GRIOTS REPUBLIC - An Urban Black Travel Mag - May 2016

W H E R E T H E R E ' S T R A V E L , T H E R E ' S A S T O R Y 

HAITI 

SAK 

PASE 

THE AFTER 

SHOCKS 

KONPA DANCING 

NICK 

SMITH 

L'UNION SUITE 

LAKOU MIZIK 

VOODOO, CARNIVAL & REDEMPTION: 

THE SOUNDTRACK OF HAITI'S REVIVAL 

MAY 2016 | ISSUE 05

ISSUE 

CONTRIBUTORS 

SWANZETA NCIWENI 

SHANITA HUBBARD 

WANDA TIMA-GILLES 

WILKINE BRUTUS

SONY LAVENTURE 

REGINE ROUMAIN 

RICHARD CONTAVE 

STEPHANIE DIETZ 

JEREMIAH MEYERS 

RAQUEL WANZO SEBASTIEN ROC PATRICE ELESSIE

SUNDAY 

1 

MAY 2016 

T H R O U G H 

THURSDAY 

30 

JUNE 2016 

SELEBRASYON! | LIBÈTE/FREEDOM 

NEW YORK’S CELEBRATION OF HAITIAN ART & CULTURE 

Haiti Cultural Exchange is proud to 

announce our Second Biennial 

Selebrasyon! a festival of Haitian art and 

culture, showcasing the diversity, beauty 

and vitality of Haiti and its Diaspora – 

from the traditional to the modern. 

WWW.HAITICULTURALX.ORG FOR THE SCHEDULE

Archivists Note 

We’ve been planning this issue since the beginning of the year. 

We had our dates down, our bags packed, interviews booked 

and slowly but surely one issue after another crept up until our 

entire trip to Haiti was officially cancelled. Like everything else 

with this magazine, this was a first for us. How do you capture 

the essence of a country with no boots on the ground? 

The answer: through its people. 

In a worldwind effort to chase down the band on the cover, 

Lakou Mizik, hire writers, videographers, transcribers, 

translators and the multitude of people it takes to cultivate 102 

solid pages of a country where you don’t speak the language, 

we learned several things. 

First and foremost, we need more friends like Chef Lemaire 

(#1) who are honest, knowledgable about concepts like “flavor 

profiles” and quick to point out the best foods to eat in their 

home countries. I gained 10 pounds just reading his Q&A. You 

have been warned. 

Second thing, we need to up our fashion and wardrobe game! 

If the folk we talked to are any indication of Haitian style, 

then we are slacking painfully. Take Gardy Guerrier (#2), for 

instance. This brother showed up at his shoot so fly that I 

almost went home and changed. He’s fashionable, whip smart 

and passionate about sharing Haiti through his lens and you 

guys will enjoy his profile. 

Last, but not least, we learned that although language might 

be barrier in video production it absolutely does not hamper 

communication of the spirit. We tracked down Lakou Mizik 

in Denver and their sound, their story and energy deeply 

resonated with us. If you have the opportunity to see them in 

concert, then we recommend going! 

Overall, we are chalking this issue up as a positive. The truth 

of the mattter is that if we hadn’t gotten the opportunity to 

listen to these stories or read about this history prior to visiting, 

our trip to Haiti would have been much different. We now feel 

enlightened, prepared and excited to see and eat the things 

covered in this month’s issue. 

T H E A R C H I V I S T S

R E A D I N G L I S T 

HAITI BOUND 

From Classics to Coming Soon These are the Haitian 

Authors and Books to Add to Your Collection. 

By Rodney Goode

Have a book suggestion? Hop on our Facebook page and let folks know. 

*** Publisher’s Description 

1 

2 

3 

For several months, Quebec 

illustrator Roge prepared a 

series of portraits of Haitian 

children. Students of Camp 

Perrin wrote the accompanying 

poems, which create, with 

flowing consistency, Haiti, 

my country. 

These teenaged poets use the 

Haitian landscape as their 

easel. The nature that envelops 

them is quite clearly their 

main subject. ** 

Placing the West’s failure 

to acknowledge the most 

successful slave revolt in 

history alongside denials of 

the Holocaust and the debate 

over the Alamo, Michel- 

Rolph Trouillot offers a 

stunning meditation on how 

power operates in the making 

and recording of history in 

Silencing The Past: Power 

and The Production of 

History. ** 

Reflecting the chaos of disaster 

and its aftermath, God Loves 

Haiti switches between time 

periods and locations, yet 

always moves closer to solving 

the driving mystery at its 

center: Will the artist Natasha 

Robert reunite with her one 

true love, the injured Alain 

Destiné, and live happily ever 

after? God Loves Haiti is an 

homage to a lost time and city, 

and the people who embody 

it. ** 

One of the best books written by Haitian author, 

Edwidge Dandicat and certainly one that will remain on 

your list of favorites is “The Dew Breaker.” Not only is 

the story complex and multi-layered, it is confusing (in 

a good way), poignant, and thought provoking.That’s 

why we read novels isn’t it? 

The story delves into the relationships between the 

main character, Ka, and her parents. How does one 

reconcile the feelings for a father who was a member 

of the Tonton Macoutes, a feared group of volunteer 

enforcers who tortured and killed thousands of 

civilians under the regimes Francois and Jean-Claude 

Duvalier in Haiti and a mother who marries him with 

the realization that he was the murderer of her brother? 

The reader must be prepared to be confounded and 

shocked to the point where the book may have to be 

put down in order to seriously think through what was 

just read.

IG PHOTO OF THE MONTH 

BY PATRICE ELESSIE (@NAJAH_ELESSIE) 

Feb 23 2016 changed my life. I embarked on a 

journey of faith. I wanted to take a trip that completely 

allowed me to rely on God. I prayed, and 

Haiti was the outcome. I bought a ticket, packed a 

bag and headed to a place I’ve never been. I had no 

idea how God would show up, but I knew he would. 

I decided I wanted to volunteer at the local medical 

center with Mission of Grace. I didn’t want to 

ride in a car, I wanted to walk and meet the people 

of this country. I grabbed water and a backpack 

and started walking through the small village of 

Carries. 

While walking, I saw so much; homes made out 

of brick and stone and I realized they had no addresses. 

I saw goats, chickens and children - lots 

of children. I wanted to keep my heart open as I 

embraced not only the amazing culture, but the 

differences in what was valued. 

As I got closer to my destination, I saw a man in 

the distance. From far away he looked disheveled; 

clothes dirty and tattered, no shoes on his feet

and wrinkles in his skin 

that told a story of perseverance. 

As I walked closer 

to him he smiled. Wow. 

I’ll never forget his smile. 

It was peaceful and full of 

light, as if he never had a 

care in the world. 

I stopped and he spoke to 

me. To my surprise he spoke 

English. He asked my name 

and told me his, Elaine. We 

chatted for a while and before 

I left he asked me for 

something... not money, 

not any shoes, or clothing. 

No, he simply asked, 

“Can you pray with me?” 

My heart was so full and so 

happy. I immediately said, 

“Of course,” grabbed his 

hand and began to pray. 

In that moment, I realized 

that I didn’t need to ask 

God to change his life but 

to change mine. To allow 

me to see the light in others. 

To allow me to have 

gratitude daily for the little 

things I have. I needed God 

to let me be like this man... 

at peace. 

As I said “Amen,” he 

opened his eyes, looked 

at me with tears and said, 

“Thank you!” 

I captured this picture before 

speaking to him thinking 

he needed some type of 

medical help; not knowing 

that he was in better spirits 

than I. 

I entitled the picture “Never 

Judge a Book By its Cover.” 

R E M E M B R A N C E 

APRIL 21, 2016 

The World Says "Goodbye" to a Music Icon - 

Prince Rogers Nelson 

By Raquel Wanzo 

On April 21, 2016, the world 

mourned the passing of the 

iconic R&B, Pop musician, singer, 

actor and producer, Prince 

Rogers Nelson, 57. Prince’s 

musical and social contributions 

spawned worldwide fans. 

In the days since his passing, 

mourners around the world have 

expressed sorrow. In a heartfelt 

tribute to Prince, U2 frontman, 

Bono, posted on Twitter an excerpt 

from Sign O’Times: “U2 

never met Mozart. . . But I met 

Prince-Bono.” Madonna, who 

once had a long-standing feud 

with the pop-star expressed on 

Instagram the kind of incredulous 

grief many mourners felt: 

“He Changed The World!! A 

True Visionary. What a loss. I’m 

Devastated.” 

Prince, the talented genius, is 

living on through academics 

as well. His music is being 

explored and studied in academia. 

In an interview with The 

World Post, historian Dr. Vashna 

Jagamath of Rhodes University 

in Grahamstown, South Africa, 

suggests that “Prince the body, 

the spirit, and the artist... has 

always been indefinable. This 

inability to define him... meant 

that it was impossible to limit 

him and his full humanity.” 

Specifically, she uses “Paisley 

Park” to teach about “the decimation 

of the cotton industry in 

India.” Prince in the classroom 

should come as no surprise as 

his lyrics, which often times 

blurred the lines between sexuality 

and spirituality as well as 

challenged political and social 

ideologies, could easily be morphed 

into teaching tools. 

In July 2001, I had the pleasure 

of visiting 8115 Vilakazi 

Street, the former Soweto home 

of Winnie and Nelson. It is now 

a national museum: Mandela 

House. As I wait to enter, I notice 

a familiar synth riff ringing 

in my ears followed by equally 

familiar lyrics: I said life is just 

a game, we’re all just the same, 

do you want to play. . . Controversy. 

I turn and a young man, 

dancing on the corner shouts 

out, “My sister, we love Prince 

here. We love our beautiful 

black brothers and sisters from 

America, please tell more to 

come, come and see us. There 

is no controversy here.” 

Although gone, Prince is sure to 

never be forgotten as his music 

will live on and gain new fans 

stateside and abroad. To be 

sure, no controversy indeed.

G L O B A L G I F T S 

5 

F 

I R S T C L A S S 

F A V O R I T E S 

By Alexandra Stewart 

So we’re shoppers too. It’s an unfortunate addiciton 

that we just can’t break and the more we travel the 

more things we see and crave! If your travel fund is 

low, then bypass this page! We aren’t here to keep 

you off the road. But if you have a little extra coin 

or you haven’t picked up that Mother’s Day gift yet, 

then jump into this month’s first class favorites. 

1 - BucketFeet Canvas Shoes 

These limited edition shoes are created by artists 

from all over the globe. Each pair displays a unique 

and personal story from the artist that created it. 

Where normally a specially designed pair of shoes 

like these will run you well into the hundreds, you 

can find shoes on BucketFeet for as low as $54. 

Men, women & kids available in an array of sizes. - 

$49-$148 www.bucketfeet.com 

2 - Leather Charger Roll Up 

Transport your chargers in style with this chic 

leather carrying case. Simply store your cables and 

chargers in any one of the 3 pockets, roll up and 

secure with the leather tie closure. Probably the best 

part... you can have it monogrammed for free! - $49 

www.markandgraham.com 

3 - Wine Chilling Wands 

Chill & be chill with these super cool wine chilling 

wands. Just keep these pre-chilled in the freezer 

until you are ready to use. Pop them in a glass of 

wine and you will have a nicely chilled glass of wine 

in minutes! No more waiting hours to get your drink 

on while your wine chills to the proper temperature 

in the ‘fridge. Comes in a set of 2. - $39.95 www. 

williams-sonoma.com 

4 - Handwoven Infinity Scarf 

This is not your typical infinity scarf. This unisex 

masterpiece is handcrafted in Ethiopia with leather 

and gold clasps accents to give it that extra pop! 

Comes in a variety of colors perfect for this spring 

and summer season. - $65 www.zaafcollection.com 

5 - Rachael Ray 5.5 Gallon ChillOut Tote 

After the mistaken identity hell folk put her through... 

The Bee Hive should probably buy up everything in 

her arsenal as a blanket “our bad.” But I digress.

\Spring is here and summer is fast approaching! Make your life easier this picnic and barbeque season with 

this Rachael Ray Chillout Tote. Constructed of SuperFoam insulation plus Therma-Flect® radiant barrier 

technology, you won’t have to worry about hot foods going cold or cold foods warming up with this leak 

proof, easy to clean tote. Comes in a variety of sizes and colors - $17.95-$19.95 www.rachaelraystore.com. 

That’s it for now! I will be in full Music Fest swing next month. So check back! 

GRIOTS REPUBLIC

LET'S GET MENTAL 

Griots Republic had the distinct opportunity 

to sit down and discuss the life and travels 

of Gentamu Mcinney, who at the time of the 

interview was preparing to leave for Cannes, 

France to discuss her documentary, a very 

intimate and personal view of her journey 

alongside her mother, as she dealt with her 

mom’s mental illness. 

