Asakivle
Buffalo Friends of Haiti
Asakivle Buffalo Friends of Haiti was founded in late spring of 2008 in response
to the world wide food crisis which hit Haiti especially hard. It was friendship
that got the organization started. Friendship between two women in Buffalo
and one man in Haiti. News from Haiti was bad and concern for our friend and
his friends and neighbors in Haiti sparked the idea of becoming proactive:
raising money, collecting summer clothes, school, and over-the-counter medical
supplies, blankets, etc. were the next steps. Now Asakivle Buffalo Friends
of Haiti is a budding organization. As of yet we do not have our own non-profit
status and are therefore under the umbrella of the Latin American Cultural
Association (L.A.C.A.) located here in Buffalo at El Buen Amigo, a fair-trade
gift store( www.elbuenamigo.org).
Franck
Desire
Franck L. Desire is a native
of Haiti and was raised and educated in Port-Au-Prince. He left Haiti at age
nineteen and traveled extensively throughout Europe, the Caribbean, and Puerto
Rico. He then moved to Miami, FL. where he worked as a Community Involvements
Specialist assisting Haitian children and their families to integrate into
the American school system. In 1994 he co-founded a cultural exchange program
between students in Miami, Oak Park and Chicago, and PAP. The program "Exchange
of Hope" now includes a school in Buffalo: Campus North. Raised as a
Catholic, he has embarked on a journey of personal discovery in the ways of
life (Vodou). He is the leader of ASAKIVLE, a Haitian dance and drumming
troupe that has members in Haiti and the United States. They perform Traditional
Haitian Roots, or 'Racine Music' in various Venues, including Schools and
Universities, educating people about Vodou. They have performed as part of
the Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou exhibition in Chicago, New Orleans, Baltimore
and Detroit. Franck has assisted in developing many programs for the Multicultural
Department of the Oak Park Schools, and continues to consult with educators
on Haitian Culture.
BuWayna
Daniels
BuWayna Daniels of Buffalo,
NY has been an educator in Buffalo, and Cincinnati,OH for more than thirty
years. Her interests in learning about the history and culture of people from
around the world led her to the work of Asakivle in 2002. Since then, she
has traveled several times to Haiti, throughout the United States and Canada
promoting cultural exchanges. Her mission is to support education initiatives
when and where ever possible.
Sabine
Van Wyck
Sabine Van Wyck emigrated from Germany
to the United States in 1983. Buffalo is her chosen home ever since. Here
she raised three daughters, co-owned a vegetarian restaurant, ran a catering
business, and then earned a degree in office administration. After several
years as an international administrative assistant she became a certified
reflexologist and now works out of her practice on the lower west side. Her
interest in Haiti grew out of her friendship with Franck whose love for his
country was to her nothing less than inspiring and contagious.
Ed
Ott
Ed is a native of Southern California who,
after getting his degree in design from Arizona State University, migrated
to Buffalo, New York. He divides his time between freelance design for web
and print and helping Asakivle create a growing presence, both in upstate
New York and Haiti. His creativity gives Asakivle such a great presence and
image on the world-wide web and around the City of Buffalo. You view his design
portfolio at www.edott.net