Tribute
to Lucien Lemoine and Solidarity with Haiti
WARC,
Dakar, 28 January 2010
According to Mr. Amadou Mahtar Mbow,
former Executive Director of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and former
Senegalese minister of education, the first slave ship
which reached the Haitian coast with black cargo sailed
from Senegal and the last ship (before the heinous trade
was abolished) to lay anchor in the Haitian waters also
set sail from the Senegalese shores. Those concluding
remarks from Mbow, who presided over the ceremony jointly
organized by the West African Research Center (WARC)
and University Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) in the evening
of Thursday, January 28, were meant to re-emphasize
the ties that bind the motherland to the African Diaspora
the world over.
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The Director of WARC sitting next
to former UNESCO Director General, Amadou Mahtar MBOW
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Indeed, in the early days
of independence, Senegal called on several sons and daughters
from the Black Diaspora to contribute to the national
building effort and the cultural awareness required to
uplift the black people. One of those sons, Lucien Lemoine,
with his wife Jacqueline Lemoine, made substantial contributions
to the development of the arts in Senegal, particularly
in the Senegalese national theater Daniel Sorano and with
the early cultural programs of the national radio station,
Radio Senegal. Lucien passed away almost at the same time
when his country of birth, Haiti, was shaken by a devastating
earthquake the consequences of which are still being mourned
the world over
Jacqueline Scott Lemoine (white) sitting next to Mme
Mbow (both native of Haiti)
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The Thursday evening
event featured two films by Haitian filmmaker Mr. Maksaens
Denis: one on the Lemoine couple and the second entitled
L'Arbre de la Liberte (The Tree of Freedom) on the tumultuous
history of Haiti and the Haitian people's unrelenting
quest for freedom. The event, which also featured several
testimonies and warm tributes for Lucien Lemoine, opened
with remarks from the UCAD Director of campus cultural
and sporting life (DIACS) and the Director of the West
African Research Center. Both emphasized the team work
and team spirit prevailing between UCAD and WARC and the
Director of WARC capped his statement with a quotation
from Cesaire's play La Tragedie du Roi Christophe to illustrate
the sorely tried and yet unbending and unyielding resistance
and prevalence of the Haitian and other Diaspora communities
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Family picture |
Ousmane SENE Director, West African Research
Center (WARC)
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