When I first started offering language workshops in Kreyòl, I had no idea what direction I wanted to go. It was something I was doing as a way to give back to my community. At the time, there was a growing need to learn Haitian Creole given how many people were making their way back to the island to help in whatever way they could post-earthquake. I always tell people to start where they are and ultimately, I fell back on my training as a linguist and an educator. When these language workshops began to snowball into something bigger than me, I decided it was time to shop around for a home. I visited several language schools in the New York City area with a pitch – I teach Kreyòl, I have a group of students who will follow me anywhere and it can be profitable. To be honest, I wasn’t prepared for some of the responses that I received:

• Who would be interested in learning Haitian Creole?
• Haitian Creole? What’s that?
• There’s no money in teaching a language no one knows about.

The list goes on but I’m sure that you get the point: major language schools just did not want to offer a language that, in their eyes, had little to no value. I was disappointed that these schools that so many view as prestigious, open-minded, and liberal were much more of the opposite. Their close-mindedness and unwillingness to see the potential in Haitian Creole drove me to one conclusion: it was time for me to create my own home. I began to take steps and lay the foundation and ultimately, HCLI was born in the Fall of 2013.

While I’m still not sure what direction this is taking me, I now have a space of my own where I can explore all of those possibilities. There are no strings attached. No one to tell me what value to attach to the language that’s been spoken since my ancestors decided they wanted to break their chains. No rules. Just love for myself. Love for my people. Love for my land. Love for the language that guides me in nearly all that I do.

Onè, Respè.

Won’t you join me on this journey?