'Friendship Games' to bring Haitian and Dominican youth together

'The State of the World's Children 2011 – Adolescence: An Age of Opportunity,' UNICEF’s new flagship report, focuses on the development and rights of more than a billion children aged 10 to 19 worldwide. This series of stories, essays and multimedia features seeks to accelerate and elevate adolescents' fight against poverty, inequality and gender discrimination.

By Thomas Nybo

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, 29 March 2011 – Soccer is being used as a way to foster friendship and understanding between children in the neighbouring countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

VIDEO: UNICEF's Thomas Nybo reports on a 'friendship games' sporting event organized to bridge the divide between Haitian and Dominican youth. Watch in RealPlayer The UNICEF-supported event – organized by the Haitian and Dominican Olympic Committees – will take place this June in two cities on both sides of the border. During the games, fans will be allowed to travel freely between the two countries. UNICEF adolescent consultant Gilbert Buteau says it’s an opportunity for both sets of youth to realize they share many similarities and “can actually be friends and enjoy, pretty much, the same things.” © UNICEF Haiti/2011/Dormino Children train in Port-au-Prince for 'The Friendship Games', a series of cross-border sporting events that will take place this June between Haitian and Dominican children. “Even if there are some barriers, like the language,” he says, “the love for some sports is pretty much the same on both sides of the border." A big turnout The games will involve as many as 500 young athletes. Everyone – spectators and athletes alike – will also be offered workshops in HIV/AIDS, child-protection issues and health awareness, with particular emphasis on preventing the spread of cholera. Mr. Buteau says he expects a big turnout, with up to 20,000 people attending to participate or watch. It is anticipated at least half of them will be under the age of 18. Pierre Ernst, 11, has been playing soccer for the past five years. He's never travelled beyond Port-au-Prince, and is looking forward to representing his country. "I'm excited to play with the Dominicans, to show what Haitians are capable of and to show the whole country how much we can accomplish," he says during a break between practice matches in a field on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. Mr. Buteau adds that given the sometimes tumultuous history between the two neighbours, ‘The Friendship Games’ offers a new approach. © UNICEF Haiti/2011/Dormino 'The Friendship Games' aim to foster friendship and understanding between Haitians and Dominicans. Here, youths practise in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. “The idea is that there needs to be somehow an event bringing people together, especially the youth and the children,” he says. “What better way than sport?" Bridging the divide Even though Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the same island, language and formidable cultural barriers persist. ‘The Friendship Games’ have been designed with the aim of helping bridge that divide, says Ricardo Noelizaire of the Haitian Olympic Committee. "What people should understand about ‘The Friendship Games’ is that it is a very small way to change the people's mentality," Mr. Noelizaire says. It is hoped that improving relations through such methods will help the two countries better tackle shared problems such as child trafficking and the plight of ‘restaveks’– children who are sent away to be domestic servants for host families. "Dialogue sometimes is very difficult,” Mr. Noelizaire adds. “But through the games, watching kids from the Haitian side and the Dominican side hug each other, help each other to stand up, understand each other, eat together –  this is the future of this island."

It is part of ‘The Friendship Games’, which also includes cross-border events in volleyball, basketball, judo, chess and other activities

Les chanceliers dominicain et colombien attendus à Port-au-Prince

Motif officiel de la visite : planification d’une réunion du Conseil de sécurité des Nations Unies sur l’aide aux victimes du séisme/Les chanceliers rencontreront séparément les 2 candidats à la présidence

Les chanceliers dominicain et colombien Carlos Morales Troncoso et Maria Angela Holguin, sont attendus mercredi à Port-au-Prince où ils doivent avoir des discussions avec le président René Préval et le premier ministre Jean Max Bellerive autour d’une réunion du Conseil de sécurité des Nations Unies sur l’aide aux victimes du tremblement de terre du 12 janvier 2010. Ladite réunion doit être dirigée par le président colombien Juan Manuel Santos, annonce le quotidien dominicain Listin Diario.
Les deux chanceliers doivent profiter de l’occasion pour rencontrer séparément les deux candidats à la présidence, Mirlande Hyppolite Manigat (RDNP) et Michel Joseph Martelly (Repons Peyizan). Le journal dominicain ne précise pas le menu des discussions séparées qu’ils auront avec les deux candidats à la veille de la publication des résultats préliminaires du deuxième tour des élections législatives et présidentielles.
La publication de ces résultats suscite des appréhensions dans divers milieux en raison des éventuels troubles politiques et sociaux qui pourraient en découler, compte tenu de la polarisation marquée des forces politiques regroupées autour des candidats à la présidence et aux législatives. Des rumeurs sur la manipulation éventuelle de l’expression populaire au profit de l’un des deux candidats à la présidence alimentent ces appréhensions. [jmd/Radio Kiskeya]

