Learn about Christmas Traditions Worldwide Here

Afrikaans: Gesëende Kersfees…Afrikander: Een Plesierige Kerfees….African/ Eritrean/ Tigrinja: Rehus-Beal-Ledeats…Albanian: Gezur Krislinjden…Arabic: Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah…Argentine: Feliz Navidad….Armenian: Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand…Azeri: Tezze Iliniz Yahsi Olsun…Bahasa Malaysia: Selamat Hari Natal…Basque: Zorionak eta Urte Berri On!…..Bengali: Shuvo Naba Barsha-Subo Nababarsha….Bohemian: Vesele Vanoce…. Brazilian: Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo….Breton: Nedeleg laouen na bloavezh mat …Bulgarian: Tchestita Koleda; Tchestito Rojdestvo Hristovo….Catalan: Bon Nadal i un Bon Any Nou!..Chile: Feliz Navidad…Chinese: (Cantonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan’Gung Haw Sun…Chinese: (Mandarin) Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan…(Catonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan’Gung Haw Sun…Choctaw: Yukpa, Nitak Hollo Chito...Colombia*: Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo…..Cornish: Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth….Corsian: Pace e salute….Crazanian: Rot Yikji Dol La Roo…Cree: Mitho Makosi Kesikansi….Croatian: Sretan Bozic…Czech: Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok….Danish: Glædelig Jul…Duri: Christmas-e- Shoma Mobarak…Dutch: Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar or Zalig Kerstfeast…English: Merry Christmas…Eskimo: (inupik) Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo!…Esperanto: Gajan Kristnaskon…Estonian: Ruumsaid juulup|hi…Faeroese: Gledhilig jol og eydnurikt nyggjar!…Farsi: Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad…Finnish: Hyvaa joulua…Flemish: Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig nieuw jaar…French: Joyeux Noel…Frisian: Noflike Krystdagen en in protte Lok en Seine yn it Nije Jier!...Galician: Bo Nada…Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr! German: Froehliche Weihnachten…Greek: Kala Christouyenna!….Hausa: Barka da Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar Shekara!….Hawaiian: Mele Kalikimaka…Hebrew: Mo’adim Lesimkha. Chena tova….Hindi: Shub Naya Baras…Hausa: Barka da Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar Shekara!…Hawaian: Mele Kalikimaka ame Hauoli Makahiki Hou!…Hungarian: Kellemes Karacsonyi unnepeket…Icelandic: Gledileg Jol…Indonesian: Selamat Hari Natal…Iraqi: Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah…Irish: Nollaig Shona Dhuit, or Nodlaig mhaith chugnat…Iroquois: Ojenyunyat Sungwiyadeson honungradon nagwutut. Ojenyunyat osrasay…Italian: Buone Feste Natalizie…Japanese: Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto….Jiberish: Mithag Crithagsigathmithags….Korean: Sung Tan Chuk Ha…Latin: Natale hilare et Annum Faustum!…Latvian: Prieci’gus Ziemsve’tkus un Laimi’gu Jauno Gadu!…Lausitzian: Wjesole hody a strowe nowe leto…Lettish: Priecigus Ziemassvetkus…Lithuanian: Linksmu Kaledu…Low Saxon: Heughliche Winachten un ‘n moi Nijaar…Macedonian: Sreken Bozhik…Maltese: LL Milied Lt-tajjeb…Manx: Nollick ghennal as blein vie noa…Maori: Meri Kirihimete…Marathi: Shub Naya Varsh…Navajo: Merry Keshmish…Norwegian: God Jul, or Gledelig Jul…Occitan: Pulit nadal e bona annado…Papiamento: Bon Pasco…Papua New Guinea: Bikpela hamamas blong dispela Krismas na Nupela yia i go long yu…Pennsylvania German: En frehlicher Grischtdaag un en hallich Nei Yaahr!…Peru: Feliz Navidad y un Venturoso Año Nuevo…Philipines: Maligayan Pasko!…Polish: Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia or Boze Narodzenie…Portuguese: Feliz Natal…Pushto: Christmas Aao Ne-way Kaal Mo Mobarak Sha…Rapa-Nui (Easter Island): Mata-Ki-Te-Rangi. Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua…Rhetian: Bellas festas da nadal e bun onn…Romanche (sursilvan dialect): Legreivlas fiastas da Nadal e bien niev onn!…Romanian: Craciun Fericit**…Russian: Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom…Sami: Buorrit Juovllat…Samoan: La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou…Sardinian: Bonu nadale e prosperu annu nou…Serbian: Hristos se rodi…Slovakian: Sretan Bozic or Vesele vianoce…Sami: Buorrit Juovllat…Samoan: La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou…Scots Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil huibh…Serb-Croatian: Sretam Bozic. Vesela Nova Godina…Serbian: Hristos se rodi… Singhalese: Subha nath thalak Vewa. Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa…Slovak: Vesele Vianoce. A stastlivy Novy Rok…Slovene: Vesele Bozicne. Screcno Novo Leto…Spanish: Feliz Navidad…Swedish: God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt År…Tagalog: Maligayamg Pasko. Masaganang Bagong Taon…Tami: Nathar Puthu Varuda Valthukkal…Trukeese: (Micronesian) Neekiriisimas annim oo iyer seefe feyiyeech!…Thai: Sawadee Pee Mai…Turkish: Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun…Ukrainian: Srozhdestvom Kristovym…Urdu: Naya Saal Mubarak Ho…Vietnamese: Chung Mung Giang Sinh…Welsh: Nadolig Llawen…Yugoslavian: Cestitamo Bozic…Yoruba: E ku odun, e ku iye’dun!…Akan:AFIHYIA PA …Happy Kwanza, Happy Hanukkah,