According to the Health and 

Human Services Office of Minority 

Health, African Americans are 20% 

more likely to experience serious 

mental health problems than the 

general population. 

Common mental health disorders 

among African Americans include: 

•Major depression 

•Attention Deficit Hyperactivity 

Disorder (ADHD) 

•Suicide, among young African 

American men 

•Post Traumatic Stress Disorder 

(PTSD), because African Americans 

are more likely to be victims 

of violent crime 

Website: www.nami.org 

Griots Republic (GR): Tell us about yourself. 

My name is Gentamu McKinney, Gentamu is 

Kenyan, which means gentle and sweet; one 

who brings life, joy and laughter into the world. 

I’m from the Oakland/Berkley Bay area and I 

always knew I was pre-wired to do something 

to support our community. My father, Gene 

Mckinney, was one of the original members 

of the Black Panther Party and worked closely 

with the founder, Huey Newton. 

I have a Bachelors Degree from Clark Atlanta 

University and a Masters Degree in Public 

Health Administration with an emphasis on 

Healthcare Mgmt. from the Keller Graduate 

School of Management in Long Beach 

California. 

I own a non-profit organization: Awareness 

After Dark which combines Community Health 

issues with entertainment. I combined it to 

get buy-in, help people relax and give them 

something beyond a pamphlet. I also have a 

travel business named Work and Travel. I see 

a lot of travel organizations who go on trips 

and take from the world, but don’t give back. 

So we want to do things differently to ensure 

we leave a mark on everywhere we go. 

GR: Tell us about your documentary and its 

inspiration. 

I was in a boring meeting and was thinking 

about what I could do that would bring me 

more satisfaction, knowing I wanted to do 

something around mental health.

“In the African American 

community, family, community and 

spiritual beliefs tend to be great 

sources of strength and support. 

However, research has found that 

many African Americans rely 

on faith, family and social 

communities for emotional support 

rather than turning to health care 

professionals, even though medical 

and/or therapeutic treatment 

may be necessary.” 


Two years ago, on a normal day, my 

grandmother told me to go check on my 

mother because she wasn’t acting right. I 

simply thought she was having a bad day and 

was tripping and would get it together. But the 

next day, I go to check on her and when I went 

to her place, I knew immediately something 

was different. 

The rooms were dark and she was very standoffish 

which is uncharacteristic because she 

always wants to hug me when she first sees 

me and me being the child, I’m like you know, 

get away from me but, it was obviously absent 

this time. She didn’t want to be touched and 

went from being a child to being paranoid and 

angry (so many personalities in 15 minutes). 

Being in the field, her behavior is what I began 

to watch. She was no longer my mother but 

instead my patient. At first, I considered 

perhaps she had fallen off the wagon after 

13 years in recovery, but her behavior was 

such that I didn’t feel safe. One time she even 

charged at me. It was then I thought she would 

try to kill me (or herself) and I would be forced 

to protect myself. I absolutely could not leave 

her because of the suicidal twist to some of 

the conversation, so I called an ambulance. 

They checked her vitals, etc. and chose to take 

her to emergency to rule out injury or sickness. 

We had to find out what was going on. Tests 

came back clear with no drug or physical 

illness so, it was clear there was some mental 

illness going on here and it was this that led 

her back to drug and alcohol abuse. 

So many people who are addicts, numb 

themselves or self-medicate with substance 

abuse. We are so often uneducated about 

mental health issues in our community that 

we only see the addiction. 

In our community, no one talks about mental 

illness, but I noticed when I started talking 

about it, others would talk about their 

experiences with it too. 

It broke me in so many ways. 

Financially… I took my savings and cashed 

in a few favors and decided to put together 

a mental health event. We hosted 2 big Edutainment 

events replete with appetizers and 

drinks and we took the opportunity to highlight 

famous people who suffered from mental 

health issues in an effort to show people that 

it is not all that uncommon and that we need 

to demystify it. 

I shot my documentary in my living room 

and at first; I didn’t want to be on camera. I 

interviewed everybody else and ensured I was 

the last person and I never expected it to be 

this big. 

Emotionally… wow. I was telling everyone 

about something so close and private that I felt 

exposed. Even now, I’m doing this interview in 

tears because it still is so vivid and part of my 

everyday life. 

GR: Tell us about Cannes. 

I want other folks to see it, but I do not want 

to make money from it. I just want people to 

see it and if there is any financial gain, it’s

to further the cause. It’s too personal and I 

would not want to gain personally from it. 

At first, I was told my documentary was too 

short, so I asked one of my friends and he 

sat down and looked at it and told me I could 

submit it. He showed me how to do it, so I 

submitted it the Pan-African Film Festival and 

I claimed I was going to Cannes and I am now 

on my way! 

“Historically, African Americans 

have been and continue to be 

negatively affected by prejudice and 

discrimination in the health care 

system. Misdiagnoses, inadequate 

treatment and lack of cultural 

competence by health professionals 

breed distrust and prevent many 

African Americans from seeking or 

staying in treatment.” 


GR: Let’s talk travel and mental health. 

Oh, I get travel and mental health! When you 

even talk about cabin fever, that has a link to 

mental well-being. It’s real. There are a lot 

of stresses in the world that could lead to 

mental illness and travel vacations can be a 

huge supplement to mitigate mental health. 

You need that all women trip, that all men trip 

or that family trip to relax and unwind and 

to build the relationships that will help you 

sustain and maintain your mental well-being 

in your normal day in and day out. Romantic 

trips are important as well as that feeds one 

of the basic human needs; the need to receive 

and give love. 

One of my mental health events even boasts 

a “man cave” where the male mental health 

workers and the male attendees interact 

and discuss issues that impact the health 

and mental well-being of African American 

men (privately). I add that because African 

American men do not embrace therapy as 

easily as women do, so it’s important to 

provide them with a safe environment where 

they can explore and get a good understanding

Working together 

for better health 

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield — 

your choice for a healthy life. 

Visit us at www.anthem.com/inmedicaid. 

Serving Hoosier Healthwise, Healthy Indiana Plan and Hoosier Care Connect 

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registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield names and symbols are registered marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. 

AINMKT-0121-16 02.16

of the issues that impact his 

mental health. Now men do some 

of those things at the barbershop 

or at sporting events, but rarely in 

a controlled clinical environment. 

GR: Give us three (3) ways travel 

can help mental health. 

A simple change of scenery can do 

wonders for your mental health! 

Traveling and giving back (volunteer 

work) will put you in a totally 

different mental space. It will 

make you feel good about yourself 

and what you are contributing to 

the world and give you a better 

appreciation for what you have. 

Traveling will give you that time 

and space to look at your life; to 

self-evaluate. It gives you time to 

look at your job, your life and gives 

you an opportunity to clean up. 

GR: Thank you, Gentamu, for 

your honesty and your work in 

the community. We look forward 

to seeing your documentary and 

watching your progresss and 

subsequent success. 

ABOUT MCKINNEY’S FILM 

It is real. It is everywhere. It is here. The pervasiveness of 

mental illness is a human experience inside of which many live. 

It crosses cultures and touches all aspects of our lives, both 

directly and indirectly, both consciously and unconsciously. The 

haunting reality of mental illness leaves no room for denial, yet 

it goes denied and often missed inside the Black community. 

Secrets. Shame. Stigma. 

These are the barriers, the very things that close doors that 

need to be open. Awareness After Dark creates the room 

and space to discuss matters surrounding mental health at 

the intersection of the oft-silent reality of “it” and the Black 

experience.

HAITI CULTURAL EXCHANGE SET TO KICKOFF 

SELEBRASYON! 

2016 

WRITTEN BY: RÉGINE M. ROUMAIN, 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HAITIAN CULTURAL EXCHANGE 

February 7, 1986 marked the 30 year anniversary of the fall of the 

brutal Duvalier dictatorship in Haiti. This dictatorship resulted in the 

exile and massive migration of Haitians to the United States, creating 

one of the largest Haitian Diaspora communities, many of whom are 

located in our home base of Brooklyn, New York. These individuals 

formed strong networks through the establishment of community 

groups, local media, and artist collectives. They built professional 

careers, raised families, and became an integral part of the fabric of 

New York City, while remaining tied to their country, its culture, and 

traditions. 

This Spring, Haiti Cultural Exchange builds on our seven-year track 

record of creating innovative, inter-disciplinary, and dialogue-centered 

programming to present Selebrasyon! 2016: FREEDOM/LIBETE. 

This two-month festival of Haitian arts & culture brings together over 

thirty emerging, mid-career and established artists from Haiti and its 

vast Diaspora, who will present their work in a number of community 

and main-stage venues throughout NYC. The theme highlights the 

revolutionary spirit of the Haitian people, movements of resistance, 

and the ongoing opportunities and challenges of FREEDOM. 

Through Selebrasyon!, artists and diverse communities come together 

to experience Haitian culture, its creative foundations, and its 

powerful legacy. I am thrilled that we are able to present Haiti-based 

artists such as Lakou Mizik, a collective of musicians bringing new 

life into Haitian roots music; renowned author Yanick Lahens; and 

visual artist Nathalie Jolivert. We will also feature Boston-based Jean 

Appolon Dance Expressions’ ground-breaking piece on homophobia, 

Angaje and an exclusive sneak peak of Guetty Felin’s film, Ayiti Mon 

Amour. 

Selebrasyon! will also be a springboard for the inaugural cohort of our 

Lakou NOU Artist Residents -- Sabine Blaizin, Shirley St. Fort Davilmar, 

Okai Fleurimont and Veroneque Ignace who will be creating 

community-based arts programming in four Brooklyn neighborhoods: 

Canarsie, Crown Heights, East Flatbush and Flatbush. 

We are thankful for the generous support of the many individuals, 

sponsors and partners who have joined us in this effort. Mèsi Anpil! 

We look forward to presenting Selebrasyon! 2016 and to bringing 

some of our most talented and pioneering artists to the forefront of 

New York City’s cultural scene.

Must Go Events 

For a complete list visit haiticulturalx.org 

LAKOU 

MIZIK 

Tribute to 

Vivianne 

Gauthier 

DATE/TIME: Friday, May 6th | 8pm 

LOCATION: BRIC House Ballroom 

647 Fulton St | Brooklyn, NY 11217 

$20 in Advance | $23 at Door 

DATE/TIME: May 21st at 7pm | May 22nd at 2pm 

LOCATION: Harlem School of the Arts 

645 St Nicholas Ave | New York, NY 10030 

$20 in Advance | $25 at Door 

Krik? Krak! 

Storytelling 

& Songs 

Selebrasyon! 

Taste of 

Haiti 

DATE/TIME: Saturday, June 18th | 2pm 

LOCATION: East 43rd Street Block 

Association Community Garden 

1087 E 43rd Street | Brooklyn, NY_ 

DATE/TIME: Thursday, June 30th | 6-11pm 

LOCATION: Berg’n 

899 Bergen St. | Brooklyn, NY 11238

SAK 

PASE 

From Lalo with Beef to Calalou "Gombo": 

A Q&A with Chef Alain Lemaire to Find Out 

What's Up with Haitian Cuisine.

GR: Tell us about your background - 

Where you grew up and at what age did 

you discover your love of cooking? 

I was born and raised in Port-au- Prince, 

Haiti. My parents built a house in Delmas 

and we moved there when I was 10. I 

started playing around in the kitchen at an 

early age, maybe around 7 or 8 just out of 

curiosity and sheer desire to feed myself 

and friends. The passion didn’t come along 

not until later when I was maybe 16. 

GR: What or who first inspired you to step 

into the kitchen? 

I didn’t grow up with a mentor or inspiration 

per se. If I were to say someone inspired 

me, I would say it was my mom and the 

other ladies I grew up around. No one 

literally held my hands or guided me in the 

kitchen. I learned the majority of the things 

I knew at the time from observation and 

duplication. 

GR: Tell us about your food and cooking 

style - What are your favorite dishes to 

cook? In what ways do you infuse Haitian 

culture into your food? How do you put 

your own spin on traditional dishes? 

My style of cooking which is reflected in my 

catering business is international cuisine 

with a Caribbean flair. I love to recreate 

your traditional or your everyday dishes 

from various countries and add some 

major twists to them. The whole idea is to 

incorporate the flavor profiles and the flairs 

you would pick up in the islands, especially

Haiti, in each dish. A good example would be a 

griot dumpling with a sour-orange soy glaze and 

bamboo shoot pikliz. This is a pure fusion of 

Haitian and Asian Cuisine/Flavors (HaiSian). 

I don’t have a favorite dish that I like to cook. 

Au contraire I have a favorite food category/type 

which is seafood. 

