President Bill Clinton called Jacqueline Charles “Haiti’s ambassador to the world.”
But for being one of the world’s leading experts on Haiti, Charles — a decades-long Caribbean correspondent for the Miami Herald — has a varied background that shaped her.
On the Dec. 21 episode of Sundial, Charles talks with host Carlos Frías about being a “child of the Caribbean.” And how that shaped her award-winning reporting.
She considers Turks & Caicos, the country where she was born, home. There she was raised by her Haitian immigrant mom and a Cuban-American step dad. But it was abruptly moving to Overtown that shaped her sensibilities.
Now she’s the reporter whose cellphone then Haitian president René Préval called after the devastating 2010 earthquake to ask, “When are you coming?” And whose reporting has been essential in the last year as the country deals with the assassination of president Jovenel Moïse and another devastating earthquake.
Will ask her about identity. That question all children of immigrants or immigrants themselves get asked: No, where are you really from?
On Sundial's previous episode, we heard from author Jonathan Escoffrey, whose new book, If I Survive You, was longlisted for a National Book Award — one of the highest honors for a writer, especially for a first-time author.
Listen to Sundial Monday through Thursday on WLRN, 91.3 FM, live at 1 p.m., rebroadcast at 8 p.m. Missed a show? Find every episode of Sundial on your favorite podcast app, such asApple Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify.
