News Information

• NEWS_POSTED_BY: Haiti Place
• NEWS_POSTED_ON: Apr 18, 2015
• Views : 1294
• Category : Diaspora News
• Description : by Larry Luxner
  Patrick Gaspard, U.S. ambassador to South Africa, speaks March 28 about his life at the Haitian Embassy in Washington. Photos: Larry Luxner
• Location : Washington, DC, United States
• Website : http://www.washdiplomat.com/PouchArticle/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=316

Overview

• Born in Africa, raised in Haiti, educated in the United States and now back in Africa as a U.S. ambassador, Patrick Gaspard is a true Haitian-American success story.
  
  Late last month, the 47-year-old diplomat shared his unusual life and career with some 120 guests attending the first in the Haitian Embassy’s new speaker series. His goal: to inspire other young Haitian-Americans to follow their dreams and make a difference in the world.
  
  “This new, emerging diaspora is the most sophisticated, savvy generation of Haitians we’ve ever had in this country,” said Gaspard, who was appointed by President Obama in August 2013 as U.S. ambassador to South Africa. “Haiti has more challenges than anyone on the planet, but right now, it also has the fastest-growing economy in the Caribbean, by far. The growth is amazing, and if we’re smart enough and hungry enough, we can tap into those opportunities and make some real changes.
  
  ”In the audience was Gaspar’s mother, sister and brother, along with Fritz Cineas — Haiti’s longtime ambassador to the Dominican Republic until his recent retirement — and Stephen Vasciannie, Jamaica’s ambassador in Washington. Also present was the District of Columbia’s attorney general, Karl Racine.
  
  “We’re hoping the embassy can be a platform in which we invite a slate of speakers from diverse backgrounds, and our friends come and engage in an intimate conversation,” Haitian Ambassador Paul Altidor said as he introduced his guest for the March 28 event (the embassy’s next guest is civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis, who will speak April 23). “We’re trying to create a movement, and we hope you’ll continue to be part of that movement, regardless of your politics or how you see things.”
  
  Read more here >>