kiskeácity daily is out ! Edition of Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011 #HAITI #BLOGS @anedie01 @citizenhaiti #Caribbean #crafts

VIEW FULL PAPER 

Call this the Miss Haiti Universe and arts and crafts edition!

Miss Haiti Anedie Azael (@anedie01) posts a video of her every move on the pageant trail and so we are going to see a bunch of her until pageant night. There are 4 videos of her in today's edition (at the gym, putting on a mud mask, hanging out with Miss Turks and Caicos) but if you go to her YouTube page, there should be even more, including her tryouts as a chef this afternoon. That she manages to document and upload her every step while also partaking in the vertiginous Miss Universe contestant activities is a testament to her energy.

My favorite for today is one of her speaking creole with half-Haitian Miss Turks and Caicos. Haitians do get around the Caribbean and Latin America and this is a good illustration!





I also discovered the ingenuous Haitian Findings blog today which is a treasure trove of Haitian crafts and artisanal foods and products of the sort that will make you home sick and nostalgic. Under the Leisure and #Haiti tabs you will find posts on a crochet blanket, a recycled rice bag purse, a local alcoholic energy drink that should out compete vodka red bulls, a wooden necklace, Bèlzèb herbal hand made soaps, Jacmel based Moro Barouk creations and more. The recently started blog is written by Haitian born and raised  MadeinHaiti and I really hope she keeps it up!

Other interesting stories from the blogs include:

• Cooking with Madame Sara's typical Haitian meal complete with ingredients and cooking instructions. (Headline tab)
• Sitwayen Ayiti/Citizen Haiti walks us through a bee farm in Haiti and thinks honey can be the future of the country. (Headline tab)
• Tande (i.e. literature Professor Régine Michelle Jean-Charles) explains how she chooses which writers to research, mentioning a tendency by academics to over-study E. Danticat, J. Roumain and J.-S. Alexis. 
• Laurie of Caribbean Living tells a tale of child sexual abuse in a small rural town in Haiti by a catholic priest. (Stories tab.)

In the news: 

• Guy Philippe named as a prime suspect in American narcotics investigation. (www.miamiherald.com under Headlines tab.)
• Earthquake aftershock in Haiti Friday afternoon injured one and caused a landslide in the West department. (Réseau Citadelle re-posting an unknown news source under Headlines tab.) 

To read more Haitian blogs in real time, please check out my collection of Haitian blogs at www.haitianbloggers.collected.info.

Enter your Email

kiskeácity daily is out ! Edition of Friday, Aug. 26, 2011

VIEW FULL PAPER

Highlights

Headlines -

Digicel refusing interconnection with Natcom, in contrast with Voilà. (www.haitilibre.com). (See interview with Voilà CEO Padberg on the topic in Metro Newz of today below.)

More details on the continued conflict between Martelly and Parliament heads on the procedure to choose a Prime Minister. (www.haitilibre.com)


From the blogs -

Haiti - Cyrus Sibert of Réseau Citadelle deplores the fact that Martelly has been put on the defensive by Parliament and offers theories on who is pulling the strings in the background. (Headlines)

Trinidad - Global Voices offers a social media review of the debate around the state of emergency. Gerard Best looks at how the price of rice in Trinidad may lead to increased local production of fibery roots. (Headlines)

Video -
(May not appear on emails. Please view on www.kiskeacity.com or directly in paper.)


Jamaican arts activist Dutty Bookman talks about his new memoir.






Haiti-based Metro Newz for yesterday covers:

•  the aftermath of Irene: two have now been found dead because of the overflow of a normally dry ravine; 
• MINUSTAH saying the only report they recognize on the cholera issue is their own;
• update on camp population: 60% have left;
• footage of Voilà's CEO talking at a TPTC commission hearing about his company's cooperation with Natcom on interconnection contrary to Digicel. 

Enter your Email

kiskeácity daily is out ! Edition of Thursday, Aug. 25, 2011 #HAITI #BLOGS

VIEW FULL PAPER 

Highlights


Nepalese origins of cholera in Haiti confirmed. (www.Sciencesetavenir.fr via Lakou28.)

