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29341: Lauredansr (announce) conference
From: Lauredansr@aol.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Dr. Bernier Lauredan (973) 371-0089, lauredansr@aol.com
HAITIAN-AMERICAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE LAUNCHES
INTERNATIONAL “LAKOU CENTERS” PROGRAMS
Two original programs for community and human development in Haiti and the
United States were launched this weekend in Newark, New Jersey at a leadership
conference of The Haitian League, an international citizens’ organization
founded in 2003. The programs, called “Lakou-Haiti” and “Lakou-USA”
are
modeled on the traditional family compounds – “Lakou” – that once
provided
protection and livelihoods for poor Haitians in the early years of that
country’s
independence.
As an emergency employment and rural renewal program, “Lakou-Haiti” will
establish fast-track, intensive education and job-skills training courses in
locations across the country where large numbers of youths from 15-25 are
unemployed. The centers will foster dialogue and cooperation among groups of
towns and villages that seek housing, economic development, health care,
alternate energy, agriculture and reforestation, tourism and other assistance
that
thousands of graduates of lakou centers each year can provide. The Georgia
chapter of The Haitian League has proposed to established the first center near
Belladere, in the Central Plateau of Haiti, where chapter members have
proposed the City of Atlanta as a sister city for cultural exchange, trade,
education and other forms of community development.
For Haitian-American communities, the “Lakou-USA” program will establish
neighborhood centers to offer immigration assistance, family counseling,
remedial education, job preparedness and placement, recreation and other
social and
cultural services that are presently absent in areas of Haitian density,
including Boston, New York City, Newark, Atlanta and Miami.
In both Haiti and the United States, lakou centers are intended to address
the sense of urgency that members of The Haitian League often express about
the poor conditions that surround millions of Haitians living in their own
country and abroad. In particular, the centers will provide a focus of
attention
and coordination for Haiti’s Diaspora and hundreds of citizens
organizations, churches, doctors, engineers and other professionals who
maintain numerous
but relatively isolated human and economic development projects in Haiti.
The need for coordination, crossover and national coverage of assistance
programs in that country has been often expressed, but never fulfilled. The
Haitian League believes the lakou centers can answer this need.
CD-ROM copies of the “Lakou-Haiti” and “Lakou-USA” proposals and slide
shows are available upon request. Membership in The Haitian League is open to
all. An informative website is maintained at <http://_www.haitianleague.org_
(http://www.haitianleague.org/) . >. Contributions are tax-deductible.
[Quotes from leadership conference follow.]
“NOTABLE QUOTES” FROM THE HAITIAN LEAGUE’S
INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
OCTOBER 14-15, NEWARK, NEW JERSEY
“The conference has accomplished its goal of gathering the Haitian American
and Haitian leadership to work together to better the lives of Haitians here
in the United States and in Haiti. Lakou centers in Haiti shall create
structures to adapt to the needs and the economic and social realities of such
a
poor country. Educating Haiti’s young and unemployed shall bring hope,
cohesion
and renewal to rural areas and decrease lawlessness. We will soon launch a
pilot project in Belladere, along with other centers in Haiti’s ten
departments. This challenge is well worth our efforts,” said Dr. Bernier
Lauredan,
President, The Haitian League.
- - - - - - -
“The mission of The Haitian League’s Lakou Project is ‘way overdue. We
need
to get it started as soon as possible, with significant cooperation and
assistance from both the Haitian and U.S. governments,” said Nancy Charles,
of
the Haitian League Florida delegation.
- - - - - - -
“Seeing the large number of Haitians and Americans sitting around a
conference table, debating about projects to rebuild our homeland Haiti, has
left me
with a profound sentiment of hope and respect for The Haitian League and its
founder and my colleague, Dr. Bernier Lauredan. Haiti is in dire need of
almost everything: education, health care, water, agro-industry, etc. Its
government cannot have the answers for so much…We, Haitians living abroad,
ought
to support actions such as the U.S. Congressional Resolution HR611 “Haiti
Reconstruction Ability Act” to be voted this session, and programs of
non-profit
civic organizations such as The Haitian League. We should set forward and
serve our ‘alma mater’ so that we can soon redeem our title of Haiti as
“La
Perle des Antilles,” said Gracial Mayard, M.D. and Haitian radio personality
of
Brooklyn.
- - - - - - -
“Haiti is a country with a population of two million hopeless kids looking
for work. This six-month fast-track program of lakou centers in Haiti is a
positive solution to the development of the country,” explained Mr. Jan Roc
of
The Haitian League’s Haiti chapter.
- - - - - -
The meeting represented a very positive action from the Diaspora to focus on
cooperation on the development of Haiti. In that sense, the “Lakou”
represents a brilliant new proposal in favor of the rural sector of Haiti and
to
promote human development. Therefore, I’m grateful to the delegates from
Atlanta, of The Haitian League-Georgia who committed to build the first Lakou
center
in Haiti’s border area, in the commune of Belladere, and to establish a
sister city program between Belladere and Atlanta,” said Max Antoine II,
Executive Director of the Commission for Development Border of Haiti
- - - - - - -
“While media attention has constantly focused on sporadic violence in a tiny
portion of Haiti, the fact is that 99.9% of Haiti is ‘alive and well’ and
seeking tourism and industrial development,” said Michael Spinelli, past
president of the American Association of Travel Agents and Special Assistant
to
the Chairman of the Haitian League.
- - - - - - -
“The Lakou Project is modeled on Haiti’s traditional small rural community
or family compound that is both productive and protected. The new Lakou model
will add elements of intensive education and job training for thousands of
Haitian youth and others each year. The lakou subjects and skills cover the
spectrum of critical needs, including construction, agriculture, research,
technology, business, culture and tourism,” said Stuart Leiderman, advisor
to
the Haitian League.
- - - - - - -
This is the most important step of Haiti’ Diaspora to positively help Haiti.
The Government of Haiti has to positively encourage the Diaspora by adopting
double nationality to end the system of taxation without representation,
said Frantz Bourget, of the Haitian League Georgia delegation.
------------------
I am excited to see the progress being made on unifying the Haitian
community in the U.S. with those in Haiti. I look forward to the day when we
can all
speak with one voice - Ayiti Cherie (Haiti, I cherish you.). The Haitian
League is proving that careful planning and determination yields positive
results, said John Rigdon, Technology adviser to the Haitian League.
-----------
It is great to be a part of the Haitian League's aggressive grass roots
approach to addressing the crisis in Haiti. With the increase support of the
international private sector and the Haitian government, substantial changes
can
be made, said Simona DeFeo, Independent Growth Consultant and Advisor to the
Haitian League
---------------
“The meeting was not a brainstorm but a ‘brain hurricane” concluded New
Jersey Judge Sybil Elias, co-founder and legal advisor of the Haitian League.
----------------
Please be part of the solution by helping the hopeless youth in Haiti.
Donate to Lakou Haiti@ _www.haitianleague.org/Lakou Haiti_
(http://www.haitianleague.org/Lakou Haiti) .
Bernier Lauredan, MD
Chairman,
The Haitian League
http://www.haitianleague.org
973 371 0089 (O)
908 265 6199 (C)