GR: What difficulties or challenges have you 

encountered throughout your career? 

Can I be totally honest and open? Well, I am 

Haitian, and I have an accent. That alone was 

the source of some major challenges I had to 

encounter. The industry has been for a long 

time dominated by white males. So you can 

understand that no matter how talented you 

were or the amount of knowledge you had, you 

didn’t matter. 

A friend of mine, Saruh, said in her book “Behind 

the Kitchen Doors”: “when you walk in most 

kitchens, the further you go in, the darker it 

gets.’ And that is the honest truth. Things have 

changed these days, just a little but it doesn’t 

mean it stopped. So I had to prove to the culinary 

world, and even more to myself that I belonged 

as much as anyone else, if not more. I have been 

using that fuel as motivation for the last 16 years 

and I haven’t stopped yet. 

GR: What dish would you recommend as a 

“must-eat” dish for the first time visitor to Haiti? 

Hmmm, there are so many. But if I could 

narrow it down for a first time visitor, I would 

say try the real “fritay”. Not that watered down, 

commercialized thing you find state-side. Go to 

Kenscoff or Montrouis just to name a few. 

GR: What dish would you recommend for an 

experienced traveler that wanted to take their 

Haitian culinary experience to the next level? 

For an experienced traveler, try some lalo with

eef, crab, shrimp or calalou gombo. Go 

to the local bakeries and try our sweets, I 

mean try them all! 

GR: How has traveling changed your 

perception of the world and the people in 

it? How has it affected your tastes or the 

dishes you create? 

First of all, you cannot be in this industry 

and not be well versed or opened to 

experience dishes from different cultures. 

You will be a one dimensional cook. I have 

been fortunate enough to travel since I was 

two. So I was always around people from 

different backgrounds and cultures. 

Now, traveling from the perspective of a 

chef has played a huge part in my life and 

career. It opened the doors to experience 

food from a different perspective, the 

doors to a plethora of flavors, the doors to 

change my view of food, the use of flavors 

and ingredients. Thus playing a major role 

in my style of cooking. 

GR: What part of the globe is at the top of 

your wish list to visit? What are you most 

looking forward to eating there? 

Asia has to be top of my list, bar none. The 

entire continent, every single country China, 

Japan, Korea, Philippines etc... There is 

something about the food, the culture, 

and the people that is so captivating and 

fascinating. I would love to spend an entire 

summer touring, learning and cooking over 

there. 

GR: Please tell us about your upcoming 

projects and where our readers can find 

you. 

I will be at the Taste of Dallas in Dallas 

Texas from June 3rd to 5th. I will be the 

guest chef at a popup dinner in Atlanta 

“When you walk in 

most kitchens, the 

further you go in, the 

darker it gets.” 

And that is the 

honest truth. 

Georgia on June 26. 

Brooklyn is on the horizon for July but 

nothing set in stone yet. And I am praying 

that the second season of the cooking 

show “Le Chef” out of Haiti comes out 

during the summer. I am currently working 

on a Culinary e-book, and continuing my 

cooking shows on YouTube. 

GR: Thank you for allowing Griots Republic 

to feature you in our Haiti Issue. Do you 

have any final thoughts for our readers? 

Thank you for the interview, means a lot 

to be able to share a little about myself 

with the readers. Final thought has to be 

“believe in yourself.” 

_ _ _ 

For more information about 

Chef Alain Lemaire and 

his catering and consulting 

company, or television 

appearances please visit 

www.cheflemaire.com

Gardy V. Guerrier, founder of Haiti Got it, a first 

generation Haitian American, is on a mission to 

show Haiti to the world as he sees it. A country 

with not only a footnote in history as the first black 

republic to gain its independence or the victim of 

a earthquake, but as a modern day wonderland 

of beautiful beaches, high mountains, and 

historical hidden treasures. 

Gardy Guerrier, with a successful background as 

an image consultant, fashion columnist, event 

planner, philanthropist, and world traveler, has 

leveraged all his acquired skills into one goal, 

making Haiti the destination where dreams are 

made. 

After the catastrophic 2010 magnitude 7.0 

earthquake that struck his ancestral homeland 

of Haiti, effecting an estimated three million 

people, Mr. Guerrier and other caring influencers 

banded together to produce a series of 

fundraisers across the United States for the aide 

and rebuilding of Haiti. As well as collaborating 

on the creation, production, and distribution of 

the “Haiti is Me” PSA to raise awareness and keep 

an attentive eye on the ongoing issues that effect 

Haiti outside of the earthquake from education, 

to infrastructure, and agricultural development. 

To Learn More About Haiti Got It, Visit 

www.HaitiGotIt.com.

BLOGGER 

OF THE MONTH 

B Y : W A N D A T I M A - G I L L E S ( L ` U N I O N S U I T E )

I’m Haitian so it shouldn’t be a surprise that 

I love traveling to Haiti right? But it actually is. 

Five years ago I was a typical Haitian living 

in America and had never been to Haiti. Like 

many people who watch the news and hear 

about the poor conditions in Haiti, although 

I was dying to go, Haiti was never at the top 

of any of my family or friend’s list of places 

to visit. So I couldn’t find a traveling buddy to 

What I love about Haiti is the rich culture, 

the art, the artisans, the fresh coffee made 

in Haiti, the delicious and authentic Haitian 

cuisine, just typing the word “cuisine” made 

me hungry for some Pate Kode or Mais 

Moulin, the underrated and sometimes hidden 

paradise people are missing out on because 

they choose to listen to the media instead of 

exploring this beautiful Caribbean island. 

accompany me. 

In 2011 after researching and archiving 

pictures of Haiti and its history, I decided to 

create a blog that would teach and connect 

other Haitian- Americans who felt disconnected 

in the same way I did growing up. The more 

my blog developed the more my love for 

Haiti’s colorful and vibrant culture grew into a 

passion for my country. I knew no one would 

be able to keep me from traveling there. 

These days, you can’t keep me out of the 

county. I’m in Haiti every chance I get and I’ve 

explored everything from the beach, the very 

high mountain hikes, the delicious food to the 

music and the annual events, like Kanaval. 

When I’m in Haiti I feel at home, waking up 

to the roosters crowing in the country or the 

wheels from room service delivering delicious 

soup joumou to my hotel room in Port-au- 

Prince. Haiti is an adventure I just can’t seem 

to get enough of. 

The hospitality in unlike any place I’ve ever 

been, the warm smiles from the woman 

selling fruits on the side of the road, the 

double cheek kiss when you greet someone, 

the bright Bonjour from the employee serving 

large plates of seafood on the beach, the waves 

and hello by the families as you hike 3 hours 

into the mountains, to the gentlemen on mini 

boats delivering conch and lobster to you in 

the middle of the ocean, people are genuinely 

kind and welcoming. 

With only three years of traveling to Haiti 

under my belt, I am happy I took the leap and 

took my first trip to Haiti in 2013 and have 

motivated many others to do the same. 

With so many people hoping they can take 

some of my trips with me, in 2016 I started 

my “Haiti through my eyes” vlog series. I 

hope you will take the next few journeys to my 

paradise island with me.

Wanda Tima-Gilles is Haitian-Turks Islander 

who grew up in South Florida not having much 

knowledge of Haiti or Haitian Culture. She is 

full-time wife, marketing director and blogger 

at L’union Suite. 

L’union Suite is a Haitian-American lifestyle, 

tourism, culture, society and entertainment 

blog site on the Internet. The site features 

exclusive interviews, the latest music, red 

carpet events and up-to-date information on 

Haiti, Haitian community leaders, entertainers, 

humanitarians and business and more. 

Since launching in 2011, L’union Suite has 

attracted over 1 million visitors from all over 

the world with over 100,000 subscribers via the 

site, Facebook, Instagram, Tumbler and Twitter.

UNTAPPED 

HOPE 

Water Poverty in Haiti and How a 

Mission Trip Changed One Woman's Life. 

By Swanzeta “Swann” Nciweni

I traveled to Port Au Prince, in what I consider, 

the moment that changed my life. When I arrived 

in 2012, I was overcome with heartache in the 

wake of the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. 

The remnants of the earthquake reduced parts of 

Haiti to rubble. It was as if Haiti was in a downward 

spiral with little hope of recovery. Only two 

years after the destruction, there were still thousands 

left homeless. 

A short distance from the airport, I could see United 

Nations camps set up in attempts to maintain 

a secure and stable environment in the country. As 

I made my way through the crowd, men debated 

in French and Creole over who would be transportation 

for the arriving missions teams. My team 

and I gathered on a truck; the drive to the compound 

was long and the scene was somber. Concrete 

covered much of the scenery as the roads 

curved around the steep hills. From afar, I could 

see military guards protecting the wares of stores 

from theft. 

As we made our way to the Compound in Mirebalais, 

Haiti, we were greeted with local Haitians who 

welcomed our efforts to care for the sick. 

On my first day, my immediate task was to help 

prioritize a makeshift medical clinic in Thomassique 

and Mirebalais. Thomassique and Mirebalais 

are two rural communities that have an overwhelming 

need for medicine for people who go 

regularly untreated. 

Our teams consisted of physicians, nurses, nurse 

practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacy 

technicians, and dentists - all ready to address 

the tremendous physical needs of people in this 

community. People traveled from everywhere for 

medical assistance. From women’s health issues, 

hypertension, Diabetes, broken bones to the most 

severe health complications, like intestinal worms 

more commonly in children. 

So there I was in the heart of a ‘clinic in a tent’ 

triaging patient’s specific areas for care. My heart 

was heavy but my spirt was filled to see so many 

people who had waited for months for a pill that 

could cure what they that had been suffering from 

for what might have seemed like a lifetime. At 

times I would look into the eyes of many patients 

in the clinic and see people tinged with despair. 

“How could an already stressed country be in such

uins,” was the question posed 

in my own thoughts. I saw people 

who had struggled with chaos, 

death, and destruction. Nevertheless, 

my conscience told me 

that there was more I could do. 

While on my trip to Haiti for medical 

mission’s outreach in 2012, 

I did not realize I would uncover 

a looming water crisis there. Because 

food insecurity and hunger 

are chronic illnesses in Haiti, 

which is also the poorest 

country in the Western 

Hemisphere and the 

second most densely 

populated, increased 

population coupled 

with economic decline 

are linked to extreme 

poverty. Subsequently, 

Haiti does not produce 

enough food crops and 

livestock. 

The country imports 

about 60% of its food. 

I also learned that 40% 

of Haiti’s population 

earns less than 6% of 

the country’s income; 

the poor rely on small 

wages and self-employment 

which is crucial 

to their survival. Poor 

communities are faced 

with deterioration of 

their living conditions 

which forces them into 

survival subsistence 

through framing. The 

increase in insecurity continues 

as doubts that Haitians would 

weather the crisis and return to a 

country rich in culture and pride 

persists. 

As the days went on and I made 

friends with the Haitian people 

around me, I began to ask about 

the water conditions that were 

plaguing their country. Basically, 

ominous water shortages and 

sanitation were among the direst 

in the Western Hemisphere. 

Expenses created problems with 

water availability. 

I was no stranger to hearing that 

the people of Haiti often resort 

to gathering water from garbage-filled 

rivers to supply their 

households with water. Haiti was 

not just facing a medical crisis, 

but a water crisis in the pipeline. 

Typhoid, Cholera and Chronic 

Water stress occurs when the 

demand for water exceeds 

the available amount during 

a certain period or when 

poor quality restricts its 

use. Water stress causes 

deterioration of fresh 

water resources in terms 

of quantity (e.g aquifer 

over exploitation and dry 

rivers) and quality (e.g 

eutrophication, 

organic matter pollution 

and, saline intrusion). 

SOURCE 

Diarrhea amass more than half 

of the waterborne deaths in 

Haiti each year. I was also told 

that many of the homes in Haiti 

were not connected to any metropolitan 

or national water pipe. 

Tanker trucks supply water primarily 

to those who can afford 

it. Tanks installed on roofs of 

some homes often provide some 

means of access to water, but 

even then I was told, it can only 

be used for bathing and washing. 

I was in disbelief that Haiti, 

some 800 miles off the coast of 

Florida, had people on the brink 

of a water disaster. I decided 

that my first water-well project 

would be in Haiti. 

Armed with a heart of humanitarianism, 

I have been researching 

water scarcity in the developing 

world since 2006. More 

than 1.8 billion people around 

the world lack access to 

safe drinking water and 

some 2.4 billion don’t 

have adequate sanitation. 

Approximately, 

3,900 children die every 

day from waterborne 

diseases and poor 

health; so much so, 

that water scarcity has 

become one the most 

contentious problems 

of the 21s t century. 

The water crisis is not 

about having too little 

water to satisfy our 

needs, it is a crisis of 

supply that our people 

and our environment 

are unable to handle. 