Interview with Ricot Dupuy on Martelly's presidency, the UN's responsibility in cholera and the diaspora (www.CaribbeanJournal.com).  I would like to congratulate Caribbean Journal on doing an increasingly better job at covering the Haitian news by posting Haitian sources and commentators as opposed to just international agencies.


From the blogs -

Haitian

Miss Haiti comes out second in Miss Universe online contest, as reposted by Blog Carel La from a Brazilian blog. Beauty pageants are often controversial, but this is a testament to the many Haitian tweeters and bloggers such as Carel Pedre, Beltifi.com  and Jean-Junior Joseph who have been tirelessly asking folks to vote for her via Twitter, Facebook etc. in the past few days.

Love Haiti (www.haitisuntimes.com) offers suggestion to the president on the "schools for all" idea. (FR)

www.culture509.com reviews a new book on Petit-Goâve.

Caribbean

Global Voices offers a slice of the debate in Trinidadian social and online media over the state of emergency there.


Video -

(Some email readers will have to view on www.kiskeacity.com.)



Yesterday's edition of Metro Newz by Télé Métropole in Haiti offers even more updates on what tropical storm Irene has left behind in terms of devastation. The good news is no lives were lost. The bad news is there were many floods including in camps of the displaced, damages to property and 1,000 people in government shelters.

Natcom (the former Teleco now 40% government owned) is requesting interconnection with the reluctant Digicel network and the end of the sabotage to its cables. The ball is now apparently in CONATEL's camp.

AccesHaiti CEO complains about the arrest of four of its workers accused of "bypassing."















Enter your Email

kiskeácity daily is out ! Edition of Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011 #HAITI #BLOG

VIEW FULL PAPER


News -
Irene rundown. (www.haitilibre.com)

From the blogs -

Blog Carel La was chock full tidbits regarding Miss Haiti Universe (two videos of her in Brazil and a long audio interview), the Digicel Stars music contest (various videos) and a preview of the legendary Zèklè's new song. (See #Haiti tab.)









Rapadoo Observateur offers a rant about color politics in the Haitian Senate (i.e. the showdown opposing Jacmel/Sud-Est representatives Edo Zenny and Joseph Lambert). (Politics tab)

Sitwayen Ayiti/Citizen Haiti surveys the various summer beauty pageants in Haiti. (Headlines tab)

Video -

Aside from the Miss Haiti videos to be found in Blog Carel La, there is the daily Metro Newz clip by Télé Métropole. Topics are as follows.

The outcome of category 2 storm  Irene's passage in Haiti includes flooding in the North, a landslide in the Northeast, rains all over the country and and overflow of Trois-Rivières river.

Martelly is in negotiations to install some ministers despite being out of a Prime Minister. Many lawmakers are deeming the move unconstitutional while others are studying the matter.

Martelly's party Repons Peyizan is calling on Parliament to collaborate with the President on designating a PM.

Civil Society representatives decry the prime minister crisis.





Enter your Email

Market Research on Remittances - Please forward to Haitians/Haitian-Americans based in NY area

Message from Consortium for Haitian Empowerment:

We are recruiting Haitians/Haitian-Americans to take part in a focus group, which is an interactive group discussions where participants are free to talk  about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes toward money transfer and remittance in Haiti.

All interested people, reply to this email or call us by Tuesday August 23 (starting now) to obtain information and have a 5 minutes interview so we determine if you meet the participation criteria.  The first callers, are the first to be recruited.


Focus groups start Thursday August 25, 2011 and end on Saturday August 27.  You will be paid $75 for 2 hours for your participation.

Male participants are on either/or :
       * Thursday August 25 @ 6pm or
       * Saturday August 27 @ 1pm

Female participants are on either/or:
       * Friday August 26 @ 6pm; or
       * Saturday August 27 @ 6pm

 Please, pass this info to your network for us.

Thank you!


