Post by dawyked on Nov 26, 2005 22:02:17 GMT 1
November 25, 2005
BY ALFRED DE MONTESQUIOU
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- U.N. soldiers venture into Cite Soleil with automatic weapons and armored personnel carriers. Haitian police, fearful of well-armed gangs, avoid the dusty streets of the seaside slum altogether.
But a new aid organization has managed to use the immense popularity of hip-hop musician Wyclef Jean to provide badly needed help to a desperate corner of his native country, the poorest nation in the Americas.
Yele Haiti, which Jean formed this year, has so far focused mostly on giving out scholarships. But after a few exploratory forays, it ventured into Cite Soleil this month to give out food -- backed by the pulsating beat of hip-hop blasting from speakers on a makeshift stage.
The music wasn't just entertainment. It was the way the aid group secured permission to enter the territory of gangs who dominate a slum that is home to more than 200,000 people.
''The gangs are really into my music, so we use that to connect with the population,'' Jean said by telephone from New York. ''It helps us get in to help people that others may not reach.''
The name ''Yele Haiti'' comes from a popular Jean song that has become a sort of anthem of hope following the violent rebellion that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004.
Jean, who left Haiti when he was 10 and gained fame as a member of the Fugees, said he was inspired to create his aid group by his own bitter memories of poverty.
''I grew up with no shoes and no pants,'' the 35-year-old musician said. ''So, in the position I'm in today, I couldn't sleep if I wasn't giving back.''
Most of Haiti's 8 million people live on less than $1 a day. Unemployment is estimated at 80 percent. Locals struggle to survive coups, street-level justice, corrupt leaders and pervasive crime. Kidnappings are common.
Human rights groups and international organizations say at least 1,500 people have died in the violence in the capital in the past year, much of it blamed on the street gangs that allegedly support Aristide, now in exile in South Africa, and his Lavalas party.
Yele Haiti so far has distributed about $1 million in grants and aid, mostly in the Gonaives region, which was devastated last year by Hurricane Jeanne. The organization has also taught sports to slum children and helped clear litter from the streets of Port-au-Prince.
Fame makes the difference
''What you need is for people to participate in the aid programs, feel like human beings -- not just receive food like animals,'' Jean said.
Dozens of aid groups operate in Haiti. What makes Jean's unusual is its reliance on his celebrity to gain permission from the gangs to operate amid the violence of Cite Soleil.
''There's always an element of risk, but the community has a lot of respect for the musicians,'' said Hugh Locke, the manager of Yele Haiti.
AP
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BY ALFRED DE MONTESQUIOU
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- U.N. soldiers venture into Cite Soleil with automatic weapons and armored personnel carriers. Haitian police, fearful of well-armed gangs, avoid the dusty streets of the seaside slum altogether.
But a new aid organization has managed to use the immense popularity of hip-hop musician Wyclef Jean to provide badly needed help to a desperate corner of his native country, the poorest nation in the Americas.
Yele Haiti, which Jean formed this year, has so far focused mostly on giving out scholarships. But after a few exploratory forays, it ventured into Cite Soleil this month to give out food -- backed by the pulsating beat of hip-hop blasting from speakers on a makeshift stage.
The music wasn't just entertainment. It was the way the aid group secured permission to enter the territory of gangs who dominate a slum that is home to more than 200,000 people.
''The gangs are really into my music, so we use that to connect with the population,'' Jean said by telephone from New York. ''It helps us get in to help people that others may not reach.''
The name ''Yele Haiti'' comes from a popular Jean song that has become a sort of anthem of hope following the violent rebellion that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004.
Jean, who left Haiti when he was 10 and gained fame as a member of the Fugees, said he was inspired to create his aid group by his own bitter memories of poverty.
''I grew up with no shoes and no pants,'' the 35-year-old musician said. ''So, in the position I'm in today, I couldn't sleep if I wasn't giving back.''
Most of Haiti's 8 million people live on less than $1 a day. Unemployment is estimated at 80 percent. Locals struggle to survive coups, street-level justice, corrupt leaders and pervasive crime. Kidnappings are common.
Human rights groups and international organizations say at least 1,500 people have died in the violence in the capital in the past year, much of it blamed on the street gangs that allegedly support Aristide, now in exile in South Africa, and his Lavalas party.
Yele Haiti so far has distributed about $1 million in grants and aid, mostly in the Gonaives region, which was devastated last year by Hurricane Jeanne. The organization has also taught sports to slum children and helped clear litter from the streets of Port-au-Prince.
Fame makes the difference
''What you need is for people to participate in the aid programs, feel like human beings -- not just receive food like animals,'' Jean said.
Dozens of aid groups operate in Haiti. What makes Jean's unusual is its reliance on his celebrity to gain permission from the gangs to operate amid the violence of Cite Soleil.
''There's always an element of risk, but the community has a lot of respect for the musicians,'' said Hugh Locke, the manager of Yele Haiti.
AP
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