A New Year for Cite Soleil!

Well, i missed out on a lot of community action in Cite Soleil in December (but Sabina was here and they really rocked it!).  Now i'm back and the place is looking pretty spruced up!  …and the people are now in chill-mode.  2011 was an epic year, marking the beginning of new hope and new life in the Cite w/ Konbit Soley Leve.  The new year brings both a lot to reflect upon and a lot to envision for the months ahead.  This year, there remains a ton to be accomplished.. but we've all decided to kick it into lower gear and to move forward both slowly and thoroughly.  A big priority for 2012 is to really drive home what Cite Soleil does well and to polish up the shiniest spots.  

One thing that really rises to the surface here is ART.  Cite Soleil has truly brought up some pretty amazing talent… the passion is there, for sure.  …so how can we give them a boost?  Let's get more studio time for inspirational singers/songwriters like Rene Gueldy and Emmanuel Celestine from Bois Neuf!  let's promote breakdancing w/ a cause by getting more gigs for Cyborg Dance outside of the Cite!  let's create an artisan cooperative that features up-cycled goods!  and let's find a steady market for these artisans!  let's get business training for these artisans!  Let's push forward with an edgy, yet positive, street-art campaign.  let's, each Soleyan community, make a unique mark for itself (i.e.: an eiffel tower in Paris)!  

glass bottle artists

Rene Gueldy

cyborg dance rehearsal

on another note.. we're planning to green up this year by starting up neighborhood gardens and tree nurseries.  plus we're moving forward with our civic education plan to cultivate healthier relationships between individuals, communities and the environment.

BRING it, 2012!  we're ready  

revolution baby

painting the town of la reference

According to modern economic standards, Haiti can be perceived as the most helpless and dependent population of the Western hemisphere. There were 4,000 NGOs working here before the earthquake, which leaped to 10,000 on the ground after. $10 billion have been pledged to lift this country out of misery but 18 months have passed and it’s a mystery where all of that money has gone. …or is it (into the pockets of aid workers, perhaps?)?

Port-au-Prince residents, when questioned about the lack of traction on the entire movement, as well as at the individual level, bear the same explanation: “We don’t have money. We don’t have the means for change.” And that's the problem: The mentality is that money is the ultimate solution as well as the universal impediment.

However, despite these realities, a quiet revolution is taking place in Cité Soleil, which is probably the most disenfranchised community in all of Haiti. Sure, they are poor. They say so themselves. But poverty is a relative term. In their case, they are poor because they have always counted the things that they don’t have. But if they count up all that they do have, regarding resources, they will see that they are, in fact, rich. The most amazingly refreshing thing is that THEY GET IT. They finally understand that NGOs can’t and won’t save them. They understand that money is not ever going to come on its own. And they’re finally starting to understand the value of their own heads, hands and hearts. It’s so exciting to work alongside a motivated group of young Haitians without being viewed, personally, as a piggy bank.

new street sign for la reference

So we had initially named the little movement in our community of La Reference, “Pwojè Soley Leve [The Rising Sun Project]” but we now realize that we are not alone. This movement is so much bigger, extending far outside the limits of our street. There are other groups just like ours who have self mobilized to actively put forth a positive image of Cité Soleil.
   

mural at la difference

One is a group called La Difference, who has successfully transformed an area of 4 blocks into a beautiful oasis of cleanliness & security.
 

sunset near the wharf

Another is the Cité Soleil fishing cooperative (OPECS) who, in addition to fishing, organizes voluntary beach clean-ups and works together to maintain clean public toilets, etc.
  
 

CSA share

Then there is a farming cooperative (REMISOV)in the rural part of the Cité who has reclaimed the land once run by the Haitian American Sugar Company to grow organic food crops while creating their own micro financing system.


And the list of groups volunteering to make a difference for their community and rule their own destinies keeps growing. Yesssss….


So my mighty sidekick, Sabina, and I have been working to connect the dots between them so that they realize that the entirety of Cité Soleil can and will change, and soon, if they just combine their efforts and continue on this path. We’ve been having meetings and they are getting organized. This is now the movement we are calling “Rising Sun”. Could it be a revolution? I love this shit.