Consortium for Haitian Empowerment
625 Atlantic Ave, 3rd Floor, Mailbox #5
Brooklyn, NY 11217
(718) 783-1598


PLEASE CONTACT: Dahana dorlouis@gmail.com

kiskeácity daily is out ! Edition of Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011

Today's edition contains two Metro Newz videos which I will just embed into this post. (Metro Newz is offered daily on YouTube by Haiti-based Télé Métropole.)  For some of you reading via email, the embeds may not appear, in which case you can just find them in the paper. 

 VIEW FULL PAPER





The August 19th edition covers the new biometric passports, and a memorial to those who disappeared in the Jan 12th, 2010 earthquake to be built in Titanyen by a diaspora association in collaboration with the ministry of Haitians abroad. Lastly, there is a segment on mobile provider Voilà's reinforced presence in Hinche.


 




 The August 22d edition mainly covers warnings and preparations for tropical storm Irene which is expected to cause violent winds especially in the North. There is also a segment on a European Community initiative on disaster preparedness.  

kiskeácity daily is out ! Edition of Monday, Aug. 22, 2011

VIEW FULL PAPER


Highlights


PotoFanm has just launched its first program, PotoFi. See a PDF of the  briefing note of this survey and services program for Haitian girls facing sexual violence in the media section of the newsletter. (FR, EN)

Tropical storm Irene worried some yesterday as it approached Haiti.

Controversial biometric passport and border controls program being implemented in Haiti.

EcoAlert podcast with Nadine Patrice of Operation Green Leaves.

Upcoming National Haitian-American Health Alliance conference in P-au-P.

From the blogs - www.culture509.com remembers a Haitian rapper and his song on the Bwa Kayiman ceremony.


Video - La Troupe Makandal at Haiti Cultural Exchange's Pwezi Anba Tonèl Saturday night. 

Enter your Email

kiskeácity daily is out ! Editions of Thursday, Aug.18 and Sunday, Aug. 21, 2011

La Troupe Makandal at Pwezi Anba Tonèl last night in Brooklyn.
A Haiti Cultural Exchange event.

VIEW ARCHIVED EDITION FOR THURSDAY

Highlights

Mayor of Les Cayes says he was bypassed by President in organizing Gelée Festival. (Nouvelliste)
The Bwa Kayiman ceremony revisited by www.culture509.com blog.
Climate change and Caribbean tourism. (Caribbean Journal)

Plus:
Wyclef Jean conversion and back to school preparations in Haiti.
Video of Metro News for Aug. 17th.

VIEW TODAY'S EDITION

Highlights


Delay of a month in back to school date for Haitian children. (Radio Peyizan quoted by Réseau Citadelle)
Trinidad Cement Limited plant to settle in Varreux in partnership with Haitian company Win Group. (www.haitilibre.com)

From the Blogs -
Meteyo and Citizen Haiti/Sitwayen Ayiti warn of upcoming tropical storm Irene which may hit Haiti Monday night.
C'est plutôt ça Haiti posts a video of plays by Haitian  Belfort for his French soccer team.

Video -
Promotional clip for Brooklynites Lamar Bailey and Pascale Boucicaut's Yemanja restaurant in Panama.
Haitian diaspora photographer Sydney Etienne is currently in Haiti and offers shots under the rubric Beautiful Haiti.

Photos and Music -
Under the #Haiti tab: Blog Carel La posts Presteej track and ocean landscape.

Yours truly's twitpic shots of Pwezi Anba Tonèl last night on the sidewalk of Five Myles Gallery in Brooklyn. Performers included La Troupe Makandal and poets Michèle Voltaire Marcelin, Denisé Lauture who read the famous poem Guinée by Jacques Roumain, Jennifer Célestin and Josaphat Robert Large. Translations for the poems were projected on the gallery's façade.




Fundraiser party for Yemanja from helene zund on Vimeo.

Enter your Email

kiskeácity daily is out ! Edition of Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2011

VIEW FULL PAPER

Haiti News - Martelly's statements on tax collection for Governance Week (FR, www.haitilibre.com) . Martelly meets with Bill Cinton yesterday afternoon (FR, Le Matin). Clinton-Bush Foundation starts $2 million fund for small business (FR, www.haitilibre.com). Wyclef Jean returns to his evangelical roots in Port-au-Prince (FR, www.haitilibre.com). Note that all www.haitilibre.com stories can be found in EN under the english tab on its website.

