ADVERTISEMENT


Photos

Street dancing - Haiti Kanaval Picture 2015

Street dancing - Haiti Kanaval Picture 2015

Street dancing - Haiti Kanaval Picture 2015

When slaves became emancipated in 1834, Caucasian plantation owners surrendered the Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday) Carnival to the ex-slaves, who turned it into a celebration of slavery's demise. They used Carnival as an opportunity to make fun of the ex-slave masters, and as a remembrance of slavery's oppression .

Today Caribbean Carnival merges fine arts, street theater, music and performance art, social commentary, extravaganza, and magical dimensions. In Europe it is celebrated mostly in southern portions of the continent: Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Venice, and Bavaria, having strong Catholic traditions. South West England (Devon, Cornwall, and Dorset) also has carried the traditions of Carnival into the present day.

Permalink | Comments

Street dancing - Haiti Kanaval Picture 2015

Street dancing - Haiti Kanaval Picture 2015

Street dancing - Haiti Kanaval Picture 2015

The Caribbean Carnival's origins began in archaic Egypt, and were then adopted by the Greeks and Romans as a pagan spring festival at a later period. Eventually the Catholic Church in Europe celebrated Carnival as Carne Vale, literal translation: flesh farewell. The words indicate reveling in the flesh and all its pleasures before the beginning of Lenten season, Ash Wednesday, when pleasure is forsaken for purification in preparation for Easter Sunday and Christ's rising from the dead.

European slave traders brought Carnival to the Caribbean county of Trinidad as an opulent masked ball for the elite class. They imported slaves from West and Central Africa, who brought with them elements of Carnival: masquerade, music, and song traditions. But the slaves were not allowed to participate in the lavish event meant only for the upper classes.

Permalink | Comments

Haiti teacher, Guy Etienne, among 10 finalists for $1 million prize

Haiti teacher, Guy Etienne, among 10 finalists for $1 million prize

Here is Haiti teacher Guy Etienne as he was placed among 10 finalists for $1 million prize.

Permalink | Comments

A Plan to eliminate malaria on the island of Hispaniola

A Plan to eliminate malaria on the island of Hispaniola

Haiti and the Dominican Republic are expected to become free from malaria by 2020 or exactly in 5 years.

A joint effort by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has made it their task to eradicate all indigenous cases of malaria in Hispaniola, the island that is shared by Haiti and Dominican Republic. The project aims to do this by 2020, and is funded to the tune of just under $30 million US from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. According to PAHO, in 2013, there were 20,000 confirmed cases of malaria on the island. Hispaniola is the only Caribbean island still battling malaria, which is endemic there.

Permalink | Comments

Inauguration of the Place Sainte-Anne, in Port-au-Prince

Inauguration of the Place Sainte-Anne, in Port-au-Prince

The public square of the Place Sainte-Anne, home to the bust of Professor Emeritus, was recently renovated to make it a community attraction once more. With its new lease on life, the square got a new inauguration, attended by President Martelly and Prime Minister Paul, along with other government members and a United Nations representative. The Place Sainte-Anne sits on a 7,000 m2 parcel of land, complete with a field for multiple sports and 330 seats. There is also an entertainment platform, public toilets and an administrative block, as well as small gardens.

Permalink | Comments

Capital Coach Line bus attacked and burned in Petit-Goâve

Capital Coach Line bus attacked and burned in Petit-Goâve

Here is a picture where Capital Coach Line bus became a victime of insecurity in Haiti. It was attacked and burned in Petit-Goâve

A vicious attack on a bus within the Capital Coach Line has left the 12-year-old company with up to $300,000 in damages. The attack took place on Monday, February 2, 2015 when an unidentified group of people attacked the Mercedes passenger bus that was in Petit-Goâve completing a run with four passengers on board. The bus was intercepted in the 5:00 pm daylight, the driver robbed, and the bus burned at the Andrédicette crossroad on National Road #2.

Police have weighed in that the attack could have been brought on by the fact that the bus driver was a Dominican Republic national who has worked in Haiti for the last year. It doesn't take a big stretch of the imagination, what with the recent killing of Haitian nationals in the Dominican Republic and the burning of the Haitian flag there, that this could have been the motive. However, the company itself is not convinced that this is so.

Since their founding in 2003 as the first bus company in the country, the Capital Coach Line, S.A. has built a significant name for itself offering a twice daily route between destinations like Port-au-Prince and Les Cayes, not to mention being the industry leader. Representatives of the company believe the attack wasn't on the driver, but on them, orchestrated by one of their many competitors. The incident not only cost the company money, but endangered the lives of the four passengers on board, as well as the driver, all of whom had to be rescued by the police from the burning vehicle.

