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Haiti children soccer team ill treated and returned home because of stigma of the “diseased Haitians.” Sign this petition which details how “Jamaican officials unfairly forced the Haitian team to forfeit their place in the tournament due to the illness of two of their players. The entire Haitian delegation was sequestered, humiliated, subjected to armed escort, and ordered to leave the Jamaican territory. (Haiti team report of the incident.)

The petition urges boycott of Jamaica for this gross mistreatment of children athletes who worked so hard to earn a place at the tournament. The petition condemns Jamaica’s treatment of the Haitian delegation participating in the February 2011 World Cup qualifiers and demands that Jamaica be barred from hosting any official CONCACAF and FIFA games until they apologize to the players, the delegation and the Republic of Haiti for their unfair and discriminatory actions. (Go to – Overview and Letter.)

Below is a message written in Kreyòl, also taking exception to the treatment of these young Haiti athletes by Jamaica soccer and government authorities.

Ti Jamayik : Se lakay nou egzamp libète te bay, Padone n, si listwa n fè plis eko pase paw

Mwen ka konprann ou imilyenn, ou manke manman Ayiti dega paske malgre tout konplo yo fè sou do l, se li ki rete pi bèl fanm nan Karayib la e se li ki gen plis gason kap mache dèyè l.

Ou pat bezwen montre jalouzi w la aklè konsa. Se pa nou ki lakoz si se lakay nou egzamp libète te bay. Se paske nou pat konn jwe ak diyiten. Se lakay nou nèg kanson fè, nèg ki konn brave lanmò te egziste.

Malgre tout konplo yo te fè pou yo te retire manje nan plat nou, ti kal nou te rete a, nou te simayel tout kote, bay lamerik latin, bay nou menm nan Karayib la, bay menm lèzetazini, bèt ti memwa ki pa janm aksepte non sèlman nou te ede l nan Savana men tou nou te bay menm egzanp libète sa lakay li e li te blije pran leson.

Alo, m ka konprann ou ti Jamayik, lè w aji konsa. Lè moun egri pa gen anyen yo pa fè, pa gen zak yo pa poze.

Men, sonje byen, kreyon listwa pa gen gom. Na kwaze nan menm ti chimen jennen an. Lè sa, wa wè si se vre gen chwal malen. Padone n, si listwa n fè plis eko pase pa w. Si yo pa t fè n favè pou n te jwen n lendepandans, si pase nou se gwo souflèt pou nou menm nan Karayib la, se pa fot nou se paske se lakay nou sèlman ki ka donnen nonm ak fanm tankou:

Papa Desalin,
Chalmay Peral,
Anteno Fimen,
Henri Kristof,
Masiyon Kwakou,
Sanit Bèlè,
Leyoni Kwakou- Madyou!

Kisa yo pa fè nou pou yo fè n peye kalte souflèt nou te fout Lafrans nan dyòl li ak pi gwo lame l la, lame Napoleyonyen nan. Kisa yo pa fè pou yo toupizi n poutèt nou te di, nou te jire nou pap janm viv tankou bèt anko, poutèt nou te di nou se yon gran pèp se pou sa nou ka fè gwo bagay, se pou sa nou ka ekri libète an wouj nan figi yo pou yo pa janm bliye.

Voye je w, wa wè sa yo fè n deja!

Yo antre anndan kay nou nan lespri pou yo vin efase listwa sa, kalte souflèt sa, yo simaye ladivizyon nan pote relijyon, demokrasi ak manje pèpè ba nou.

Yo fè tout sa yo kapab, pou fè nou tonbe nan sa nou ye jodi a, nan chen manje chen
sa.

Wi, ti Jamayik, ou gen rezon derespekte nou konsa, pase diyite nou anba pye, paske nou te bliye kiyès nou! Wi pèp Ayisyen, nou pèd memwa, se akoz iresponsabliten ki fè jodi a, Papa Desalin ka resevwa kalte kout chenn sa a li te kase lèl te met yon bout nan lesklavaj, nan rèl do n. Si nou patap pede goumen youn ak lot pou ti kal enterè poch nou, sin te sispan zafè chen manje chen sa, chire pit sa ki pap mennen nou okenn kote, jodi a se pa kado sa nou ta bay Manman nou Ayiti.

Genlè nou avèg. Pouki nou pa ka wè fos nou se nan linyon, nan men nan men, nan volonte poun viv youn ak lot li chita? Pouki nou bliye kalte mati nou pase anba moun sa yo, yo menm kap rele tet yo peyi zanmi Ayiti, se pou yo lolo nou pou yo ka rive lala nou, nou konnen byen moun sa yo pap janm renmen nou.

