“Rigolo Thérapie” (“Comedy Therapy” in English) is a daily live programme on Caraïbes FM, the leading radio in Port-au-Prince. Its mission is simple: help the population forget the difficulties of life, heal their wounds, and turn the page by giving them some moments of hilarity.

Results are outstanding: Rigolo Thérapie, which is in Creole, enjoys the highest share in Haiti right now. The programme has been on since 2004. That year coincided with another difficult moment in Haiti, when Aristide’s government was topped, a period of unrest followed, and people were afraid of leaving their homes. That is when Marc Anderson Brégard and Peterson François junior (“PJ”) had the idea to create a program to give people some relief from the daily stress. They summoned some of the best comedians, joke tellers and imitators in the country, such as Maxime Clerger “Congo”, Smith Egalité and others. Rigolo Thérapie was born.

Smith Egalité is a talent who is regularly on the show. His trademark is the impersonation of a young street boy from Cité Soleil, an area of Port-au-Prince with serious problems of crime and difficult life conditions. Here he presents himself… and his younger double! *

Maxime Clerger (“Congo”) is the most famous impersonator in Haiti, with a 20-year-long career during which he has provided imitations of virtually any politician in the country. The current situation, with the debates on responsibilities, use of aid money and the upcoming elections, is a perfect setting for his sketches. Here Congo explains how amusement is working as a humour therapy for the people.

* (we deliberately left the original voice in Creole for the central part of the audio to let you savour Smith’s voice as a young street boy). Here’s what he says: “Good evening to all, my name is Egalité, I was born in the Dominican Republic, I have two children, although that may sound to you a bit strange…. I am a professional comedian, and I sing a little bit. I do theatre, here as well as in France, I am a character who is a bit lyric, comic, pacific and… leave me alone!”

Mr Claude Gilles, directeur du centre opérationnel des médias

Haitian media paid a sad tribute to the 12 January earthquake. Many journalists died and for those who survived, most of their work tools were wrecked. In the aftermath of such a catastrophe, the population had and still has a real need for information. Reporters Without Borders, Quebecor, the Centre for the Francophonie of the Americas and the French Foundation, coming from previous experiences of this kind, collaborated to set up a press centre to house, as a priority, the local journalists.

A short time after the opening, the promoters of this project appointed Claude Gilles to manage it. Claude is a Haitian journalist who works for Le Nouvelliste, the oldest daily newspaper in Haiti. Since then, the centre has hosted several journalists who found here a place to carry on with their activity. Some of them, motivated by the training organized in the centre by Internews, have devoted themselves to “humanitarian journalism”.

Loramus Rosemond, journalist, 42 years, has been living in a camp for displaced people for more than 6 months. He tells us about the importance of the Media Centre for the many journalists who are in the same situation:

The centre has a great importance for all these journalists whose priority is to inform the population in the precarious situation that followed the earthquake. In the following video, Claude Gilles explains how the Operational Media Centre operates. The centre is located in the area of Bourdon, in Port-au-Prince.

music (interview) – by Antoine Chevallier (Postillon) => Myspace