Agriculturally, water 

withdrawals for irrigation 

represent 66% of 

the total withdrawals 

and up to 90% in arid 

regions. As the per capita 

use increases due to 

changes in lifestyle and 

as population increases as well, 

the proportion of water for human 

use is increasing; all the 

more critical are the environmental 

perils a decreasing water 

supply is creating. 

The availability for industrial and 

agricultural development has 

a profound impact on our ecosystems 

and their dependent 

species (worldwatercoucil.org,

2016). “This, coupled with spatial and temporal 

variations in water availability, means that the water 

to produce food for human consumption, industrial 

processes and all the other uses is being 

threatened (worldwatercouncil.org, 2016). So the 

more water becomes scarce, the more global contention 

is set to intensify. 

From California to the Middle East, water areas are 

drying up and as the population nears 9 billion, 

there are warnings of shrinking resources according 

to US intelligence; ‘the world is standing on a 

precipice.’ But it comes down to who owns the water 

and who can afford to drink it. This is definitely 

an “oh my gosh moment.” The true shocker exists 

in the already water stressed regions like Haiti. The 

statistics are staggering. 

What’s more, the Haitian water market is flooded 

with imported water. The situation is ten times 

worse for those in rural areas, where the vast majority 

of Haitians live. So I turned my gaze to this 

growing problem in hopes of helping to find ways 

to break the cycle of water poverty. 

In August 2016, my team and I will travel to Ona- 

Ville, Haiti, prepared to help the local community 

along with an onsite ministry, build a small community 

water well. The probability is that we will 

get clean water and help transform the lives of people 

by improving health and economic productivity 

to end the cycle of water poverty. 

Haiti is a community rich in culture and resilience 

and water filtration systems are vital to the progression 

of this great country. My goal is to be among 

the many great contributors to the revitalization of 

Haiti’s water infrastructure. 

When events that are understood to be tragic happen, 

it’s reasonable to ask “why?” When these 

events affect whole communities, it is then incumbent 

upon us to ask, “How could this happen and 

how can we help?” I am on my way. 

I may not be able to change the world, but my efforts 

to bring clean water to vulnerable communities, 

just might change the world for somebody. 

When my mission trip ended, I vowed to return to 

Haiti to help with the water predicament. 

In 2015, after establishing Untappedhope.org, a 

non-profit that brings together local entrepreneurs, 

civil society, governments, and communities to establish 

innovative, collaborative solutions for sustainable 

water resources, I contacted my friends in 

Haiti to tell them that I intended to make good on 

my promise. 

My organization is now raising money to build 

a water well in Ona-Ville, Haiti. Since my trip to 

Haiti in 2012, the people, their culture, their persistence 

and their pride have been near and dear 

to my heart. Even though I saw devastation, I also 

saw people emerge with stories of incredible acts 

of kindness, sacrifice, heroism, pride and survival; 

all arising from one of the world’s greatest natural 

disasters. My impassioned plea to help the people 

of Haiti is that I will be able to contribute my time 

and efforts to helping create access to clean water 

in rural communities. 

A native of Baltimore, Maryland, “Swann” 

has devoted much of her life to addressing 

the issues surrounding access to resources 

for the under-served. Swann continues 

to be an active participant in the local 

community advocating for human rights 

interventions for those without a voice. 

But her greatest passion has been to raise 

awareness for people who die every day 

from consuming dirty water. 

To learn more about Swann, her team, and 

her endeavours in Haiti, visit: 

www.UNTAPPEDHOPE.org.

RE:UNION Music Fest is a global music 

festival aimed to assemble the music of the 

African Diaspora into one unforgettable, 

unique experience. Hip-hop, 

R&B, Reggae, Kompa, 

Cuban, Salsa, Afrobeat, 

South African House, 

and more will be 

brought together 

on ONE stage to 

celebrate our 

narrative.

THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS 

6 Weeks Left Until The Music Fest! 

By: Jeremiah Meyers 

Let the Countdown Begin! We are 

only Six (6) weeks away from the most 

special music experience of 2016… 

RE:UNION MUSIC FEST! 

The team has been working overtime 

to make it a success, and I couldn’t be 

prouder of working with this caliber of 

talent. Speaking of talent… It’s only 

right that I introduce the 2016 lineup 

to you! 

RMF’s artist line-up will include: 

Wale (USA/Nigeria), 

Angelique Kidjo (Benin) 

Wyclef (USA/Haiti) 

The Internet (USA) 

Gyptian (Jamaica) 

Walshy Fire of Major Lazer 

(USA/Jamaica) 

Kevens (World Citizen) 

and more local and international acts. 

Combined, these artists will represent 

backgrounds from The Americas, 

Carribbean, Africa, and Europe. Genres 

explored will be Hip-Hop, R&B, Soca, 

Reggae, Kompa, EDM, Afro beat, Global 

Fusion, Soul, and Alternative Sounds. 

We have both live acts and DJs. 

Our lineup also is cross-generational 

in that has something for both the 

millennials and our more seasoned 

music veterans in the family. It is truly 

a global family experience! 

So please invite your friends, family, coworkers, 

and neighbors. 

Trust me - you need to be in Miami 

on June 18th for what will truly be 

something memorable. 

Can’t wait to see you there! 

For more – including bios and playlists – 

from each act, check out our artists page.

Lakou Mizik is a multi-generational collective 

of Haitian musicians formed in the aftermath 

of the devastating 2010 earthquake. The group 

includes elder legends and rising young talents, 

united in a mission to honor the healing spirit 

of their collective culture and communicate a 

message of pride, strength and hope to their 

countrymen and the world. 

Music is at the core of Haiti’s sense of identity, 

and musicians have always played an important 

role in society, both in documenting the country’s 

history and helping to shape its path forward. 

Lakou Mizik brings together musical generations 

in celebration of the cultural continuum while 

using Haiti’s deep well of creative strength to shine 

a positive light on this tragically misrepresented 

country. 

Their spirit-stirring vodou rhythms and call-andresponse 

vocals are supported by the French 

café lilt of the accordion. Intricate bass lines 

and interlocking guitar riffs mesh mesmerizingly 

with the joyful polyrhythmic hocketing of rara 

horns. These powerful layers are topped by singalong 

melodies with inspiring, socially conscious 

lyrics. The end result is a soulful stew of deeply 

danceable grooves that feels strangely familiar 

yet intensely new -- and 100% Haitian. 

To Hear More, Visit: www.LakouMizik.com. 

(Information Quoted From Website Bio)

ATIS 

REZISTANS 

Destruction to Transformation: The 

Complexity of Haitian Life & Art 

After the Earthquake 

By: Stephanie Dietz

Andre Eugene founded Atis Rezistans in 1998. Eugene 

and the seven artists that make up the collective use found 

items (“trash”) to create artwork conveying the complexity 

of everyday Haitian life. The space known as the Atelier 

is multifunctional. The studio where the artists work with 

metal, rubber, wood and anything else they can get their 

hands on, is actually Eugene’s back yard. 

Picture yourself walking down through a dead end street 

off the Grand Rue in an industrial area of Downtown Port Au 

Prince. Walk through a maze filled with huge metal sculpture; 

dozens of small reliefs inlaid with rubber cutouts featuring 

brightly colored human figures hang from the walls. 

This is the studio referred to as “E Pluribus Unum’ Musee 

D Art.” Eugene calls it “a place for the marginalized.” 

Each member of Atis Rezistans brings their own background 

to their art in a way that reflects their own personal 

style; most are influenced heavily by Vodou. 

Eugene, who previously constructed homes using wood, 

works prominently feature 

Gedes. A group of spirits in 

Vodou whose head Loa (spirit) 

is Baron Samedi, master 

of cemeteries and the 

dead. The artist known as 

“Kaliko” whose real name 

is Jean Claude Saintilus refers 

to himself as a mystic; 

his work often blurs the lines 

between the mystical world 

and the physical world. One 

of the members known as 

Louko; a welder by tradedied 

in the 2010 Earthquake 

that claimed upwards of two 

hundred thousand lives, the 

exact number remains unknown. 

In my coversation with Eugene, 

we spoke about the 

expansion of the movement, 

how the organization and 

the space can be used for 

so much more in the community. 

The emphasis of the 

work is not so much to bring 

fame and fortune for personal 

gain, but to give back and 

empower the artists and the 

local community. 

“If I was given twenty thousand 

dollars today, I would 

immediately invest it in the 

studio. I would bring in computers 

for research, turn it 

into a library.” To do this, an 

enclosure would need to be 

built since the yard is open 

and is susceptible to the elements. 

Eugene’s hope for 

the future of the movement 

is that the work would continue 

even if he were not 

present.

Eugene travels at least twice a year for exhibitions 

and workshops. He desires continuity 

no matter the circumstance. His work 

with children ages six through eighteen 

called “Timoun Rezistans” is evidence of his 

commitment. 

Without major financing by philanthropic organizations, 

save for the partnerships with 

organizations like FOKAL, Atis Rezistans 

artists independently work to support 

themselves and their families. Eugene tells 

me over the phone in a very matter of fact 

way that Evel Roumain, an artist with Atis 

Rezistans, is one example of this. During the 

off-season in Haiti he often goes to the Dominican 

Republic to sell his work in places 

like Punta Cana at popular tourist resorts 

there. 

Tourists who venture to the Atelier in Port Au 

Prince; are mostly Haitians in the Diaspora. 

They are often interested in smaller pieces 

they can fit in their luggage. Gallery owners 

around the world usually commission larger 

pieces. Other pieces have travelled to the 

U.S as part of the “Lespri Endepandan” exhibition 

hosted by Florida International University, 

in Miami. 

Although travel to Haiti has increased in the 

years after the Earthquake, the art business 

has remained largely the same. This is something 

Eugene hopes to change; he wants to 

shift to making and selling more art for the 

tourist market. 

The latest data on tourism to Haiti for 

non-natives was 420,000 visitiors between 

2006-2010 and increased to 460,000 between 

2011-2015 according to the World 

Bank.org. The increase in numbers reflect a 

Haiti in the rebuilding stages and creates a 

viable market for Haitian artists like Eugene. 

No conversation about Haitian Art is com-

plete without acknowledging the 

epicenter of Art in Haiti. Jacmel 

is renowned around the world for 

its legacy of producing worldclass 

artisans and Haitian art 

dating back to the 1500’s when it 

was settled under French colonial 

rule. We have all seen the colorful 

Papier Mache masks depicting 

everything from animated heads 

of state to various animals and 

even Red Devils. 

Jacmel is also home to Cine Institute, 

since 2011 the organization 

has been serving Haiti’s youth; 

training them in film production 

and audio visual technologies 

that fosters entrepreneurship 

and business development in local 

media industries. 

Jacmels’ folksy, French colonial 

heritage inspired art stands in 

stark contrast to Port Au Prince, 

which is home to Musee du Pantheon 

National Haitien -- also 

known as MUPANAH. The home 

of Atis Rezistans represents the 

polar opposite in the art space 

with a different focus and draw. 

Since Port Au Prince is the seat 

of politics and the nation’s capital, 

the dynamic there breeds a 

very different tone in the creation 

of art. 

Eugene says the difference between 

his work and the art produced 

in Jacmel is one of subtlety. 

“The carnival masks often 

depict political figures in a very 

open way, this is the spirit of 

Mardi Gras;” it’s a parody of 

sorts, it is a political statement 

through art imitating life. Whereas 

the messages in the art Atis 

Rezistans makes is practically

hidden, meant to be interpreted in metaphorical 

terms, one would have to consult the artist for its 

true meaning. 

Atis Rezistans’ work in Haiti is critical in that it addresses 

a major problem, the practice of burning 

garbage as a means of waste management. Its an 

issue the Haitian Government has attempted to address 

with a law banning the use of certain plastic 

products in Haiti; however, this measure has proven 

ineffective due to the lack of enforcement. 

Eugene acknowledges the long terms consequences 

of the practice - damage to the environment, as 

well as the health effects that will inevitably manifest 

in the people. “This is what we have been given, 

we are doing our part in bringing a solution to the 

issue by using the very tools of destruction to bring 

transformation.” 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Stephanie Dietz is a Brooklyn bred freelance 

writer who is passionate about all things 

Haiti. In her free time she wanders aimlessly 

around NYC; occasionally stopping at museums 

and art galleries while plotting her next 

travel destination.

“We have to constantly critique imperiali 

because it is normalized by mass m 

― 

THE FALSE 

NARRATIVE OF 

A CURSED HAITI 

By Wilkine Brutus

st white supremacist patriarchal culture 

edia and rendered unproblematic.” 

