Donald Trump will name a new ambassador to Haiti
The White House revealed last week the name of the diplomat who will occupy the post of "ambassador of the United States to Haiti." It is Michele Jeanne Sison, who has already served in eleven missions for the United States abroad.
Even before entering the White House, President Donald Trump, had demanded that all American ambassadors named under the Obama administration resign by the date of his swearing on January 20th. Peter Mulrean, Ambassador of the United States in Haiti was one of the diplomats concerned by this decision. After having spent 33 months in office in Haiti and having accumulated 29 years of service in the American diplomacy, he returned home on Monday, February 27th, 2017 and decided to retire.
Since then, the U.S. ambassador's post in Haiti remained vacant. It was the Chargé d'affaires Brian Shukan who assumed the interim position at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, while waiting for the appointment of a successor by the White House and that person’s confirmation by the Senate.
The matter unresolved until July 20th when Donald Trump revealed his intention to name several people to key positions in his administration. Among these people was Michele Jeanne Sison, who was called to serve as Ambassador from United States of America to Haiti.
On its Web site, the White House reviewed briefly Mrs. Sison’s diplomatic career, which begun in 1982. She was an ambassador three times, in Sri Lanka and the Maldive Islands (from 2012 to 2014), in Lebanon (from 2008 to 2010) and in the United Arab Emirates (from 2004 to 2008). She served in 11 American missions abroad among which were India, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Benin and particularly in Haiti between 1982 and 1984.
In 2014, Mrs. Sison was named by the Obama administration and confirmed by the Senate as a permanent adjunct representative to the American mission at the United Nations. Before she begins in her post in Haiti, she must still receive Senate approval.
Born in Washington on May 27th, 1959, Michele Jeanne Sison studied political science at Wellesley College. She also attended the London School of Economics (LSE). She has two daughters, who are in college. The White House underlined that the diplomat is fluent in French, Haitian Creole and Arabic.
Mormons to break ground on Haiti temple this fall
(The Salt Lake Tribune)
A Mormon temple is in the process of being built in Port-au-Prince.
A groundbreaking is set for Oct. 28, the governing First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said this week.
Uruguayan native Walter F. González, a general authority in the Utah-based faith, will lead the invitation-only ceremony, according to a news release.
LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson announced plans to build the Haiti temple in 2015. The nation is home to more than 22,000 Mormons (out of an overall population of nearly 11 million) and 46 LDS congregations.
Mormons view their temples as houses of God, places where faithful members can participate in their religion's most sacred rites, including eternal marriages.
There are 182 LDS temples across the globe either in operation, under construction or announced.
Haitian Students Compete In First Global Robot Olympics in DC
Haiti participated in the first-ever Robot Olympics on July 16 – 18. The event, hosted by FIRST Global Challenge in Washington, D.C. features teams from over 160 countries at the DAR Constitution Hall.
Three Haitian students who competed are from “Institution Nouvelle Source” (Team Haiti-First Global Robot Challenge). The team led by Francois Joseph Berwith, 16-Year-Old François Carl Lovensky, Alex Abigaël ALCEUS and Wilford Guensly Perceval spent the last few months learning about programming and engineering with the goal of building a robot that will compete in the FIRST Global Challenge.
Participating teams are composed of students – aged 15 through 18 years old– with the common goal of increasing their knowledge of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics so that they can become the next generation of scientific leaders who will work together to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems from food security and access to clean water, to finding better medicines and securing cyberspace.
The International FIRST Committee Association (FIRST Global) was founded by philanthropic inventor Dean Kamen, and is headed by former U.S. Navy Admiral and Congressman Joe Sestak.
“By engaging the students of the world in a collaborative competition to help solve the world’s most pressing problems, FIRST Global inspires students to learn the skills they will need to make the discoveries their parents and grandparents would consider miracles, fantasies, or just plain science fiction,” said FIRST Global Founder Dean Kamen.
A cruise ship full of vacationers does more to help Haitians than billions in aid
Is it obscene to show up to one of the world’s poorest countries in a giant, floating amusement park? It felt like it was
By Marni Soupcoff
National Post (21 July 2017)
On a Caribbean cruise last week (which my family and I enjoyed even if, or perhaps because, we consumed our yearly allotment of dietary sugar and fat in a matter of days), I got off the boat at our first stop: Labadee, Haiti. There, a local guide walked a group of us from the boat around the port in a relaxed tour. We oohed and ahhed at the gorgeous beaches on the hilly peninsula; we nodded politely as we learned of the supposedly miraculous medicinal properties of the local vegetation. (Apparently, endocrinologists would be out of business if people would just use Neem tree leaves and yams more judiciously.)
The experience was lovely, my paranoia about contracting the Zika virus from an infected mosquito notwithstanding. But the experience was also … well, weird. Is it obscene to show up to one of the world’s poorest countries in a giant, floating amusement park where guests regularly punctuate rides on the carousel with hotdog and cupcake between-meal snack breaks? It felt like it was. In addition, it felt somewhat fraudulent to even claim to be in Haiti.
