****Blast From The Past**** Building People, Rebuilding Haiti: Jean Rebecca’s Story Of Faith, Grit, And Community

Hey, Friends and Family.

Even in the months of the podcast season when things are slow, we got content for you. Our team thought it a great idea to start reviewing previous (but timely) episodes of our show during the times that Mista Yu is away from the microphone. All of these episodes (or beautiful Blasts from the Past) were previously broadcasted but we are sharing them with you for a time that you might need it most. Hope you enjoy!

A miracle start, a hard separation, and a relentless mission— Jean takes us from a birth in a five-gallon bucket to a blueprint for rebuilding hope in Haiti. We dive into the heart of Stand For Haiti, the organization he and his wife launched to strengthen what already exists—schools, churches, and community hubs—by wrapping students and families with real support. Instead of duplicating orphanages, Jean chose to repair broken education paths through tuition sponsorships, mentoring, medical access, and training for local teachers. The result is a durable circle of care that helps kids stay in school and communities move from survival to growth.

One story captures the spirit: Jean’s team purchased a voodoo temple and replaced it with a playground. That bold shift reoriented a neighborhood’s daily walk from fear to joy and became a hub for learning and unity. We talk candidly about Haiti’s current crisis—assassination fallout, gangs, displacement, and personal loss—and how people on the ground still show up hungry for change. Jean shares the hardest lesson he learned: outcomes can’t be the compass. Calling must be. Small acts of support—money, presence, leadership—ignite momentum for families who are learning to dodge bullets and keep going.

We also open the human chapters that keep Jean grounded: pick-up basketball, Caribbean food memories, and the power of music as a bridge. Hip hop once served as his evangelism tool, from campus

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Chapters

• 1:07 The Incredible Life of Gene Rebecca
• 14:34 Mission to Support Haiti Communities
• 27:56 Supporting Haiti Communities Through Development
• 34:13 Global Mission and Life Reflections
• 45:03 Connecting Music and Cultural Identity
• 55:30 Legacy and Hip-Hop Influence
• 1:03:12 Empowering Haiti Support Through Partnerships
• 1:07:18 YouTube Show Promotion and Gratitude

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:20

Thanks again for listening to One on One with Mr. You and your inspiration station. I'm going to be excited about today's episode and change to share another compelling story with all of you that I'm going to be brought to changes your tomorrow, community. Let's now wait another minute. Wherever you are and however you're listening to The Call Me Mr. You the Podcast, we thank you once again for making this a part of your morning, your day, and your week with your weekly video check before you change the world. Today, another one-on-one with They Call Me Mr. You the Podcast. Good buddy of mine and an incredible man with an incredible story. Gene Rebecca is in the house. Good morning, sir. How are you doing, man? I'm doing fantastic. Thank you for the offer. Uh, I'm so excited to have this chat. So, yes, sir. Well, before we get into that, just want to shout out all of our viewers and listeners. Uh, you guys are growing by the day, it seems, and we're actually can we actually call ourselves worldwide, we're actually global. We got people in Africa and Australia listening to us and eastern Europe. I'm like, what's happening out here? So, this is a blessing. We've been listening via audio and you're not really a video person, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Spotify, Apple Podcasts will allow you to hear our show audio only. Four seasons out there, so a lot of archives to go through. And of course, if you are a video listener, video listener and watcher, watching us on our YouTube channel, it's youtube.com at They Call Me Mr. You. All of our episodes from the past year are out there for your perusal. So we just thank you for your support and all those guys that are financially supporting us. We appreciate that as well. So thank you again. And we are here with Gene Rebecca. Incredible story, guys, to get your listening ears on. There's a lot to hear, a lot to learn, a lot of green from, and we want to have fun at the same time. All right, man. So, how's the day going so far before we jump into all this stuff, man? How you doing, man? Everything good?

SPEAKER_01: 2:48

I I'm doing great, man. Uh uh I'm blessed, I'm alive, and I'm in good health. So everything's good, man. Um, again, thank you, thank you for the opportunity. You know, I really appreciate it, and um to God be the glory for that.

SPEAKER_02: 3:03

I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm trying to do uh it's not it's not charity. I'm trying I'm trying to do a service through this show. I know a lot of folks don't always understand that. They think I'm trying to get rich and famous. It's so far from me that if you know me a little bit, you know better. I'm trying to create platforms for folks to you know compassing things in their lives and rally, rally around some causes and and build them up. So that's what this is all about. This is part of that. I really believe in Stanford Haiti, and I want to kind of get into it. But we had many conversations, and I would love for you to kind of give them a everybody is listening a brief overview of your upbringing. What was life like for you early on? Kind of just give them a little bit of a peek behind the curtain.