BEAUCHAMP, HAITI

PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI 

When you’re a smiling Haitian-American, 

a by-product of colonization, the sound 

of the battered black luggage slipping 

off the conveyor belt is a subtle reminder 

of the unlifted burden you’ve strapped 

across your chest. A trip to Port-au-Prince 

or Jérémie isn’t just travel. It’s an undying 

journey-- a quest to force the world to 

recognize and correct a distorted Haitian 

history, a narrative unfairly summed up by 

the socio-economic problems that beset 

Haitians. 

The montage overplaying in your mind, before 

exiting the airport, is a white collage 

of neoliberal and conservative pundits, 

pontificating, wrongly, about why Haiti is 

the “poorest nation in the Western hemisphere.” 

It’s a cinematic catchphrase now, 

from a black zombie film trailer, where the 

moviegoers (the general public) accept an 

ahistorical story filled with logical fallacies 

and incriminating facts that are rendered 

as mere footnotes. 

There is apparently no space for humanization 

in the free market. The empathy 

gap allows Western apathy to roam freely; 

the commentators understate the residual 

effects of imperial policies, an active, 

bloody heritage, which has sequestered 

social mobility for millions of Haitians. But 

stating this fact certainly doesn’t absolve 

culpability from the foreign-backed Haitian 

elite. 

You hop on the moto-taxi and immediately 

see Haiti’s sad physiognomy, the effects 

of a crippling 200 year-old economic em-

LEOGANE, HAITI 

bargo by France and the USA. Again, the 

social, economic, and psychological residual 

effects of this are a mere footnote in 

the analysis from major publications, the 

Christian community, and the mainstream 

consciousness in developed nations. 

The Western world’s historical amnesia is 

a trauma induced by widespread indifference. 

It is now apparent, more than ever, 

that the exploitation that undergirds Haiti’s 

quasi-sovereignty and financial solvency is 

a story far more brutal and savage than the 

downtrodden, heroic resistance of these 

black zombies. This imagined film fades 

with a closing shot of a very real small Haitian 

boy named Kiki Joachin, the miracle 

boy who was rescued from beneath the 

2010 earthquake rubble—his outstretched 

arms clutching the night sky and his bright 

smile spanning the Atlantic. Joachin, after 

being asked how he survived, said “God 

held us,” a remarkable statement which 

contradicted televangelist Pat Robertson’s 

false assertion that Haitians were being 

perpetually punished by God because they 

made a pack with the devil during 1791’s 

Bois Caïman, a freedom covenant made 

during a vodou ceremony which culminated 

into the successful Haitian revolution in 

1804. 

Robertson’s rhetoric is merely one harsh 

example of the erasure of the nuanced 

black story, stripped of its explanatory 

power. “Haiti suffers from a complex web 

of progress-resistant cultural influences,” 

said David Brooks, in his despised New 

York Times op-ed, “The Underlying Tragedy” 

written just a few days after the 2010

earthquake. He wrote that Haiti needed 

“intrusive paternalism,” his code word for 

more foreign intervention, a one-size-fitsall 

answer that reeked of disaster capitalism 

and colonialism. 

And those who 

ignore the historic 

making of a failed state 

conveniently ignore 

the fetishization of the 

poverty-stricken black 

body and how false 

narratives help thwart 

Haitian liberation. 

Kaiama L. Glover, a professor of francophone 

literature, challenged Brooks’ victim 

blaming rant in her public talk “Flesh 

Like Our Own: On Poverty & Other Contagions,” 

with this salient point: 

“Both Robertson’s and Brook’s degrading 

mediatization of Haiti refer to or rely on a 

casting of Afro spiritual practices in the 

North American context in the way that 

implicitly and explicitly links Haiti’s social, 

political, economic dysfunction to its supposed 

afro nature.” 

Robertson, Brooks, and other “intrusive 

paternalism” advocates aren’t simply suffering 

from a special kind of historical 

amnesia. No. Whether intentional or not, 

since the black African body is already othered 

and dehumanized, it’s quite easy and 

beneficial to undermine the Haitian story-- 

a means to turn a consistent profit for the 

American economy. 

“By 1915, the Americans were also afraid 

that an ongoing debt Haiti was forced to 

pay to France tied the country too closely 

to its former colonizer; Germany’s growing 

commercial interests in Haiti were another 

major concern,” Edwidge Danticat writes 

in, “The Long History of Occupation in 

Haiti.” “So one of the first actions carried 

out by the U.S. at the start of the occupation 

was to move Haiti’s financial reserves 

to the United States and then rewrite its 

Constitution to give foreigners land-owning 

rights.” 

Human greed certainly allows money to 

circulate in unexpected places, usually at 

gunpoint. There is a history of elites and 

dictators within the black diaspora who 

were quite culpable. But “Anti-Haitianism 

is a racist ideology,” Junot Diaz observed, 

during an interview with Americas Quarterly, 

“whether it’s practiced by France, the 

U.S., the Dominican Republic, or Haitian 

elites.” 

And those who ignore the historic making 

of a failed state conveniently ignore the 

fetishization of the poverty-stricken black 

body and how false narratives help thwart 

Haitian liberation. The Japanese were not 

rendered the sums of the their trauma after 

the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, just 

a year after Haiti’s earthquake. Haiti, on 

the other hand, is perpetually rendered the 

sum of their socio-economic weaknesses 

and failures, despite a persistent effort of 

destabilization by foreign powers. 

If Haiti is indeed cursed, then we must 

admit that God’s devine intervention must 

have allowed the 2010 earthquake to be 

man-made. Every avenue that would have 

allowed Haitians to head north on social 

mobility were already eradicated before the 

buildings crumbled those fickle hopes and 

dreams—from basic sustenance, physical 

infrastructure, and literacy. 

“Predictably, the IMF cure for Haiti’s desperate 

poverty involved further reductions 

in wages that had already sunk to starvation 

levels, privatization of the state sector, 

reorientation of domestic production 

in favour of cash crops popular in North 

American supermarkets and the elimi-

LABADEE, HAITI

LES CAYES, HAITI 

nation of import tariffs,” Peter Hallward 

writes in, “Option Zero in Haiti.” “With the 

tariff on rice cut from 50 percent to the 

IMF-decreed 3 percent, Haiti—previously 

self-sufficient in the crop—was flooded 

with subsidized American grain, and rice 

imports rose from just 7,000 tonnes in 

1985 to 220,000 tonnes in 2002.” 

Six years after the 2010 earthquake, foreign 

powers and the Haitian government 

has ineffectually allocated $13.5 billions 

in aid, and the American Red Cross can’t 

seem to find an answer for the missing 

$500 million it raised for Haiti’s relief. 

David Brook’s “intrusive paternalism” was 

already an established cash cow that dates 

back even further. There is a laundry list 

of “democratic” actions by US and France 

that have perpetually destabilized Haiti 

and punished it-- cursed it, for its mere 

free existence. This cognitive dissonance 

by Western governments, commentators, 

and the general public is rivaled by absolutely 

no other country. 

Intrusive paternalism 

is a type of parenting 

that has always created 

dying subordinates. 

It was intrusive paternalism that forced 

Haiti to pay reparations, 90 million ($21billion 

USD) gold francs to France for Haiti’s 

successful 1804 slave revolt, which also 

resulted in several decades of isolation 

and economic exclusion, similar to that of 

Cuba. It allowed Woodrow Wilson and the 

United States to occupy for 19 years, which 

resulted in the deaths of 15,000 Haitians. 

It supported US-backed “Papa Doc” and 

“Baby Doc,” who both contributed to the 

brain drain that stripped the country of 

its capacity for innovation and eradicated

PEGUY VILLE, HAITI 

small farmers through paramilitary coercion. 

It supported Canada’s effort to undermine 

Haiti’s sovereignty and allowed 

Bill Clinton’s foundation carte blanche to 

cripple development. Intrusive paternalism 

is a type of parenting that has always 

created dying subordinates. 

A change in the global narrative of Haiti 

certainly comes with a price. Cuba and 

Haiti, separated by the Caribbean’s Windward 

Passage, share a similar story of historic 

resistance and revolutionary self-assertion. 

Both suffer from outside forces 

simplifying their Latin American existence: 

the Cuban narrative is summed up, completely, 

by their Communist ideology, and 

Haitians for their black “culturally resistant” 

inadequacies. 

On the other hand, for Haiti’s major role 

in liberating Latin America--namely for 

helping Simón Bolívar--Venezuela wants 

to “repay its debt” to Haiti. Despite Euro 

and North American apathy, there is an ever-growing 

movement to add nuance to the 

Haitian story. The fight for freedom still 

continues. 

And when you’re a smiling Haitian-American, 

a byproduct of colonization, the sound 

of the battered black luggage slipping off 

the conveyor belt is a subtle reminder that 

traveling to Port-au-Prince and Jérémie is 

a tangible way of simply loosening the burden—it 

is still difficult to identify, equally, 

to both nationalities. Haitians are not the 

sums of their perceived failures, nor are 

they black film zombies exercising heroic 

resistance to psychological pain and foreign 

encroachment. 

Edwidge Danticat, again, captured the 

ways in which the act of “othering” disavows 

genuine empathy from contemporary 

observations of Haiti and blackness—a 

warning to the world that by propagating 

false narratives, we run the risk of suffering 

from historical amnesia.

CAP-HAÏTIEN, HAITI 

“Call it gunboat diplomacy or a banana war, but this occupation was never 

meant—as the Americans professed—to spread democracy, especially 

given that certain democratic freedoms were not even available to the 

United States’ own black citizens at the time. 

“Think of it!” said 1915 Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan of 

Haitians. “Niggers speaking French.” 


Haitian-American writer, event host, and YouTube partner with over 

13,500 subscribers and 2.5million total views, Wilkine Brutus, is also the 

Content Director for the multimedia platform, OogeeWoogee. He is also 

founder and editor-in-chief of The Vanguard Element, a cross-cultural 

website curating thought-provoking content: social commentary, short 

films & interviews. Interviews include the likes of Nikki Giovanni 

and Taylor Mali. You can follow Wilkine at VanguardElement.com, 

OogeeWoogee.com, or on Youtube at wbrutus22.

MAN 

ABOUT 

TOWN 

Nick Smith, The Travel 

Channel's New Host, Talks 

Food, Culture & Relationships

Nick Smith, reporter turned host of the 

Travel Channel’s show “Street Eats” embodies 

the spirit of many of the GR readers and 

contributors. He is unapologetic about his 

love of travel, fueled by his passions, and 

deliberate about his life choices. Just days 

away from the show’s premier, he paused to 

have a reflective conversation with GR about 

the process of building his dream, his love 

life and the drive it takes to keep chasing your 

vision, even when it gets dark. 

GR: Congratulations on the new show. I am 

completely excited for you. I’m counting down 

the premier like it’s my show 

Thank you. I am beyond excited. I think you 

share my excitement because you understand 

the struggle behind what it takes to launch 

something like this. 

GR: Absolutely. It’s not an overnight process. 

It’s difficult. In fact, career change in general 

is difficult. In your case you went from a 

television news reporter to hosting a food 

centered travel show. How did that transition 

occur? And how was it? 

It was a difficult decision, but I needed to 

follow my passion. I had to create a life that 

centered on the things I’m most passionate 

about; which are food, travel and TV. I had to 

find a way to marry the three so to speak. 

GR: Marriage (both literally and figuratively 

speaking) isn’t always easy. How did you 

create a holy matrimony? 

It was a long road. The time between forming 

an idea and knocking on the right doors can 

get pretty long. I had a lot of “no’s.” A lot of 

flying to another state, staying up all night to 

prepare for a meeting, only to arrive at the 

designated location and have the person say, 

“Something came up, but I can give you 5- 

minutes.” It’s a frustrating process, but this 

is all part of creating the life you want. The 

process was even more difficult because “real 

life” doesn’t stop while you’re building your 

dreams. I still had to work non-stop to pay the 

bills while pouring out money to invest in this 

project. I wish I could say “oh but It doesn’t 

seem all that bad now that it’s done.” That’s 

simply not true. I still think back and think 

how I did that. 

Think your city has the 

best “street eats”? 

Hit him up on Twitter 

and let him know. He 

may just take you up 

on that challenge. 

(Tell Him GR Sent You!) 

GR: How did you? 

I just wouldn’t settle for mediocre. Don’t get 

me wrong. My previous career as a news 

reporter was something I worked hard for. 

By many standards it was “success.” It just 

wasn’t what I wanted. I knew I wouldn’t have 

been happy if I didn’t go after my passion. 

Following your passion is difficult sometimes. 

GR: Yes it is. Just because you’re passionate 

about something, that doesn’t mean it won’t 

be difficult and demanding. Not only does 

it sound difficult, but the schedule sounds 

demanding. A demand that I imagine isn’t 

going to subside anytime soon. Tell us what 

your schedule is like now. 

