The Haiti Sister City Planning Committee was formed in December 2014, and this blog is a place to collect the documents, photos, slides and research that the Committee finds.
Bob Anantua, President of The Build Haiti Foundation - BHF (www.thebuildhaitifoundation.org) and David Weeks, Chair of the BHF, are traveling to Cap-Haitien on Jan 26 and will be there for a week, combining their Build Haiti Foundation business with making connections for Columbia. While there, they hope to meet with:
Cap-Haitien Government officials (elections for a mayor coming in a few months) They will be delivering a letter from Laura Smit, Program Manager for International Exchange & Multicultural Programs exploring the possibility of creating a new sister city relationship with Cap-Haitien.
Mayor Yvon Alteon
Mayor Adjouinte Musset Borgella
Mayor Adjouinte Woudeline Obas
Hotel de Ville
Cap Haitien
Tony Marcelli, former President of the Ft. Lauderdale Sister Cities Association, and now living in Cap-Haitien. Ft. Lauderdale has a Sister City relationship with Cap-Haitien.
Odule Augustin, the chairman of the Cap sister cities committee, living in Cap-Haitien
Augustin Odule
Committee Chairman
Cap Haitien Villes Soeurs Internationale
Jessica Bodiford, an American from Atlanta, who is living in Cap-Haitien wanting to learn more about Haitian culture (her mother is Haitian). In December, Laura Smit received the email below from Jessica.
Dear Ms. Smit,
A friend of mine from the Washington, D.C. area shared with me your contact information. I was thrilled to learn the Columbia Association is interested in Cap-Haitien, Haiti. I moved to Cap-Haitien from Atlanta, GA in April 2014. My mother was born in Haiti, and I came hoping to learn more about Haitian culture. You can view the video I made explaining my move at http://goo.gl/nzjDwk.
Since then, I’ve consulted for Haiti’s Ministry of Tourism and helped organize two city-wide festivals. 2014 ended with my first theatre production in Haiti performed for elementary school students at College L’Essor, a school in Cap-Haitien. Because there are not many youth enrichment activities outside of Port-au-Prince, a local business sponsored the play. It is hard work producing theatre in Haiti, but I enjoyed this show. And from what I hear, so did everyone else. Pictures of the play can be found at http://goo.gl/4UjEN5.
My network continues to grow. I have relationships and friendships with some of Cap-Haitien’s business people, government officials, nonprofit professionals, educators, and medical personnel.
Feel free to use me as a resource for the Columbia Association’s Cap-Haitien endeavors. I am falling in love with this city, and I know you will too.
Thank you,
Jessica
I will be posting documents, photos and slides that I send by email to the Haiti Committee in this blog, as per the request of some members of the Haiti Committee.
Laura