From the Blogs - www.culture509.com celebrates Radio Heritage's anniversary (FR).

Video- Tele Métropole News for August 16th contains the following stories (FR): Parliament heads refuse to negotiate a Prime Minister nominee with Martelly's presidential commission because they claim the commission is unconstitutional. Martelly's governance week. Monseigneur Kébreau clarifies his statements about Martelly needing to govern like his band leader alter ego Sweet Micky. Investigation under way and arrests imminent in Cap Haitien cathedral vandalism.


Enter your Email

kiskeácity daily is out ! Editions of Saturday, Aug. 13 and Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2011

VIEW ARCHIVED EDITION FOR SATURDAY



Haiti - Head of Oxfam Haiti resigns (two articles, EN). Martelly's Chile visit: housing projects and Haitian community there (FR, EN). Martelly's back to school plans: 146,000 children in age of being schooled for the first time (FR). More on parliamentary crisis.


VIEW FULL PAPER FOR TODAY

From the blogs -  From www.Culture509.com, fiction about a restavèk named Ti Man Maille potentially slated to be filmed in Belgium (post is not clear). Haitian-American artist and educator Ella Turenne makes a plea for more stories of Haitian agency in rebuilding Haiti and less of ... Sean Penn (Huffington Post).

Caribbean - Toronto film about Caribbean diasporas from Suriname, Guyana, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic and the impact of their tourism in their home countries (MNIAlive.com). Upcoming Caribbean crafts convention in the Dominican Republic (MNIAlive.com). Sixth Gwoka (Guadeloupean drum) festival in Paris (Repeating Islands).

Video - Télé Métropole news for August 12: Martelly in Argentina, crime resurgence near displaced camps in Champs de Mars from the perspective of Senator Youri Latortue, the National Police and of camp dwellers. Jèn Kore Jèn youth summit: youth representative deplores disunity between President and Parliament.









Enter your Email

kiskeácity daily is out ! Edition of Friday, Aug. 12, 2011

VIEW FULL PAPER 

Highlights


Politics - Increasing worries about the back to school season. Martelly travels through Latin America without first nominating a prime minister then denounces what he calls a dictatorship of Parliament. More on color tensions in Parliament. Martelly wants Chile to replace its military mission with a development mission. $3.3 Billion plan to rebuild Port-au-Prince announced by mayor. (Stories by Haiti Libre and Le Nouvelliste.)

From the blogs - Imaj Info posts pictures of student demos against perceived delinquency of IDB camp dwelles. Réseau Citadelle posts pictures MINUSTAH chief's visit to the defiled cathedral in Cap Haitien. (See #Haiti tab.)

Video - Metro News explores the continuing prime minister crisis and the hospital workers strike at Hopital General.








Enter your Email

kiskeácity daily is out ! Edition of Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011

VIEW FULL PAPER


Haiti Politics - BRAZILIAN FORCES MAY PULL OUT OF HAITI. Senator Edwin Zenny's comments on color tensions in Parliament (FR, EN - Sadly HaitiLibre.com's English version is quite poor and makes poor translation choices such as using mestizo instead of mulatto (!) but you can get the gist of what is going on.)   Manigat doubts Martelly's education plan (FR, EN). Catholic church attack in the North condemned (FR, EN).

Caribbean - Interesting remarks on how to fix Jamaica by Jamaican Governor-General in Washington. On the SiliconCaribe site, Jamaican filmmaker David Mullings explains how he crowdfunded his new film on the Jamaican railroad by using IndieGogo.com. (A story which sounds a lot like how veteran Haitian filmmaker Richard Senecal is funding his film Malpasse on Haitian Students in the D.R.) Upcoming Caribbean-American festival in Springfield, MA.