Source: Neloo.com

Learn about Celebrating our Global Diversity with the Diversity Calendar

Beres Hammond’s song “It’s not over until it’s done” is a song that we should all keep in our hearts this holiday season & hold with us throughout the new year….

“Last night I learned my lesson well…It couldn’t be clearer…See I thought I was number one…As a true burden bearer…It’s customary we meet in the square…Discussing how hard life is to bear…Another brother couldn’t wait for us to leave…To spread his bed right there…Last night I learned my lesson well…So I have to tell you…Sometimes the thing we cherish most…Has no real value…So I give thanks for life (yeah, yeah)…Even when there seems to be no one way to the problem, yeah…I still give thanks for life…Ever wishing and hoping that the table will turn…Now I know that once you have life…There’s a chance you’ll be able to overcome…Where there’s a will, there’s a way…It’s not over until it’s done…If you believe, you will achieve…Everything can just turn around..” READ MORE

Spring of the Artful Renaissance: Creating an Innovative Eco-Chic World Where Art Meets Technology

Immediate Release

Friday, May 13th 2011, MoCADA located at 80 Hanson Place in Brooklyn, NY will host Spring of the Artful Renaissance: Creating an Innovative Eco-Chic World Where Art Meets Technology, preparing & giving the tools of an open door to endless possibilities in creativity for the new generation of future leaders. Spring of the Artful Renaissance: Creating an Innovative Eco-Chic World Where Art Meets Technology is an artists & art connoisseur’s fundraiser event benefiting the Summer 2011 Street Academy Project in Accra, Ghana. The TKAFoundation in association with AKOSIA aims to bring awareness and to make the dreams of 40 children from the Street Academy come true this summer as they learn & enjoy a creative filmmaking journey that brings storytelling to life by writing, creating, directing and producing two short films on their own.

