On Saturday, May 18, people of Haitian descent around the world will celebrate Haitian Flag Day to commemorate the first hoisting of the flag during the Haitian Revolution.
In Charlotte, a Haitian Flag Day Festival will be held on Central Avenue to mark the occasion, with Haitian music, food, cultural workshops and discussions. The festival is being held at a time when civil unrest in Haiti has resulted in a food crisis and thousands of people are fleeing the country for parts of the U.S. — including Charlotte.
Yvens Germain, cofounder of the Charlotte Haitian Professional Network and a festival organizer talks to WFAE’s Gwendolyn Glenn about his pride in Haiti, and how the violence affects his family and friends.
Yvens Germain: I have family members that live right in the middle of what’s going on. It's an area called Pétion-Ville, one of the popular cities in Port-au-Prince. That's where a lot of that action is taking place.
Gwendolyn Glenn: How are they doing?
Germain: They're doing well. It's kind of one of those situations where you have to stay out the way, literally just staying home. The locals look out for each other and they protect each other from the gangs, obviously. But you know they still have like the markets, the different essentials that you would need. But as far as you know, being able to move around freely, that no longer exists.
Glenn: I have read and we've aired NPR reports about food shortages, but you're saying your family, they're not having any problem with food, water, fuel.
Germain: They're having all of those problems. It's just fortunately, they're not one of the ones that are worse off, although there is a scarcity of food, gas, there isn't any work but through God's grace, they're still alive.
Glenn: Do you have problems calling or getting assistance to them?
Germain: No, not really. I speak to them pretty much every day as far as like getting assistance to them like money for food. I haven't really had an issue with that. The banks, they are heavily guarded, but obviously, the price of food and the price of everything has shot up, so my contribution has doubled from what I've been sending there to support.
Glenn: How many years have you been in Charlotte?
Germain: Eight years.
Glenn: In those eight years, I'm sure you've met a lot of Haitians or those with Haitian roots. What are they telling you about their families?
Germain: Those that live outside in the provinces, life is pretty normal for them because the gangs haven't made their way there. But I do know of people that have had family members that's been kidnapped. One friend of mine, their relative was kidnapped and they had to put up almost $300,000 just to get the relative back. Another friend, their relative was kidnapped but the ransom was pretty low and they were able to come back within a couple of days.
Glenn: And you know, we only see what's happening in Port-au-Prince mainly where a lot of the unrest is happening. What about the rest of the country?
Germain: So there's an area called Las Cayes, which is where my dad’s side of the family is from. Prior to everything going on, the city was thriving, the same thing with Okap/Cap-Haitien. But again, the economy is making it very difficult for them to fully flourish as were previously.
Glenn: Haiti has a new interim prime minister, Fritz Belizaire, and hopefully things will get back to normal for people in your family there. But let's let's shift and talk about the big festival that's coming up for Haitian Flag Day. Tell us about the significance of Flag Day.
Germain: Well, the flag itself is a representation of our freedom from the colonizers, from France and the beautiful thing is that the flag was created as a mark of freedom before we actually got our independence. The flag was created in 1803. We got our independence in 1804.
Glenn: And Haitians around the world will be celebrating on May 18, Haitian Flag Day. Tell us, how will the celebration kick off here on Saturday in Charlotte?
Germain: So it's going to be taking place at Project 658 on Central Avenue and it's not just for Haitians. It's for folks that obviously like culture and want to learn about the culture. So, we'll have a series of workshops. One of them is Creole 101, teaching folks the basics of the language. We’re known for the food.
Glenn: Dishes like what?
Germain: So folks call it black rice but its real name is Djon Djon. It's actually made from mushrooms that are grown in Haiti. We’re also known for the way that we cook our meats. It's literally love in your mouth. Another dish that we have is a fish dish, but for those that are vegan, we also have something called legume which is like a mixture of vegetables. It's amazing. So we definitely want to obviously highlight the fact that, you know, we're not in the best place as a country, but we definitely do want to highlight that. There's a lot of great things that still happening in the country.
Yvens Germain is cofounder of the Charlotte Haitian Professional Network and an organizer of the Haitian Flag Day Festival on Central Avenue, Saturday at Project 658 from 3 to 7 p.m.