SPEAKER_01: 3:42

So um I was I was born in Haiti. Um my my mom, who I was born in 1979, and at the time of and still today, Haiti has um outhouses um where you use the bathroom outside pretty much. And she was she was pregnant. She had already lost her, um, I think two other kids prior to me. And then she was she was planning, you know, the the I guess the pregnancy went well over nine, 10 months, um, probably within that 11 month time. And so she she was betting that she was going to give birth to a stillborn baby. So women in Haiti at the time use outhouses. Um, although they have outhouses, they use um these five-gallon buckets to to um on the by the bedside at nighttime when they have to use the bathroom. That's that's where they go. So um some some weird way, you know, um she had to use the restroom, and you know, unexpectedly I came out and I was um born in a born in a bucket, you know. So I'm kind of um her miracle um baby. I'm I'm the fourth firstborn of the family. And then by the age of about five, six years old, she she um she she shared this story many of times. So by the time I was about five, um, six years old, my dad was already um in the states, in the United States, Florida, to be exact. And he was trying to find better living for us. Meanwhile, my mom was just fight fighting off, you know, um how she how she's gonna feed me from day to day, um, how she's gonna keep me from from um being attacked by voodoo, voodoo priest, and et cetera. So all of those things was was plaguing her mind. And then um, meanwhile, she would take me um to these prayer mountains to get prayed for and to for protection and all that stuff. And one day, while she's at this prayer mountain, interceding and praying with me, I was there as well. Um, there was this this guy who I didn't know, kind of told them, told her, hey, my dad, um, my dad reached out and said, there's an opportunity for me to come to the States. And my mom had to make the hard decision to kind of bring me, bring me, um, kind of release me to my to my father. So at that point, um left my mom, lived with my dad, and that that was a hard life in itself because he he lost his his um his parents at a young age when he was 13. And so he had to fetch for himself, and he's been fetching all his life. So now that he has a son that he has to take care of, that wasn't something he was used to. So he was um out of the house quite a bit working or just you know out and about. And I would find myself either um having to fetch for myself or or whoever he was with at the time, you know, was that person taking care of me.

SPEAKER_03: 6:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 6:57

So that was kind of a bit of my um upbringing from the start, lost contact for with my mom for a good while until like um, so that's 1986. Um I moved to the States and then from 1986 to 1999. Um, by the time I was like 19 um or 18, 19, that's when I first reconnected with my mom for getting the opportunity to go back to Haiti. And and meanwhile, my dad's in construction. So, you know, we're doing the construction. I'm in the construction world, you know, since I was like seven, eight years old doing that, and then and then going to school during whenever the school doors was opened and when it was closed, we were we were um in the construction site with the dad. So that was that's you know, a bit of my startup. That's incredible. What's that? That's an incredible story. Yeah, and so from that, you know, um not having that father, he's he's there but not really present and active. Um we we lived in uh in Boynton Beach, Florida, um, and and it was, you know, it was quite intense. And at that time, during that state, Haitians were, you know, the ones being bullied, you know. So we were the ones being um ostracized and and whatnot, you know, and we we had to kind of um figure it out on our own and and try to try to kind of you know not not show fear or how however it was, we we had to kind of make it persevere, I guess you could say. Yeah, so um that kind of matured me pretty quick, you know, um not having a dad around and also also trying to fetch for myself at times. So so we turned to we can turn to to gang life, to whatever life. And basketball was around, football was around, you know. Those were the days I don't know if they still have it, Yusuf, where where you played um football on on the streets, you know, and of course, we didn't have no football fields growing up.

SPEAKER_02: 9:01

Sidewalk was a football field.

SPEAKER_00: 9:03

Well, we played football on the streets, man. Um, once you was on the road, it's two-hand touch, but when you hit that grass, it's tackled.

SPEAKER_02: 10:00

Absolutely. We'll come back to that Florida part. We're gonna come back to that. But I want to ask you a question about that prayer mountain. Help me understand, Chris Ald for me real quick. What exactly are we talking about? We say a prayer mountain. Tell me if you can, if you know the history on it, how that what's that about?

SPEAKER_01: 10:16

So so in Haiti, um, there's there's there's mountainsides and there's hills and there's flat land as well. And so um that I there would there would be services um on these prayer mountains or overnight um wakes, etc. So um sometimes the mountain is one of those places too when when you're when you don't have anything left, you know, you kind of go just release yourself um in that mountain and release your burden, release your pressures, release your your screams, your yells, lamentations. Um so so it was very common for someone to you have your your regular church in within the village, but you know, in this those stages of seeking and soaking, you would go to the to the prayer mountain. Still today they they exist. You're very likely to find throughout the day where where someone, young, old, whatever, um, either loss of family, um, um loss of job or um uh family having eaten for weeks, whatever the case is, you think of the most most um when the rubber meets the road situation and you have nothing else to depend on, you you you make that journey to the prayer mountain and and you you kind of just stay there in lamentation. Um very very common to, you know, uh I don't I don't want to say common, but we we have it where we have like these these prayer prayer chapels per se where it's made available and you can go and pray. This one is a slightly different because you you whatever the um the day is, um night, cold, rain, you know, um this there's no there's no shelter per se, you know. The only shelter typically is is um the the cloud or the sky, you know, and the the complete dependency on God showing up.