From the blogs - Haitian blogs in Haiti and the diaspora are abuzz with culture talk (See #Haiti and #Brooklyn tabs). Culture509.com wonders what happens after Haitian talent wins one of the many music contests funded by Digicel or American Airlines over the years and announces a seminar on Haitian folk dance. The Haiti Cultural Exchange website announces a forthcoming Haitian poetry night in Brooklyn on August 20th which will showcase a wide range of Haitian poets from Jacques Roumain to Michèle Marcelin with music by La Troupe Makandal. (I don't intend to miss it and I hope you won't either.) HCX also invites volunteers to paint a mural at PS189, a high school in Brooklyn where they offer arts and culture seminars for children.


Enter your Email

kiskeácity daily is out ! Edition of Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2011

VIEW FULL PAPER

Former presidential candidate Mirlande Manigat breaks her silence and weighs in on Martelly's education plan which she deems unrealistic. She also has some terse advice for the President on how he should handle a parliament he does not control. (See Metro News Aug. 9 video.)

Also: opening of application period for Yele's hotel studies training, IDB's $11 million fund for small and mid-sized business and yesterday's Cardicis3 newsletter about information and communications technologies (ICTs) in the Caribbean contains interesting news about Blackberrys and teachers in Jamaica.








Enter your Email

kiskeácity daily is out ! Edition of Tuesday, Aug. 09, 2011

VIEW FULL PAPER


Haiti Headlines - Voilà receives award for Tcash mobile payment program (FR & EN).  Haitian women rebuilding Haiti by removing rubble by hand (FR &EN). Haitian women receive training in soccer football .


Caribbean - Grenada calling on its diaspora. Racialized party structure in Trinidad. Jamaica getting a sweet deal on sugar.


Video - My own video of Régine Roumain talking about Haiti Cultural Exchange's goal for a Haitian cultural center in NY. Footage of London riots yesterday. Two editions of Haiti-based Metro News covering topics from the next step on the Prime Minister search, Kay Pa'm, Jean-Claude Bajeux, Voilà's Tcash, policing and student protests etc. 


Photos - Under the #Haiti tab, pictures of the Aug. 5th James Germain/Emeline Michel concert at Fokal. 


Enjoy!






Enter your Email

kiskeácity daily is out ! Edition of Monday, Aug. 08, 2011

VIEW FULL PAPER


Haiti and diaspora - Haitian parliament member attempts to make amends with Martelly whose prime minister picks have been rejected twice. Haitian-American fashion designer Conrad Lamour profiled.

Technology - Twitter's new feature.

From the blogs - Reaction to Gousse rejection by Love Haiti who analyzes the relevant constitutional provisions. Global Voices offers the latest in Spanish protests (FR, ES, EN).




Enter your Email

kiskeácity daily is out ! Edition of Sunday, Aug. 07, 2011

VIEW FULL PAPER


Haiti - Letter from ex-presidential candidate Dr. Bijou to Martelly with specific recommendations on education at the eve of the back to school season. (Does she see signs that Martelly will not be able to deliver on his promises on education?)


Caribbean -  All from www.mnialive.com: DeVry institute just purchased a medical school in the Caribbean. Scholarship fund for Caribbean filmmakers. Rihanna criticized by African-American blogs for her dancing at Bajan carnival. (Have they seen Beyoncé's  videos lately? Or even Rihanna's own morbid Disturbia video? Is it okay ONLY when heavily commodified? Puh-leeze. What about the fact that cropover and the dancing that goes along with it is a long-standing cultural tradition in her native Barbados, the point well made in www.mnialive.com's article?) 

From the blogs - Just added a haiti-based blog on culture www.culture509.com and a Haiti-based blog by a Haitian repatriate  Pale Avè'm... Talk to Me to my aggregator of Haitian blogs http://haitianbloggers.collected.info/. Two articles from www.culture509.com are posted in the newsletter, one on Azor and one on Clarens Fortuné, both of whom are Haitian cultural vectors who recently passed away. Funny article from Global Voices on a Zambian site.


Enter your Email

kiskeácity daily is out ! Edition of Saturday, Aug. 06, 2011

VIEW FULL PAPER

Emily - Post-Emily assessment by department. (Apparently there was only one reported casualty.)

Politics and general news- Unrest after a student is shot near the National Palace. Martelly's reaction to the rejection of Gousse by Parliament. Death of human rights activist Jean-Claude Bajeux. Write up of recent Caribbean-American business conference held in Atlanta in July.