Pa bliye lè yo te antre vin nan peyi a an demil kat, premye sa yo te fè se al met drapo yo tout kote nou te fout yo gwo pataswèl tankou nan no, nan vètyè, moun sa yo ap toujou vle vanje e pou yo fè sa, yap toujou ka itilize peyi souf nan tyou tankou jamayik, ki te blije ranpe pou yo te dil endepandan.

Alo, pouki nou refize fè yon sèl, ann sonje byen, an 1803, lè nou te ini nou, malgre se te pou yon ti bout tan, nou te wè sa sa te fè. Nou te kraze pwojè gwo chabrak yo te genyen pou monn la. Nou te kraze lesklavaj, nou te souflete kolonizasyon.

Dat yap fèn goumen, depi 1804. Jodi a, ann eseye yon lot bagay. Ann eseye lanmou. Ann apran sispan ennmi youn pou lot. Ann bay lanmen san ipokrizi, tout bon vre, ann bliye, tout diferans sosyal, pou nou fè linyon, pou ti Jamayik souf nan tyou, restavek pa janm pèmèt li anko, pou li leve tèt gaden paske se lakay nou nègès ak nèg ak karaktè donnen tankou fèy lougawou.

Ann pa bliye, yo destabilizen, yo brenwoch tèt tout ayisyen, yo fè nou bliye pale kreyol, yo bann tanbleman de tè, yo fout nou kolera, men pi gwo sezisman yo fè,yo wè yo paka fini ak nou, paske san kap koule nan venn nou, se san papa Desalin, nèg djanm,ann met tèt nou ansanm pou nou refè yon lot 1804.

Se pa pale mta pale konsa ti jamayik, men ou fout pèmèt, ou leve plim sou do tout patriyot konsekan ki pa mache nan lojik pou menm prete manman Ayiti, vwa ta vann li, ou dwol anpil. Gadew byen, gad fanm byen banda sa yo rele Ayiti toma sa a, wa fè la diferans!

Alo padon Jamayik si malgre tout pwoblèm lakay, nou rete peyi kote tout moun ap goumen pou volè yon ti moso, souple sista, pa kite jalouzi fè san montew.

Si listwa paw pa ekri an majiskil, si depi yo di Karayib, se Ayiti yo wè an premye, se pa fot nou non sista, se grenn plen nou ye, nou pa konn pè je pou nou vale tèt.

Mswete la pwochenn fwa ou reflechi anvan ou menm sonje manyen pèp sa, paske tout moun konnen manyen Pèp Ayisyen se antre nan gè avèk Granmèt! Nou tèlman renmen ede, se pou tèt sa naksepte mete n piti pou ti pa anyen tankou yon Jamayik ka yon fwa nan vil vin sipèsta. Konsidere afwon sa tankou yon kado, pasken konpann apre sa pa gen anyen anko lakay ou, alo fwa sa, selman, fwa sa nou baw chans pou nonw ka antre nan listwa tankou yon pèp ki bay egzanp libète a sou tout fas tè a yon souflèt! Bravo ti jamayik souf nan tyou men pa bliye, nou pretew men nou pa few kado!

Tulipe Noire
20 fevriye 2011, 3ze1 nan maten

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Haitian anger – rage after U-17 football team sent home

Baugh admits Haitian situation could have been handled differently

BY COREY ROBINSON Observer staff reporter robinsonc@jamaicaobserver.com
Source: Jamaica observer | February 21, 2011

THE Ministry of Foreign Affairs will today meet with Haitian officials in an effort to soothe growing anger over complaints that members of the French-speaking Caribbean country’s Under-17 football team were ill-treated after local doctors found that several of them had malaria during the early stages of the CONCACAF championships now on in Montego Bay.

The meeting comes as an Internet petition condemning the incident and calling for a boycott of Jamaica gains momentum.

“Haiti has arranged for three officials who are involved to come to Jamaica to meet with us; myself and Minister (Olivia) Grange,”€ Dr Kenneth Baugh, minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, told the Observer yesterday. “The minister of foreign affairs in Haiti is aware of the team [of persons coming]; she and I have had discussions twice, and she has approved the visit. We are anxious to see what the results are going to be.”€

According to an Observer source, fears about a potential cholera outbreak escalated after several of the Haitian players, who arrived in Jamaica earlier this month to compete in the tournament, fell ill. Others had symptoms including fever and headaches. Eight of the players were tested and three were found to have malaria. They were slated to be admitted at the Cornwall Regional Hospital, but there were no beds there, the source said.