SPEAKER_02: 12:29

Stay with us. We'll be right back. Hey guys, it's Mr. Yu. You know how much Mr. Yu loves his coffee. I think I found the answer for all you guys at a health conscious, but still love coffee, strong coffee company. 15 grams of high quality protein, check, sustain energy throughout the day, check, no jitters and crashes, check. Stress believers like a gonda for your morning commute, check and double check. It's also good for your skin. Come on now. A healthy alternative that actually tastes good. I'll arrange the highest exclusive discount for my listeners. Use the promo code StrongCoffeeCompany.com forward slash discount forward slash TCMY. That's where they call me Mr. You. StrongCoffeeCompany.com forward slash discount forward slash TCMY. The link is also in the show notes. Check out Strong Coffee, let me know what you think. Awesome, man. Yeah, you mentioned Florida. That's always a story that kind of makes me smile because that's right. We were in Florida in the same time, I think almost in the exact same area. It's all right. I think we were in Tampa around the same time that you guys were well, you were in you said Boynton Beach, I think it was.

SPEAKER_01: 13:43

I forgot how close. So I grew up, I grew up in Boynton Beach, and then um I went to school in Lakeland, Florida. And um Lakeland is between um kind of sits in the center between Orlando and Tampa. I mean, they're they're right there. So yeah, I took some trips to um Orlando, of course, many of times, and then um um Tampa as well. So so yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02: 14:11

Yeah, we did the dimension we were a part of, they had uh a church in Lincoln, so we would go there and minister go back and forth. Man, we were so close. It's like this is a small world, boy.

SPEAKER_01: 14:20

You just need to live in I think we were there were probably times um because me and you've had conversations, so I think there was times that we was in the same room at the same time and had no idea. Had no idea. That's incredible to be that's that's the crazy part of it. We we was at many of times at the same room at the same time, um, receiving the same like due of God's spirit, you know, and then now here we are in the on the back side of things, and and obviously, you know, there's there's a relationship there that God was probably stirring up before we even know that without question, without question.

SPEAKER_02: 15:00

You're somebody I value having in my life, so I am very, very grateful. Not because you're doing the episode of this show today, you're doing the interview with me. It's not that I'm grateful for you in my life, period. Uh that's that's powerful stuff to me, but that's I get sentimental about the kind of stuff. Some people don't care about it all. To me, it's a big deal because I recognize that uh that that God is in this, you know, and it wasn't an accident, it's not it, it wasn't luck, it wasn't an accident. It was a lot of strategy. Yeah, ability strategy, if you will. Yeah, for sure. I want to hear how Stan for Haiti was launched, but I want to ask you first any updates on what's going on with your family? I know that this ties into why Stan for Haiti was uh launched, why it was birthed out of your heart, you and uh and your wife Sylvia's heart. So I don't know how what order you want to answer those two questions, but take your time and go ahead and roll with a little bit. I just kind of want to hear how it was launched and and how things are at current. It might be you know the reason why this organization is necessary in the first place.

SPEAKER_01: 16:06

So feel feel free to kind of interject at any point in time, and then if I get to answer one of the questions, um and and uh remind me. But um, so this is emotional for me for various reasons. Um, every time I talk about it, or um have an opportunity to mention it because again, um I had lost contact with my mom for a good while, you know. Um, and so again, I I lost contact at the age of five, six, and it wasn't until like 19 years old we reconnected. And so those all of those years, um, I I received letters, I received cassette tapes, et cetera, you know, about the conditions, about the situations and all of that stuff. And so hearing her woe stories and these lamentations, this stuff that she's having to go through, pained my heart because I was a son, you know, that couldn't really do much about her disposition. And so, and then I got the opportunity to make that visit in 1999 with my dad for a week and saw my mom for my mom for that week's time, and and I saw my eyes laid on the conditions and the situations. And and so that that kind of crushed me, right? And then me and my wife in our early stages of of being married, married, um, and just trying to get by ourselves, knew that there was a sacrifice that we wanted to make, you know, to take out of um our own income and go ahead and and send that over and and provide for my family. But then Haiti remained in our hearts. Um one thing that I want to I want to kind of make clear, right? So there is love for family, there is love for mission, um, and love for family doesn't always, family is not always where mission is, you know, and mission is not always where family is. So it just so happened to be that the love that I have for my family is also the part location where God's giving me a mission for and a heart for. Those two don't don't don't always coincide. In other words, the same zeal and passion and drive that my wife may have for the mission of Haiti in itself, you know, members of my family may not have that same mission. They have their heart is survival, you know, and they there are their heart is to taking care of, like, hey, get me out of this situation by all means necessary. So there's that aspect of things. So I am tackling that while at the same time that God has birthed a mission for not only the family, but the communities in Haiti in itself. And so we're having to tackle the same, the this the same location, but two different um missions with two different perspectives. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_02: 19:17

It does make sense. It does make sense.

