A Busy Fun February at SAKALA

News for a better world from the SAKALA community center in Cité Soleil, Haiti

OK, I can’t keep up.

The first weekend in February, several of the top young players from SAKALA’s chess program competed in a national tournament to qualify to represent Haiti at an international youth championship in Greece in April.

They all did great and one, Marie “ZiZi” Bernard, qualified to represent Haiti in the under-13 age category in Greece. (More on that later, but here is ZiZi practicing in the days leading up to the big tournament.)

When I heard about the SAKALA team’s triumph, I knew I needed to write a newsletter on that.

But at the same time I had that thought, I kept seeing more great news to share.

There are the SAKALA’s kids excelling at school (this despite huge disruptions in the school year — really the last 2-3 years — due to extreme violence and instability in Haiti.)

Here is one of SAKALA’s scholars with her stellar report card.

Then, before I knew it, more great news.

For Valentine’s Day, SAKALA had a big party with the parents of SAKALA’s students as the guests of honor. (I was lucky to be at SAKALA’s Valentine’s Day party last year.)

Cool, cool, cool.

Thinking I had finally caught up, I sat down to write the chess newsletter.
But a quick check of SAKALA’s Facebook page showed there was more news. Volleyball season has started. (If you can, follow SAKALA Haiti’s Facebook page. The local team there is doing an amazing job of keeping it updated.)

Here’s a picture from a recent practice.

And here’s another one. To the left, demonstrating perfect volleyball form, you see the legendary Coach Lesley Killick.

A few years ago, Coach Killick heard SAKALA leader and co-founder Daniel Tillias speak at a church. Inspired, he asked what he could do to help SAKALA and the children of Cité Soleil.

Not long after, Coach Killick showed up to lead a volleyball practice — and he really never left. There is pretty much no activity at SAKALA that Coach Killick isn’t a part of.

Including being SAKALA’s chess coach.

I knew I’d find a way to get back to chess and Zizi, the latest in SAKALA’s long line of champions.

Here Zizi is part of of a group playing chess a couple of years ago with Daniel Tillias, who in 2019 was named a CNN Hero for his work at SAKALA.

You can read more about SAKALA’s chess program here.

SAKALA’s chess program is only about five years old, but ZiZi and her teammates represent already a second generation of players.

The first generation — still teenagers — is lead by Merisena Cadeau, who last year represented Haiti at the Chess Olympiad in India.

Here is Merisena, draped in the Haitian flag, last summer as her SAKALA teammates wished her well at the airport before her flight.

I first met ZiZi a few years ago when her family (along with dozens of others) needed to stay at a temporary shelter SAKALA had quickly set up after a round of violence terrorized Cité Soleil. I remember her shy smile and also her curiosity with everything going on at SAKALA.

It reminds me too that this is February and fours years ago at this time, when I was lucky enough to be living in a guest room at SAKALA, there was a 12-day lockdown of the country (read about this here )and no one could go anywhere because there were armed groups at most intersections.

Such lockdowns were relatively new then and it was a scary and uncertain time. I remember walking down the stairs from my room at SAKALA, my brow furrowed with worry, when I looked up to see these smiling faces:

The two brothers called to me. They had rigged paint can lids to string and told me they were fishing. They found this very funny — and so did I. My brow unfurrowed.

Thinking back to then and to now, when the situation in Haiti is even more dire, it’s remarkable to have so much good news to share, to talk of a busy and fun February.

So much stuff that I fear the newsletter gods will warn me soon that I have too many pictures, too much content, so I will wrap it up here.

SAKALA is currently looking for sponsors to help with the expenses for ZiZi to be able to participate in the international youth tournament in Greece in April. If you would like to help with that, you can donate through PayPal on SAKALA’s website and note that you would like the donation to go to ZiZi’s chess adventure. You can also send a check to SAKALA International, P.O. Box 490, Camden, Maine, 04843 (in the US).

As always, thank you so much for your support and solidarity with SAKALA.

Wishing you much peace, happiness, and health wherever you are in the world.