Yes it’s still intense. In order to scout the location 

sometimes we spend at least 4 days there. We 

take time to connect with the community and 

go beyond what you will typically see in a travel 

guide book. We want to help create a unique 

experience for the viewers. That requires work 

and time. Sometimes it feels like one day we 

are in Philly and the next moment we are in 

Cuba. It can feel non-stop.

GR: Has this change in travel schedule and 

career impacted your love life? Traveling 

around the globe **coughs** experiencing 

pieces of different cultures could sound like 

a dream job for some men. 

Well my love life has definitely improved. 

Gainful employment tends to do that. I have 

yet to meet anyone that doesn’t appreciate a 

gainfully employed brother. But I’m not all that 

interested in **coughs** sampling different 

pieces of culture while I’m on the road. I’m 

single but I want something meaningful. 

Someone to share my highs and lows of life 

with. Someone to take this journey with me. 

That other stuff… I’m 44 years old, that’s 

not as necessary anymore. I want something 

authentic. I want it to be real. I want to treat 

somebody the way I want somebody to treat 

my mother and sister. 

GR: Thank you for the honestly. Wow your 

Twitter mentions are going to jump when this 

is published. But I had to ask that obvious 

question. You’re a good looking man. My 

readers want to know. Speaking of obvious 

questions, can we talk about how being a 

Black American traveling the globe during 

this season in history impacts your show? Or 

even if there is any impact. 

Well even prior to this show I traveled often. I 

lived in Germany and several different states. 

I’m no stranger to being the only Black person 

in a space. But it does impact my show. I know 

that in some countries their exposure to Black 

Americans is limited. I’m a tall, big black man. 

When we were in Hong Kong I got stares. Some

people actually came up to me and wanted a picture 

because they assumed I was Obama. Other times I 

tried to walk up to locals and start a conversation 

and they were ice cold. It could have been a language 

barrier, or it could have been whatever preconceived 

notions they had about black Americans. 

GR: Your show is centered on food. Which is a great 

ice breaker. At any point when you’re “breaking 

bread” with people do they ask questions? 

No. However, we do have open conversations that I 

hope break stereotypes. I am always aware of their 

sometimes preconceived notions. Which is why on the 

show I am my layered authentic self. I want people to 

understand that we are not either Obama, a sports 

player or Love and Hip Hop. I mean, we can be all of 

the above. We are everything. I’m happy to be able 

to use my platform to demonstrate that. This works 

both ways. Sometimes I experience something new 

and reshapes how I previously viewed something. 

GR: Which is the beauty of travel that our readers 

fully understand. Many of our readers are layered, 

diverse and seasoned nomads. They aren’t 

necessarily the “take a week off from work once 

year for a stay-cation” type. They create the life they 

want, convention be dammed. So they won’t really 

be interested in just any travel show. Tell me some 

thing about your show that would attract them. 

Great question. This is the honest answer. No matter 

where you travel to you want to have a good time, 

great experience and great food without paying 

“tourist prices.” This show is providing you with that 

in our own unique and family friendly way. 

For more information about 

the show tune into the 

Travel Channel. 

Shanita Hubbard is a mom, writer, traveler, speaker 

and social justice advocate. Her background includes 

juvenile justice reform, nation-wide consulting 

and collaborating on multi-million dollar grants. 

However, she is most proud of her title as the Mom 

of an amazing black girl. 

Follow her on Twitter

Daughter of a Haitian industrialist and art lover, 

and of a French mother, heiress to a 200 years 

old family tannery, Pascale Théard grew up in 

Port-au-Prince, surrounded by the rhythm of 

drums, the crisp sound of leather being cut, 

the artisans’ laughter resonating in the air and 

merging with it. Smells, colors, sounds and raw 

materials have nurtured her childhood and have 

drawn for her, as accurately as Vèvès designed 

with lime on the floor, a powerful identity, 

between tradition and creation. It is, therefore, 

fully aware of what she has received from her 

native Haiti that she traveled to Paris with the 

idea, still vague, of a meaningful return... 

In 2003 she launched her own brand of leather 

accessories, “Pascale Théard Créations” whose 

logo is a Vèvè, supreme emblem made voodoo 

art ... Never before had this fundamental element 

of the Haitian identity been used commercially. 

By this choice, she fully assumes something 

non-negotiable: Haiti is voodoo and so is the 

contrary! 

Riding the success of her first launch, she 

continued her brand of 100% Haiti luxury goods 

by creating a line of home goods, “Design 1804.” 

To Learn More About Pascale and her Products, 

Visit www.pascaletheardcreations.com.

THE 

SISTERS 

OF 

VODOU 

Ezili Spirits and 

Concepts of 

Spirituality and 

Sexuality in 

African Religious 

Worldviews 

BY: KWEKU DARKO ANKRAH 

TITLE PAGE ART BY: JEFF CULLEN

HAITI 

Every nation possesses socio-cultural, political, 

economic and religious markers which 

serve as a prism for the world to identify it. 

England is known for its law and monarchy, 

France for its aesthetic taste in fashion, America 

for its liberal capitalism and Tibet for its 

unadulterated Buddhist religious practices. 

The wonderful Caribbean country of Haiti is 

often known for its religious practice of Vodou 

(Vodun or Voodoo). “Vodun is the spiritual imperative 

and way of life of Haitians. It’s psychology, 

cosmology, philosophy, art and a 

healing way of life,” writes Marguerite Lauren 

aka Ezili Dantò, award-winning US-based Haitian 

playwright, performance poet, political 

and social commentator, author and human 

rights attorney. In her own words, she is dedicated 

to correcting media lies about Haiti. 

On international geopolitics, attempts have 

been made by Western powers like the United 

States, France and Canada to portray Haiti as 

a failed state, unable to properly govern itself 

and wallowing in abject economic squalor as a 

result of its primitive religious practices. But 

the people of Haiti have been resolute and 

continue to be proud of their country and its 

vodun practices. These practices have even 

impacted Haitian socio-cultural and political 

history. Even for their elite class, vodun is still 

an indispensable ingredient of the political 

cuisine. 

It is within this historical and cultural context 

that two famous and powerful spirit sisters, 

Freda and Danto, exist. Freda is the spirit of 

love, beauty, gambling, dancing and luxury. 

She has three husbands, symbolically wearing 

three rings, yet she is known as Metres, or mistress, 

because she acts more like a mistress 

than a wife. Her sister Danto is dark-skinned, 

scarred, and is the patron of motherhood, single 

motherhood in particular. 

The fascination over their female sexuality and

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 

spirituality has made them the subject of numerous 

anthropological and theological studies, 

as well as researched in other academic 

disciplines. In fact, the popularity of these two 

Ezili sisters and the religous appeal of vodun 

in Haiti has attracted thousands of Haitian 

devotees and followers within and outside the 

diaspora to worship beneath a waterfall of 

Saut D’eau in central Haiti during the annual 

three day festival in mid-July. 

The pilgrims go there to honor Ezili Freda, syncretized 

as the Virgin Mary or la vyej, as well 

as Danbala, the great serpentine lord of the 

waterfall, other lwas (spirits) and Ezili Danto. 

Legend has it that Haiti’s most celebrated patron 

saint, Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Ezili 

Danto), appeared on a palm tree in 1847 in 

the Palms Grove in Saut d’Eau and was integrated 

into Haiti’s vodun culture. 

FROM AFRICAN VODUN TO 

HAITIAN VODOU 

Haitian vodou is pretty much African vodun. 

Enslaved Africans from the powerful, precolonial 

West African kingdom of Dahomey in 

the Republic of Benin brought the practice to 

Haiti. They were mostly Gbe-speaking people 

(Fon, Ewe, Aja and Guen/Mina) found in Benin, 

Togo and Ghana. There was also a sizable 

native African population from the Kongo, and 

the Bight Biafra (Yoruba, Igbo and Kalabari). 

The word “vodun,” corrupted by Euroasians 

as “voodoo,” emanated from the Fongbe (Fon 

language). It means “sacred energies.” The ancient 

Dahomeans had belief in multiple gods 

and spiritual possession. These include: veneration 

of ancestors, use of rituals or objects 

to convey mystical protection, animal sacrifices 

to show respect for deity to gain its favor or 

to give thanks, deployment of spiritual medicines 

or objects meant to contain the essence 

or power of particular spirits, and ceremonial 

dances, often involving elaborate costumes 

and masks. It also utilizes ceremonial music 

and instruments such as drums or divination 

using the interpretation of physical activities, 

like tossing seed hulls or pulling a stone of a

BENIN

certain color from a tree. It also involves the 

association of colors, foods, plants and other 

items with specific loa (lwa) or spirit and the 

use of these items to pay tribute to the loa. 

Some people often associate this ancient practice 

with evil as a result of ritual performances, 

which include the sacrifice of live animals. 

But vodun focuses on respect and peace; the 

religious leaders serve as community leaders, 

This awesome African religion was transplanted 

to Haiti, adapted to the sociological 

conditions of its milieu and borrowed features 

continually from the formally organized religions 

such as Protestantism and Catholicism 

to dodge the ever-present slave codes. Thus, 

the names of Catholic saints became the 

names of loa. In many cases, the loa’s role 

reflected that of the corresponding saint. For 

This awesome African religion was transplanted 

to Haiti, adapted to the sociological 

conditions of its milieu and borrowed features 

continually from the formally organized religions 

such as Protestantism and Catholicism to dodge 

the ever-present slave codes. 

providing guidance, settling disputes and frequently 

providing medical care in the form of 

folk medicine. 

As Professor Beatrice Aguessy of the Institute 

of Development and Endogenous Exchanges 

(IDEE) based in Cotonou explains, “Voodoo 

cure is of two kinds: healing and cleansing of 

an individual or an entire city. While healing 

could involve mineral, herbal and animal and 

spiritual rituals, cleansing on the other hand 

passes through acknowledgement of a wrong 

deed and subsequent appeasement of the relevant 

spirit(s) and the offended.” 

However, curses, witchcraft and spells designed 

to do harm fall into the category of 

“Bo”, with Bokono (sorcerers) in charge. It 

does not fall under vodun religious practices. 

In Benin, Togo, and Ghana vodun practice today 

has approximately 40 million devotees. 

Anthropologists refer to Benin as the “cradle 

of Voodoo”. Vodun is their official religion with 

a national Vodun holiday on their calendar and 

as many as 60% of the people as followers. 

instance, Saint Peter who holds the key to the 

kingdom of Heaven corresponds to the loa, 

Papa Legba, the spirit world’s gatekeeper. 

Catholic religious holidays became vodun holidays 

for the corresponding loa. For instance, 

celebration for a family of spirits called the 

Gedes take place on All Saint’s Day and All 

Soul’s Day. Christian crosses became symbols 

for the crossroads, which represents life-altering 

choices and steps in the spiritual path 

for followers of vodun. Catholic hymns and 

prayers became part of vodun services. 

HAITIAN VODOU 

PANTHEONS 

Haitian cosmology, just like the indigenous 

African one, has numerous lwa, or intermediary 

spiritual entities that remain intimately 

involved in the affairs of the living. The lwa 

and individuals who honor them are part of a 

unified family whose members are enmeshed 

in a web of reciprocal relations. Vodou spirits 

have his or her distinctive personality (reflect-

ing partly African origins and/or syncretism 

with Catholicism), and preside over particular 

domains or aspects of social life. 

Atibon Papa Legba is the owner of the crossroads 

and the first Iwa to be saluted before 

a vodou ceremony can commence; Gede is 

the lord of death, life, humor and sexuality. 

Danbala and Ayida Wedo are the two cosmic 

snakes representing the essence of all life and 

creation (fertility) and the past and the continuity 

of generation(flexibility). 

Agwe is the lord of the seas while Ogou is the 

great deity representing the principles of defense, 

war and iron. Loko is a god of healing 

and Marasa Dosou Dosa represents the twins. 

Azaka is the deity of agriculture, and Ezilis, 

the Rada spirit, personifies different aspects 

of womanhood such as love, feminine beauty, 

coquetry, wealth, bravely, and good luck. 

Ezilis comprises several feminine spirits, including 

Lasyrenn, 

the mermaid, Ezili 

Danto, the hardworking 

and sometimes-angry 

mother 

and Ezili Freda, who 

represents romantic 

love and erotic sexuality. 

It is here where 

women’s relationships 

with men reflect 

the tensions of 

neglect, assaults and 

irresponsibility’s. 

On ceremonial occasions, 

each of the 

lwa can be called 

down to “mount” an 

initiate like a horse 

and take possession 

of his or her body and mind temporarily. With 

a priest (houngan) or priestess (manbo) officiating, 

initiates make elaborate preparations 

of food, music, ritual consecrations, and animal 

sacrifices to arrange for the lwa to make 

his/her appearance. 