SPEAKER_01: 19:19

So so with with that, um, there was some strategic like thought that had to go into it. And my my wife also um had the, you know, we we we want to support the family, you know, but at the same time, we want to help the people of Haiti as a whole. And one of the things that she wanted to do was start in a possible orphanage when we were financially um able to. And then in our visits to Haiti, we we realized throughout the years, we realized, well, there's there's orphanages in Haiti. There's there's a lot of orphanages. It may not be running efficiently and they may not have the resources, but Haiti doesn't always have, you know, you have pockets of places where there's parent where there's parents not in the picture. But most of the times, even in the orphanages, the parents are in the picture. They just can't give the added resources or the fund, the funds that's needed to allow their kids to receive their education. They just can't, they may not have the jobs, they may not have the resources that they need to function today, day-to-day. They don't have that. But is there churches in Haiti? Yes, there's buku of churches. If there is their orphanages, yes. Is there schools? Yes. The issue is even with the schools, majority of the schools is private schools. So you you you may have some um you may have like the the the funds the first quarter to take get your take your child to school and support them in that. Um but but then the the other three quarters that's remaining, you may not have that. And so you have to pull your kids out until you can generate that funds again. Well, those funds may not be necessary may not be available until um four, five, six years. So you could potentially have this child that with a with a first grade level education, right? But should be in middle of high school. You see what I'm saying? It's a lot of those situations. And um, so what we what we did was we we we pulled back from the need of starting something else that's already started. And the Lord put in our hearts, like, let's let's create a support system around around what already exists to see how we can help, how we can help the support system that's already there. And so we would come around, uh we would rally around the church, you know, and and give support to the church. We would rally around the um orphanage and then give support to the orphanage. And we rallied around the education, gave support to the education component. And so that's how we started off to go about it. And then we began to notice loopholes. And in those loopholes, we needed to establish our own stability of support system to rally behind these communities. So, for example, one of the things that we did was um I work here, I work on the education um system in Charleston, and and then I I I'm also um a leader, a pastor, uh one of the pastors in a driving church of North Palm. So when you look at what works and what we do, and what we've done in both both edge the education component, my line of job, is to rally a support system uh around um a school based on what that need is. So the school may have various needs from the dropout rate, um, the pregnancy preventions, et cetera. You know, so um, or just basic needs that's needing to flood into that school or bring in mentors and and and tutors, etc. Um, um faith-based and doctors and and all this stuff. Let's let's bombard and bliss one of your your words, let's bliss the school, you know, um with as much support as possible. Once we bliss the school, now let's go in and bliss with my case, low students. Let's bliss these students with the support that they need. Not don't think what we think they need, what they actually need. So um I noticed that putting a circle of support system, whether that that child can't eat in the morning, you know, let's make sure they have breakfast, okay? Um, making sure we have resources for that. That child needs a mentor, they need a male figure in their life, you know, to build those components on them that they might have, they may not have the right male figure in in their day-to-day. Let's bring in mentors for that. That child is struggling in math, let's bring somebody for math. That child needs a medical, medical support, you know, um, um, get his teeth checked, you know, get get get his physical supports. And and so the parent may not have the resource for that. So, what we've done is bring broker support around the student and around that school to make it ride and monitor those resources. So after years of um uh providing that kind of support, now stepping in Haiti and getting being broken by what I saw. Um it's as if like um 1986 still existed, you know. I feel like I was going back in time again and not much has changed, you know, but the homes built out of stockals and sticks, you know. Still kids like myself, what I used to do when there was no food. I I'll just, you know, we we put eat paper and sand and put stuff in our mouth, you know what I'm saying? And it was bread and water. That was our basic stuff. So for me to see us how we've advanced as advanced in many parts of our world, but then you have places like Haiti, um, that literacy issues and um reading on um uh can't can't read or write and living off of$2 a day type type lifestyle. When when you hear it, it does something to your heart. When you're exposed by it, you know, when you can smell the condition and when you can when you can feel the condition, when you can see the condition, bro, it broke me and it broke my team. And and at that point, I ask, I just ask God, I we need a strategy, you know, we need this a strategy. People are coming in, missionaries are coming in, um, stuff are being done, you know, but but we we the people need to be empowered still at another level. So um I give grace and honor to what what has already been done. But as you know, with with any um trail that you're blazing, somebody else needs to come in and extend it. So there's moments of duplication, but there's moments of extending. And so we I felt more called to extending, non-duplication that I think.

SPEAKER_02: 26:49

That we don't see very often. Yeah, so uh this there's a there's a part of that story that just hits me, man. I'm gonna let you jump back into some more of that, man. Uh my family's from the uh from the US Virgin Islands and from Panama, and you'd be surprised, man. Maybe you won't be, maybe you won't be surprised, but a lot of people are. When you watch the commercials for all of the tourists that come to Barbados and the Bahamas and stuff, it looks fantastic, man. But there's another side of that promotion that people don't see. My great-grandmother, when she was alive, she literally lives in a shack. And I don't mean a shack, like I can't even describe it. All I can describe is just point to what you said. And I lived there with her to visit, and it was dilapidated to say the least. I might as well have been outside to be inside a a so-called enclosed structure, and that's how they live. So my generation of folks in the 80s and 90s, limited ability to read and write, if any ability at all. It's like people don't understand the plight of what's going on. That's gonna be my uh leading to my next question for you. But I want to give a shout out to all the people who listen to the show, who are watching us right now online and watching us through the YouTube channel. Please, if you have any questions for Gene in regards to what you heard so far, or maybe maybe perhaps kind of uh break some myths about what you think about the the world situation, the global situation in Haiti. Drop your questions in the comment session. We'd love to hear from you, and we'll address those as soon as we can during the episode, man. So don't be afraid. Drop your questions in the comments here and go ahead, Gene, jump back in and finish where you were starting at, man.

