ABOUT

The N a Sonje Foundation began the legal process from 2002 but due to unstable political situations, it languished in different government offices until just after the earthquake. In spite of the newspaper’s building totally collapsing, surprisingly the papers weren’t lost and the Foundation was published in the state journal on March 25, 2010 out of their new building! This is the equivalent to a 501c3 standing in the US, meaning that the Foundation is a legally recognized organization, legal to function in the country. We pay a tax as well represented by this receipt from the state tax office:

(photo of tax receipt)

The abridged version of the mission and objectives of the N a Sonje Foundation:

“To contribute to the global healing of collective wounds left by the traumatic historical encounter between the African, Amerindian, and European peoples and their descendants, through a deep remembrance of that history and the ancestral times preceding it.”

Below are the translated Mission and Objectives as published in the state journal of Haiti,

“Le Moniteur” March 25, 2010.

Certificate of Registration for the Foundation referred to as “N a Sonje”

Article 1: A foundation has been formed referred to as “N A SONJE” in accordance with the Act of July 23, 1934 accompanied by its internal regulations and by-laws.

Article 2 (a): N A SONJE’S, “Reason for being”:

To meet the challenges it faces in the 21^st century, humanity will need to draw on the heritage of all cultures that are still in existence today. But the heritage of American Indian cultures, African and their descendants are currently the subject of distortion and destruction: their splendor before colonization and their enormous contributions to the existing world heritage have been erased from the popular collective memory. Considerable efforts are necessary to recall these things. But the genocide of the Amerindians as well as trafficking and slavery of Africans on a global scale for 3 centuries, has left a trauma in the collective unconscious that obscures the memories of the ancient splendor, making them inaccessible to the collective memory. This trauma and accompanying amnesia, has devastated many Native Americans, Africans and Europeans and their descendants, most notably in the Americas.For the health of humankind, it is vital that this trauma be healed properly and sustainably, not just compensated by superficial cosmetic repairs, but instead be cared for entirely by a deep healing process. Then only will the peoples of the world be able to hope for fraternal exchanges that are multilateral, free, dignified and mutually beneficial. In order to be treated, the trauma must be brought to the collective memory to which it then can be healed and removed. In order to contribute to this process and healing is the reason we have created the Cultural Foundation ” NA SONJE “

For the fluidity of the text, and because no general consensus has been determined for a term appropriate to designate the original peoples of the land currently called Americas ( First Nations , Original Americans , Indians, Indigenous Peoples of the Americas , Peoples Reds etc.), we use here the imposed conventional term ” Amerindian ” and its derivatives.

Article 2 (b).  The mission and objectives of the Foundation are:

MISSION OF THE “N A SONJE” FOUNDATION

To contribute to the formation of a humanity that is unified, healthy, integrated, fully conscious and possessing the means to express its greatest potential for beauty, fraternal cohesion and collective creativity, by participating in efforts to heal the collective scars caused by the traumatic historical meeting of the African, Amerindian and European peoples and their descendants.

This healing will necessarily require the re-establishment of an accurate and integrated memory, through experience, of the events and conditions that created these traumatic scars, as well as the memory of the splendor of ancestral African and Amerindian cultures and their large and continuing contribution to the common heritage of humanity.

“N A SONJE” FOUNDATION OBJECTIVES

1. Memory

            To contribute to the reconstitution of collective historical memory about the splendor of ancestral African and Amerindian cultures and their enormous and continuing contribution to the common heritage of humanity, for the education and consciousness raising of this generation and those to follow.

2. Truth

       To contribute to the revelation and diffusion of the current political, economic, social, cultural and spiritual impact of the history of colonization, the African slave trade, the slavery and genocide of African and Amerindian peoples, especially the hidden or disguised aspects, to serve as a foundation for reflection and corrective action for the disequilibrium in the previously cited areas, everywhere in the world.

3. Re-living (Sankofa)

         To re-visit, by way of experience, the historical conditions tied to slavery and genocide up to the point of the revolution and creation of Haiti, the only nation of the era in which it was born, to openly defy the global system of exploitation.

4. Recognition

         To assist the process of both personal and collective recognition of the prejudices and responsibilities, both historic and present, conscious or unconscious, which support a number of privileges and injustices in contemporary societies. 

5. Respect and Dignity

         To contribute to the rehabilitation of the respect and dignity of African, Amerindian and Creole peoples, as well as their respective cultures, in their own eyes and in the eyes of other peoples.

6. Reparation

         To investigate the paths of determining both concrete and symbolic reparation actions for the injuries inflicted.

7. Healing

            To investigate new models for cultural, social, political and economic interactions that will result in more just, free, fraternal, respectful and egalitarian relations between all peoples.  

With great appreciation to Founding member Djalòki Dessables for the original French text created in 2001 and finally published in Le Moniteur 2010.