At HLLN we are just beginning to get the stories of the return. It's such a miraculous Haiti achievement that not many of us, who have fought for this insult and injury to our African Ancestors, metered out in the year of our Bicentennial independence by the former slave-holding countries, have yet been able to properly process it.
The US and UN with a vested interests in portraying Haitians as violent, remain quiet now, with no violence to highlight to their readers. The media that has been telling readers that president Aristide had no popular backing, was corrupt and ousted in a "popular rebellion" have turned their heads the other way now, the shame of being exposed will soon turn to attack. Haiti's poor expect their unscrupulousness. Batay la fà ¨k kà ²manse - the battle has only just begun.
But for now, we share a few of the happy stories.
When Aristide's car got to his home, the dancing and singing crowd was so huge it took 45 minutes before he and his lovely wife, Mildred Trouillot Aristide and two precious girls, 14 and 12 years old -- were able to get out and into the house. People just wanted to touch him, to hug him, to cherish the moment when Haiti beat back the elite's rabid rage. (See the videos below).
An HLLN executive member, friend and my elder, who was inside the yard, explains that the return was supposed to happen on Wednesday. But because of the phone calls from France, from the UN and from Obama urging Zuma, South Africa's president not to allow Aristide to return, Aristide didn't arrive to Haiti until Friday.
"On Thursday," he reports for HLLN to share with the Ezili Network, "we were told the plane would land at noon. So Friday morning we got up and started for the airport at 8 o'clock thinking we'll beat the crowd. It seems the crowd had the same idea.
The roads to the airport were so back up, we couldn't travel but a few blocks. So after an hour of trying, our group turned around deciding it was best to go wait for president Aristide and his family at his residence in Tabarre. But the road in front of the house was blocked, traffic was being diverted, they told us we couldn't go that way. We turned around. Our driver knew another way to the residence and took us there.
When we got to the residence, we went through normal security, got patted down and allowed in by security. It was very professionally done. The house was newly painted, everything looked ready. The mango trees, the citrus trees, the pool, everything was ready for the president. I don't know how they did it so fast because on Thursday when I was there, there was still a lot to do.
Within an hour after we got to the house, we started hearing noises from the outer courtyard. The house has two yards, an inner and an outer courtyard. We were standing in the inner courtyard right in front of the house when we heard security say "hey, you can't come in here. You have to go back. You have to go back.'
And I saw security holding this one young person who had jumped over the tall walls from the now thousands of folks who stood outside the house gates. The security that had barely in hour before patted us down so formally, ran over and began to send him back out. And I heard other similar commands from security regarding others who had gone over the walls. But as soon as that happen another had jumped over the walls, another had scaled the mango trees to catch a glimpse. Within a minute a whole wave of human beings were climbing over walls and getting into the president's yard, shouting:
"Aristide's house is our house. He won't mind that we're here.'
Bal kay li, se kay li. Li vin pran kay li. Viv Titid, bay Titid kay li. -- Give him his house, that's his house. He's come back to claim his house. Long live Aristide, Give him his house.'
After the first three or four, it was people upon people coming over the walls, just a tsunami of people vaulting the walls, scaling the trees to catch a glimpse of Aristide and be with him at his house. They just wanted to be there, to touch him.
Soon everyone, right in front of the house broke into song, clapping and joyously singing: "Se pou tout ansanm fà ¨ youn. Se sa Aristide mande. Nou pa ka trayi san nou. San nou, se san Aristide. Li menm ki rasanble nou tout. Fà ² nou tout ansanm fà ¨ youn."
Ezili Dantà ²: (English translation of song) - "We all must come together as one. That's what Aristide has requested. We cannot betray our blood. Our blood is the blood of Aristide. He's the one who has brought us together. All of us we must come together as one. All of us we must come together as one""
"I was told this is an old Christian song about the blood of Jesus making us one which the Haitian people flipped around and adopted for the Lavalas movement song about Aristide."
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