SPEAKER_01: 28:31

Yeah, so the conditions, as you mentioned, you know, um allowed us to like um realize that we had to do more. You know, there was just as much um voodoo, um, voodoo temples within the hotbed of the community as there were churches, if not even more, you know, and it's what it represents um as well, you know. So and it's the darkness, it's the it's the like poverty mindset that that need that needs to be broken, you know, and and we know in scripture one of the primary examples of ultimate um ultimate change is to first breaking down the these shrines, you know, to rebuild something of different significance because every time you walk by it, even if you don't go in it, every time you walk by it, it it's creating this like this is the state of mind that we're in, you know. So at that point, we we you know that this is a completely, you know, I don't want to go on a rabbit trail, but yes, we purchased a voodoo temple, man, and we broke the voodoo temple down. We placed a playground in its place, you know, while we was in Haiti, and and we begin to rally kids and and basically do a, if you will, almost like a boys and girls club, you know, okay, where we're where we're just where we're loving on kids, educating kids, you know, and then and then building starting start, we we started the process of breaking down the barrier, um, barrier, and then and then add adding new framework to their construction, if you will, um, to rebuild and reprogram how they how the mind is operating of this is Haiti, this is how Haiti's always going to be, you know. Um, so when we what we did was we were able to bring um a support, rally a support system around this, uh around the community in which we which we worked with, you know, and we built a team there. We have directors, we we have um we have um staff members, and we we do um educational sponsorship. We we provide we provide programs for the seniors, um, and and in Haiti as well. And and we we just try to bridge the gap where we can. Um so we brought that what I've seen at work. and what what God has put in my hands as hey this is a responsibility you know while at least in this season um I well I just duplicated the service that I that I did at the school I duplicated those things over at in Haiti and within those communities to to watch development and so we brought both missionaries and we brought um um folks from the church you know um to fill with that spiritual side you know and break down those barriers and then we brought the professionals educators etc um that was expertise that were experts in their fields you know they because of the relationship et cetera they took the trip with me to Haiti as well and we began to create a program and surround those those um educators in Haiti that's one of the that was educating the kids kind of like some training etc and so we've been at it for since 2012 now um um at or at least official since 2012 and looking to um eventually you know have our own run our own school and maybe in the near future we'll be able to duplicate that school within other cities within Haiti we've been doing this long enough where where we have somewhat of our own built-in curriculum um that service the kids so that the students so that way the kit it bridges the gaps from what the students may not be receiving from school either because their parents can't afford to finish it up or because they're so low um um um academically we kind of try to bridge that gap even if you can't go to school we're providing you all your school the the the basics that you need to continue to to function i got a couple of questions i got a couple of questions questions today let me answer my questions i did i did a fantastic job thank you for doing that uh i got a couple of questions for you in regard to this now all right you with me so far so the first thing i'm gonna ask you is now into this is something that uh my voice is gonna move a little bit because uh it kind of frustrates me a little bit but in my humble opinion people kind of get callous pertaining to the place of uh of people outside the country kind of like if it don't touch my house and my family it don't matter as much kind of attitude that bothered me because people talk about charity like you know oh I did a good deed you know say pat me on the back for what I did what I gave what I donated and people talk about giving back to the community and they do it kind of like almost like kind of callously but I want to ask you two questions about you and in in regards to all this in the big picture of this uh this mission this movement what have you learned about yourself what does Gene learned about himself through the seeking of support for Stanford Haiti what's one or two things you learned about you during this time that you've uh embarked on this request on the quest for support um that's a good question that's a good question um wow so uh you got one thing that's fine it gotta be two but oh I I think it's a it's a life question too I think it's not just about the Hades situation it's a life question for me because um at one point you want to do something even even again um church is my life you know um and and and serving people is my life I say a lot of times that um my dad and my brother um are in the construction field and that's what they know they they build houses and God called me to build people you know and sometimes sometimes the the results the results can you can be tricked by the results right because you you want to see an immediate change that that's not necessarily there and when that immediate change when that immediate like um gratification is not there you ask yourself well if this is not where the crowd is going and if this is not as popular if this is not where the whether whatever you know do you is this something you still want to devote yourself to you know is this um is this like where's the carrot you know that that you're trying to chase in this because ultimately sometimes what God calls you to you don't see an immediate results you know it's sometimes years before it you know so so at at some point at some point in the process whether it's it's it's ministry whether it's um at the education field whether it's family or whether at some point you are you take ownership of your mission and of what you've been called to do regardless of the fan base regardless of the um uh of the investment that that people may or may not bring you know so ultimately I understand that this is this is um dear to my heart because this is what God has burdened me with one of these things so then the the response from the outside is a help is encouraging is powerful but it doesn't dictate um it does not dictate my position it doesn't dictate how fast or i i'm I'm called to like zoom in and and and plow at this thing you know and hit this thing right on so that the support if you put some wheels in motion if I have a couple group of people pushing me or uh somebody holding holding