get these nets
Veteran
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July 15, 2022
LEAD PLAINTIFF Haitian expat Odilon Celestin in front of his North Miami restaurant, King Creole.
Like the masked teenagers who could recently be heard chanting menacing threats on the streets in Creole, including:
"I'm not afraid to get shot, because I have nothing to lose."
They have few other options in life thanks to Haiti’s poverty — but also because Haiti’s education system is arguably the worst in the western hemisphere.
And that’s why angry Haitian expats in South Florida and elsewhere in the U.S. have a lawsuit pending against former Haitian President Michel Martelly.
When he took office 11 years ago, Martelly began levying fees on money transfers and phone calls made into Haiti — mostly by Haitian expats. Martelly, a former carnival singer known as "Sweet Micky," said it would raise tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars to fund the free and universal public education system that's never really existed in Haiti.
But much of that money just sat in Haiti’s Central Bank — or, according to one government audit, a lot of it went missing through fraud. As time passed, Haitian officials admitted they couldn’t account for most of it.
That set off alarm bells for Haitian expats like Odilon Celestin.
“I say, ‘Whoa, wow,' " said Celestin, who owns a restaurant in North Miami called King Créole BBQ & Bakery. "And I start thinking: Where I come from, we fight when we see something wrong."
Celestin is from the town of Obòy on Haiti’s north coast. When he suspected all those fees he and other expats had been paying weren’t going to Haitian education, he contacted relatives back home: Were they seeing new school funds or school improvements? No, they said: education there was as decrepit as ever.
“So now, I go back where I come from, to start my investigation," Celestin told me. "I start bringing evidence.”
Courtesy Odilon Celestin
A school at Oboy, Haiti in 2017.
In 2017 Celestin visited Obòy and looked for signs of new school funding or renovations — any of the things Martelly’s education fund was for. He found none. He showed me photos and videos of the schools that were there, including the primary school he attended, the École Nationale de Legras. As we scanned them, he often muttered, "I don't know how we can call this a school...."
Most were still built out of dilapidated wood, cardboard, corrugated scrap tin, tree branches. They had dirt floors, broken roofs, flimsy benches for desks.
The teachers and parents in Celestin’s videos were upset. He said one of them told him, " 'Even animals — you don’t even treat animals like this. Houses for chickens and goats are better than this.'
"Haiti [don't] care about children. Children [don't] deserve this. I started looking for lawyers .
A diaspora lawsuit vs. 'Sweet Micky' reflects bitter frustration with Haitian education
July 15, 2022
LEAD PLAINTIFF Haitian expat Odilon Celestin in front of his North Miami restaurant, King Creole.
For years Haitian expats have paid service fees for what they thought was an education overhaul in Haiti. Many say it was a scam — and they're suing Haitian officials.
The armed violence that’s killed scores of people in Port-au-Prince this week is a reminder that Haiti has fallen into chaos — and many, too many, of its youths are being recruited by the gangs that now control much of the country.Like the masked teenagers who could recently be heard chanting menacing threats on the streets in Creole, including:
"I'm not afraid to get shot, because I have nothing to lose."
They have few other options in life thanks to Haiti’s poverty — but also because Haiti’s education system is arguably the worst in the western hemisphere.
And that’s why angry Haitian expats in South Florida and elsewhere in the U.S. have a lawsuit pending against former Haitian President Michel Martelly.
When he took office 11 years ago, Martelly began levying fees on money transfers and phone calls made into Haiti — mostly by Haitian expats. Martelly, a former carnival singer known as "Sweet Micky," said it would raise tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars to fund the free and universal public education system that's never really existed in Haiti.
But much of that money just sat in Haiti’s Central Bank — or, according to one government audit, a lot of it went missing through fraud. As time passed, Haitian officials admitted they couldn’t account for most of it.
That set off alarm bells for Haitian expats like Odilon Celestin.
“I say, ‘Whoa, wow,' " said Celestin, who owns a restaurant in North Miami called King Créole BBQ & Bakery. "And I start thinking: Where I come from, we fight when we see something wrong."
Celestin is from the town of Obòy on Haiti’s north coast. When he suspected all those fees he and other expats had been paying weren’t going to Haitian education, he contacted relatives back home: Were they seeing new school funds or school improvements? No, they said: education there was as decrepit as ever.
“So now, I go back where I come from, to start my investigation," Celestin told me. "I start bringing evidence.”
Courtesy Odilon Celestin
A school at Oboy, Haiti in 2017.
In 2017 Celestin visited Obòy and looked for signs of new school funding or renovations — any of the things Martelly’s education fund was for. He found none. He showed me photos and videos of the schools that were there, including the primary school he attended, the École Nationale de Legras. As we scanned them, he often muttered, "I don't know how we can call this a school...."
Most were still built out of dilapidated wood, cardboard, corrugated scrap tin, tree branches. They had dirt floors, broken roofs, flimsy benches for desks.
The teachers and parents in Celestin’s videos were upset. He said one of them told him, " 'Even animals — you don’t even treat animals like this. Houses for chickens and goats are better than this.'
"Haiti [don't] care about children. Children [don't] deserve this. I started looking for lawyers .
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