EZILI SPIRITS AND CON- 

CEPTS OF SPIRITUALITY 

AND SEXUALITY IN AFRICAN 

RELIGIOUS WORLDVIEW 

Sexuality is central to human beings, especially 

women and men in Africa, as it influences 

our worldview as religio-cultural people. It 

influences the conception of the body-selves 

and our relationships with others and with 

God through our ancestors. Ab initio at birth 

and lasting a lifetime, sexuality is celebrated 

through rites of passage to mark each stage 

of development. This view is expressed within 

African worldview of the Supreme Being which 

is seen as a man and a woman. 

For example, God is known as Ataa Naa 

Nyonmo or Mawu-Lisa among the Ga and 

Gbe-speaking people of Ghana, Togo and Benin. 

Among the Ga people, Ataa is the female 

and Naa is the male aspect of spiritual entity, 

Nyonmo. Among the Gbe people (Fon, Ewe, 

Aja, Mina/Guen), Mawu is the female and Lisa 

being male. The union of these twins is the 

basis of the organisation of the universe. 

In the same vein, earth 

(land) is a woman and 

the sky (heaven) is a 

male, the two copulate 

to give birth. The Ezili 

spirits reflects the characteristics 

of Haitian 

women, the social strata 

within Haitian society 

and how they pull their 

various energies to traverse 

the vicissitudes of 

life in general to achieve 

spiritual, economic and 

socio-political success. 

EZILI DANTÒ 

Ezili Dantò is the most popular of the Ezili 

sisters among the Haitians. She is associated 

with the masses of irrepressible and strong 

Haitian women. Thus, Dantò “is the symbol of 

the irreducible essence of that ancient Black 

mother, mother of all the races, who holds 

Haiti’s umbilical chord back to Africa, back to 

Anba Dlo, beneath the ocean and the waters,” 

said Lauren. 

In tandem with syncretism, Ezili Dantò is

epresented by the image Mater Salvator 

(a Polish black virgin: Our Lady of Czestochowa). 

Her other names include Our Lady of 

Lourdes, Saint Barbara Africana and Our Lady 

of Mount Carmel. Ezili Dantò`s hair is draped 

with a gold edged blue veil, whilst holding a 

Christ-like child, a girl. This symbolizes her 

as a symbol of motherhood, a single mother 

who raises her own children with care. She is a 

prism focusing light on 

the single mother and 

head of household. 

Danto has terrible and 

uncontrollable anger 

but always makes an 

effort to cook real food 

for her children. Ezili 

Dantò has two parallel 

vertical marks 

“twa scars” on her 

right cheeks extolling 

the proudness of her 

African ancestry. The 

marks were actually inflicted on her with a 

dagger by her sister, Ezili Freda in retaliation 

to Dantò`s stabbing of her sister’s heart with 

a dagger during their ferocious battle to win 

the heart of Ogou Lwa. 

Ezili Dantò is portrayed as a simple woman 

with everyday looks, presentable femininity 

with unquenchable taste in choosing several 

male lovers, but Ogou is her favorite among 

the lot and he fathered at least one or seven of 

her numerous children. She never married any 

of her sexual lovers, but her favorite among 

her lovers included Tijuan Petwo, her own son, 

Karen McCarthy Brown, an academic of Italian-American 

parentage writes in her scholarly 

work: “MAMA LOLA: A Vodun Priestess in 

Brooklyn.” 

This is also an attempt at stereotyping black 

Haitian women as immoral sex fiends. She frequents 

the marriages of the living. She is a 

fearless warrior, protective and responsive to 

the needs of her children, and when they are 

in trouble, she put everything aside to rush 

to their defense, even putting her own life in 

danger. 

She is the very 

incarnation of a physical 

beauty that men find 

irresistible and women 

find threatening. 

This was evident during the Haitian Revolution 

where she possessed the people with power to 

rebel, leading to Haiti`s independence. It is believed 

that to avoid the temptation of her telling 

Haitian fighters` secrets, her tongue was 

cut. Hence, when she possesses a person they 

cannot talk but make “dey dey dey” sounds. 

These limited sounds symbolically reflect Haitian 

womens’ ability 

to withstand suffering 

without complaining 

as they express 

their pain and 

anger. It represents 

the silence of women 

voices. 

Ezili Danto functions 

these days to 

bring hidden lives 

and hidden truths 

to the surface. She 

also overlaps with 

this pattern of shifting gender roles by providing 

an accurate portrait of the forces that 

shape women’s lives in urban Haiti and in Haitian 

immigrant communities. It is here where 

women’s relationships with men reflect the 

tensions of neglect, assaults and irresponsibilities. 

Ezili Dantò is a symbol of bodily survival 

and resistance and is the protector of 

women who are suffering from abuses. She is 

a mother figure empowered by her sexuality, 

her fierceness, and her compassion. Women 

must re-imagine the feminist potential of this 

powerful mother figure for pointing the way toward 

freedom. 

EZILI FREDA 

Ezili Fréda is from the Rada aspect of Erzulie. 

Despite being depicted as a Caucasian woman 

residing at the upper echelons of society, 

she still remains the Haitian African spirit of 

tender love and impeccable beauty with feisty 

taste in jewelry, romantic dancing, luxury, and 

flowers. She is so sweet, beautiful, desirably 

alluring and with a measured temperament, 

but she can lose her cool and become dangerous 

when in jealous competition with a

competitor for a lover. This explains why she 

removed the dagger that her sister Ezili Dantò 

plunged in her heart and made “twa scars” on 

her face in revenge. 

In vodun syncretic iconography she is often 

identified with the Mater Dolorosa del Monte 

Calvario, Virgin Mary represented as sorrowing 

for the passion of Christ, with a jewel-encrusted 

sword plunged into her heart. Her arms are 

crossed over her breasts, dripping with gold 

chains, and her fingers wear three wedding 

rings, one for each husband - Damballa, Agwe 

and Ogou. This portrayed her as a romantic 

woman who is willing to marry and share a 

bed with many men and lovers. Thus, she is an 

idealized vision of erotic and unchallengeable 

love that does not include children. 

She is the very incarnation of a physical beauty 

that men find irresistible and women find 

threatening. This reflects a contemporary situation 

among highly educated Haitian women 

where bigamy and barrenness may be indicative 

of a feminist response to social convention. 

Brown writes also that, “She is often addressed 

with the respectful title of a married 

woman of means…you always got to call her 

Mademoiselle. Freda likes people to think she 

is a teenager.” 

On her head she wears a jeweled tiara, weighty 

gold earrings and precious necklaces. Her 

symbol is a heart and her colors are pink, blue, 

white and gold. Her favorite sacrifices include 

jewelry, perfume, sweet cakes and liqueurs. 

She is indeed an upper class Haitian Creole 

woman, as scholar Brown narrates from 

Alourdes: “Poor people have no true love. They 

just have affiliations.” Thus, Freda is seen as 

a powerful healer and an object of desire. Her 

almost excessive dresses, jewelry and perfume 

signify wealth and represent a femininity 

defined by power and sexuality, not submissiveness 

or weakness. She is a “lavish” deity 

who doesn’t have to work, but can command 

the natural world to work for her. 

Ezili Freda also loves young unmarried and 

even married men as her initiates; no woman 

is allowed to touch the man who is being initiated 

into her cult, or to enter the chamber set 

aside for Ezili Freda on the day consecrated 

to her. 

“Saturday is the night that male devotees 

who have married to her sleep alone and wait 

for Freda to come into their dreams,” Brown 

writes. On that appointed day, the institution 

of marriage is subordinated to the religious 

(and erotic) love bond between Ezili Freda and 

her male devotees. In this way, Freda does not 

only choose and set aside for herself young 

and handsome men and thus bar them from 

marriage, but succeeds in frequently choosing 

married men and thrusts herself between the 

woman and her happiness. 

Married men get attached to her and get divorced 

from their wives, whilst unmarried men 

who attach themselves to her cult voluntarily 

are rendered incapable of marriage. This is so 

because she offers men the most bounteous 

and perfect love. But that love is transitory, full 

and overflowing beyond the capacity of men 

to keep. In this way, Ezili Freda’s love and her 

ability to be loved are flawed. She is unable to 

translate the dream of her desires into reality. 

But for the Haitians, Ezili Freda represents 

what is innocent and good and noble about 

love, as well as all that is unattainable or painful, 

even tragic about it. 

Yet, it is in both these sisters that we see not 

only women, but the face and duality of Haiti 

– both strong and powerful, yet beautiful to a 

fault and seeking love. 


The writer, Kweku Darko Ankrah, is 

a journalist, blogger and a historian 

based in Accra, Ghana. He holds 

degrees in Journalism, LLB Law and 

is currently pursuing a Master of 

Philosophy Degree from the Institute 

of African Studies (IAS), University 

of Ghana, Legon-Accra.

BECAUSE 

THIS IS 

ALSO 

HAITI 

BY: RICHARD CANTAVE

Citadelle Laferrière

Known to many as the world’s first black republic, 

Haiti means land of mountains “it is a 

place that reflects its African ancestry more 

than any other place in the Americas, so-much 

that as of June 2016, Haiti will become a full 

member of the African Union. According to Expedia, 

travel to Haiti has increased 800% in 

the last couple years--thanks to efforts from 

the government to prioritize tourism but also 

heavy exposure through social media. There 

are tons of guides on what to see and do in 

Haiti, but almost none of them offer you a truly 

authentic way to discover the country like a local, 

hopefully on your next visit, all you’ll need 

is this Griots Republic article. 

Our first stop is Port-au-Prince, the capital of 

Haiti and the perfect place to start your trip as 

it offers a glimpse of what everyday life in Haiti 

is like. Streets are adorned with colorful taptaps 

which are converted pick-up trucks serving 

as public transportation; beautiful to see 

but as a tourist, I’d highly recommend hiring a 

private driver. 

MUPANAH 

WHAT TO SEE 

This museum, located in Champs de Mars 

next to the presidential palace, is the heart of 

the city. It houses the remains of the heroes 

of independence and important artifacts from 

the world’s only successful slave rebellion. 

NÈG MAWON 

Located right across the street from the 

MUPANAH, is a bronze statue dedicated to the 

unknown slave who announced the start of the 

rebellion through a conch shell.

PARC DE LA CANNE A SUCRE 

Located across from the U.S Embassy in 

Tabarre, is a former sugar cane plantation 

turned museum displaying different machinery, 

trains and other precious artifacts--taking 

visitors back to past centuries. 

MARCHÉ EN FER (IRON MARKET) 

The is a bustling marketplace where you can 

buy anything from a live chicken to beautiful 

handcrafted souvenirs. It can be a bit overwhelming 

as you haggle your way through different 

sellers, but the building--built in 1889 

by an ex-president, was destroyed in the earthquake 

in 2010 but rebuilt to its exact original 

form. 

KENSCOFF 

Take a trip up to the mountains towering Portau-Prince, 

here you will notice the air is pure, 

the landscape is post-card perfect and the 

people are friendly. Stop at “Observatoire” in 

Boutilliers for a cocktail and enjoy breathtaking 

180 degree views of the city. As you continue to 

make your way up, stop at L’infini and be blown 

away by a gorgeous bamboo Forrest. Head 

to the Baptist Mission of Haiti or Kay Wallace 

where you will discover a small but beautiful 

zoo with the amazing landscape in the background. 

Lastly, finish your trip with a visit to 

“Fort Jacques,” a fort built to protect Port-au- 

Prince. 

SAUT D’EAU (WATERFALL) 

As the name suggests, this waterfall on the outskirts 

of the capital is one of the most important 

places in Haitian culture. Considered a sacred 

place for Christians where it is widely believed 

the Virgin Mary made an appearance, it’s also 

a place of pilgrimage for voodoo practitioners

which is more tied to Christianity than known. 

BARBANCOURT RUM DISTILLERY 

Haiti is known for its world famous sugar canebased 

rum; if you call ahead of time to schedule a 

tour of the distillery, you will get a first-hand look at 

how the sugar cane is transformed into a five star 

rum. The free tour starts at 9am daily and samples 

are included. 

HOTEL OLOFSSON 

It’s no secret to anyone, Thursday nights are owned 

by RAM at the Hotel Olofsson. The hotel itself is 

a gorgeous 19th century gothic gingerbread mansion, 

originally built as the residence for two former 

presidents of Haiti. The local band RAM, owned by 

the hotel’s owner has been performing there every 

Thursdays for more than 20 years! If you want to 

learn more about the voodoo religion, I suggest 

you start here. A secret that you definitely won’t 

find in any guidebook, is the new Thursday nights 

at Yanvaloo which is minutes away from the hotel 

Olofsson. There’s a new Haitian band called Akoustik 

which plays every genre of music, do yourself a 

favor and make sure you see them! On friday nights, 

the place to be is ASU rooftop lounge at the hotel 

Karibe in Petion-Ville. (Go early as it gets packed!) 