Labadee is in Haiti. It’s a remote Haitian fishing village. But Labadee is also a private resort leased by the Royal Caribbean cruise line. There’s a tall, no-nonsense fence, complete with barbed wire and armed security folks, which separates the resort from the rest of the area … and the impoverished locals.
It’s disturbing. Seventy per cent of Haitians have no direct access to potable drinking water. Are we showing up in gaudy Lilly Pulitzer dresses and sniffing, “Let them drink ‘Labadoozies’”? (The Labadoozie is Royal Caribbean’s signature rum-based concoction, named, I like to think, by someone with a well-developed sense of irony.)
I was silently mulling these questions as I toured the place. But my tour guide seemed to have little use for such first world mental flagellation.
He spoke English well. He also spoke French, German, and a couple other languages. He learned them all in high school, he told us. The same was true of his younger siblings. His older sister spoke only Haitian Creole. She’d grown up just before Royal Caribbean had started leasing the resort and bringing significant money into the area, he explained, so the enhanced school options hadn’t existed yet.
I have never been as certain as some libertarians that rational selfishness is the best way to create systematic social benefits.
According to the guide, Royal Caribbean’s construction of water and electricity infrastructure has also been extremely beneficial for the surrounding villagers. Does it matter that the company’s motivation was to power a roller coaster and serve tourists Pina Coladas?
I have never been as certain as many of my libertarian-leaning friends that rational selfishness is the best way to create systematic social benefits. Yet, the Labadee example is persuasive in its small way.
Over US$13-billion in charitable relief (both public and private) was earmarked for Haiti after the country’s deadly 2010 earthquake. We don’t know how much of that money made it directly to the Haitians who needed the help, but some dispiriting estimates hover around 10 per cent.
A few years after the earthquake, a blog post by two employees of the Center for Global Development summed up how unsuccessful the charitable push had been in making a difference. “Haiti received an amount almost equal to its gross domestic product,” wrote Vijaya Ramachandran and Julie Waltz, “but several hundred thousand people remain in tent camps set up in the aftermath of the quake. Port-au-Prince (the Haitian capital) still lacks good roads, electricity and safe drinking water.”
As our guide reminded us, there are still displaced Haitians living in tents today, seven years after the disaster. And according to the CIA World Fact Book, the country’s unemployment rate is around 40 per cent. (Our guide estimated unemployment at 80 per cent, his view possibly influenced by the fact that less than a third of Haiti’s labour force has a formal job.)
In contrast, Royal Caribbean and its gauche, cash-grabbing operation have been successfully employing hundreds of Haitians, and injecting money directly into the Haitian economy, for decades. If the proof is in the pudding, and the pudding is crucial infrastructure, the profit method is proving the more successful chef.
On my way back to the ship, I bought a few toys I didn’t want from one of the local vendors licensed by Royal Caribbean to sell trinkets on the resort. I did it to “help.” My guilt-fuelled donation made no difference, I’m sure. But staying on the ship out of shame wouldn’t have helped either. And cumulatively, the price paid for the selfish but genuine enjoyment of a beautiful, vibrant place seems to be doing some good.
National Post
Twitter.com/soupcoff
Approximately 150 Haitian are arrested every day in Pedernales
According to the organization that specializes ground border patrol (CESFRONT) and the Dominican Department of Immigration, during the last few days, more than 1,000 Haitian (628 men, 327 women and 84 children) with inadequate immigration documents, were repatriated to Haiti by the border post of Pedernales in the Southwest section of the Dominican Republic.
During these operations, 40 fake ID cards were seized from the Haitians along with 30 motorcycles, which have been use to illegally transport the migrants.
CESFRONT indicated that the control operations are continuing and that on average 150 illegal Haitian workers are arrested every day in the urban area of the city of Pedernales and other communities in the region.
Haiti participates in the 8th Francophony Games in Abidjan, Ivory Coast!
((rezonodwes.com)) –
Last week, the Secretary of Youth, Sports and the Civic Action, Régine Lamur presented, the athletes of the delegation which will represent Haiti at the 8th Francophony Games in Abidjan, Ivory Coast from July 21st till July 30th.
Operating within the theme of Solidarity, Diversity and Excellence, these Games represent an opportunity for French-speaking youth to meet, compete and interact in a spirit of celebration and healthy competition within the framework of promoting cultural diversity and the French language.
Twenty-eight athletes including 18 soccer players, 6 cyclists, 2 judokas and 2 table tennis players, as well as 10 artists, including 5 dancers (hip-hop), 2 puppeteers, 1 photographer, 1 painter and 1 sculptor, 14 chaperones, and other officials will constitute the 62-member delegation from Haiti. They goals is to match or surpass the results they got in 2001 when they earned 3 medals (1 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze) or in 2013 when they earned 2 medals (1 Gold and 1 Bronze).