Open letter to everyone in the Haitian Community

THE HAITIAN INTERNET NEWSLETTER
"We Become What We Think About Most Of The Time"
http://www.HaitianInternet.com
by: Woodring Saint Preux
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December 30th, 2005
Yap Pale, Nap Travay!

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About Action

"No steam or gas ever drives anything until it is confined.
No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is
tunneled. No life ever grows until it is focused, dedicated,
disciplined.

Harry Emerson Fosdick
1878-1969, American Minister

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Open letter to everyone in the Haitian Community
Add this to your New Year Resolution
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From Woodring Saint Preux

Today I would like to address every single Haitian person
individually. I have a message for you for the New Year
(2006)

First let me use this analogy in order to introduce you to
the idea I am trying to share with you today:

It is the tiny cells in your body that need to stay healthy
in order for your entire body to operate.

These tiny cells in your body are grouped together to
perform simple functions like breathing, eating, drinking,
and digestion.

When groups of cells team up, they are known as systems of
the body:

The respitory system is in charge of breathing.

The digestive system is in charge of extracting nutrients
from what you eat and disposing of the trash.

Sometimes systems team up with other systems to perform more
difficult tasks

Example: The body's integumentary system supports the
excretory system in the removal of toxic wastes and poisons
within the body that would otherwise kill you.

Just think:

Would you be alive today if every cell in your body thought
"I can do it myself"?

How long will we continue to survive as a nation if we keep
this attitude of "chak koukou klere pou je yo"?

Please forgive me for making such a long introduction but I
wanted you to understand how important it is for you and
other Haitians like you to get together just to survive and
to keep you identity.

During the last 14 months I devoted all of my time to create
a series of Haitian web sites that represents groups of
Haitians.

I came up with the following conclusion:

It is not very easy to a represent and to help a group if
the group itself is not organized.

It is not easy to help people even if helping is what you
are motivated to do if the people you want to help cannot
get together to accept the help from you.

Let me give you a couple of examples.

If I am wrong for the assumption I make, please correct me.

I have a Haitian web site, www.Belfim.com that is designed
to represent the Haitian movie industry as a whole.

The only problem is that the Haitian movie industry, the
system, is not organized.

There is no association of Haitian actors. There is no
association of Haitian producers. Every single person
within the industry I am trying to represent works alone.

The sad part is… They actually believe that "ALONE" they can
make it work.

Each individual is aware of what I'm trying to do and each
one of them appreciates what I am trying to do.

Each one of them needs my help.

The only problem is that I cannot help each one individually
unless all of them, the system, accept the help from me.

It would cost me too much and it would take too much time to
cater to individual needs.

Imagine creating a Wal-Mart and have ten people come inside
at a time to shop. You would go out of business within the
first 30 days.

The reason is simple:

While the idea of Wal-Mart is designed to save you money, a
Wal-Mart can only exist if everyone wants to save money and
if everyone comes in to take advantage of these savings.

I guess what I'm trying to tell you is…

The lack of leadership and the lack of associations within
our community are to reasons why we cannot move forward as a
nation.

The lack of leadership and the lack of associations are the
reasons that young men and women like myself sometimes give
up in trying to help you.

When they do something to represent the whole, the whole
does not show up.

The whole is unwilling to get together, put their
differences aside, team up for a common goal, and take
advantage of something that will benefit all of them.

And because of that, the individuals perish; the individuals
never actually reach any level of success.

With the little experience I've had as a simple Haitian
webmaster I have to wonder…

If 100 Haitians with the same idea cannot get together to
take advantage of something that will clearly benefit all
100 of them how can 9 million Haitian people accept the idea
that one body of government can truly represent them as a
whole?

Every Haitian wants to have president that can cater to
their individual needs.

Let me give you some shocking news.

Are your ready?

Pay Attention!

If the president of Haiti decides to give just 5 minutes of
his time to every single Haitian person living in Haiti, it
would take him 86 years to accomplish that "GOOD DEED" I
know would make you feel so special.

Here is some more bad news… If your president only sleeps
for 4 hours a day in between theses 5 minute sessions, then
he will need 103 years to accomplish that simple task.

What is that task? Just to listen to your selfish ass
because you are unable to get together.