As a precautionary measure, the team was to be quarantined. But after a day of waiting inside the hospital’s emergency ward, the Haitian coach got angry, left the hospital, and returned to the hotel at which the team was staying, the Observer was told. He was later allegedly handcuffed and forcefully removed from the hotel by representatives from the Ministry of Health, who had quarantined the sick players at the Falmouth hospital between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning last week.

The decision was later made to send them home between Thursday and Friday via private jet.

Yesterday, Baugh described the incident as a “misunderstanding”€, and sought to quell allegations of discrimination against the team.

But hundreds of irate Haitians protested in that Caribbean country over the weekend, and T h e Associated Press reported that Yves Jean Bart, president of the Haitian Football Federation, called on FIFA, world football’s governing body, to sanction Jamaica.

“This is an outrage. They think that all Haitians are diseased,”€ Bart said during the march Saturday, which drew about 1,500 people. “They have been training for two years, and now they’ve been eliminated. They want to play, they want to win. They forced us to leave, but we will keep practising.”€

Jhon Miky Benchy Estama, the Haitian team’s 16-year-old captain, said he was depressed by his experience in Jamaica, his first trip off the island of Hispaniola.

“We all felt very sad because we worked so hard to get there. I think it was very unfair,”€ he said as he gathered with his teammates after the protest broke up.

Magalie Comeau Denis, one of the organisers of the rally and special adviser to Haiti’s Ministry of Culture and Communication, said she planned to urge Haitians to boycott Jamaican products.

“We won”€™t allow Jamaica to humiliate us and especially our children,”€ she said. “It’s a matter of the stigmatisation of Haiti.”€

The incident was also widely reported in the international media over the weekend, and on Friday Haitian government officials confirmed that the Chargé d”€™Affaires at the Haitian embassy in Jamaica, Max Alce, had been recalled for consultation and that on February 17, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had dispatched a protest note to the Jamaican authorities.

Up to late yesterday afternoon, 319 persons had also signed a petition started by a Nadeve Menard on the website Change.org, demanding that the Jamaican Government apologise to the Haitian team, and that the country be barred from hosting the competition until the incident is resolved.

The petition read: “The Haitian delegation, the majority of which was comprised of the adolescent players, was ostracised and humiliated by Jamaican authorities. Such behaviour is not acceptable and is a violation of the delegation’s human rights, as well as a violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. They (Haitians) were not accused of any crime or of being in the country illegally. Please join us in demanding that Jamaican authorities apologise to the Haitian delegation and the Republic of Haiti.”€

Most of the comments on the site were written in Haitian creole. However, those in English called for unity among Haitians in their condemnation of the incident.

“How dare you take a child’s dream away. Shame on you! They have rights too,”€ wrote Michele Duguay.

“We need to make these people stop doing these things to us. I love my country and I will fight for it till I die. Haitians need to start thinking like me now, now, now,”€ added Fabrice Menard.

But Baugh, even while admitting that the situation could have been handled differently, and that Jamaica could have been more diplomatic, said the team was quarantined only as a precautionary measure until relevant blood tests and other investigations were completed.

He said the quarantine was not only in the interest of Jamaica, but also for the other players”€™ safety.

“Looking back, the possibility exists that they would have easily misunderstood the intentions, considering the situation that they are coming out of. They have suffered a lot recently and because of that they feel that people discriminate against them. They were young players, and because they were young players they probably didn”€™t understand the process that was taking place,”€ said Baugh.

He said Jamaica has been very friendly with Haiti throughout their difficulties.

“There is a difference between how I perceive the Haitians deal with malaria and how we deal with it,”€ he added. “A case of malaria in Jamaica is actively dealt with, meaning that the person is admitted in hospital, treated, and then tested to make sure he is free before he is allowed to go back home. In Haiti, apparently they give them three days”€™ treatment, they are ambulatory sometimes, and then they are followed up in that respect. It is a matter of the process and the process can be frustrating at times.”€

Baugh added that the team’s doctor in Haiti knew about the malaria cases and had written prescriptions for antimalaria medications, which were to be filled in Jamaica.

However, a pharmacy in Montego Bay declined to fill the prescriptions as the doctor was not registered in Jamaica.

The players arrived in Jamaica earlier this month to compete in the tournament, which will determine the four CONCACAF teams to advance to the 2011 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Mexico this summer. The team had only played one of its scheduled matches, losing to Costa 0 3-1.

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