The TKAFoundation (Tomorrow’s Kaleidoscope of Artists Foundation) is the brainchild of filmmaker Sam Kessie, born in London to Ghanaian parents who later raised her in Ghana where she developed her love for filmmaking as a way to cross-global boundaries. TKAFoundation was created to support the global arts community by fundraising & contributing to charities that encourage arts education. TKAFoundation’s 2011 charity of choice is AKOSIA, a non-profit organization that develops and facilitates creative projects for underprivileged children and women all over the world. For the past two summers, (2009/2010), the AKOSIA team has been in Accra, Ghana working with the students from the Street Academy – a school that provides free education to children aged 8-18, as well as uniforms, books, and a decent meal each day for abandoned and homeless youth in Accra. The aim of the month long filmmaking program is to provide underprivileged youth with tools and technical skills where necessary, in order to produce their own films as independently as possible. The TKAFoundation for the 2011 summer project will join the cause to provide an engaging and safe environment where underprivileged children’s natural abilities can be expressed and nurtured, while providing a way out of poverty with useful skills in an ever growing African Film Industry that has rebuilt itself from the ground up with local skills & funding to create an internationally recognized multi-million to billion dollar industry within the last decade.

Come & Join TKAFoundation, tastemakers, innovators, artists & art connoisseurs from 6-9PM at MoCADA as they set the direction for the future of art in its collaborations & dedication to giving back to future generations. Be part of the Spring of the Artful Renaissance as you indulge in a special cocktail fundraiser that will entertain, inform and inspire everyone who attends to see the future promise of global art collaborations. There will be an opening reception cocktail, an auction, a fashion showcase featuring clothes and accessories from several designers including Onyz Noiz, PGF (Product of Global Fusion), Wow Wow by Wunmi, Kira Sherrine, Farai Simoyi along with performances by two amazing African Diasporan artists M3NSA (London/Ghana) and Iyadede (Brooklyn/Rwanda). This free fun-filled fundraiser’s goal is to raise  $10,000, which will go towards our 2011 summer program in Accra, Ghana with AKOSIA.

Support the TKAFoundation and AKOSIA as we make a difference by helping young children discover themselves artfully. In our commitment to AKOSIA, we aim to impact the less fortunate and less encouraged in some way through something as magical as art and in turn, help work toward eradicating poverty through arts education.

If you can’t attend the event but still want to support TKAFoundation and AKOSIA on their summer program you can still give support through our website: http://www.indiegogo.com/AKOSIA

For more information about our cause please visit one of our sites
www.tkafoundation.org
www.akosia.org
Press Contact:
Aretha A. Sarfo
VISIONS Entertainment & Publicity/Global Fusion Productions Inc.
P: 212-280-0699 /E: aretha@visionspublicity.com or info@globalfusionproductions.com

Black Stars continue to rise globally staying true to Ghana’s national slogan of Forward Ever, BackWard Never! Ms. Rebekah Frimpong: Filmmaker/Poet/Mentor/Activist is a Global Fusionist that you will be sure to hear more about soon. From pageant crowns to being in the  front lines of a global revolution for sustenance, land and one’s human right to participate in one’s own self-preservation to prevent vanishing seeds in favor of growth & self sustainability, Rebekah shows that beauty is truly skin deep. Rebekah emanates beauty  from the exterior by shining the light into its deepness. Check out Rebekah’s upcoming project, Vanishing Seeds, where she manifests her words

” Revolution over loot! Africa must be free in our hearts, Africa is our home only we can change the landscape of tomorrow…”

Vanishing Seeds From Haiti to Ghana… One Seed Can Make A Difference.

About The Vanishing Seeds Film Project.