your arms does it make it a little bit easier indeed it does but I can't dictate and that's that's uh that and a good example of it is this you have Haiti right now who's in complete chaos um the president was assassinated of um um maybe I I want to say 2000 and 2021 um I believe and then the the country has been in disarray games has um overtaken the country rebel rebels is ruining and bringing artism and everybody on the outside has has things to say and people on the inside is just they're having to go through it you know I've I've lost you know I've lost my my close brother um do due to the the the situation in Haiti I've lost my my my cousin and there's been many of surround we've lost um we we've lost um artist students have lost family members etc um people are fleeing um to different parts of the country leaving all that they've known all of their life and trying to free their this situation it's it's straight chaos you know um while at the same time you will think you will think okay where do we stand with what's going on these people the I I can't speak for all of Katie but the community in which I I'm involved in the group the the people I'm talking to on a daily basis they're still hungry for change you know I'm saying they're learning to dodge bullets while they move they're not learning that you know they there any any bit of hope that you can give them um is fuel for them to continue. So then that tells me any small doses of of resource words of encouragement of monetary gain um um leading etc man it it puts a fire on their back to run you know and that that little seed does so much in their world and they're able to continue so so I I'm not trying to compare or anything like that. I just think about how Jesus moved and how he moved um that it it didn't matter like what the government was doing what they were saying or not saying what the what the society was like he had a specific um goal and a specific um um uh a plan and agenda that he was not deviating from right so we i'm not so at that point as long as the people are are hopeful and as long as they're like gene let's go we can we can run we can move we can you know let's let's stop right now it's hot that's things are are crazy for a week or a month but as soon as things get back on their feet they're going so we're rolling like you know the underground church brother we we keep it moving regardless pause when we need to and move forward when we need to but as far as the whole of what's going on in Haiti yeah it's it's it's real it's it's it's intense but yet there's people moving man um and and trying to do their best to to see a better a better Haiti for their country and those people man we we don't we don't leave them doing that we don't we don't yeah so we're we're doing good that's really good man I appreciate that answer too man I'm gonna ask you one more question about Haiti that we're gonna shift a little bit and go into some other stuff that people might not know about you. So we're gonna go ahead and uh one last question on Haiti in in regards to uh it's clear that we can't separate you from Haiti you're in there will be linked in that regard do you feel like you'd have a heart for nations if Haiti wasn't your home you feel like you have a heart to do things in a like this in other countries did that spark that for you or is it just yeah um as I mentioned um as I mentioned earlier you will notice that a lot of people well if you look at the statistics a lot of people um that leave Haiti don't necessarily go back and invest in Haiti um in fact I could I I haven't looked at the the data on this but you will you will notice that there's more foreign missionaries in Haiti than actual actual Haitian missionaries in Haiti so so um I and and I and I know of people that when they when they leave they're not looking in I mean they have different motives for so we'll leave that alone but as for me Haiti again is part part mission but I have I got a global mission you know it's uh I got I'm too well connected with people man that that this um part of the scripture says you know to be burdened with what have have the um the the what your friends or um and the people around you are are burdened with that burden should be your burden you know what brings them joy that joy should be your joy you know so ultimately um I I know people from Venezuela and what Venezuela got going on the Dominican Republic um Cuba um and all of these Brazil you you name all of these items if anything that even if if there is a a niche something that we do well that can benefit and absolutely let's let's bring let's do it man and I've had those conversations with um various folks you know and in their stages where we we're trying to help them um and even Africa you know as as as we as we speak so there's there's different yeah absolutely man my my burden is for the nations not um it just so happened Haiti's in our backyard man absolutely absolutely there's no way you know and I am with the access you know that I have uh absolutely man so well I love that I want people to know a little bit more about you outside of what you do don't get me in trouble your home country I don't think I would do that we've been doing good we've been doing good now all right what I what I want to create here was to have the kind of conversation that you and I have without all the things that are sensitive in nature but have that kind of conversation and let people get to know the person that I know outside of the uh official capacity so to speak all right so we'll have a little bit of fun with this i mean if you have to uh bow out on certain questions that's okay i got plenty more we're good to go i'll plead the fifth go ahead you plead the fifth that's that's all that's all right i want people to get to know you the man because there's more there's more to you and i i'm hoping that this is uh a benefit and a credit to you because a lot a lot of people get caught up in people's offices in their official capacity and they never go deeper because if you stay there it it it becomes something that's kind of almost unattainable something you can't reach because the human part the part that that that that that real part of how relatable their life is to yours and you won't turn it into worship and and and self-glorification it'll be where it needs to be so that's why I'm trying to help out with this today so a little bit I think you got a lot of qualities that people might want to know about so I'm gonna I'm gonna touch on that but that's good let's let's start here we're having fun today outside of your uh spending time with your family what does Gene do for in enjoyment um um I I love I enjoy working out and I enjoy um playing ball man um playing basketball makes me still makes me feel young a little bit you know so so going out man and and playing with these young kids man and and building that and and older guys as well but that's that that's that's really what I I enjoy doing man.

