History of the project
The initiative to start a Creole magazine was taken during a meeting in 1967 in Hinche of CICM fathers together with Monsignor Emmanuel Constant, bishop of the diocese of Gonaives. The idea get the support from the whole CICM group in Haiti and father Joris Ceuppens C.I.C.M. received the mission to get at work. The first issue came out in April 24, 1967. It was printed at "La Phalange" on 4000 copies, on 8 small pages (format 8,5 to 5,5). The new born newspaper was sold at 2 cts. Four months later, "Bon Nouvèl was already printed on 16 pages. The magazine was very well received by the public and is printed nowadays on10,000 copies each month.
From the beginning father Joris got the opportunity to install his office at the first floor from the printing shop "La Phalange", building owned by the archdiocese of Port-au- Prince. Father Joris died on December 20TH 1982. He was succeeded by Rev. F. Henk Kaal C.I.C.M. (1982-1988). In 1998 Rev. F. Paul Bouchaert C.I.C.M. took over (1988-1995). Designed provincial in 1995 he passed the direction to Rev. F. Jan Hoet C.I.C.M. Rev F. Jean-Pierre Nzemba Wayi C.I.C.M. took over on October 1st 2009. Several other Missionhurst fathers have taken responsibilities in the execution of the project, as Rev. F. Mike Hahn, Rev. F. Jan Vanderzijden (+), Rev. F. Renaat Loos. Other gave their contribution writing articles on different items, as Rev. F. Guido Vandecandelaere with many articles in concordance with the bible. Some Belgian volunteers have been involved in the administration of the project, as Marie-Thérèse Lenoble, Anne-Marie Vandendriesche and Sara Vandeneynde. The Haitian team knew many changes during the 42 years of Bon Nouvèl. Many of them leaving very good souvenirs behind them as : Paul Antoine, Anselme Destin, Vania Sévère, Hans Mardi, Mac Donald Prosper, Moïse Derolus, Merfy Jirolien (+), Serge Sylvestre. Bon Nouvèl published articles from the hand of Rev. F. Yves Voltaire, Rev. F. William Smarth, Pastor Pauris Jean Baptiste, Mr. Renaud Bernadin (+), Mr. Yves Dejean, Denise Legagneur, Jeanine de Beleyr, Eno Etienne, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Dominique Batraville, Djopits Dorsainvil, Renald Dimanche, and haitian friends in the USA as Emmanuel Vedrine and Nekita Lamour, both living in Boston. Rev. Father Arthur Van den Bossche C.I.C.M. (+), Fanfan and Pieterson Midy made beautiful drawings published in the magazine.
"Bon Nouvèl" - goals
- Promotion of the Creole language. The constitution of Haiti states that the Creole language is one of the official languages (besides French) of the country. However it's a long struggle left before Creole will get its place in education, in justice, in worship, in official documents produced by the government. Bon Nouvèl will contribute to reach this goal.
- Bon Nouvèl will offer lecture at people who learned to read and write in alphabetization programs.
- Trough articles published in the magazine we will offer its supporters the possibility to receive ongoing formation. Articles are published in accordance with the Bible, information on what is going on in the church and in the country, on Ecumenism, on health and health care, on agriculture, on environment, on human rights and justice, on education matters. Trough the magazine, we try to offer a voice to them who are the most excluded in the Haitian society and we try to give our support t all kind of basic groups. Doing this we try to accompany the Haitian people in his request for Democracy.
Who is reading Bon Nouvèl
"Bon Nouvèl" is joining a large public. Bon Nouvèl has become an important Creole publication in the country. It has become a primary source for Creole literature. It was and is still being recognized from high value in promoting the Creole language. Our readers are:
- People who learned to read and write in any alphabetization program.
- Students attending primary school as well as high school
- Schoolteachers, sacristans and leaders and members of all kind of groups in church, peasant movements and youth movements
- People showing their interest in the promotion of the Creole language.
Besides the magazine, Bon Novel also publishes text books in Creole used in primary schools. Many schools in Haiti use these Creole text books. The edition of these schoolbooks is approved by the Department of Education. However, many of these books need to be revised in conformity with the present educational demands. Several text books were indeed revised and reprinted in 2006 and 2007, others still have to be done.
Bon Nouvel is also a library where people interested in Creole publications can find books written in Creole, published by Bon Nouvel or by other editors. We always have given attention to promote the production of Creole books. The first book edited by Bon Nouvel was titled "Okipè tè ou" (Take care of your ground), written by Rev. P. Parisot (+) in 1971. Since then we published several other books and organized writing contests.
The team
Bon Nouvèl is directed by a CICM priest and supervised by a general committee of four persons. The project is running with six personnel in charge of publication and distribution, administration and promotion and maintenance.
Today we have:
- Director Rev. F. Jean-Pierre Nzemba Wayi C.I.C.M.
- M. Wilgard Belange, administration and bookkeeping, responsible for the schoolbooks section.
- Mrs. Fleurette Mathieu responsible for reception
- Mrs. Rosilia François head of the redaction
- M. Jean Denis Tanis, responsible for distribution
- Yolène Charlite responsible for housekeeping and maintenance
Our revenues
We depend approximately for nearby 50 % support coming from abroad. We can not sell the magazine at the real cost, because many of the people we are writing for have serious economic problems. Every copy is sold nowadays at 10 gourds (= 25 US cts). We give an important reduction to parishes and organizations taking more than 25 numbers every month. We had support from several institutions as: Cordaid (Netherlands), AMA-CMC (Netherlands), and the government of the Antwerp province (Belgium), support which ended. We have support nowadays from: Broederlijk Delen (Belgium), Meteco (Belgium) and Promotion – Missionhurst (from the cicm province in the USA). We have income from subscriptions and a small benefit from books sold. (You can find more information on these organizations on the homepage)
