whatchusay?! ::: Welcome to Haiti Creole 101

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WhatchuTHINK: mine your mind

FORWARDEVER MEDIA CENTER

Writer Alex Haley writing The Autobiography of Malcolm X with Brother Malcolm.

"The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses."
- Malcolm X

Mission

The Forwardever Media Center is 100% committed to providing unconventional writing workshops and media literacy training to "at-risk" Black youth, particularly males, ages 14 through 24. Working in partnership with The Mentoring Center in Oakland, CA., the Center's writing workshops, website internship, and film forums, help students develop critical thinking skills and discover their creative talents. We recruit youth for our programs from the California Youth Authority (the state's largest prison for youth) as well as from universities and high schools. This cross-pollination of young minds creates dynamic shared experiences.

Programs

Whatchusay Cinema–A monthly film forum hosted at schools or community centers in Northern California that explores issues such as race, class, gender, and society. Students are joined by a panel of activists, educators, athletes, entrepreneurs, etc. to rate the films and convene roundtable discussions about corresponding relevant issues in society. For info about film screenings and schedules contact: cheo@whatchusay.com

Writing Workshops–We offer intensive seminars in journalism, creative writing, cultural criticism, new media, film production, etc. These seminars are taught at the center, located at 1224 Preservation Park, Oakland, CA, 94612. They are also available on location, at schools, community and detention centers, churches, etc. For info about class schedules contact: cheo@whatchusay.com

Internships–Whatchusay.com offers competitive internships to young writers who have clearly demonstrated a passion for the craft of writing or media production. The 3-month internship covers news writing and reporting, feature writing, creative writing, media literacy and new media. Working in partnership with community based organizations, universities and international and national media outlets, we produce a pipeline of informed journalists of color who will go on to create their own independent media organizations or work for major media organizations.

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Welcome to Haiti Creole 101

REVIEW

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Sooner or later, every artist has gotta do it. Throw caution (and record sales) to the wind and drop an album for his peeps. Luckily, for Jean, this tribute album, which is sung almost entirely in his mother tongue of Haitian Creole, delivers. Jean raps and wails over traditional Creole beats like Konpa, Zouk and Rara while reinventing (a Creole "La Bamba"), rabble-rousing (the incendiary "President") and representing ("Lavi New York"). With cannon beats and hooky guitar licks, this is infectious music. Listen and try to sit still. Grade: A-
- Cheo Tyehimba

IN BRIEF

Rome, December 14 - WFP has released a music video by Haitian singer/songwriter Wyclef Jean, who visited flood-stricken parts of Haiti in October, and whose new song ‘Gonaives' seeks to raise awareness and support for thousands of people still recovering from the devastation.

041102_Haiti Wyclef singing WFP-Care distirbution Gonaives Alejandro Chicheri.jpg

During his recent visit to Haiti, the Grammy-award winner visited WFP projects, where he witnessed the critical need for food aid and other assistance for those still reeling from their tragic loss of life and possessions.

Last September, tropical storm Jeanne caused massive floods in Haiti, killing at least 2,000 people and bringing the country to its knees.

HAITI CONTACT GROUP MEETING

The new music video is being released ahead of the Haiti Contact Group meeting, hosted by The World Bank in Washington D.C, where Wyclef Jean will speak and perform.

The one-day meeting, on December 15th, brings together the World Bank, the IMF, UN agencies, donors and special interest groups.

"There's a lot of different organisations doing different things, but I like to see with my own eyes, and when I see what the World Food Programme is doing in Haiti, I think it's something that the world just needs to know about," said Wyclef, who helped WFP workers unload heavy bags of food aid during his October trip.

"GONAIVES" - NOT A SONG OF SADNESS

Written in his native Creole, the music video's song "Gonaives" takes its name from the Haitian city (the country's third largest) which was submerged and heavily damaged during the floods.

The video shows Wyclef chatting with ordinary Haitians, distributing relief food, and giving weakened people clean water to drink. At many points, he breaks into song, hoping his words and music will inspire those facing a life of suffering and hardship.

"Gonaives… my heart is being torn apart, too many mothers have lost too many children," Wyclef sang in Creole, while distributing WFP food rations in Gonaives.

Despite the initial sad lines in the song, Wyclef insists that "the song is not a song of sadness."

"What we wanted to do was capture the raw essence of Gonaives and what we saw during the floods… give people a sense of inspiration. Not like ‘oh, be sad for us' but how can we as people really help Gonaives," explained Wyclef.

WEST'S POOREST COUNTRY

WFP is currently feeding more than 600,000 people in Haiti, 100,000 of them flood victims.

The poorest country in the western hemisphere, Haiti ranks 153 out of 177 countries on the UNDP Human Development Index. More than three quarters of Haiti's population live on less than US$2 a day.

Chronic malnutrition is rampant, and severe to moderate stunting affects 42 percent of children under the age of five.

In addition to relief assistance, WFP's projects in Haiti focus on four sectors: school feeding; malnourished children, pregnant and nursing mothers; agricultural rehabilitation and emergency preparedness.

YELE HAITI

The World Bank Haiti Contact Group meeting, where Wyclef will speak about pilot projects for development in Haiti, will include a round table discussion with WFP participation.

041102_Wyclef Haiti WFP truck Anne Poulsen.jpg

Wyclef also recently launched a movement called "Yéle Haiti" which focuses on education, entrepreneurship, community development, health and the environment. The websites of both Yéle Haiti and WFP are listed at the end of the music video, for viewers interested in providing support to the country's flood victims.