From rum punch to rara rhythms: remembering Haiti’s Hotel Oloffson

Daniel Foote, Former United States Particular Envoy for Haiti

From my first sweaty, rum punch-filled Thursday evening on the Oloffson for RAM, I knew it was a particular place to collect, no matter how you bought there. The vitality was excessive, the band was rocking, and I met 200 individuals who embraced me warmly as I misplaced observe of my punch consumption. In a surprisingly quick time, I solid a number of lifelong friendships. My household and I’ll without end maintain the Lodge Oloffson—and its individuals—in a particular place in our hearts.

Darlie Gervais, Founding member of The Haitian Occasions | CCM, ABI Director

I couldn’t imagine it.

I grew up with the Oloffson, only a quick stroll from the place I lived. Day by day on my option to college at Saint-François d’Assise in Pacot, I handed by its intricate gingerbread structure and plush gardens. For me, the Oloffson wasn’t only a lodge—it was just like the Champs-Élysées of Carrefour-Feuilles. It stood as a landmark, a spot of shade and respite the place I may pause within the courtyard to flee the cruel June solar earlier than persevering with residence.

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Alain Martin, Director, The Forgotten Occupation

The burning down of the Oloffson is heartbreaking for a lot of causes. Too many to record right here. 

Once I was engaged on our documentary in regards to the U.S. occupation and filming in Haiti, the Oloffson was the place we shot our last interview. In fact, the lodge has many ties not solely to the period of the American occupation but additionally to the a long time of U.S. political affect that adopted. When Hollywood flirted with Haiti throughout the Sixties and Nineteen Seventies, many celebrities stayed there.

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Jonathan Katz, Creator, The Large Truck That Went By: How the World Got here to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Catastrophe

I’ve so many recollections of the Lodge Oloffson that it’s unimaginable to course of all of them. They’re simply there, scattershot, splayed throughout my psyche like strains in a Stevenson Magloire portray. The primary time I went was for dinner, just a few days after shifting to Haiti, to begin work because the correspondent for the Related Press. I bear in mind being awestruck by the structure, intrigued by the statue of the Baron Samedi, and unusually at residence on the grounds. On the best way residence, my automobile stalled and began rolling downhill backward on the Route du Canape-Vert. On reflection, this may occasionally have been one thing of an indication.

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Pascale Solages, Human Rights Advocate and Coordinator of Feminist Group Nègès Mawon

I can’t disguise this. Dropping Lodge Oloffson hurts! 

Once I heard it had burned down, I used to be devastated. The loss was private. It wasn’t simply in regards to the constructing. It was about Richard and Lunise Morse, my buddies, and every part that house represented.

Beginning in 2014, I labored on the Oloffson for a few years as a journalist and producer of the present Quinze Minutes Pour Vous for Radio-Télé Caraïbes (RTVC), alongside presenter Gaëlle Bien-Aimé.

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Macollvie J. Neel, Particular Initiatives Editor, The Haitian Occasions

I first heard in regards to the Oloffson as a rookie reporter at The Haitian Occasions as a result of so many individuals I interviewed would point out an unforgettable evening that they had there, a gig that was pivotal of their profession. For a woman who grew up principally an deyò (countryside)—  whose recollections of Port-au-Prince revolved round pre-dawn journeys to the American Embassy, smoke from burning tires signaling there’d be no college that day, and tap-taps loaded up with manufacturing facility staff — their joyful recollections had been a stark distinction. 

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Fritznel D. Octave, Haiti Editor, The Haitian Occasions

I used to stay close by in Carrefour-Feuille. That’s the place I’d go to review throughout my highschool years, commuting between my residence at 2ème Ruelle Fouchard, Place Cadet Jérémie throughout, and an American pastor-missionary’s suite. He lived there for almost a decade along with his household of six, together with his three boys and one woman, who grew up within the iconic fort within the Nineties. The American Baptist missionary was my father’s buddy and religious advisor. On weekends, I’d come for the music, meals, and the attractive swimming pool.

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Michele Wucker, Creator, “Why the Cocks Battle: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Battle for Hispaniola”

I visited the Oloffson Lodge for the primary time throughout the Namphy regime in 1988. I used to be on a summer season journey grant to review Dominican-Haitian relations from the Dominican Republic and was not alleged to go to Haiti, however the pull was too sturdy. Sipping a rum punch and having a lanbi (conch) dinner on the almost empty Oloffson veranda felt like touring again in time a long time to the pages of a Graham Greene novel.

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