The Vanishing Seeds film project was developed as a program that would use the medium of film as an educational tool to teach audiences about the devastating effects of deforestation. Vanishing Seeds also will educate individuals and communities on how to combat deforestation with active volunteerism and public campaigns. The Vanishing Seeds project was developed by Rebekah A. Ofori-Frimpong in partnership with Trees for the Future Caribbean and African department. This project will include a year long campaign that will include film screenings, educational seminars, volunteering initiatives, and community programming. The Vanishing Seeds films will serve as public service announcements to educate various communities in the United States, the Caribbean, and Africa. The Vanishing Seeds Films will follow the work of Trees for the Future in Haiti and Ghana as Miss Ghana USA 2010/11 finalist Rebekah A. Ofori-Frimpong documents the efforts on ground in both Haiti and Ghana. Trees for the Future as of 2009 started two new tree planting programs in both Haiti and Ghana to further support the ongoing reforesting projects in place and Vanishing Seeds from Haiti to Ghana will show this progression. READ MORE

Find out more about Rebekah other philanthropic initiative, Mama Africa . Sending personalized care packages to mothers in need in Africa and US. Read More Here

I have always understood that Jamaicans are descendants of enslaved Africans from West Africa & Ghana in particular, but I never realized just how similar our roots run hundreds of years after slavery. As Brazilians in Salvador de Bahia keep the Yoruba roots of tradition & language alive in modern day Brazil, Jamaican Maroons keep the Akan traditions & language alive in modern day Jamaica.

When Jamaica’s native son Marcus Garvey shouted for Global Africans to return to Africa, many chanted Haile Selassie I & found home  & Rastafari roots in Ethiopia while many others celebrated Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah & found freedom in Ghana. Today’s Ghana boast a significant Jamaican community brought & empowered by Rita Marley & the memory & foundation of Bob Marley & Marcus Garvey. Jamaicans & native Ghanaian Rastas have created their own governing & financial empowerment council that boasts a credit union called the black star line catering to the financial empowerment needs of Rastafarians in Ghana.

When you walk around Ghana you see Jamaica, from reggae music, to dreadlocks & the culture of Rastafari. I had heard about the Kromanti/Kramanti language in Jamaica which was supposed to sound similar to the Akan languages of Ghana, but I became a true believer when I heard it spoken & found many similar words in Ghanaian Akan languages. Jamaicans like Brazilians have never denied their African roots, but have rather embraced it & used it as a sense of power in knowing who they are & where they came from beyond Jamaica’s sugar cane plantations. With more & more talk amongst African nations about offering our Diasporan brothers & sisters free visas & dual citizenships to come back home to their ancestral roots, perhaps we will all get to learn more about our distant relatives.

Many Africans & Diasporans did not know of Haiti‘s history of successful slave rebellion which led them to independence in 1804  even before slavery was abolished in 1807 until the earthquake that brought Haiti new found global press & historical interest, just as many do not know that Jamaican Maroons had their own successful slave rebellion to freedom 50 years before slavery was abolished & long before Toussaint L’Ouverture brought Saint-Domingue out of the the shackles of the French & renamed the new land of freed slaves,Haiti. The Maroons of Jamaica have been able to keep their identity & autonomy not only from their former slave masters, but also within Jamaica even til today.  The Maroons’ largest town Accompong even has a similar name to Ghana’s Akropong-which is home to one of Ghana’s oldest tribes, the Akuapims & both are ironically located in the hills/mountains of their individual nations. We can not wait nor allow others to tell us our history & to give it to us in small increments as they see fit when knowledge is power & information is available if we truly seek to be empowered by knowledge .

“I raved about how much African aesthetic is infused into Jamaican life. You’d think I was visiting the island for the first time, even though I was born here and have barely set foot anywhere else since that sun-hot Wenesday in 1972…The thing is this; African retentions in our culture sometimes get compartmentalized and thought of in ways that seem distant. Yes, over 90% of Jamaicans are black and are direct desendants of the people who came from West Africa, so when we look at each other we see our ancestry…” READ MORE

I remember the first time I went to Jamaica right out of college & met up with two Rasta men who befriended me & took care of me & my friend as community elders do in Ghana. The moment they heard I was from Ghana , I automatically became family & was blessed with eating the best jerk chicken I have ever tasted in my entire life even until today. I have eaten a lot of jerk chicken in Jamaica & other places in the world, but this was hands down the best because from the smell, to the serving of it, to the taste, you could see & feel that it came from the love of family in the way that a home cooked meal outshines even the best highly trained chef.

