WYCLEF IN CONCERT: PROMOTING HAITI'S FUTURE

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 002337

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TAGS: PGOV SOCI KHIV HA
SUBJECT: WYCLEF IN CONCERT: PROMOTING HAITI'S FUTURE


1. Wyclef Jean, Haiti's most prominent celebrity and public
figure, held a free concert for more than 20,000 people
December 1 in Jacmel, a southern coastal city about 3 hours
from Port-au-Prince. The crowd, hemmed in between the beach
on one side and a concrete wall on the other, extended for
miles along Jacmel Bay. They arrived long before the concert
and stood shoulder-to-shoulder for hours. Jean finally
appeared on stage at 2330, riding a horse and accompanied by
a man dressed as Jean Jacques Dessalines, Haiti's founding
father. During the four hour concert, he spent most of his
time speaking to the crowd, sending anti-kidnapping messages
and reminders that Haitians alone are responsible for the
state of their country, including the violence and trash in
the streets. His musical performance was limited to a few
songs, one with a well-known Haitian singer and another with
street kids from the Port-au-Prince slum Belair, who learned
to rap as part of Jean's outreach in Haiti's slums. The
concert concluded the Jacmel Film Festival organized by Yele
Haiti, Jean's non-profit organization which promotes the arts
as a vehicle for change.


2. Also in Jacmel, Wyclef attended a town hall discussion on
World AIDS Day. He advocated for safe sex, frequent HIV
tests and awareness about the disease. "How many people in
this audience do not have HIV/AIDS?" he asked, and when all
hands went up, he further inquired, "How many of you have
been tested in the last two months?" When all hands went
down, his point was clear that most people in the room could
not be certain. He also explained to the audience the reason
he brought a film festival and a concert to Jacmel, instead
of other much-needed basic services: he believes that the
arts can make a positive difference in the lives of the
Haitians, most of whom do not have access to such
entertainment.


3. Jean, a Haitian citizen resident in New York, describes
Yele Haiti as a movement to empower the people of Haiti and
the diaspora to help make the country a better place. In
addition to his other programs in Haiti like street cleaning,
distributing food and promoting education for all, Jean
announced a new initiative, in partnership with Canada, to
promote artisan handicrafts in Jacmel. He also intends to
build a resort on Haiti's northern island, Ile de la Tortue.


4. Comment: Jean elicits uncontainable excitement,
incomparable to any other public figure, from Haitians both
for his rise to stardom from a poor neighborhood outside of
Port-au-Prince and for the positive international attention
he brings to Haiti. Upon arriving several hours late in
Jacmel, Jean -- who was earlier the guest of honor at a
dinner hosted by President Preval -- was met by thousands of
jubilant Haitians, who ran through the streets chasing his
motorbike, celebrating the home-coming of their star.
TIGHE