Yéle Haiti
is a foundation started by Grammy-Award winning musician,
producer, social entrepreneur and Haitian Goodwill Ambassador Wyclef Jean
that is changing thousands of lives in this poor but optimistic nation.
Through Yéle Haiti, Wyclef supports projects that are making a difference
in education, health, environment and community development.
Mission:
Our mission is to create small-scale, manageable and replicable projects
to contribute to Haiti’s long-term progress. Each initiative is imbued
with Wyclef’s passion, as Yéle Haiti’s founder. Whether utilizing
local hip-hop musicians to deliver awareness messages in forgotten
neighborhoods or bringing his famous friends to Haiti to support the
movement, what Wyclef radiates is profound wishes for the country.
Each of Yéle’s projects is conceived to renew hope for Haitians to
rebuild their nation. Yéle Haiti wants to project a new forward-thinking
image that accurately reflects Haiti’s youthful population and their
unique and irrepressible spirit, which is an integral part of their
culture. We firmly believe that given a genuine opportunity to shape the
future, Haiti’s youth will shock the world with their ability to take
the country to the next level.
Statement from Wyclef:
“Haiti is my native country, one I know as the first black
nation to gain independence in 1804. Most other people seem to know Haiti
only by the statistics about how bad things are there. The majority of its
8 million residents live on less than $1 per day. Unemployment is close
to 80 percent, and more than half the population is under 21 years old.
Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.”
“I have been spending a lot of time talking with people in my native
country to try and understand what is behind these statistics and the past
escalation of violence, all of which brings tears to my eyes. I have had
conversations with gang leaders, met with the police officers and sat down
with the leaders of the militias and the army. I have talked with Haitians
from all walks of life, all colors of skin, all backgrounds and beliefs.
From all these people I hear only one thing in my head and feel only one
thing in my heart–that there is only one Haiti. Every Haitian loves
their country like a mother loves her child."
“I see old women with large bags of rice on their heads and men on
street corners selling sugarcane and mangos, all just trying to survive
with a strong sense of pride. Walking past a church in my village, I hear
the congregation singing an appeal to God to hear their cries and grant
deliverance to Haiti. Through experiences like this, I sense where my
mother and my father got their strength. Now the whole country needs to
reach deep into the spirit and strength that is part of our heritage."
"The objective of Yéle Haiti is to restore pride and a reason to
hope, and for the whole country to regain the deep spirit and force that
is part of our heritage" Wyclef Jean
Meaning of "Yele":
Yele was coined by Wyclef in a song and means "a cry for
freedom." The logo means STOP THE VIOLENCE with one hand, PEACE with
the other... while the heart is LOVE.