2 Rasin (2 Roots) performing Timoun Yo

Timoun Yo, written by Mona Augustin about Haitian street children, is performed here in Kreyol by Mona, Welele, Ron, Nicole, Carla and Levy.

TIMOUN YO (lyrics)

Gad timoun nan lari yo
Y ap viv tankou zanimo
Pèsonn pa pran penn pou yo
Dirigan pa fè anyen pou yo
Paske se ed timoun sa yo
Ki fè yo antre gwo mago
Nan men etranje ki fè lacharite

Ref:
Timoun yo
Ede yo
Timoun yo
Ede yo

Si n pa vle yo fè sak dwòl
Fòk nou mete yo lekòl
Pou yo aprann li ak ekri
Demen pou yo gon meye vi
Si non nou k ap premyè viktim
Lè anpil nan yo ap fè krim
Mwen pa yon pwofèt
men m konnen sa ap fèt

Ref.

Timoun se lespwa de demen
Tanpri trete yo kòm imen
Sa yo ki rich ni sa k ki pòv
Yo dwe toujou jwenn lòv
Lòv, lòv, lòv, lòv..........

Gad timoun nan lari yo
Y ap viv tankou zanimo
Pèsonn pa pran penn pou yo
Dirijan pa fè anyen pou yo
Paske se ed timoun sa yo
Ki fè yo antre gwo mago
Nan men etranje ki fè lacharite

Ref.

THE CHILDREN (lyrics)

Look at the children in the streets
They’re living like animals
Nobody is caring for them
The politician aren’t doing anything for them
Because it’s the money the children bring in
Which gives them lots of loot
From the foreigners who are giving charity

Refrain:
The children
Help them
The children
Help them

If we don’t want them to do what’s wrong
We need to put them in school
So they can learn to read and write
Then they will have a better future
If not, we’ll be the first victims
When so many of them will become criminals
I’m not a prophet
But I know this will happen

Refrain

Children are the hope of tomorrow
Please treat them as humans
Those that are rich as well as those that are poor
They should all find love
Love, love, love, love

Look at the children in the streets
They’re living like animals
Nobody is caring for them
The politician aren’t doing anything for them
Because it’s the money the children bring in
Which gives them lots of loot
From the foreigners who are giving charity

Refrain

Music/text by: Mona Augustin 2005

Meet the Artists

Serge Jolimeau was born in June 1952 in Croix des Bouquets, Haiti near Port au Prince. He began his cut metal art career 35 years ago.










Jolimeau and about 10 apprentices and helpers, three of whom are pictured here, can craft nearly anything out of recycled 55 gallon metal oil drums. A dozen of his pieces will be on display and for sale at Kafe Kiskeya.
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G. W. "Herbie" Marshall (right) was born in August 1961 in Jacmel, Haiti. He started working in papier mache 18 years ago. He uses recycled cardboard and brown paper sacks, and other locally found and produced materials. He is pictured here with Beyond Borders staff, Tim Murphy.








One of Marshall's three children, Herbison age 16 pictured here, works with him, as well as several other apprentices and helpers.










Personally, I really like Marshall's masks, although he can create any type of creature, real or imagined! Look for them at Kafe Kiskeya.
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Thomas Oriental was born in October 1958 in Jacmel, Haiti. He has painted and done papier mache, also using recycled and local materials, for 15 years with the help of 10 to 12 others.

Besides the gigantic masks pictured here, he also creates placemats, trays and coasters with various flowers, bird, and food designs. Having no way to transport his masks to the US on the airplane with me, I had to bring back the later, several of which you'll see at Kafe Kiskeya.
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Here I am, with a friend and painter who lives in Port au Prince, William Louissaint, on Saturday as I was leaving Gwo Jan for the Port au Prince airport. As soon as I get his paintings back from the framer, I'll post some photos of them. William also plays the guitar and writes poetry!

Grilling Coffee

This afternoon I watched as Jinya and her neighbors Haitian roasted/grilled the raw coffee beans we purchased at the market on Saturday. What an amazing process! Before any of the roasting/grilling begins, the beans are cleaned and washed over and over again.

The following steps shown here in these photos include roasting/grilling the beans over hot coals in a very hot pot, then adding a couple cups of raw brown sugar, then stirring and stirring the beans and sugar mixture until the sugar crystalizes, then pounding the crystalized beans into a fine powder, which finally produces coffee to be brewed!

Trip #2

I'm well into my second trip to Haiti now, having spent a few nights in the mountains above Port au Prince in Gwo Jan. Besides visiting with cut metal artists in Croix des Bouquets, I also shopped for arts/crafts in Port au Prince. We ate lunch one afternoon on the veranda at the Hotel Olaffson (pictured here), a famous gingerbread Victorian hotel near the center of the capital. It was the setting for "The Comedians" by Graham Greene. I also purchased 25 pounds of raw coffee beans at an open air market which are being Haitian roasted/grilled for me this week! I can already see that it will be a challenge for me to get everything home that I’ve found on this trip.

I received a rare treat on Saturday night, as I got to experience a jam session of the band 2 Rasin (2 Roots) with their six members Carla, Welele, Mona, Ron, Nicole and Levy (pictured here). They have a great repertoire of more than a dozen original pieces written in Kreyol on current Haitian social and political topics with a blend of Haitian and American rhythms. I know they would be well received in the States, should they choose to tour there!

Yesterday I rode with friends some 6 hours or so up to the north coast. We are now in Cape Haitian for a few nights. It was a beautiful drive through, up, down and around many mountains. We passed the Citadel (pictured here in the distant center), built by Henri Christophe as a stronghold against the French if they should attempt to re-conquer Haiti in the early 1800s. I found a good article on this topic, if you'd like to read further: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5018/.

This short video gives you an idea of what most of our 6 hour ride from Port au Prince to Cape Haitian was like, especially the through-up-down-and-around-many-mountains part!



Towards the middle of this week I'll be in Jacmel for a few days again, meeting more artists and enjoying the south coast, before starting home on Saturday. I will then be posting pictures of the artwork I found, which will be on display and for sale in my shop once it opens in early June, and the artists who created it.