Culture - Le Nouvelliste showcases the poetry of Josaphat Large. Orchestre Septentrional has a new album. Margaret Papillon's audio book on AIDS. Emeline Michel and James Germain in concert at Fokal. Haiti Cultural Exchange featured in WQXR's Star Initiative.

Technology - Electronic database of Haitian civil records being created.

From the blogs - Defend.ht thinks the Haitian press should not enable the UN's overreaching into Haitian affairs. More under the #haiti hashtag section of the newsletter, including various pictures and a deploge performance by Medjy Toussaint on Chokarella.

Video - Kassav' sings its classic Rete in Miami.

Please note that all Haiti Libre articles featured in the newsletter can be found in both French and English on www.haitilibre.com. 


Enter your Email

kiskeácity daily is out ! Edition of Friday, Aug. 05, 2011

VIEW FULL PAPER

Highlights


Emily - Port-au-Prince was spared thanks to its mountains. View photos and the full account in today's issue.

From the blogs - Ekspoze! declares Lavalas over. Toussaint on Haiti does not believe that kicking people out of IDP camps solves the housing problem.

Videos - Several stories from August 1's Metro News are still current including Martelly's speech for Technology Week. HaitiXChange visited Haitian fashionista and maker of Vèvè bags Phelicia Dell at her Port-au-Prince workshop. Lastly, there are just a few days left to help veteran Haitian filmmaker Richard Sénécal meet his fundraising goal for his fascinating documentary Malpasse on Haitian students in the Dominican Republic. View the trailer and donate via the link in today's issue.








Enter your Email

kiskeácity daily is out ! Edition of Thursday, Aug. 04, 2011

VIEW FULL PAPER


Highlights


Emily - Government encourages spontaneous evacuation to homes of friends and neighbors.

Technology - Martelly's speech for Technology Week.

Women and Business - New Clinton Bush Foundation grant for women's entrepreneurship.

From the Blogs - France-based C'est Plutôt Ca Haiti posts an article on rejected Prime Minister nominee Bernard Gousse.  Love Haiti/HaitiSunTimes.com has an interesting opinion piece on why employment and not education should be Martelly's priority for Haiti.






Enter your Email

kiskeácity daily is out ! Edition of Wednesday, Aug. 03, 2011

VIEW FULL PAPER

Highlights 


Tropical Storm Emily -   Forecast Map by the Miami Herald.

Haitian Politics and Culture - Recent IDB grants for electricity and an industrial park in the North of Haiti. (Am a little confused - weren't the Koreans going to do that?) More on the national conference on culture that took place in Port-au-Prince last week. Women and Haitian football.

From the blogs -  Rapadoo Observateur weighs in on the UN mission's responsibility in the cholera epidemic. Geoffrey Philps announces that The Caribbean Writer welcomes submissions to its next edition.

Technology - Indigenous languages and Global Voices' new site in Aymara. Opening bank accounts with mobile apps in South Africa.


Enter your Email

kiskeácity daily is out ! Editions of Monday, Aug. 1 and Tuesday, Aug. 02, 2011

 VIEW YESTERDAY'S (SHORT) EDITION 


Great article on last weekend's national conference on culture. 

 VIEW TODAY'S EDITION


Highlights

Hurricane watch continues as Emily hits Martinique. Still uncertain whether and how it will hit Haiti.


Politics - Corruption scandal involving members of parliament's lucrative consulting contracts with Ministère de l'Intérieur. Martelly's tourism tour continues. Deputy Dionald Polyte's assassin turns out to be a prison escapee. Bellerive to testify in front of Justice and Security Commission.

From the Blogs - Blog Carel La Wi! posts a caricature of the deputies and senators who made extra $$$ consulting for one of the government's ministries.

Video - From yours truly,  a clip of Haiti Cultural Exchange E.D. Régine Michèle Roumain explaining what the New York-based organization is about. Clip number two is of Wyclef making a cameo appearance at Kassav's concert in NY last Saturday.




Enter your Email