This is a fact:

9 million people TIMES 5 minutes = 45 million minutes

45 million minutes / 60 minutes per hour = 750,000 hours

750,000 hours / 24 hours per day = 31,250 days

31,250 days / 365 days per year = 86 years

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE!

DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE!

Wake up from your silly dream that things will work if we
don't get along!

It is impossible for a Haitian president to lead a nation of
9,000,000 people who are unwilling to team up for one common
purpose.

Your president is only in power for 5 years. Chances are he
is over the age of 35 and he will not even live to see his
86th birthday.

Get this!

If those same 9 million people team up in groups of 1,000
and each group send one representative to make their
demands, it will take 31 days for him to listen.

That's ONE month out of his 5 year term.

Your president would be left with 4 years and 11 months to
meet those demands.

Forgive me for saying what I am about to say

The only reason we have a president in power in Haiti is
because a country cannot exist without a president. Because
of that, we put a puppet in our White House so we can call
ourselves a country.

I say a puppet, not because I'm trying to disrespect anybody
who wants to be president, I say a puppet because as a
whole, and because we are so unwilling to team up even in
small groups, we don't have the capacity to call ourselves a
nation.

Since we do not elect our presidents to represent us, they
represent themselves.

Their hire their family members and friends, and they fill
up their pockets.

Why?

Because they already know the day they become president that
"The People" will ONLY rise AGAINST them and they will not
win a Nobel Prize for good behavior.

Here is the answer to your question "Why do Haitian
presidents fill up their pockets and leave the country".

Anybody who can build a house in Haiti will put a 10 foot
wall around his property but he will never get together with
the rest of the neighbors to put a 10 foot wall around the
entire neighborhood, something that would probably cost him
10 times less than doing it alone and make him 10 times
safer than trying to protect himself alone.

A home owner in Haiti will hire ONE security guard to stand
at his gate instead of teaming up with the rest of
neighbors, the entire town for that matter, to build a
strong police force to keep an eye on the entire
neighborhood.

The funny thing is… it cost much less to the individual if
they team up for one common purpose and the service quality
also increases.

My Haitian friend, this is where it has to start.

If you cannot team up with your neighbor you cannot have
neighborhood.

If you cannot build a strong neighborhood, you cannot have a
strong town.

If you cannot have a strong town, you cannot have a strong
country.

If you don't have a strong country then you are a "nobody".
You are a shame to the other countries around you, the
global village.

Haiti is a shame to the Caribbean village and it is your
fault.

Haiti is a shame because you refuse to let go of your
selfish beliefs.

Haiti is a shame because you think hiding in another country
and changing your nationality will make you less Haitian and
less part of that shame called Haiti.

Haiti is a shame because you think if you "Parler Francais"
you are above the status quo.

"Chak Koukou klere pou je yo"
"Every man for himself"

I think I just proved to you that this formula only leads to
failure of the state.

Why it's important to team up and have associations?

I will tell you based on my experiences as a Haitian
Webmaster.

It cost me anywhere from $800.00 to $2000.00 per month to
broadcast a message within my network of Haitian web sites.

When one person comes to me and tell me "I would like to
advertise" that one person by himself cannot afford to pay
me.

It cost me a lot of money to help one person.

If that one person was able to find another 999 and come to
me as a group, and if each one of them agreed to pay me just
$50.00 then not only would I be able to help all them I
would be able to hire a team of qualified people to be at
their service.

I would be able to provide them with a much better service.

I would be able to come up with a better product that would
be even more beneficial to them as a whole.

50 dollars a month X one person, is not enough to have a
good personal website up and running.

But $50.00 per month X 1,000 people = $600,000 per year.

That's more than enough to create a company that can be of
service to an industry.

The sad part is every once in a while one person will
approach me and wonder why I cannot help.

I am willing to help but they are not willing to get
together to accept the help from me.

Here is my advice to you for 2006.

Find other people in your community who share the same ideas
that you share.

Are you a musician? Team up with other musicians and create
an association.

You want to fight those who are bootlegging your CDs, you
alone cannot afford it but the association of Haitian
musicians, with your tiny membership fee, can afford to hire
the best Johnny Cochran's in the world to hunt down those
bootleggers.

Who wins if that happens? All of you!

Get together and create a group, and association.

Choose a leader for that group or association

Establish a constitution, a set of guidelines that all of
you are willing to accept and live by.

