By Lorenzo W. Snelling | Special to Le Floridien
A local organization formed by Haitian-American college students at the University of Miami four years ago promotes and highlights Haitian culture.
The Haitian student organization is called Planet Kreyol but its purpose has taken on a much deeper meaning this year since some students are in fear of their family members’ safety in Haiti, where gang members have been terrorizing the country since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise.
While promoting Haitian American fashions, music, food, community service and honoring immigrants who earned high marks in college academics, students are also comforting each other during these difficult times.
Their close bond created through the group has become a source of strength for the students who incessantly worry about their loved ones welfare.
The chaos even has affected their studies.
“I’m trying hard to concentrate on my work knowing I have family in Haiti that I haven’t heard from since March,” said Olaverer Toussaint, a sophomore who’s studying communications. “I can’t help but think about what’s happening to my family. I can’t sleep some nights.”
Toussaint, a Haitian immigrant, said her mother and father try to help her concentrate on her studies by telling her “everything is going to be okay.”
She said she’s the first in her immediate family to attend a top notch college and her parents want her to earn her degree.
“I know they mean well and sometimes it helps,” said Toussaint who last visited Haiti in 2018. “I just want my family in Haiti to let us know they are alright.”
Esther Alexandre, a senior who is studying computer engineering, also worries about her family members in Haiti amid the anarchy.
Alexandre said she was born in the United States but keeps a close relationship with her family members in Haiti via phone and emails.
She said the two sides have made contact since last year.
“I definitely feel helpless,” she said. “As a Haitian American student with ties in Haiti, you do not know how to help them. If you donate money, you don’t know if the money will get to the individual who needs it or if the organizations are truly channeling it to Haiti. There is so much corruption.”
The assassination of Moise has led to gangs taking control of most of the capital Port-au-Prince with violence, kidnappings, rape and worse murder, leaving citizens paralyzed with fear.
The violence has blocked food and humanitarian aid from being delivered to citizens.
Some parents kept their kids at home instead of allowing them to attend school.
Acting on a request by Democratic U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Haitian immigrant, and her colleagues to restore law and order in the Caribbean country, the U.S. Representatives passed the Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act.
Cherfilus-McCormick, sponsored bipartisan legislation in June to urge the Biden administration to act fast to safeguard citizens’ lives by beefing up security and crack down on the gangs tormenting people and illicit financial flows.
And Haiti gained additional help when Kenya made a commitment to spearhead a multi-national force in the capital city and other cities.
Fortunately, Alexandre’s relatives live outside the capital in the town of Cap Haitien, on the north coast of Haiti.
Although food sometimes is scarce and weeks go by without electricity, her relatives are far away from the worst violence.
“My father goes twice a year,” she said. He also “buys toiletries, medicines, and all they may need and sends it via containers.” When Alexandre’s father visits, he flies into the neighboring country of Santo Domingo, which also sits on the island of Hispaniola, and drives to his hometown in Haiti. That way he avoids flying into the capital,” she said. “Most people do not want to fly into the capital.”
Frantzline Gaudard, a junior studying nursing at UM, said she frequently calls her grandmother to make sure she is safe in her hometown of Gonaives, which is located 193 miles north of Port-au-Prince.
She said her family in the United States sends money to her grandmother to help her survive.
“There is not much that the Haitian people could do,” she said. “I make sure that my relatives are okay.”
Anndrina Arne, a junior studying accounting and an executive board member of Planet Kreyol, said most of her relatives live in Port de Paix but she has one relative who lives in Port-au-Prince.
When Arne’s grandmother passed away a few weeks ago, the aunt—who was the deceased’s daughter—could not attend her mother’s funeral. It was too dangerous to drive from Port-au-Prince, according to Arne.
“It is extremely sad, and I cannot imagine how it could be over there,” she said. “There is no government. I know it is bad.”
