Thomas DHaiti addresses Lima council at Monday night’s meeting.
Jacob Espinosa | The Lima News
LIMA —Lima City Council heard comments from a Brooklyn, New York, man offering translation services to the local Haitian population at Monday night’s meeting.
Thomas DHaiti, of The Recourse Hand Inc., said he saw a story about Lima on the news and decided he could offer help to residents.
“These people came to America to find a job,” he said. “But they come to Lima because there are so many jobs available here.”
Interpreter services have been at the forefront of the issues the city is focused on as the local Haitian community grows.
At April 22’s meeting, Mayor Sharetta Smith reported an increase in requests for Haitian Creole interpreters in local courts and hospitals.
Council members were receptive to DHaiti’s initiative.
“I’m glad to see you step forward,” Todd Gordon said. “There have been a lot of things said that are not true, and I would like to see it turn over because we are all God’s children.”
Tension over the estimated 5,000-strong Haitian community came to a head in a heated forum last Thursday, and councilmembers shared more words of wisdom in response.
“I was bothered by someone who told me she wasn’t going to rent to illegals,” Carla Thompson said. “First of all, no human is illegal. People may not have the correct documentation for what they want to do, but if you are here, you are home.”
Thompson shared a report of a lunch event Sunday in which she and local clergy met with Haitian neighbors to exchange information on proper tenant etiquette and leasing housing.
“I don’t see this as a problem that we have people coming here who appreciate Lima and think it is awesome,” she said. “People are trying to tell me that we need to worry about our own community, but if you are here, you are in our community. There is a struggle to find housing because we have a housing issue and so does America, but that predates this.”
Peggy Ehora said she took a lesson from her experiences growing up.
“We saw people coming from Laos and we had to adapt to that,” she said. “Americans are supposed to be better. But the way we get better is by finding solutions for what is happening in this country.”
Derry Glenn reflected on Thursday’s forum and said he was committed to bringing answers to questions that attendees shared.
“We are going to have that rolled out next week,” he said. “A lot of folks don’t like what’s going on, and they may want to continue asking questions that are way out of bounds, but we are going to answer the ones we got.”
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
