We like to say that SAKALA is the ultimate alternative to all the suffering that this community is experiencing. You see an alternative path that many children seem to be losing because they don’t see anything for the future. You see life inside of SAKALA and you feel there is hope back. Tillias: In SAKALA, we create this environment where the green that you see competes with the red that you see outside with all the trash being burned in the streets. Because we can’t let the children of Haiti lose the only thing that they have left, which is their hope.ĬNN: How is your program and center combatting that? That’s exactly why we’re trying to balance this with the alternatives that we create in SAKALA. This really impacts people’s mentality.ĬNN Hero Daniel Tillias Jessica Ellis for CNNĪnd when these things happen, it really washes away hope. Because of this, people see it as the landfill, as the dump of Port-au-Prince. This creates a situation where it’s constantly flooded or invaded by all the waste and trash. It’s next to the water, surrounded and crossed by several sewers that are unfortunately clogged because of the poor management of waste. It’s like a very small location but is densely populated, and people refer to it as the largest ghetto or the largest slum. Below is an edited version of their conversation.ĬNN: How do you think people perceive Cité Soleil?ĭaniel Tillias: Cité Soleil is this place that people refer to as the largest underserved community of all the country. And we know that it can start here,” he said.ĬNN spoke with Tillias about his work. “We could really have a new country that becomes the model for the world. And he hopes the children of SAKALA, who are growing food and promoting peace, will be the ones to pull their families and the entire country from poverty. Tillias also launched a green initiative to replicate the community garden across Haiti, so Haitians can grow their own food. They have a chance to see a tree that they planted getting as tall as them.”
“They have a chance to hear birds singing in the garden. It can help with the cleansing that we want to see because we know that’s what the children of Cité Soleil really deserve,” Tillias said. “We call this a peace and happiness place. Near the sports field where children play soccer and basketball, there are classrooms, a library and a community garden where herbs bloom from old tires that once burned in the streets. The group also opens its doors to neighborhood kids who come because the center is a haven from the violence outside. “We try to build and work on a group of kids, a model group, that will go back into the community and inspire the rest.” We keep an eye out for kids who are prone to getting involved with violent groups, or drugs, kids who may not have parents or are on the streets already,” he said. “We like to select the most vulnerable kids. Tillias and his group support about 200 children a year financially through scholarships and support services, and they offer a meal program at SAKALA when they can afford it. Today, the gender-inclusive program promotes peace through sports, gardening and education. The group first started 12 years ago as a sports program to keep boys out of gangs. Growing up in Cité Soleil, Tillias felt the negative stigma attached to being from the “slum” and vowed to change the city for the better. “The initiative was to get a safe space in the neighborhood for young kids to be just children – not to see a dead body in the street, not to have to live with the constant shooting, not to have to see things that a little child should not be seeing,” Tillias said.
#SOLEOL HEROES FREE#
The organization offers free afterschool sports and academics, gardening, community development and conflict resolution programs for children. Tillias runs a youth empowerment program called SAKALA-which translates to the Community Center for Peaceful Alternatives-in the heart of Cité Soleil. Waiting to be the next citizen that will change things in Haiti.” “But … I see these kids with potential, with wings … waiting to fly. “Many people in Haiti refer to Cité Soleil as the trash place where all the dumps are,” Tillias said. Gwen Stacy, Spider-Gwen, Captain Avalon, Doctor Strange, Enchantressīlack Panther, Man-Ape, Superior Spider-Manīaron Zemo, Bowman, Klaw, Tactical Force, Captain America (Secret Empire)Ĭaptain America (Old West), Kid Colt, Captain Corbett, M.O.D.O.K.These portraits of young women in Haiti offer glimpses into their daily struggles
Marvel, She-Hulk, Peter Parker, Spider-Man, Thor, White Tiger, Doctor Octopus, Kraven the Hunter, Shocker (Classic), The Presence Drax, Gamora, Groot, Rocket Racoon, Star-LordĬaptain America (Pilot), Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel (No Mask), Ms.
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