Haiti Observer

A Court Interpreter is someone who works with the court system to provide language interpretation for those who do not speak fluent English. It is a demanding profession that requires much more than being bilingual. A court interpreter plays a vital role in court proceedings as he translates spoken words from one language to another in legal settings, such as courtrooms and law offices. Undoubtedly, the most important skill for an interpreter is the ability to speak two languages fluently, but conversational fluency is only the starting point, because court translators and interpreters must also understand the court system and its vocabulary and terminology.

Read More | Comments

Haiti lies right on the boundary of the Caribbean and North American plates. Earthquakes typically occur along the jigsaw-puzzle pieces of Earth's crust, called plates, which move relative to one another, most of the time at an imperceptibly slow pace. These plates move around 2 cm per year. These movements cause seismic movement along active fault lines which have been identified in two main areas of the country. In the case of the Haiti quake, the Caribbean and North American plates slide past one another in an east-west direction. This is known as a strike-slip boundary. The first of these is in the sea, along the North coast. This fault line runs from East to West and extends into the Cibao valley in the Dominican Republic.

Read More | Comments

The job of a Court Interpreters is to translate information from one language into another for the court systems. They work with lawyers, witnesses and defendants to relay information for depositions, hearings and other court cases. It is an Interpreter's job to orally translate everything that is said. They should be fluent in multiple languages as per requirement of the court and have the ability to understand the tone of conversation in languages known because they communicate back and forth among the people who do not share a common language.

The goal of an interpreter is to have people hear the interpretation as if it were the original. He must render a complete and accurate interpretation or translation, without altering, omitting, or adding anything to what is stated or written, and without explanation.

Read More | Comments

A Court Interpreter is someone who works with the court system to provide language interpretation for those who do not speak fluently the language used in the court. Court interpreters are called upon for special judicial cases that require translating oral speech into another language. Suppose, if any witnesses have been called to the stand who don't speak English or the language primarily used in the court, such witnesses should have a reliable way of expressing themselves acceptable in the eye of law.

Although a college degree or certification is often required to become a court interpreter, there are exceptions as the most important skill is the ability to speak two languages fluently. However, conversational fluency is only the starting point, because court translators and interpreters must also understand the court system and its vocabulary and terminology.

Read More | Comments

Joute Lachenais known as Joute (Arcahaie, Haiti 1778 - Kingston, Jamaica 22 July 1843) is considered as one of the most influential Haitian women in history and mistress of two presidents in the 1800s. She was the mistress and political advisor of two solid Haitian leaders (Alexandre Sabès Pétion and Jean-Pierre Boyer) over a period of long 36 years and that too at a time well before 1950's when the women of the country didn't have a voting right. She exerted a significant influence over the affairs of state during their presidencies (1807 to 1843).

She was born of a white French colonel de Lachenais and a black woman Marie-Therese Fabre. When she was 20 years old, married Marc Joseph Lefèvre Laraque, the military commander of her hometown and had a daughter named Marie Josephine Laraque. After the death of Marc Laraque, Lachenais at the age of twenty five, started a relationship with Anne-Alexandre Sabès, known as Petion. Petion is known as the founding father of Haiti who was the first Haitian officer to revolt against France. In 1807, Alexandre Petion became president, and she acted as his active adviser.

Read More | Comments

Hakeem Valles (born November 23, 1992), the American football tight end for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL) will never forget his missionary trip to Haiti. He was held hostage at gunpoint and almost murdered in Haiti in 2015. Hakeem's grandfather, Paul Jean Marie Jizrel Benoni Marcel Valles, is a Haitian who immigrated to the U.S in 1960's. Hakeem grew up on stories from Grandpa about how life was back in the homeland. He always wanted to go. Once, he did earlier before the 2015 trip, on a cruise with Royal Caribbean. But then he felt disappointed. Where he landed was a property of the cruise line that discourages local visitors. There were 12-foot walls to keep them out. His trip to his wonderland was unsuccessful, because the place he visited was fake Haiti, never close to the root of his dream.

Read More | Comments

The Haitian government is not happy with the comment made by Susan D. Page, a special representative and head of the United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (MINUJUSTH). As per Haitian foreign minister, Antonio Rodrigue, in last February, Ms. Page exceeded her authority by welcoming an investigation into the alleged misuse of Venezuela-sponsored PetroCaribe funds by the previous Haitian administrations. Ms. Page reportedly made an applaud on the corruption inquiry into the alleged siphoning $2 billion oil loans from Venezuela as PetroCaribe money. These embezzlements happened between 2008 and 2016 under the administrations of former presidents Rene Preval and Michel Martelly. According to minister Rodrigue, Ms. Page's attitude is harmful to the political and institutional stability acquired during the past few years.

Read More | Comments

Vaccines protect travelers from serious diseases. Depending on where you travel, you may come into contact with diseases that are rare in your country. It is recommended to get vaccinated at least 4 to 6 weeks before you travel. This will give the vaccines time to start working, so you're protected while you're traveling. Travelers can get typhoid through contaminated food or water in Haiti. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends typhoid vaccine for most travelers, especially if you are staying with friends or relatives, visiting smaller cities or rural areas, or if you are an adventurous eater.

Read More | Comments

On Wednesday night, October 3, 2018, U.S. District Judge Edward M. Chen granted a preliminary injunction to block the Department of Homeland Security's plans to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for over 300,000 long-term residents living in the US from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan.

During a bipartisan meeting on immigration on January 11, 2018, President Donald Trump criticized protections the US gives to immigrants from various underdeveloped countries. In his comment Trump mentioned, "Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?" As per records, TPS recipients by country as of October 2017 are as follows (rounded): El Salvador 262,500, Honduras 86,600, Haiti 58,600, Nepal 14,800, Syria 6,900, Nicaragua 5,300, and Yemen 1,100.

Read More | Comments

Port-au-Prince is about the size of Chicago. There are 987,000 people living in Port-Au-Prince and 2.6 million living in the 'metropolitan' area. But the city doesn't have a central sewage system. Furthermore, an estimated one in five Haitians doesn't have access to any kind of toilet.

In the fall of 2010, months after the devastating earthquake, when cholera first entered Haiti (first time over a century), most likely by the United Nations peacekeeping troops from Nepal, the disease became endemic-- more than a half-million people got sick and at least 7,050 died. The only way to prevent the cholera endemic is to build a network of pipes and waste treatment plants to prevent the infection of food and water supplies.

Read More | Comments (1)