Permalink | Comments (1)

Alan Cave assaulted by HMI promoter and producer Carlito Corvil

Alan Cave assaulted by HMI promoter and producer Carlito Corvil

Here is a picture of haitian super star, Alan Cave. In February, 2015 he was assaulted by Carlito Corvil

The outpouring of support for the Caves and disgrace at Corvil has been many and vocal. Atis Tet Asanm (United Artists) has issued a statement saying that they will not put up with violence being inflicted upon a member of the Haitian music industry. The informal group said they would challenge this and all forms of aggression against their community. The statement, issued the day after the brutal assault, was signed by the group's members, which includes acts such as Djakout #1, Carimi, Kreyol La, T-Vice and others.

The altercation is said to have come about after a performance given by Cave for the promoter. It is said that an inebriated Cave was upset about not being fully paid and at some point pushed Carlito in frustration. From that, the tension escalated with Carlito punching Cave to the ground, after which Corvil's son proceeded to kick Cave while he was down. The members of the Haitian music fraternity seem particularly incensed because the promoter is infamous for not fully paying musicians after they have performed. Cave has since filed an official police report about the matter.

The Haitian music fraternity in the United States and the rest of the diaspora have reached out in outrage to the family of singer Alan Cave, cousin of Carimi band leader Richard Cave, who was brutally assaulted on Saturday, February 28 after an altercation with producer and HMI promoter Carlito Corvil. From the assault, in which he was reportedly kicked multiple times, Cave sustained several injuries and had to be taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Permalink | Comments

Haitian Couple married for 82 years, Duranord and Jeanne Veillard

Haitian Couple married for 82 years, Duranord and Jeanne Veillard

Here is a picture of what is to be known as the oldest living couple in the area of spring valley. An Haitian Couple married for 82 years, Duranord and Jeanne Veillard

The couple were blessed with five children, all of whom would eventually join them in Spring Valley where they settled. Today, age has left his body weaker, but his mind and personality are as strong as ever, and his wife is still the quieter of the two, content to sit by his side and listen to his jokes or his singing. The Veillards, when they eventually pass, will be succeeded by their children, grand and great-grandchildren.

Permalink | Comments

Haitian protesters outraged over lynching of Haitian in

Haitian protesters outraged over lynching of Haitian in

Haitian protesters outraged. The lynching of Haitian man in the Dominican Republic triggered outrage as Haitian conducted a protest of over 10,0000 in the streets of Port-au-Prince

The question of who killed Tulile, a Haitian man living and working in Dominican Republic, was at the forefront of the media when his body was found hanged from a tree in a park. While a reported three persons of interest have been questioned by the police, no arrests have yet been made. The man was employed as a shoeshine man near a hospital in the region of Santiago, and a motive for his killing has not yet been established.

The protest march was staged in the capital of Haiti on Wednesday, February 25, 2015, that, for once, had nothing to directly do with the current Haitian Government. What it had to do with was a slow-brewing issue that has long reached its boiling point with little or no interest from the international press. The march was against what is described as the 'chronic mistreatment' of Haitians who live and work in the Dominican Republic, Haiti's closest neighboring country.

The Haitian protesters met the sometimes harsh and violent treatment of their countrymen in the Dominican Republic with a relatively peaceful march in which Haitian flags, destroyed in parts of the DR of late, were waved by patrons who called for the other country to respect the basic rights of their Haitian occupants as human beings. Still, the benevolence of the earlier march turned when the group reached the consulate of the Dominican Republic, where a protester climbed the roof, took down the DR flag and burned it to the cheers of the crowd.

Permalink | Comments

Marriott International and Digicel open new Hotel in Haiti

Marriott International and Digicel open new Hotel in Haiti

Here is a picture of the new Marriott International as Digicel new hotel

The latest of the brand new hotels that have been added to the list of Haiti's new tourism vectors is the Port-au-Prince Marriott, an undertaking that has taken four years to complete. Its opening was so important as to draw the attention of the Haitian Head of State, President Michel Martelly, who was on hand for the inauguration. Today, the hotel is up and running, bringing in tourist dollars to the tune of from US $149 to US $179 per night.

For a country that has been challenged recently with a political standoff that has led to multiple demonstration, an oil strike, and various other riots against the administration, the opening of the hotel was a bright spark for the promise it brings to the communities of Port-au-Prince and the larger Haitian Diaspora. Digicel Group head Denis O'Brien mentioned on the occasion that Haiti was not the only country struggling with unrest. He explained that the country's problems weren't enough to deter visitors and investors, he himself being an overseas investor.

Also present at the event was former President of the United States Bill Clinton. In his address to them, President Clinton highlighted the chance the hotel's 200 workers have to be the face of Haitian tourism every day, showing visitors the warmth, hospitality, and professionalism the country has to offer. Nearly all of the workers are from the Haitian workforce, many of them from needy backgrounds. Digicel Foundation, Marriott Hotel group and the Bill Clinton Foundation were the partners in the project.

Permalink | Comments