It could have started in another past life, or maybe it's a legacy meant to start in this life, but when something is meant to be, God has a way of making the right people cross paths for the right reasons and at the right time to fulfill the right mission. Having started their work together at Barnard College, Columbia University as undergraduate students, Kaity Trinidad-deLeon and Mamyrah A. Dougé-Prosper have spent years working toward forming collaborative efforts between their beloved Haiti/Dominican Republic, or as they both proudly call their shared island: Kiskeya.
For those of you whom may not know, Kiskeya is the Taino Arawak term for the Caribbean island shared by both the Dominican Republic and Haiti. But really, who is Kiskeya? For both of us, she is home to two of the world's greatest wonders, and God's gift to the Antilles. Kiskeya is a unique cultural fabric of beauty, enchantment, and a tropical quintessence that can only be found in the heart of the Caribbean and Latin America. She is a symbol of new beginnings and an ancestral patrimony that can only be re-claimed through the freedom of her people. She is a silent revolution who is ready to reclaim her voice and children. She is love, beauty and most importantly for us, she is the motherland we call home.
That being said, we are just two young women who are on a constant mission to seek out new and creative ways of not only increasing awareness of the historical and existing collaborations between Dominicans and Haitians, but more so deconstructing stereotypes and false notions of Dominican and Haitian dis-unity. La Belle Morena, is a new adventure to unite our peoples and sister cultures through the sweet pleasures that make us unique as an island and as a people. (For full bios, see below)
Kaity Trinidad-deLeon was born and raised in the city of Newark, NJ. Her parents are both from the Dominican Republic, born in the province of Santa Barbara de Samana. She graduated from Barnard College, Columbia University with a major in Urban Studies/History and holds an MPH in Health Policy and Management from The Columbia University School of Public Health. For over 7 years, Kaity has been dedicated to the cause of reproductive health and HIV/AIDS in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti. She has been active with a host of NGOs in helping to coordinate conferences, public forums, and medical missions to provide public health services on the island, specifically within the Haitian and Dominican border region. As an avid food lover with a dangerous sweet tooth, Kaity has sought out baking and confections as a vehicle to not only fulfill her passion for Caribbean sweets, but also a means of mutual collaboration and understanding between her beloved Haitian and Dominican peoples.
Mamyrah A. Dougé-Prosper was born and raised in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Her parents are both from Jacmel, the city that still houses her ancestral home. She forcibly moved to New Jersey, USA at the age of 15. She graduated from Barnard College with a double major in Political Science and Africana Studies, completed an M.S. in Conflict Analysis at Nova Southeastern University, and is currently working on her PhD in Cultural Anthropology at Florida International University. In Miami, Mamyrah volunteered as an organizer with Take Back the Land, a housing and land rights activist organization. Having been politicized at a very young age, the daughter of a human rights advocate imprisoned during the Duvalier dictatorship during the 1970s, Mamyrah seeks to continue her father's legacy. Her dissertation topic is focused on the Haitian Popular Movement, a network of organizations and people engaged in the implementation of their alternative vision of a "developed" Haiti. Mamyrah is currently involved in numerous transnational collaborative projects that further her commitment to the struggle for self-determination and sustainability of her Haitian and Dominican peoples.
