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Yvon
Aristide
Yvon Aristide, who initially migrated to New York, relocated to
Washington in 1971 where he completed his high school education
at the District of Columbia’s Roosevelt High School. He was
attracted to the smaller scale of Washington, where he felt more
at home. He settled in to the Mount Pleasant/Adams Morgan neighborhood,
where there was a small cluster of Haitian, working during the day
and going to Prince Georges (MD) Community College at night to obtain
a certificate in computer studies. He remembers this neighborhood
and its Haitian residents as “an average Haitian cluster where
we lived just like at home, each of us maintaining our principles
and building our dreams.” We had little opportunity, he recalled,
to get together and bond as a group because there were simply not
enough hours in the day. Yvon had two overarching goals: prepare
a better future for his family and find a way to help the people
he left behind in Archaie, Haiti.
Today, following further studies in interior design at a technical
school in Baltimore, Yvon is a successful interior designer. He
and his family live comfortably in the suburban area of Silver Spring,
Maryland, and he has not abandoned his dream of helping the people
of Archaie, having founded, in 1986, SOMORA (The Society
for the Modernization of Archaie).
Lionel “Yon-Yon” Simeon
Lionel Simeon’s path from Haiti to the US was a musical one.
From 1979 to 1985, he was a member of the well-known Haitian kompa
band DP Express. Although most of the band’s gigs were in
the New York area, on several occasions, Lionel and his bandmates
traveled to Washington to play for the area’s growing Haitian
community. When he decided to leave the band and look for somewhere
to settle down with his family, he chose Washington over New York.
Initially, life in Washington was not easy. Working as a taxi
cab driver, Lionel put in long and sometimes dangerous hours. On
several occasions, he was robbed at gunpoint. Following an episode
when his taxi caught fire, Lionel, also known as “Yon-Yon”
decided it was time for a change of professions!
Yon-Yon’s new profession emanated out of his expertise and
love of preparing Haitian food He recalls that he did not intend
to make his culinary arts into a business. But as friends clamored
for his dishes, his idea for a new profession gradually emerged:
become a caterer for the Haitian community.
 Now
a cook of increasing renown, Yon-Yon operates a busy and growing
catering and restaurant operation out of his home in the Silver
Spring, Maryland area. He has modeled his operation after what he
identifies as a West Africa practice of inviting paying customers
to come to his home and eat in the relaxing and friendly atmosphere
of his family’s dining room. At any given time, blue-collar
workers, students, educators, policemen, and the rich and the poor,
mingle in Yon-Yon’s dining room enjoying a variety of such
Haitian delicacies as pork (griot), Creole chicken, djon-djon
(mushroom) rice, and lambi (conch). Yon-Yon and his wife,
Yannick, have warm words of welcome for all their guests, accompanied
by polite inquiries about their children, studies, and businesses.
Yon-Yon’s dining room is an important space where Haiti
and Haitian life in the Washington area are connected. According
to the chef/entrepreneur, he is trying “to reinvigorate the
social life for Haitian in the metropolitan area while also sharing
my cooking gifts with those who are looking for a part of the Haitian
tradition and the motherland.” At Yon-Yon’s acquaintances
are made, friendships are strengthened, and news and events of the
community are discussed. The latest developments in Haiti are learned
and discussed. By sharing his house, Lionel Simeon has helped to
ensure the survival of Haitian culture and Haitian identity among
members of Washington’s Diaspora community.
An example of Haitian endurance and perseverance, Yon-Yon and
Yannick are also providing Americans with a taste of Haiti. Their
catering now reaches into American businesses and homes in the Washington
metro area. Next in line, perhaps within the year, will be the migration
of the atmosphere of their dining room to the Washington area’s
first Haitian restaurant. |
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