I must add. Given up on the Haitian cause is given up on our own selves.

By E.C. GRANMOUN

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Good News?

I was talking to a Dominican guy last week, and he asked me if I had heard the good news about the mineral wealth discovered along the Haitian-Dominican border. I responded affirmatively. He specified, "half for Haiti and half for the Dominican Republic." I acknowledged. Then, I told him that I am very happy for the Dominicans since I know that their government would make good with their share, but I cannot say the same about Haiti. Haitian governments have no history of doing what is right for their nation. He was quick to reply, "I know."

He is an older gentleman. He began to tell me about some mineral that was discovered in Haiti before. He said the name of the mineral in Spanish. I did not catch it, but I believe he was referring to the "kwiv" that was found there. He said excitedly, "We were glad for the Haitians; we thought they were going to do something for the country." Then, as he put it, we watched as everything got shipped abroad and nothing for the people. I replied. That's the big question mark that is hanging over the newly found treasure for Haiti. Nobody - the news media, the international community, intellectuals and experts- expects much good to come out of it, since Haitian leaders have no history of doing good for their nation. We walked away. I sensed that the old man felt very sad for his Haitian cousins.

I left very sad too. I kept on asking myself, what can I do? What can a simple Haitians do to make sure that the new-found wealth does some good for the nation or the mass of the people? I have no answer so far. Very likely we are all going to sit there and watch everything wasted away as ever. Perhaps too somebody could take a stand and demand accountability.

By E.C. GRANMOUN

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Ironic

Hello my friends. A great deal has taken place since my last post. Haiti has a new prime minister, the wan-a-be military thugs have been chasing away, and they have discovered mineral wealth in the country. It is all sound good. Usually, you only hear bad things about Haiti and Haitians. A little good news is a relief. We cannot be too optimistic, but we should not negate what is good either. In fact, it is our prerogative to do our best to maintain positivism about us, Haitians. It is ironic, but it is us. So my wish is for more positivism to spring forth in regard of our Haitian nature. Our job is to try as hard as possible to make it happen.