Caribbean quake shakes Dominican Republic

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, Wednesday March 16, 2011 – A 5.3 magnitude earthquake shook the Dominican Republic this morning just days after experts warned that the country is at risk of experiencing a quake similar to the one that hit neighbouring Haiti last year.
There were no immediate reports of major damage or injury, however.
The quake, which hit around 9:37 am about 77 miles east north east of La Romana, Dominican Republic at a depth of 0.6 km (0.4 miles), was measured at 5.3 magnitude by the Santo Domingo State University’s UASD Seismology Institute. The US Geological Survey initially put it at 5.0.
The Associated Press last week reported that Columbia University researchers had warned that the Dominican Republic could be hit by an earthquake similar to the 7.0 magnitude tremor that devastated Haiti in January 2010.
“The next event of this type will probably occur on the other side of the island (Hispaniola)," said the university’s Urban Design Lab director Richard Plunz, who led the investigation. "It could generate very serious damages in the long term.”
Plunz and the rest of the researchers are to meet with President Leonel Fernandez at the end of next month in Santo Domingo to apprise him of their findings.
Worries of earthquakes in the region and calls for the Caribbean and Latin America to get themselves earthquake ready have been heightened since last Friday’s 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
“Tragedies of this magnitude, triggering tsunami warnings across the entire Pacific and numerous other countries, underscore the importance of like-minded states collaborating in the vital area of disaster mitigation and preparedness,” acting CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite said after the disaster that killed thousands and damaged a nuclear plant.

Roberto and mom and band robbed at gunpoint in Domican Republic

Roberto Martino just got rob at gun point in DR. The Tvice lead singer guitarist just left  a restaurant with his mom, Jay Brooklin, Ti tambou when a guy on a motorcycle draw a gun on them. Roberto was robbed of his 16G  rolex watch and cash, La madre's purse with credit card money and cash wasp taken. T Tambou and Jay Brooklin also was search also at gun point. " he happened so fast that no one could nit even react " said Roberto. He said he is grateful that no harm was done and he is alive. Ironically, Roberto was the one warning his bandmade James Cardozo to be careful the night before because he was wearing his Cariter late at night. A police report was filled
                        From Haitianbeatz.com

Deportees struggle in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti | With his gold teeth, shiny earrings and a life spent mostly in Florida, Serge Michel Dorval is afraid he looks like a rich American to some of the desperate Haitians who live near him in a shantytown alongside a trash-clogged drainage ditch.

It’s a fear that keeps him up at night.

But the 25-year-old is not an American, at least not to the U.S. Government , which deported him and 26 others back to the country of their birth in January in the first wave of forced removals since an earthquake last year destroyed much of the Haitian capital.

Twenty-six of the deportees have been convicted of crimes, and one was judged a national security threat.

Dorval speaks passable Creole, but he left Haiti as an infant and still is learning how to make his way in a devastated country where the vast majority of people have no job nor prospects of finding one.

Living in a tent, he misses hot showers and air conditioning. He misses his young son back in Fort Myers, Fla. He worries that his status as a deported criminal, imprisoned two years for cocaine possession, will make him a target of the police. And he wonders how he will survive.

“I wouldn’t wish Haiti on my worst enemy,” Dorval said outside the tent he shares with two others in a Port-au-Prince camp populated by thousands left homeless by last year’s cataclysmic earthquake. “I’m used to being treated like a human being, but a human life has absolutely zero value in Haiti.”

Dorval’s misery will soon have company. The U.S. government, which halted deportations to Haiti for a year after the earthquake, plans to deport another 700 convicted criminals back to the country this year, said Barbara Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She declined to say when they would be deported, citing security rules.

Hundreds of thousands of people from Mexico, Colombia, El Salvador,Jamaica and other nations have been deported to homelands they barely knew since 1996, when Congress mandated that every noncitizen sentenced to a year or more in prison be booted from the country upon release.

Immigration advocates have pleaded for a halt to the Haiti deportations, citing “inhumane conditions” in the country, where a cholera epidemic has killed more than 4,000 people since October.

                                                                                                              All credit to the Washington Times

Dominican Republic neighbor of the Haiti also at risk of an earthquake

The Dominican Republic is at risk of a of sustaining an earthquake similar to the one which devastated Haiti, warned to Monday a group of experts who will meet with president Leonel Fernandez next month, ecaribe.com.do reports. The Columbia University researchers told to The Associated Press that Santiago, with more than one million people and the country’s second biggest city, is at risk  a magnitude 8 earthquake, much stronger than the magnitude 7.0 that killed more than 200,000 Haitians in January last year.

“The next event of this type will probably occur on the other side of the island (Hispaniola)," said the university’s Urban Design Lab director Richard Plunz, who led the investigation. "It could generate very serious damages in the long term.”

Plunz and the rest of the researchers plan to meet with Fernandez at the end of April in Santo Domingo to apprise him of the find.

After Haiti’s quake, the President requested a seismological analysis of the Dominican Republic and a series of recommendations as to how best prepare the country for a disaster of that magnitude

    hope that wont happen 

Haitian economy down , Dominican getting richer

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - Officials in the Dominican Republic say the nation's exports to Haiti increased 35 percent last year due to the earthquake that hit the neighboring country.The Dominican Republic's investment promotion agency says official business with Haiti reached $869.6 million in 2010. That was nearly $225 million more than in 2009.Agency spokesman Eddy Martinez said Monday that new statistics show formal sales to Haiti represented nearly 16 percent of all Dominican exports in 2010. He says food exports shot up 94 percent and industrial exports, including construction equipment, increased 26 percent.
The January 2010 earthquake killed an estimated 300,000 people and left much of impoverished Haiti's capital in ruins.