Volunteers bring 20 years of community TV to Haitians

Serghino René

They started in the basement of a small Dorchester church about 30 years ago, coming together to talk about their experiences as Haitians in Boston.

The topics varied each week. Haitian politics one week, educating their children the next. And an interesting thing happened as a result of all those meetings — a television station was born.

Created 10 years after the dedicated group began meeting at the basement of St. Matthews Church, Tele Kreyol has been around for the last 20 years and has become the leading voice for a community considered to be the fastest growing ethnic group in Boston. More than 15 other community TV programs emerged since the inception of Tele Kreyol, further validating the station’s status as a pioneer in New England.

The station has received many accolades for its work in the community, receiving several television awards in 1996 for its tenth anniversary. In June 2005, Tele Kreyol received the Best Television Programming Award by the Haitian American Media Association of Massachusetts.

“Our success comes from the diversity of our programs that are of interest to the Haitian community,” said Wilner Auguste, executive producer for Tele Kreyol.

Tele Kreyol’s story began with a small social group, the Family Interaction Circle. In 1980, the Boston-based non profit organization began meeting to bring new Haitian families together to share their experiences and challenges as new residents of Boston.

“We used to meet every Sunday afternoon at St. Matthew’s in Dorchester and St. Angela’s Church in Mattapan,” said Auguste. “We got Haitian families together to discuss problems in the community face to face. We would share our experiences on how to better educate our children and how to better our lives.”

Those meetings became increasingly crucial in the mid-eighties when Boston witnessed a population surge in Haitians — a new breed of black immigrants who were predominantly Catholic, socially conservative and culturally unlike African Americans already in Boston. With one military coup d’état after another, Haitians sought refuge in American cities like Miami, New York and Boston after Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier’s exile in 1986.

In response to the presence made by such a large influx of Haitians, pioneers such as Auguste, Joel Doutre, Eunice Brutus, Jonel Dalexis, Daniel Auguste, Jean-Claude Charlet and others worked together to establish Tele Kreyol. They designed programming that was based on education, family support and up-to-date news on Haiti.

“There weren’t many radio stations like today and mainstream news weren’t always covering what concerned the community,” said Auguste. “This was an opportunity to keep Haitians informed with the important issues and events that affected their country and their new community in Boston.”

Since then the show has grown, becoming a powerhouse for Haitian media in New England. Some of today’s popular programs include “Tete-Tete” (“Head to Head”), with political and economic commentary from Charlot Lucien, and shows on health expertise (Dr. Eno Mondesir), business (Pierre-Paul Joas), and legal advice (Attorney Harvey Bazile).

Tele Kreyol doesn’t have an entity of it’s own. Their programs are recorded at the Boston Neighborhood Network (BNN) television station on Warren St. in Roxbury.

Tele Kreyol has been requested by other cable access stations that serve developing Haitian communities. The show is distributed to Cambridge, Everett, Malden, Medford, Newton and Waltham, as well as Manchester, NH, Hartford, CT and some parts of Rhode Island. An exchange program has even been coordinated with some of the Haitian media in Miami, one of the largest Haitian communities in the nation.

Tele Kreyol’s target audience has grown too, largely because its programs are not limited to the Creole speaking audience. According to Tele Kreyol’s statistics, roughly 80 percent of the programs are in Creole, 15 percent in English and about five percent in French.

Community empowerment evolved into an important component of Tele Kreyol, as those involved at the station helped to bring awareness to a number of important issues. They aired shows concerning HIV/AIDS, diabetes, cervical cancer and lupus. They were monumental in their ability to mobilize the Haitian community against AIDS and the virus’ sudden effect on the Haitian community. They organized information sessions, enlisted doctors and provided progressive leadership when they demanded that the federal government remove Haitians from the list of ethnic groups prone to spreading the virus.

The station also aired extensive coverage on immigration, politics, consumer protection, real estate, business development and personal finances.

“There are many social issues that affect our community,” Joas said. “Many people in the Haitian community don’t speak English fluently and look to us as their first point of contact for education on health care, housing, financial management, immigration and employment.”

Such initiatives have spawned memorable community events that have since become standard programming at Tele Kreyol. The raising of the Haitian flag in Boston and the Haitian Unity Parade are two prime examples, both of which are now regular features on Tele Kreyol.

Auguste said that he is most proud that Haitian Heritage Month began inside Tele Kreyol. At the time, the only holiday for Haitians was Haitian Flag Day, rather than an entire month dedicated to Haitian culture.

“We talked to former host Oreste Joseph and he liked the idea,” said August. “He started a program called Haitian Heritage Month that dedicated a month to commemorate Haitian history and achievements. And to think it started right inside Tele Kreyol.”

Today, Haitian Heritage Month is celebrated in New York, Florida, New Jersey and other parts of the United States.

Despite their renowned level of success and community service, several obstacles still remain. Money is arguably the most important. The programming runs purely on volunteers, most of whom have full-time jobs and families to support.

“Some of us volunteer just to volunteer,” Lucien said. “Others take it more personally, give their time because they feel it is their responsibility to give back to their community and show appreciation for the opportunities their homeland gave them.”

Tele Kreyol doesn’t pay for the studio space or the training at BNN, but they do pay an annual organizational membership fee of $250. To maintain the show, producers and volunteers must make sure that they have enough equipment to make it all work.

As it is now, Tele Kreyol relies on sporadic donations to maintain its current distribution network. Lack of funding has prevented Tele Kreyol from acquiring news reports from Haiti for the past two years. With the proper financial resources, they can increase their staff and offer more in-depth coverage.

“Everything is done by computer nowadays, but we haven’t reached that yet,” said Auguste. “We need a system that will make 10 or 12 copies at once instead of one at a time.”

To solve these problems, Lucien says its time for the Haitian community to “not take our presence for granted and get involved.

“When people sit in front of the television set and watch the program, they don’t know what’s going [on] behind the stage. They don’t know that we give 20 hours to produce a one hour show,” said Lucien.

As for the future, Auguste says it’s tough to predict, but so far he doesn’t see any discouraging signs from his voluntary team. Right now, the station is trying to develop youth to carry on Haitian pride and maintain the program’s voice.

“We want youth to help so they can take over were we left off,” Auguste said. “We want them to understand our heritage and share the pride we show through our work. We know how we are impacting Haitian community and we will keep on doing it for another 20 years.”