PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean arrived in Haiti Saturday for his first visit since President Rene Preval named him a roving ambassador for the Caribbean country in January.
The 35-year-old singer and producer, who was born in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, announced the creation of several youth-based programs financed by Yele-Haiti, a charity he established to encourage development.
"If you want to change a country, unfortunately, you're not going to be able to help eight million people at one time," he told reporters at the airport in Port-au-Prince. "But if you can get one or two or three and start to make that change, that will make the difference."
Yele-Haiti will provide computer labs, classrooms and counselling for jailed child-gang members, help local women's groups sell food in the seaside slum of Cite Soleil, and establish a youth scholarship and soccer program, he said.
Jean spoke to reporters mostly in Creole and wore a white linen jacket with Haiti's shield embroidered in sparkling stones. The guitarist and singer, who left Haiti for Brooklyn at age nine, won fame with the Grammy-winning band, The Fugees, and released his first solo album in 1997.
Source: CanadianPress.Google.com
The 35-year-old singer and producer, who was born in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, announced the creation of several youth-based programs financed by Yele-Haiti, a charity he established to encourage development.
"If you want to change a country, unfortunately, you're not going to be able to help eight million people at one time," he told reporters at the airport in Port-au-Prince. "But if you can get one or two or three and start to make that change, that will make the difference."
Yele-Haiti will provide computer labs, classrooms and counselling for jailed child-gang members, help local women's groups sell food in the seaside slum of Cite Soleil, and establish a youth scholarship and soccer program, he said.
Jean spoke to reporters mostly in Creole and wore a white linen jacket with Haiti's shield embroidered in sparkling stones. The guitarist and singer, who left Haiti for Brooklyn at age nine, won fame with the Grammy-winning band, The Fugees, and released his first solo album in 1997.
Source: CanadianPress.Google.com