Here is the most important part…

Make sure your leader understands his duties.

Make sure your leader is very well compensated for his
leadership as sometimes a lack of compensation leads to
destructive temptations.

If your leader is unable to perform the task get rid of him
and choose a new leader.

Do not choose a leader because he is your cousin, choose a
leader based on his track record.

Do not dismiss the idea; do not dismantle the association
because of one person's inability to shine as a great
leader.

Choose a new leader, change the rules, learn from the
mistakes, and keep on going.

Why am I saying this?

There are many reasons but I will only mention two of them
today:

- ONE -

A while ago I received a phone call from a reporter from
Spain.

He told me that he was doing a story on President Aristide
and he wanted to get in touch with someone who can put him
in contact with the President.

I told him "I'm sorry sir but I myself don't know of such a
person."

The reporter said "you live in Miami right I've been told
that Miami is the largest Haitian community outside of
Haiti."

"Yes, it is" I replied.

Then he asked me the most disturbing question: "Who is the
leader of your community?"

I paused for about 30 seconds and he asked me again:

"Woodring, who is the leader of your community?"

He knew that in everything in life there is a chain of
command. He knew that if I could put him in touch with "the
leader" of my community then the leader would know the
answer to this question.

You see, he didn't ask me for the name of ONE of the leaders
in the community, he wanted the name of "THE LEADER".

That to me means for every task in life there is supposed to
be ONE leader.

Unfortunately I had to give him the answer that he was not
expecting.

"I'm so ashamed to tell you, Sir, we don't have ONE!"

All I heard him say was…

"WOW! Thank you for taking the time to speak to me."

- TWO -

I Recently I had a conversation with a Haitian movie
producer.

He told me "Woody what you are doing with www.belfim.com?
Belfim means a lot to me and I would like to advertise my
new movie on your website."

He was a bit shocked when I told him that "it would cost me
too much to advertise just your movie on my website. As a
matter of fact as soon as I'm done with the engagements that
I already have, I will have to pull off the ads altogether."

He asked me why and I told him that it cost me an additional
$500.00 every month to keep these ads up and running and I
would need the support of the entire movie industry in order
for belfim.com to be a success.

I told him that otherwise Belfim will go back to being just
a hobby for me, something that I will update when I have
time.

He said: "how can I help?"

I said: "get together with the rest of the producers and the
actors, create an association choose a leader, and have your
leader discuss the terms with me."

He said: "You better get that thing out of your head. This
can never happen!"

I said: "WOW! Thanks for taking the time to speak to me."

My Haitian friend, there are many people out there within
your community who really want to help you.

There is only one problem. They cannot help you
individually.

It would cost too much and it would take too long.

The only way we can help you is if you team up for one
common purpose.

For www.belfim.com to help the Haitian Movie industry, that
industry needs to team up and make one demand.

We can only help you if you get together with everyone like
yourself who share a common goal.

Why?

A day will come and you seek the help of another
organization to get your idea off the ground. No matter
what you are trying to do in life somebody will ask to speak
to your leader.

If you do not have one, be prepared to pay 1000 times what
it would cost you than if you were part of a group?

I know from experience that it's not because somebody's
trying to screw you but rather it is because it costs money
to help people.

So my message to you for 2006 is…

Stop being so selfish

Stop thinking about yourself only

Stop thinking somebody is always out there is out to screw
you

Stop thinking that it is impossible to get together

Stop thinking that you can do it alone

It will cost you much less, in time and energy, if you get
together with like-minded people, the system, to accomplish
a single task.

I HAD a dream to help the Haitian community but I have to
put my dream on hold simply because the Haitian community
cannot afford to put their individual problems aside and
team up in order to take advantage of what I have to offer.

I don't have 86 years and 5 minutes to give to each and
everyone of you individually and neither does the next
president you are about to elect.

I hope you understand what this means.

I hope I help you realize what you have to do.

I love each and every one of you and I wish you a happy new
year.

Sincerely,

Woodring Saint Preux
www.fouye.com

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You might also like

• From Guy Philippe to www.HaitiElection2005.com
• The Haitian Internet Newsletter - December 16th, 2005
• Achievement, Rich Vs Poor, Haiti Movie News, Duvalier & the Macoutes

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