SPEAKER_02: 45:21

So that's a regular thing for you you do that on a weekly basis I I do it on the regular I do it on the regular you know um at least at least once a once a week I'm I'm playing ball and a couple times a week I'm I'm working out and and and running you know so I don't like running as much but the working out yeah who who who does right on concrete that's not that's not fun but actually the benefit I enjoy the benefits of it so I do it but the work I I you know it's it's my wusa you know and and my my gateway and stuff like that you know so all right I'm gonna talk about the restaurant this is your chance to uh bow out if you want to if you don't want to talk about it that's okay but I want to talk about it yes yeah but I won't if you don't want to recently we have what I describe as a spiritual experience at a West India restaurant now because of the food and the culture yeah how we share that yes ain't nothing but good times for us bring out the oxtails and the curry chicken the curry dough and we can go ahead and get down with the rice and peas and slap some Jamaican beef patties out there and put it in that work that ain't nothing for us it's easy put in the work put even a little pepper sauce if we want to get it really going we can do all of that stuff but the last time we did that together you had what I would call a spiritual experience when a certain song came on the radio yeah yeah man i got I ain't gonna ask you to talk about that unless you want to but it's gonna lead to my next question because it's really relatable to me because of my background because I I think I've shared some of that if I haven't I didn't I didn't just love music recently I was a part of the I was immersed in the culture I used to do rap and hip hop I have fun with it now in the gospel arena rapping and whatnot but there was some times where I was out there spitting on a different level not a freestyler I couldn't freestyle for nothing yeah I used to try to write some stuff down and it it be fire but yeah that's what that's what I was doing then and so when I we hear certain songs I know for me yes my little my little weakness with the 90s hip hop I get it it does something to me yes but in this case a gentleman of wise cliff came on the on the uh on the on the playlist and that beat hit it was on it was on in popping it was me and you put our folks down and stop eating and I don't know where you and I went to yeah it was all in popping but that's um I obviously man there's a lot going on in life but yeah music kind of takes you it takes you back you know you you recall um for me I I walk with beats in my head you know I'm saying I I I walk with melody anytime anytime I'm around the house pretty much man the the the kids are hearing me you know beatboxing or you know just making some goofy stuff up or or you know saying singing some kind of song I I don't declare I I'm not claiming to know how to sing and all this stuff but when that when the feel good music hits me it's it's it's on you know that's that's that's my my jam I'm I'm but you know how to rap though well well yeah yeah yeah nothing you do know how to rap we can say how you that where'd that come from um yeah it's my we grew up in it you know where where we grew up in in hip hop like you said that era that 90s era man the the um uh Snoop Doggy dog you know the um um and uh yeah all all those guys are we are we are we like are we tearing religion down by say are we like stirring the religious pop by saying all these things I'm down for it but I'm just asking that what we doing well here's here's what I'm here's what I'm telling you is so that's what I I I when I was young I was listening to that and and and and it it did something to me you know what I'm saying so I I don't have to hear it I don't have to like I've I haven't I don't go in and like select certain songs I'm with you I'm with you I don't listen to anymore but at the same time when they pop on some of them take me back you know I mean and and so when some of those songs come on I mean me and my brother when we was young you know he was he was Snoop Doggy dog you know and I was uh who was it man Snoop Doggy Dre huh Dr.

