Ralph I want you to know that I was not pointing finger...

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Reply to Msg 12395

Ralph

I want you to know that I was not pointing finger directly at you. I was talking for most part in a general term. I hope you did not take anything I said personally.

Ralph, I understand everything you said, and frankly I applaud your affort, your tenacity, resiliency and the will to contribute to a new Haiti.

I just wish there were more Haitians with that attitude.

I agree with you 150% that education is the key to move Haiti forward.

I have been advocating for a big literacy campaign ever since I can remember.

I am sure there are a lots of Haitians out there who are experts with the skills, the experience and the expetise to contribute a great deal in revamping the education system in Haiti.

But, Ralph using the term "EDUCATION" vaguely is not really that helpful.

We have to be explicite and direct everytime we use the term "Education." What does it mean exactly?

What kind of education are we talking about exactly?

Here's my point.

For example, in US the term "Education" means going to school to learn how to read, write, learn math, etc...

while in Haiti the term "Education" means being polite, respectful, having good manners, etc...

In Haiti, the term "Instruire" (instruction) means going to school to learn to speak French, etc....

Please understand that I am not being a smarty pants or being funny, or trying to do "etalage de connaissance" either.

That is plain reality of fact, and if we are being cavalier about terminologies we are only creating more confusion and consequently making it more difficult to reach our goals.

I have been burning with the desire to spend significant time in Haiti and get in a campaign of information.

I want to use my knowledge to inform the population for example, about politics, what they need to look for and think about before voting for a candidate, and inform them about everything that would make them more aware of this world and especially about their own world, Haiti.

Let's call it instead a capaign of awareness.

Those who are educated and well informed are more likely to make good decisions

The experience you just shared with me regarding passport when traveling abroad and to Haiti, did happen to me 3 times traveling to Haiti.

In 1995, just a few months after the return of Aritide, I went to Haiti with a group of American friends and we stayed 2 weeks down there.

On the way back, my passport was siezed by immigration custom at the airport and I was bared from boarding the plane.

The irony of it all, no one could tell me eaxactly why I was held in custody.

They told me if I wanted to know the reasons why I was held in custody I have to go to court Monday morning, it was on a Friday afternoon.

A good friend of mine with connections was able to convince the attorney general to see me on Saturday morning.

I arrived to court (Le Parquet) with an attorney and it cost me $120 US only to get a 2 sentences note ordering custom to give me my passport back to leave because I was the wrong man, even though they had the picture, the address, and the correct name and spelling of the person they were looking for. The did it purely and simply to humiliate me in front of the white friends who were with me. I went back to Haiti 6 months later and they did the same thing.

A year later I went back, they same thing happened again.

Ralph, like you said, we, Haitians have no respect in the world because of the way our own government treats us. Did you know, until 1996-97, for a very longtime, Haitians with Haitian passports had to be granted a visa to go to their own country?

What more humiliating was that?

What am trying to say is, although I am in full agreement with you, but none of all you suggested/mentioned will be possible unless the government changes the way it views and treats its citizens.

And also, with all due respect, none of us will ever be successful in our affort by bypassing the culture and the political landscape.

These 2 elements represent weapon of mass distruction aginst everything we would like to get done in Haiti.

We just cannot bluntly ignore them.

The reasons are 1) the government always feel threaten by Haitians coming from abroad trying to help the people.

The government and politicans view you as someone who wants to unseat them from their post/positions.

That is why they are so ferociously against "dual citizenship"

2) the culture is another biggy.

You need to understand where they are coming from, you need to know how they think, their rational thought process in order to win their support, their hearts and their minds.

Without that understanding, whatever you'd try to do will be like "washing your hands and dry them in the dirt." You will never get no where.

Trust me on that one, I know it well because I had experienced it.

Tba, December 26 2008, 11:22 AM

Topic: Haiti's uncertain future

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Mr. Benodin Posting all this statistical knowledge about Haiti is fine but where does the Haitian people go from here... read more >
Rft, 21-Dec-08 11:52 pm
OK, RFT; you've been asking everyone what their plans are. What are your plans? read more >
Linda, 22-Dec-08 7:24 pm
hi, my plans have been in motion since the early 80's : manage to convince most teenages in the neighborhood to finish... read more >
Rft, 23-Dec-08 10:47 pm
Rft, I did not mean to imply that you had no plan. My question stemmed from a place of real curiosity, not criticism... read more >
Linda, 24-Dec-08 12:04 pm
I totally agree with you RFT, I slowly but sadly realize that a lot of our people with some knowledge and education... read more >
Ralph Darbouze, 25-Dec-08 6:07 am
Ralph I was in that same boat when I went to Haiti in 1995 to offer my help to my hometown. The people who would... read more >
Tiba, 25-Dec-08 11:31 am
Tibia I carefully read what your said I must admit the true reality behind your words, but I notice couple things that... read more >
Ralph Darbouze, 26-Dec-08 9:11 am
Ralph I want you to know that I was not pointing finger directly at you. I was talking for most part in a general... read more >
Tba, 26-Dec-08 11:22 am
Although words and ideals can be miss understood even miss use but let pictures determine clearly what I meant buy... read more >
Ralph Darbouze, 27-Dec-08 7:33 am
Ralph, I think you are preaching to the choir, believe me. You spent a big chunck of your time using every anology in... read more >
Tba, 27-Dec-08 10:20 am
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