Haiti: From the outside looking in on the Haitian-New York life it may seem as though they are living very decent lives with the exception of some of the less fortunate. The reason for thinking this because they are growing their businesses and securing a comfortable American lifestyle. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to focus on poverty within the Haitian-American community and how are they supporting the ones they left their homeland.
History: Sharing the island, Hispaniola with The Dominican Republic, Haiti gained their independence in 1804, freeing them from the French rule. The country was controlled by the Spanish before given to France. Haiti was the first Republic to lead a successful slave revolt. Although gaining independence is a good thing for the country, it went through a great share of negative effects. Many of the tribulations Haiti has faced were from consistent natural disasters, resulting in a domino effect of negatively spiraling effects.
Language Spoken: The official languages of Haiti are French and Haitian Creole
Religious Beliefs: Haiti has a range of different types of religious beliefs. Most of the world believes that they only practice witchcraft, voodooism and things of that nature. Even though those practices do exist in this country, the belief system of voodoo revolves around family spirits. Many Roman Catholic Haitians do not see practicing voodoo as being a part of a different religion. They focus communicating with mostly spirits of their family who are called loua or misté. Besides Roman Catholicism coexisting with voodoo, there is one religion whose believers does not practice the communicating with sprits. That religion is called the Protestantism, and they strongly oppose voodoo because of the darkness that correlates to the practice.
Popular News Outlets: La Nouvelliste, Haiti Libre, RTVC Radio Television Caraibes, Metropole Haiti, Haiti Press Network, Radio Kiskeye, AlterPresse, Radio Signal FM 90.5, Scoop FM.
Current Events: 2010 Earthquake, Economic Recovery and Livelihood, Hurricane Matthew, Post-hurricane cholera outbreak threat.
Immigrants in NYC: Many Haitians stay together like cliques so finding sources wouldn’t be too difficult. Flatbush is one of the neighborhoods anyone can find a lot of Haitians restaurants and shops. Flatbush being the area where I also live I’m in the midst of it all, and with the help and recommendations of some my fellow Haitian friends I’m sure to acquire very useful information and quotes to use in my stories.