I did not understand back then why these two grown men were so fascinated with asking me every question possible about Ghana & why their desire to go there was so strong until many years later when I witnessed the Jamaican community & influence in Ghana & saw the love that Ghanaians, particularly the youth gave to Jamaican artists who visited & Jamaican citizens who returned back to Ghana to stay because these Ghanaian youth were just as enamored by them & wanted to know everything possible about them & our mutual ancestral global connection. It was truly as Nas & Damian “Junior Gong” Marley put it, distant relatives reuniting on two sides of the Atlantic & getting to know one another again. From Marley, to Tosh, to Sizzla, to Junior Reid, to Buju,  to the new generation Marley, Africa & Ghana in particular has always been in the forefront of their life never to take a backseat in heritage or unity! Akwaaba as we continue to keep it strictly Roots!

Nanny of the Maroons (circa 1700 – 1750), freedom fighter and hero.. READ MORE

We need to stop allowing Voodoo (Voudum) to be interpreted as some sort of “boogie man spirit” any more or less worthy of recognition & respected in its perpetration by humanity in good and evil as the gods and spirits sold in superiority of western worlds and faith. The White man’s reaction to a simplified explanation of voodoo and the laughter of the historian says it all…At some point we must take responsibility for history and the reaction of those who are responsible from spreading it in continuing cycles...

Billions have been raised so far in charitable donations for Haiti, but more & more Haitians are dying every day after surviving being buried alive in years of poverty & the rubble of the earthquake, having only their sheer will to live to hold onto. International bureaucracy & power struggles of people with invested interest more in economy than humanity is becoming the continued cause of many Haitians being handed their final death certificates.

We need to be diligent & aware about keeping up with who is controlling the purse strings of all the humanitarian aid & the future sovereignty of Haiti. We can raise all the money we want to help Haiti, but Haiti will still be in the same condition & possibly worse, with an achieved loss of sovereignty if Haitians & Pan-Africanists at large do not come to the aid of their brothers & sisters in attaining & retaining economic empowerment & sovereignty. We have seen throughout the history of the world that a nation’s power & health rests upon its economic power & health; however for many African nations & Diasporans, genuinely fighting to attain this reality has been less & less of a priority because it has been easier & less work to collect foreign aid in return for resources, to leave the health & upliftment from poverty of their citizens to NGO’s & to just silently exist without much fight nor change within broken systems of governance, as long as the few in power continue to hold their titles as beneficiaries.

“Something in the nature of an economic revolution is required. Our development has been held back for too long by the colonial-type economy. We need to reorganize entirely, so that each country can specialize in producing the goods and crops for which it is best suited…..We have the blessing of the wealth of our vast resources, the power of our talents and the potentialities of our people. Let us grasp now the opportunities before us and meet the challenge to our survival. ” Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s First President

We need to be diligent about not turning a blind eye to where all the Haitian relief funds are going when there are so many still begging & waiting for relief. Where is all that money being allocated to? Who is watching over the money & making the decisions on how it is spent? These are the questions we should never stop asking as we give of ourselves in charity because what is the point of charity when the situation of the people is never helped, but rather seems to get worse than better? This is the question we should be asking the Red Cross & the 10,000 + NGO/charities that were in Haiti prior to the quake & the numerous more that are in Haiti now.

“We shall measure our progress by the improvement in the health of our people; by the number of children in school, and by the quality of their education; by the availability of water and electricity in our towns and villages, and by the happiness which our people take in being able to manage their own affairs. The welfare of our people is our chief pride, and it is by this that my Government will ask to be judged.” Dr. Kwame Nkrumah

February honors Black History month in America- we should not & can not allow the history of Black people throughout Africa & her Diaspora to be written in the same way in the next decade as it has been written in the past because that only will show the lack of forward movement & the acceptance of stagnation amongst Black people globally. If this decade is going to be diffrent than the last decade for Haiti & Black people globally, then we must recognize our common struggle, the same struggle that became the catalyst for the movement of Pan-Africanism.

