Cars can’t drive any further, people all around block the way, kids gathered in front of the community house, excited and happy; ‘‘what’s happening and why is everybody look so happy?’’; this is the question that lots of people living in the area were asking. From afar you have to admit that something interesting was really happening, people were gathering on their roof tops, employees from J/P HRO were wearing their J/P t-shirts and hats and were spread all around the street. Up the hill and down, on both sides, there was a huge crowd.
‘‘Wanito m vle parenn, ou met pran parenn en en’’, kids and even old people were singing some words from the chorus of a well-known pop star in Haiti, called by his musician’s name ‘‘Wanito’’. He was invited by the community center manager Irina Polak to sing on top of the roof of the community house at this important occasion.
The inauguration of the new community center took place in the afternoon at around 3: 30 PM. Even though it had not been fully announced at the local press or newspapers, it was packed, the only place left for cars to park was far down the street a good ways from the community house.
‘‘You should get off the car and get into the crowd to see what’s going on’’, trying to wave at me so hard, an employee from J/P helped me get in front of the crowd. At the rhythm of the song, I shook my head from left to right and after each shake I moved deeper into the crowd and eventually found myself in the front where I met Wanito. I had the opportunity to ask him some questions and he was more than happy to answer them.
‘‘What do you think about the work that the organization has been doing for the young people in the community center?’’ That was the first question that I asked Wanito.
“The reasons of my presence here is to support the good work and to thank J/P HRO for helping my community since after the earthquake a lot of young people didn’t find financial support to learn anything but with the programs of this organization, many young people have been granted a scholarship and can learn a profession’’.
Wanito was speaking with an air of hope and pride, but it was not easy to read on his face this kind of non-verbal message that was being communicated as he spoke softly and nodded in agreement at the end of each sentence he pronounced.
After five minutes, Wanito had gone but another branch of the program was going to keep us frozen, it was the dance and theater time from the community center’s talented young people. Those young talented people spent about twenty minutes dancing and without stopping another group acted on a play. They described on the play the reality of what’s happening in the Haitian society. It was so funny that I burst into laughing, people from a twenty-steps-distance were shouting: ‘‘ban nou li anko, anko, anko’’, which means: ‘‘once more time, again, again, again. Give it to us again’’.
Now that the Community Center is wide open to the young Haitian people, we can definitely predict that the community house will soon become a place too small to receive all the young Haitian people since it is considered as «The center of developing and supporting young talented Haitian people.
Congratulations and keep up the good work ‘‘Dear Community Center Leaders’’!!!
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