Some of the best beaches close to the capital are 

situated about an hour or two north of Port-au- 

Prince. The Côte des Arcadins offers several gorgeous 

waterfront resorts. My personal favorite is 

Wahoo bay Beach resort; for $15 you have access 

to the entire property and amenities for the whole 

day while delicious food and drinks are available for 

purchase. If you’re traveling on a budget and want 

to find amazing food at a fraction of the cost, head 

a few doors down past Wahoo and you’ll find a gas 

station, there’s a restaurant there with amazingly 

delicious food for about $10 a meal. One of the 

resorts next to Wahoo bay called Moulin Sur Mer 

houses a beautiful museum on its grounds dedicated 

to slavery and will take you back to its old days 

as a plantation. Entrance to the museum is only $5. 

WHERE TO STAY 

I always highly recommend staying at the Hotel 

Montana in Petion-Ville if you want a truly authentic 

experience. They have a restaurant with a gorgeous

view overlooking Port-au-Prince and offer a 

scrumptious buffet-dinner on Sunday nights 

for only $20. It is walking distance from art/ 

souvenir shops lining the streets. Other great 

choices for hotels in Petion-Ville include the El 

Rancho, Hotel Oasis, Hotel Karibe, Best Western. 

The Marriott in downtown Port-au-Prince 

is beautiful but too removed from everything. 

WHERE TO EAT 

You’ll find great food spots in Petion-Ville; personally 

I’d recommend Le P’tit Creux as the 

top choice; they offer a lunch buffet that is culinary 

excellence. La Coquille is a close second 

and is beautifully decorated to reflect Haitian 

creativity and art. For a more upscale experience, 

La Reserve, Magdoos, and La Plantation 

all have beautiful grounds and great food. 

For a more artistic tour, our second stop in 

Haiti is Jacmel. Only two hours away from the 

capital by car, or a twenty minute flight; come 

during carnival and you’ll understand why this 

city is considered the cultural and artistic center 

of Haiti. It was once called the Paris of the 

Caribbean--thanks to its gingerbread homes 

and 19th century buildings. 

No trip to Jacmel is complete without a stop 

at Bassin Bleu, a series of natural pools with 

a gorgeous waterfall. The pool directly above 

the waterfall is a mind-blowing 75 feet deep! 

If you plan on staying overnight, I highly recommend 

the Villa Nicole, a beautiful property 

nestled on the beach and surrounded by 

coconut trees. For authentic cuisine, head to 

Raymond les bains beach and ask for Madame 

Jean. 

The Hotel Florita is a famous stop to have a 

drink and chat with locals or fellow travelers. 

Watch the sunset at Lakou Nouyòk, Hotel Cyvadier 

or while enjoying a fresh coconut at 

Ti mouyaj. For a paradise-like beach you can 

continue south to Les Cayes and ferry to île a 

Vache. 

Our third stop is the majestic city of Cap 

Haitien. A 4-hour drive or 45 minute flight from 

Port-au-Prince; this city plays a significant role 

in the history of Haiti as it is here that Christopher 

Columbus first touched down and allegedly 

lost his biggest ship La Santa Maria, 

but also where one of Haiti’s most brilliant 

fighters ruled. King Henri Christophe commissioned 

the construction of the Citadelle Laferrière—the 

largest fortress in the western hemisphere 

on top of one of the highest mountains 

to protect the country from a potential French 

invasion. It was built by 20,000 newly freed 

slaves and armed with 365 canons of different 

sizes which many are still in place today. 

Henri Christophe also commissioned the construction 

of the Palais Sans Souci as his royal 

residence. Destroyed by an earthquake, the 

ruins of the palace tell the story of a king determined 

to demonstrate to foreigners, the 

power and capability of the black race. This is 

where the roots of freedom of the black race 

were forever instilled. 

Continuing a historical tour, a stop at Vertières 

where the decisive battle for independence 

took place, the remembrance monument 

brings a sense of pride and gratitude to these 

men who chose to live free or die defending 

the black race’s freedom. 

For a relaxing getaway, take a small boat to île 

a rat, an uninhabited island with a gorgeous 

beach where Columbus would escape with his 

lover. Habitation Jouissaint is one of the top 

hotels with a beautiful view and great lounge 

atmosphere, while there is no better food in 

town than Lakay Restaurant. I could write for 

days about the beauty of Haiti, but as Haitians 

say “Se la pou la.”(You just have to be here) 


Richard Cantave was born and raised in 

Port-au-Prince, Haiti and moved to New York 

in the summer of 2003. He received a B.S. 

in Criminology/Sociology from Suny at Old 

Westbury where he was given the opportunity 

to volunteer in New Orleans after Hurricane 

Katrina. That experience changed his life and 

helped him find what feeds his soul - helping 

people.

04 ALEXIS 

BARNES 

TRAVELER PROFILE 

Alexis K. Barnes is a multimedia 

journalist currently based in Lusaka, 

Zambia as a Global Health Corps fellow. 

Before Zambia, she worked in the United 

Nations bureau of Al Jazeera English in 

NYC. Before the Big Apple, I worked in 

Washington, D.C., then South Korea and 

Thailand. 

She is a Howard University graduate 

who spent her summer reporting in the 

US Virgin Islands and traveled to Haiti 

in October to complete on-the-ground 

reporting to fulfill her Masters Capstone 

project for City University of New York 

(CUNY). 

Though her roots are in print journalism, 

they have evolved into proficiency in 

video, photo and audio editing and 

reporting. Her passion for telling and 

exploring human rights stories has 

landed her work on the pages of quite a 

few notable publications; including Vice 

and Griots Republic. 

To read more of Alexis’ Work or to Follow 

her blog, visit her at www.alexiskbarnes. 

com.

KONPA

The island of Haiti has cultivated a 

rich Haitian culture that is evidenced by 

its history, cuisine, clothing, and music. 

The music of Haiti combines a wide 

range of influences drawn from the 

native Taino’s, the French and Spanish 

settlers, and the African slaves. 

Among the various musical genre 

found in Haiti, Konpa is a complex, 

ever-changing music genre that fuses 

African rhythms and European ballroom 

dancing, mixed with Haiti’s bourgeois 

culture. One of the most distinctive 

characteristics of Konpa music is the 

consistent, pulsing drum beat, which 

makes it easy and fun to dance to. 

Konpa, originally referred to as Konpa 

Direct, is the number one Haitian pop 

style. Compas or Kompa translates to 

“beat” or “rhythm” in Spanish. Konpa 

was the dominant musical style in the 

Francophone Caribbean before being 

dethroned by Zouk in the 1980s. “We all 

caught this Haitian fever: for 20 years 

that’s all we listened to”, says Jacob 

Desvarieux, the long-time bandleader 

of Kassav’. The dominance of Konpa 

was one of the reasons why Desvarieux 

founded his Martinican super-group 

in 1979, inventing Zouk, another uptempo 

Caribbean musical mix. Kompa 

was derived from the ‘Meringue’ style 

(not to be confused with the ‘Merengue’ 

of neighboring Dominican Republic). 

With roots in French contradance, 

Konpa emerged in Haiti in the 18th 

century as syncopated tropical dance 

music par excellence, becoming the 

definitive national urban music and the 

lifeblood of the diaspora. Konpa is a 

musical genre derived from African and 

European roots. It is a fusion of Zouk, 

reggae, rock, salsa, and other styles of 

Caribbean music. Konpa is also known 

as Haitian Méringue popularized in the 

mid-1950s by the sax and guitar player 

Nemours Jean Baptiste, a Haitian jazz 

artist influenced by the musical styling 

of Cuba and the Dominican Republic. 

While Konpa music has a lot of popularity in today’s 

market, Konpa dance lost its sting and is today considered 

an underground dance style due to some of the sensual 

and sultry styles which has created a false fabrication 

over the dance as a whole. It is for this reason young 

activist groups like K.O.T.R. has formed, and creating an 

avenue to properly raise awareness for the dance. 

Konpa on the Rise (KOTR), is a Konpa Awareness

Dance Project. What exactly does that mean? KOTR 

consists of a passionate group of educated Konpa 

lovers who have taken the initiative to create a 

movement to expose Konpa dancing to the world. 

KOTR is dedicated to spreading awareness about 

the transformation, expansion, and progression of 

the art of Konpa dance. 

Due to the fact that there are several styles within 

Konpa, such as Konpa-direk, Bolero, Konpa levanjil, 

and Konpa-light to name a few, KOTR built a website 

to help keep everyone informed and up-to-date. 

Through the website, visitors get to follow and 

learn from the pioneers of the movement, locate 

dance workshops or dance events in their nearby 

locations, and learn how they can get involved in the 

movement. 

If you’re interested in learning how to dance Konpa 

for the first time or want to sharpen your Konpa 

dance skills, please visit us at www.wikotr.com or 

follow us on Facebook @wi-kotr or on Youtube as 

“Konpa Ontherise”. We look forward to seeing and 

hearing from you! 

Sony Laventure is a University of Florida 

Alumni with a Bachelor’s degree in Digital Arts 

& Sciences. Since graduating, Sony has launched 

and is operating three web based companies 

and is an investor for additional brands based 

in Florida including LMiDG Studios, K.O.T.R 

Konpa Dance Studios, and Dukewear Clothing. 

In addition to being an entrepreneur, Sony 

has dedicated a percentage of his life to doing 

missionary work and giving back to his home 

country, Haiti.

WRITTEN BY: 

Sebastien Roc 

PHOTOGRAPHY BY: 

Archer’s Photography KEJ 

Outside of New York, Quebec has one 

of the largest populations of Haitian 

outside of Haiti. The ease of language 

and the familarity of French culture 

make living and working in Canada 

easier for many Haitians and as a result 

of this Haitian culture is alive and ever 

present. 

AYITI MAKAYA is an association of 

dynamic young Haitians living in 

Canada, mainly in Montreal, who are 

involved in cultural activities in their 

community. Initially, the association, 

which was only founded in 2015, had 

a mission to promote Haitian culture 

and to futher facilitate the integration 

of young Haitian immingrants into 

Canada. 

Since its creation, AYITI MAKAYA had 

the opportunity to participate in several 

social gatherings and cultural events in 

Montreal including: the 40th edition 

of the Carifiesta, Weekend du monde, 

Haiti en folie, Fundraising Pou Lakay 

and the Christmas for children at Perle 

Retrouvée. 

The Association’s membership has 

soared and AYITI MAKAYA now shares 

the beauty of Haitian culture with 

Quebec at many functions. At each 

event, Haiti is represented by AYITI 

MAKAYA and bi-color has been hoisted 

with pride. 

During traditional carnival, the group

NOMAD 

NESSTM 

#WhatsNext in Urban Travel 

@nomadnesstribe 

nomadnesstv.com

highlighs the unique features of Haitian 

culture, be it the rhythms of drums, 

tchatchas or other traditional instruments 

through folk dances. From floats and 

Haitian traditional costumes, performers, 

and dancers, Haiti is honored and the public 

is immersed in the world of this beautiful 

and friendly country of the Caribbean. 

This year, AYITI MAKAYA was bestowed the 

honor, once again, to represent the Haitian 

bicolor in 41st edition of Carifiesta to be 

held in Montreal on July 2. We will hoist 

the blue and red of our beloved Haiti and 

lift our heads high with pride to regain our 

Pearl of the Antilles. 

For more information about AYITI MAKAYA, 

we invite you to follow us on Facebook. If 

you are so inclined, we invite you to come 

celebrate Haiti with us at this year’s round 

of events! 

EVENTS 

41st edition of Carifiesta 

July 2, 2016 

Montreal, Canada 

Weekend du monde 

July 9-10 and 16-17, 2016 


Haiti en folie 

July 25 - 31, 2016 


Caribana Weekend 

July 28th - July 31, 2016 

Toronto, Canada 

The Toronto Caribbean 

Carnival Ball 

July 22, 2016 

Toronto, Canada

Griots Republic Vol. 1 Issue 5 

May 2016 

Cover Image 

Courtesy of Lakou Mizik 

Editor in Chief Davita McKelvey 

Deputy Editor Rodney Goode 

Copy Editor Alexis Barnes 

Video Editor Kindred Films Inc. 

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Brian@GriotsRepublic.com 

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Published monthly by Griots Republic LLC 

All Rights Reserved. 

The views expressed in this magazine are those of the 

authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect 

the views of Griots Republic.

GRIOTS REPUBLIC - An Urban Black Travel Mag - May 2016

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