We need this new decade to be a revival of Pan-Africanism with new, young, intelligent, concerned, enlightened, awake, aware, unabashed,unbought, unbossed, pride filled Black people in the likeness of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, W.E.B Dubois, Jomo Kenyatta, Marcus Garvey,Patrice Lumumba, Edward Wilmot Blyden, Ahmed Sékou Touré ,Gamal Abd El Nasser,Haile Selassie,Bob Marley, Fela Anikulapo Kuti etc. -everyday people turned leaders who knew,understood & accepted that although they have been spread all over the world, their legacy empowerment & economic freedom is intertwined in the legacy, empowerment & economic freedom of Africa-the spiritual birthplace of home. The type of feeling of home where one always comes back to pay homage while seeking the guidance & comfort of mama Africa’s bosom -the only true mother of our blood & roots regardless of our adopted mother nations.

There are the Kimmie Weeks of Africa & the Wyclef Jean’s of the Diaspora, who need to join forces with the likes of people like Samia Yaba Christina Nkrumah, daughter of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, who has decided to take on the mantle of her father by starting a new intelligent revolution toward real resolution. There needs to be a new era/new decade of Pan-Africanism with a Pan-African summit based on the original teachings & goals of empowerment & health through our collective economic freedom at the forefront.

“She is emerging as the new face of the current crop of selfless continental African leaders who think more about the development and prosperity of sub-Saharan Africa, first and foremost than looting from the continent.” Ghanaweb.com.

Sami Nkrumah & the growing crop of new thinkers & leaders are the only way to make this new decade, a decade where Africa & the Diaspora truly gets our house in order in efforts to write our own history in the manner that we would like to be recognized & heralded. We can’t rest on touting the legacy & greatness of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah or Toussaint L’Ouverture when there has been little to no forward movement created by the generations after them, in terms of the level of global respect & conditions of Africans & her Diasporans.

“Achieving political and economic liberation, social justice and national and continental unity including the African Diaspora are yet to be realized.” Samia Nkrumah

Pan-African movement
“Movement dedicated to establishing independence for African nations and cultivating unity among black people throughout the world. It originated in conferences held in London (1900, 1919, 1921, 1923) and other cities. W.E.B. Du Bois was a principal early leader. The important sixth Pan-African conference (Manchester, 1945) included Jomo Kenyatta and Kwame Nkrumah. The first truly intergovernmental conference was held in Accra, Ghana, in 1958, where Patrice Lumumba was a key speaker. The Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) was founded by Robert M. Sobukwe and others in South Africa in 1959 as a political alternative to the African National Congress, which was seen as contaminated by non-African influences. The founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU; now the African Union) by Julius Nyerere and others in 1963 was a milestone, and the OAU soon became the most important Pan-Africanist organization.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60U0IV20100131

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/haiti/story/1455459.html

http://mashable.com/2010/01/13/haiti-red-cross-donations/

http://open.salon.com/blog/ezili_danto/2009/10/13/oil_in_haiti_-_economic_reasons_for_the_unus_occupation

“When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.” — Jomo Kenyatta, Pan-Africanist & first president of Kenya

