Carrefour, what it
meant to me
I spent most of my teenage years in Wanney, Carrefour, in essence
I am considered a Carrefourois (From Carrefour) since 1968 and I am proud of it. Unfortunately, I have seen Carrefour changed
from a green land to an over populated archaic construction with no
urbanization plan. I have seen friends come and go and that community going
downward with an increasing sense of insecurity.
There was something very touching about this life shifting
experience, it was for the first time I was moving in with my biological
mother. This reunion was significant as
it gave me a chance to share a bit of my mother’s life, Alourdes as well as my
sister’s life Kettely. While I had the
chance to live a normal life in a middle class family, I found my life near and
with my mother to be as ordinary and magnificent as it could be. My adoptive parents immigrated to the US and
I was left at my teen’s years with the hope that one day, like any other
Haitians kids dream, to be in the US as well.
I attended Lycée Alexandre Pétion (1970) from a Catholic
School “Sacred Heart”. I had to make a
lot of adjustment one could envision. I
made a commitment with myself to make the best of my school years there. My Principal, Director Oxcyl, while he was
fear by many, for the next few years would be for me a mentor that I will
esteem for the rest of my life. Through
a classmate suggestion, We created an “Honor Corps” a paramilitary unit along
with the existing school marching band teaching civic duties, discipline, self
respect and honor. The Honor Corps was soon recognized nationally and was often
requested by the president then Duvalier to parade on the presidential palatial
lawn. This corps was highly respected by all even by the military and the police. Very soon this idea was picked up by Lycée
Toussaint Louverture, Lycée Firmin and College Frère Adrien. When Duvalier instituted the Military
Academy, the first recruits came from both Lycée Pétion and Lycée Louverture.
While it was fearful for many, it was an opportunity for a few to take
advantage and become part of the political/military system. It was a sudden acquiesce to a
social/military thrill, it was a chance to join the military elite and fame. My mother however apprehensive of this system
was frenzied about the possible outcome of my involvement, categorically
stopped me from joining the military.
The second opportunity was a direct invitation and visit by the ministry
of defense of a few selected one for a military scholarship to study in the US
with a commitment to serve in Haiti.
Once again, my mother terrified more so by a black official government car
and its passengers parked in front of our modest covered tree home than by this
idea for her son to join the military. Speechless
but calmed and collected I recall, she consented to send me to this official
invite at the National Palace. As
excited as I was, I was soon to realize that my mother was not sharing my
enthusiasm. She quickly conceived my egress on the pretext of medical reasons
and soon began to look into a way for me out of the country while some other
parents were doing the same.
In 1971, when Duvalier passed away, the Honor Corps played a
historical role in his funeral. The
hearse was lead by Lycée Pétion and I was one of the first to witness a sudden
violent whirlwind just before entering the cemetery gate that through a frenzy
amongst the mourners and spectators, shoving and running from the invisible and
the mental interpretation of what they thought it could have been. This was given numeral explanations colored
with lots of mysticism and superstition.
It was also in Carrefour I was reunited with Nadia, the
sister of an old classmate Jocelyn from Sacred Heart, whom four years later in
1975 would become my wife. It was a
simple yet lavish court yard wedding where family and friends reunited as this
young couple was embarked in a new life in an unsure State. During that same year, the prospect presented
itself; my wife and I immigrated to the US with no intention to ever return, leaving
political and economic fears behind and looking at new opportunities.
Carrefour however remained truly my home community where my
heart is and has always been and which was later transcended to other parts of
the country as I became conscientious of the life condition of my compatriots
in 1994 some 19 years later. It was in
Carrefour for some unexplained reasons I held my first political meeting. This is
also in Carrefour I took the engagement to move forward in the political
affairs of my country knowing clearly the snare and danger I might have to
face.