In her voice - Dieula or Madame Antoine Theus Part 1

"Ma" is my oldest and "bestest" friend since the first day our family arrived in Haiti January 19, 1985 as volunteers with the Mennonite Central Committee. That's a relationship nonstop for 38 years! It's also when we met MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) directors Eldon and Rachel Stoltzfus who had chosen us as volunteers so they are responsible for all of this! Madame Antoine was born and raised in the mountains of the southern side of the Department of the South known as the Tiburon Peninsula. You can google that area here and perhaps follow some of the areas she talks about to see the distances! Dieula's story is representative of thousands of women like her who came out of very isolated village communities and gained skills and capacities from their innate intelligence and unfailing faith to work hard for many years without much rest or compensation to raise their children and support their entire families. We hope as you continue to follow our episodes that Creole greetings, koman ou ye, will, at least, become second nature to your ears! Some links to our music: for the Intro and Outro portions from our band ⁠⁠2 Rasin or 2 Roots album⁠⁠, our music "Women, we're defending women" ⁠video⁠. The short audio clips of the conch shell blowing at the very beginning and for the call to action portion with Rocky and Najee are by ⁠⁠Chou Bwa Libète⁠⁠, a Haitian cultural band and then there's just some of Ron's sweet fingerpicking of the Haitian folksong, Ayiti Cheri. We are still novices at this audio editing but believe that you, the listener, will forgive the bleeps, bumps, hiccups especially from international calls and authentic "on the ground" street noises along the way, all in the name of remembering and hearing the voices of the remarkable people of Haiti. Here's the English translation of the theme song, "N a Sonje" We will remember, and not forget what happened Let’s take a look back Into the world gone by and we’ll see How our ancestors were in Africa before they carried us away to America Ref: Sing for Africa, Sing for America Honor for Africa, Honor for America Who lost so many in the years long ago it wasn’t the natives of this land that did that to them It was another nation who had as their mission to make others slaves, making so many cadavers Pillaging, killing - Indians and Africans in making them work for nothing This is how their countries became powerful by spilling so much blood. Ref: Sing for Africa, Sing for America Honor for Africa, Honor for America Who lost so many in the years long ago .