“It is said, of course that we have no capital, no industrial skill, no communications, no internal markets, and that we cannot even agree among ourselves how best to utilize our resources for our own social needs…Yet all the stock exchanges in the world are pre-occupied with Africa’s gold, diamonds, uranium, platinum, copper and iron ores. Our CAPITAL flows out in streams to irrigate the whole system of Western economy. Fifty-two per cent of the gold in Fort Knox at this moment, where the USA stores its bullion, is believed to have originated from OUR shores. Africa provides more than 60 per cent of the world’s gold. A great deal of the uranium for nuclear power, of copper for electronics, of titanium for supersonic projectiles, of iron and steel for heavy industries, of other minerals and raw materials for lighter industries – the basic economic might of the foreign Powers – comes from OUR continent.” Dr. Kwame Nkrumah

http://ghanaianoracle.wordpress.com/the-history-of-ghana/

The Achievements and Failures of President Kwame Nkrumah
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/history/cia_nkrumah.php

Richard Helms (CIA) file on Nkrumah
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/history/cia_nkrumah.php

“Countrymen, the task ahead is great indeed, and heavy is the responsibility; and yet it is a noble and glorious challenge – a challenge which calls for the courage to dream, the courage to believe, the courage to dare, the courage to do, the courage to envision, the courage to fight, the courage to work, the courage to achieve – to achieve the highest excellencies and the fullest greatness of man. Dare we ask for more in life? ”
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah -Address to the National Assembly. 12 June 1965

“Is either you stand for something or you stand for nothing. Haiti is the way it is by design. It can get better if we want, internationally. We can come in & help. It’s time we give Haiti a pass because Haiti deserves that pass” Wyclef Jean

I hate to bring in cynicism & pessimism during a time of tragedy, but the incessant hypocrisy & charitable profiteering that often comes during times of tragedy must be carefully monitored & called out, so we do not continuously see history repeated. Haiti needed the world’s recognition, love, concern & aid long before the earthquake. Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, but this was not always the case. Haiti was once one of the richest nations in the western hemisphere, built & profiteered off of the blood, sweat & tears of African slaves, who regained their freedom thru their struggle, fight, blood, determination, power & uprising in demand for their freedom!

Everyone is standing up for Haiti now, but where have they been all this time as the conditions & deaths of Haitians were mounting. Where was the clean water, food and charitable donations all this time, while Haitians were dying for years from malnutrition & forced to eat clay just to survive. The USA & many other nations of the world have blood on their hands & a role in the disastrous conditions which Haitians have had to endure for so many years because of political & economical motivation & greed. All these nations who have been complaint in turning a blind eye or aiding in the continued suffering of the Haitian people have an opportunity now to right their wrongs. Haitians have their own self to blame in their nation’s condition & demise as well, as their own brothers & sisters keep them from their freedom & civil rights- lacking the fight, unity, pride & leadership of L’Ouverture & allowing the separatist rule of their former colonizers to define their newly found freedom & goverance.

“The Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) is the period of violent conflict in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, leading to the elimination of slavery and the establishment of Haiti as the first republic ruled by blacks. Although hundreds of rebellions occurred during the slave era, only the revolt on Saint-Domingue, beginning in 1791, was successful in permanently abolishing slavery. The Haitian Revolution is the only successful slave revolt in human history, and, as such, is regarded as a defining moment in the history of Africans in the new world.
Although an independent government was created in Haiti, its society continued to be deeply affected by the pattern established by the French under colonial rule. The French established a model of minority rule over the illiterate poor using violence and threats. Colonialism and slavery were outlived by the racial prejudice that they had contributed to; the new post-rebellion racial elite (referred to as mulattoes) had African ancestry, but many were also of European ancestry as descendants of white planters. Some had received educations, served in the military, and accumulated land and wealth. Lighter-skinned than most Haitians, who were descendants mostly of former enslaved Africans, these mulattoes dominated politics and economics.”( Wikipedia)

