Haitians seizing on legal path to US rush to secure passport

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Hundreds of Haitians are flocking daily to the sole immigration office in Port-au-Prince, pressing against the bright blue gate as they strain to hear whether their name is called, hoping they will soon be chosen to live legally in the U.S. under a new immigration plan.

The crowd has swelled ever since U.S. President Joe Biden announced Thursday 5 that the U.S. will accept 30,000 people a month from Haiti, Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela. Those selected will be entitled to work for two years if they have eligible sponsors and pass background checks.

Those selected also will need a passport to travel, prompting the daily rush at the immigration office in Haiti’s capital.

“I’m here to leave Haiti, but I don’t want to risk my life via a boat,” said Jennyfer Leonard, a 30-year-old teacher.

So like hundreds of other Haitians in recent days, she opted for the recently announced legal route to the U.S. instead of joining the tens of thousands of Haitians who have been intercepted at the U.S.-Mexico border and deported.

While millions of Americans, as their hope, rush out to buy a lottery ticket.

My 10-year-old granddaughter makes and sells her own artwork and jewelry, making hundreds of dollars for herself. Her parents (my kid and her husband) instilled independence and ambition in their kids. Unlike what others do, depending on a gamble with lottery tickets. She started selling on a sidewalk table outside their home, then on a downtown sidewalk, and now has her own counter space inside a store. Her 8-year-old sister is following in her footsteps.

People need to become more self-reliant and ambitious, and not seize on government handouts to survive.

Get ahead of the game by learning fun facts:

A central ritual involves practitioners drumming, singing, and dancing to encourage a lwa to possess one of their members and thus communicate with them. Offerings to the lwa include fruit, liquor, and sacrificed animals. Offerings are also given to the spirits of the dead.

A voodoo priest is called Oungan (also written as houngan) is the term for a male priest in Haitian Vodou (a female priest is known as a (mambo). The term is derived from Gbe languages (Fon, Ewe, Adja, Phla, Gen, Maxi and Gun).

Some gods found in Haiti are identified geographically: Siniga (Senegal), Ibo, Congo, Wangal (Angola), Erzulie-Freda-Dahomey, etc. Many are honored in Africa under the same names: Legba, Damballah-Wedo, Aido-Wedo, Zaka, Ogou, Shango etc.

Houngun man is referenced in the Byrds and Tom Petty’s Mudcrutch versions of the song Lover of the Bayou.

Catfish pie in gris gris bag
I’m the lover of the bayou
Pack your doorstep with a half wet rag
I’m the lover of the bayou

I was raised and swam with the crocodile
Snake-eye taught me the Mojo style
Sucked and weaned on chicken bile
I’m the lover of the bayou

I learned the key to the master lock
Learned to float in the water clock
Learned to capture the lightning shock
I’m the lover of the bayou

And I got cat’s an’ teeth and hair for sale
I’m the lover of the bayou
And there are zombies on your tail
I’m the lover of the bayou

I cooked a bat in a gumbo pan
I drank the blood from a rusty can
Turned me into the Houngan Man
I’m the lover of the bayou, yeah.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myLTgLqFaj8

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