Haitian Diaspora - Haiti Observer Blog

As we may all know already, Yves Dambreville who spent 33 years with Boston Police was gunned down in Haiti in Haiti and killed. Like many Haitians diaspora, few years ago he probably was counting days before retirement, planning on how he wanted to his time. One of the many options he considered was to return back home and provide his knowledge to his beloved country of Haiti. However, that was not to be. A member of the very group in the society that could have benefited from all that experience, commitment, etc. has decided to put an end to his life.

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Haitians started moving to Polk County back in the 1980s. The early immigrants were citrus pickers who came from impoverished backgrounds to work in the orange groves. After a while, when they saved enough, brought their families and friends to join them to live and work in the Polk County. And till then the process never stopped.

Today, Polk County is the home to some 10,000 Haitian descendents, many of whom never had visited their homeland. The local Haitian Youth Association celebrates Haitian Flag Day event in the honor of the Caribbean nation's independence from French colonialism. But the Saturday event (May 16, 2015) of flag hosting was actually performed with many fold objectives. It was an opportunity to teach the kids about their own rich culture who have born on this American soil. Once, the Haitian flag was tricolored... red, white and blue. When the country got independence from the French, they forced all the white French colonizers to leave. To signify white colonizers leaving the country, white was then taken out, leaving only red and blue on the flag. A ribbon at the bottom of the national flag says "L'Union Fait La Force" (Unity Makes Strength) which every young Haitians must bear in mind.

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Contrary to the wishes of many in the Haitian Diaspora all over the world, they will be on the side line as far as the next Haitian Election scheduled for 2015 is concerned. The new Electoral Decree did not make any provision for their involvement.

In an interview given to Mr. Valery Numa on March 12, the President of the actual CEP, Mr. Pierre Louis Opont did not hesitate to say that the Haitian Diaspora will not participate.

In the meantime, The Diaspora will continue to finance almost everything in Haiti, from education to funeral and everything else.

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The presence of the Haitian community in the United States is undeniable. Whether in politic, school or at the work place, it is hard to avoid our influence. A recent report just released has discovered that the Haitian presence and influence in the U.S. has in fact increased during the past 14 years in America.

According to the survey, the number of Creole speakers in United States has increased by 73 percent from 2000 to 2014. In 2000, Creole was the 14th most common language spoken at home. In 2014, it is ranks 10th.

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On Saturday, 19 July 2014, Haitian President Michel Martelly and Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe along with other important ministers from several key departments attended a session at the North Miami Senior High to meet the members of the Haitian Diaspora in the United States. As a part of this social dialogue with representatives of the Diaspora, the President has discussed different ways that the Haitians and Haitian-Americans living in the US can play in a process of development to their homeland. They were informed about the recent social and economic developments in Haiti. The participants expressed their commitments towards own homeland and raised a number of issues and obstacles they usually face while dealing with the Haitian government and different institutions in their effort to do business or philanthropy work in Haiti. The government leaders and representatives heard their concerns and promised to solve most of these barriers. This meet was the 9th of the series but the first to be organized outside of Haiti. The Haitian Prime Minister has appreciated the importance of migrant remittance because that accounts about 20% of the country's GDP.

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This can't look good for the Haitian community. First female Haitian-American Mayor of North Miami, Marie Lucie Tondreau, was among four people indicted on Mortgage found Monday, May 19, 2014.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida on Monday filed criminal charges for activities from December 2005 to May 2008 well before Marie Lucie Tondreau had become the Mayor of North Miami.

Tondreau along side with Karl Oreste, Okechukwu Josiah Odunna and Kelly Augustin were all charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud. If convicted, she is likely to face up to 30 years in prison.

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To tackle the problem of stopping illegal migration from Haiti to The Bahamas, the Haitian and Bahamian governments met to discuss solutions. Fred Mitchell, U.S. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration (FAI), and his representatives attended the bi-lateral meeting as observers. The dual purpose of the meeting was to reduce numbers of illegal immigrants traveling to The Bahamas and encourage more trade.

One strategy the two governments decided to put into practice is to implement a citizens' awareness program in northern Haiti. It will inform people, if they are discovered engaging in human trafficking activities, they will be arrested and returned to Haiti. To strengthen the two governments' resolve in reducing illegal migration from Haiti to The Bahamas, they are ramping up their military intelligence capacity.

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Mount Olive, a small town in Wayne County in rural North Carolina is best known for its pickle factories. The small town has recently received worldwide attention for its changing demographics. As many as 3000 Haitian population has been added so far with the town's population of 4,600. Haitian immigrants from toddlers to grandmothers have flooded this tiny hamlet south of Goldsboro.

There are many stories behind how this transition started. At the most basic, every story goes like this: in late summer of 2010, a Haitian who was working at the Butterball plant in Mount Olive once heard that his boss has to replace a dozen of his workers because their work permits have some problems. The Haitian worker came forward to solicit new workers from his country. He first called an aspirant friend in Miami, who again called some of his mates in other places. Two days later, two vans packed with energized Haitians arrived at Butterball who were offered immediate jobs. This was the beginning of exodus. Another similar wave of immigrants came twelve years ago when Mexican workers came to pick cucumbers for pickle factories.

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Guyana began as a Dutch colony in the 17th century, becoming a British territory in 1815. When slavery became outlawed, blacks moved to metro areas, and indentured servants were imported from India to toil on sugar plantations. Since then, the ethnic and cultural dichotomy has endured, causing internal strife.

Guyana won independence from Britain in 1966, its governments favoring socialist agendas. In 1992, Guyana held its first free elections, picking Cheddi Jagan as its first democratic president. He held office for five years, dying of unexplained causes. Janet Jagan, his spouse, took over, but left office in 1999 because of ill health. Since then, Jagan's successor, Bharrat Gdeo, has won election twice, most recently in 2006.

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