We learned all too well from hurricane Katrina about profiteering thru tragedy & the horrors of continued racism & colorism. Millions if not billions in charitable donations were given by pulling at the heart strings & the basic goodness of human beings, yet years later many parts of New Orleans whose descendants are the same African slaves from Saint-Domingue/ Haiti, who later became American commodity thru the Louisiana Purchase, have been left in the same horrible conditions -some never to be able to return home because not much has changed in their condition. Who is really being held accountable for all the charitable donations that were given -money that is more than the net worth of some nations, yet thousands are still without basic homes & streets still have not been cleaned or returned to even just their old condition since 2005. I can not see myself ever donating to the Red Cross or even UNICEF because many of these huge global charitable corporations are just that corporations under the guise of charity-giving high paid salaries, spending ridiculous amounts on abundant bureaucracy & holding unprecedented power & access in governments, while giving a small amount of their charitable donations to the people who they are there to serve. I am not suggesting that anyone not donate to them -it’s up to each individual to do their own research & to go with their heart & gut. I am also not saying that these organizations have not or do not do good works, but I am just questioning “at what cost” & if the ends always justify the means.

There are plenty of grass roots charities that have always been there for the people, giving 100% or close to 100% of their donations in service of the people who they are there to serve. It goes beyond just the funding spent, but also the way the services are administered & the abuse of power wielded upon many places suffering from tragedy & a state of vulnerability. I question the charitable places & times where peace keepers become terrorizers & where charity comes at a high cost of freedom, civility & civil rights. This needs to be a new awakening for Haiti, a new decade of redefinition & taking back the dignity & triumphant freedom fought for, won & declared in 1804.

Big up & much praises to Wyclef Jean for being a proud good son of Haiti. Clef was there for his Island when the rest of the world turned a blind eye & governments could care less about the people of Haiti. Yele Wyclef! If you are going to donate to an organization donate to the grassroots organizations that are not motivated to move by government charter & power. Check out a few below.

http://www.yele.org

http://www.airlineamb.org/

http://www.fokal-usa.org/

http://doctorswithoutborders.org/

http://pih.org

“Not all aid organizations are created equal. If there are 10,00 aid organizations (pre-earthquake) in Haiti & Haiti is still 1 of the poorest countries in the world, then something’s wrong with the way aid is being administered”

Where was the aid at this time? Even today in The US if a Haitian flees their waters to reach Miami-around the same proximity as a Cuban-who has a way better life of basic civil services than a Haitian -they are sent back while Cubans are welcomed in with political asylum because the USA has no political or economic interests in Haiti -well at this time anyway! If we want to spread Democracy we have to live & practice democracy in pure & true sense

Aristide Claims U.S. Ousted Him
http://wap.cbsnews.com/site?sid=cbsnews&pid=sections.detail&catId=TOP&index=1&storyId=603498&viewFull=yes

Haitian Earthquake: Made in the USA
Why the Blood Is on Our Hands
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/14-13

Haiti’s poor resort to eating mud as prices rise
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22902512/

Haiti Food Crisis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSWJmq4XC2s

Ira Kurzban 2-way – Haiti
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNCLaQUL7gk

The truth about the Red Cross
http://socialistworker.org/2005-2/562/562_04_RedCross.shtml

Charity Fails To Get A Grip On Criminal Scandals At Local Chapters
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/07/29/eveningnews/main516700.shtml

GERARD JEAN-JUSTE, 62-Priest Devoted Life To Haitian Refugees
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/28/AR2009052803839.html

Why We Are Partly Responsible for the Mess that is Haiti
http://www.hnn.us/articles/3694.html

The Haitian Revolution and the Forging of America
http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ht/34.1/thomson.html

Started by Hope McGrath and Helen Boxwill to benefit education in Africa.

About ABC
Our mission is to substantially increase the number of well-educated young people of color who are capable of assuming positions of responsibility and leadership in American society.
History A Better Chance began in the 1960s as an innovative experiment in educational opportunity.  At a time of political unrest, social idealism, and the struggle for civil rights, the Charles E. Merrill Foundation awarded a grant that allowed twenty-three independent schools to respond to President John F. Kennedy’s call for equal access to the nation’s top schools for students of color.  The schools’ response: the Independent School Talent Search Program (ISTSP).
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