Solid’Ayiti presents a panel discussion with writer Jean Saint-Vil & members of Nomadic Massive on education in Haiti in the reconstruction era
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As Haiti approaches the one year anniversary of the devastating earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince last winter, Solid’Ayiti invites you to a panel discussion at Concordia University in Montreal that will focus on the struggle to build and support accessible public education in Haiti.
Specifically this event will focus on Nomadic Massive’s October 2010 trip to Haiti to work with the Haitian NGO APROSIFA (Association pour la promotion de la santé intégrale de la famille) who, with the support of Alternatives, invited the Montreal-based hip hop super group Nomadic Massive to Port Au Prince to conduct arts workshops with young aspiring artists living in the neighborhood of Carrefour-Feuilles. As an exercise both in empowerment and healing, the week of workshops resulted in a unique and powerful learning experience for both Nomadic Massive and the participants.
As part of this event Solid’Ayiti will also present an excerpt of a documentary in progress titled ‘The Future of Haiti’ via Nomadic Wax.
Solid’Ayiti will also present Jafrikayiti (Jean Saint-Vil) to speak broadly on the present and historical struggle in Haiti to create viable public educational institutions rooted in Haitian struggles for self-determination throughout the past centuries since Haiti’s 1804 revolution that overthrew French colonialism.
presentations by
* Jean Saint Vil – Jafrikayiti
Jafrikayiti (Jean Saint-Vil) was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 1967 and regularly publishes writings on Haitian history and culture. At this event Jafrikayiti will offer commentary and reflections on the current struggle in Haiti to create accessible and national education projects rooted in Haitian history and culture.
Jafrikayiti is co-founder of organizations AKASAN (Ayisyen ki ap soutni Ayisyen nètalkole) and Jaku Konbit which work in Haiti to empower the grassroots following the principles popularized by Marcus Garvey. In Ottawa Jafrikayiti regularly hosts two radio programs: Bouyon-Rasin at the University of Ottawa’s CHUO 89.1fm and Rendez-vous Haitien at Carleton University’s CKCU 93.1fm, while has been widely featured as a commentator on Haitian affairs, regularly joining CBC and recently Democracy Now!. Currently Jean Saint Vil is the Director for Policy and International Relations at the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
* Nantali Indongo
Nantali Indongo, aka I am Black Girl, will speak on Nomadic Massive’s October 2010 trip to Port Au Prince, Haiti to conduct arts workshops with young aspiring artists living in the neighborhood of Carrefour-Feuilles. Indongo an artist with Nomadic Massive is also an alternative educator using hip-hop culture as a contemporary educational tool, Indongo co-founded the “Hip-Hop No Pop” program with Maryse Legagneur and has been invited to tour high-schools and CEGEP campuses and teach workshops on more relevant topics to youth today, including the history of hip-hop and language. Nantali Indongo studied literature at the University of Ottawa, got a graduate certificate in journalism from Humber College and sits on the governing board of the Maison des jeunes de la Côte-des-Neiges while contributing to CBC radio Montreal.
* Vox Sambou
Vox Sambou will speak on the Solid’Ayiti initiative in Montreal and Nomadic Massive’s recent trip to Port-au-Prince, Haiti with four members of Nomadic Massive and Magee McIlvaine (international filmmaker-Nomadic Wax) to conduct Hip Hop workshops with marginalized youth in the Carrefour-Feuilles neighborhood. In Haiti Vox also delivered computers and school supplies donated by the McGill University Faculty of Education to Lycée Jean-Baptiste Cinéas in Limbé, Vox’s hometown.
A founding member of the international crew Nomadic Massive, Vox Sambou released a critically acclaimed first solo album, Lakay, in 2008 and on World AIDS Day in December 2009, launched his third video, DiscriminaSida, which highlights the struggle against AIDS in Haiti. Vox Sambou has been critically involved in building solidarity between artists in Montreal and grassroots community projects in Haiti, particularly in Limbé. He is a co-founder of Solid’Ayiti, an initiative of artists and activists in Montreal created in the wake of the catastrophic earthquake that has left tens-of-thousands of Haitians dead, whose mission is to build long-term solidarity between people in Montreal and Haiti around the pillars of self-sufficiency, independence, social justice and peace.
* co-sponsored by
CKUT Radio
Alternatives
CitizenShift
Nomadic Massive
Education Graduate Student Society (EGSS) – McGill University
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Solid’Ayiti is an initiative of artists and activists in Montreal working to build long-term solidarity between people in Montreal and movements for social justice in Haiti. Solid’Ayiti works to promote self-sufficiency, education, decentralization and reforestation.
email: info(at)solidayiti.ca
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