SPEAKER_01: 50:16

Dre Dr. Dre you know so he had that that skinny you know frame and and I had that dr dre uh frame so we would be at the house all the all the time kind of going back and forth on those songs so I don't understand man music is universal man I don't drink i've i've never drunk gin and juice a day in my life when that but when that beat hit when that beat hit i i don't know i don't know what happens yeah uh something something changes and i don't i don't do anything different but i'm something happens and i go into a place a far away land i'm i'm gone yeah i i don't yeah i don't think that again we're we're talking about it's yeah we're not making it our world it's not my world it's not my it's just but it's a part of you know like again that culture is a part of you are you are who you are and to some to the the degree of you know maturity you know i'm saying you you are i'm i'm i'm i'm more matured me now than i was back then you know i mean and so when i'm looking at when i'm looking at okay you there there are there are things within within the culture um that was still good for you you know what i'm saying that that's a makeup part makeup of who you are and so you can't and i'm not talking about more of the music just more of the core you can't just throw all that away and and say you know like it didn't exist right right that it's not that it's how do you use that you know for the maturity stage of your life now you know and how how do you you grow but i can't i can't ignore the experiences to some degree some of it yeah but to some you're talking about you know why clef came around the culture where my theround the season where you know haitians were being oppressed you know and they were being like again bullied and so when he came out he kind of and with this and he's from Kwale Bouquet the city where i i'm from in Haiti and then and you're looking at a guy like that where Haitians supposed to be hush hush Haitians supposed to be like um um kind of like in the corner somewhere and don't have anything to say and this is like making making a name for himself and at that time many of Haitians were starting to stand on their two feet and now fighting against you know the the bullies you know and standing up for themselves so they gave us a little bit of pride about ourselves that we can go we can go get some things you know we can we can go after life we can we can go out after the best things we we're not just second class citizens you know what I'm saying so at that point those songs to some degree you know um you put them it it's just it's a part of your makeup you know just like absolutely part of your culture so um I say I say that with the again with the same side of you know um especially with music this day you you you gotta be watchful because I this certain stuff I guess it's different man we ain't talking about today's music because that's not that's not that's not what we're talking about. Go to a um Bahama Greece or um a Jamaican store or Caribbean store you know and they're playing back in the day stuff you know and they they got they have your your um native tongue or whatnot it's the groove come out of you you can't help it you know it's it's it's hard it's hard to explain man so I don't think we should even try this if you if you know you know right it's it's kind of that simple I mean you were both part of groups back in the day yeah let's get it straight man not on your level it wasn't on your level you that is what I heard you are beyond my you know you was out there out there I was that's not that's not how I heard things I did well yeah I was out there I I was sitting down with some real famous people but yeah and then I talk about you no big deal in New York that happened all the time recording contract that was that was yeah but just yeah don't downplay what you were doing oh yeah yeah I ain't gonna let you do that part but what I what I want to ask you is what happened what made it with do you ever have a desire to do a recording contract and have a career in music with that ever in the cars when we out there rapping and hanging with some friends of ours you ever have a desire to have a career in music or was that kind of just something fun you were doing as a hobby so uh it it wasn't it wasn't a hobby um because so just I don't want to bring it back but I I'll bring it back just like just like the Haiti mission I I I don't think I'm doing those things because I want it I want to like like there's it's it's there was a need there there was a gap that needed to be filled right but not I don't I don't find I don't find a lot of joy in asking people you know for resources or funds you know just it it it it it brings this weird feeling out of me you know but because of the situation I um because of what they're going through um it's a necessity that I do and and um kind of like whatever my feelings or my emotions about it push that to the side because it's not about it's about what what's needed on behalf. So that that's where the axing comes but I I I wasn't built as an axer if that makes any sense. So when it comes to the hip hop part of things the reason I went into like hip hop specifically was because we at the college at the time um me and a good friend of mine's weren't finding anything to do in the on or on the weekends that would not get us into trouble. So um we was cooped up while everybody else was partying and going out and now we're in an empty campus and trying to figure out what to do. So he had a keyboard and he started you know figuring trying to you know mess around with these keyboard and and I I tried to put some rhymes together you know and that's and and he he started producing and then before you know it you know we we had a little we had a little a group you know and that group um ended up end up um doing some concerts one the first christian um hip hop concert at our college at the time um that made the newspaper and then we began to do some traveling and stuff like that ain't never been in the newspaper before it man and we began to we began to use that as a tool for evangelism um when I lost a good friend of mine um and you know the pastor's son etc the basketball teammate you know and found out that he had all of these rhymes um and and poetries that that never he he he he wanted them to come out and he had he had it in heart you know to put these things out there but then he had that opportunity I said you know what let me let me look at what he has and went to went to work you know I um I got some of his projects and then um did work worked on mesh mesh it to what I had in mind what he had and then created a dedication album for him and for the family you know call it 24 the final chapter and then in that you know the parents um um apostle mark and patricia estes you know um kind of kind of used that you know even as an evangelistic tool still so I was here I am in Florida and they was bringing me to to um to Charleston on a regular basis for evangelistic work you know and then we would we would perform these CDs with these CDs and then and then from there um we would go um to Ven like I think we went to Venezuela a couple of times as well and do some concerts there. I went to Haiti and did a concert there and but but essentially they will it became a tool um and then and and it became a stage a moment that that transition you know um after a while but it was never in my I I never dreamed of becoming a hip hop um any means it was the tool that God was using to reach reach um the the people at the time and then once once that once that kind of subsided for me and it was transition time I kind of knew it my heart my heart knew it and I I shifted as well you know so I've asked you to rap since then and you and you are sweating and your hands are ringing your hands I'm like this man you answer my question anytime today or not or what what's happening here so I I I I kind of feel like you did did I ask the question though right oh I don't know if you I think you gotta dance around like late great Gregory Hines I don't think you actually answered what the question did not answer give me the I want you to wrap oh that question a certain opportunity and that was all I heard was tap dancing yeah I'm tap dancing I'm gonna challenge you right now because we are up against it time wise I got five questions I gotta ask I need you to give me some rapid fire answers though I gotta ask them all I can't leave none of these on on on paper I gotta ask okay I got five questions then we're gonna shut it down you with me yes sir rapid fire baby you you ready yes all right cool all right so we got a growing household young children that usually makes getaways really hard to come by absolute favorite place to go on vacation or travel wow uh I say Florida back home man back home where uh we say Boynton Beach man seriously yeah West Palm anywhere West Palm um um Lakeland you know back back back home I've again got to get back to that food man I I ain't managed all right so we had a discussion about Haitian cuisine before we talked about that we're both foodies we love we got a background in that kind of stuff if somebody had to be introduced to Haitian cuisine what's the one dish or one item food item you would introduce them to I would or would not you would oh um griot griot complet um this is fried either fried pork or fried um goat chop chopped up in cube cube size with um fried plantains right and then you might have some right um white rice or rice and beans whichever you like And some sauce, some onion sauce on the side of it. So it it is. Wow.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01:12

Sounds amazing.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:12

Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01:14

Pronounce it again. Pronounce it again.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:18

Um say Guillot avec Saul Zonion. Um I heard the word pork inside that.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01:29

So have you ever seriously considered writing a book on your story? Has that ever been a thought?

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:34

I have.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01:35

I'm not pushing, I'm just asking the question.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:38

Yes, I I have. I have. The time is is not set yet, but I I have.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01:47

I love it. I love it. Okay. What do you want your legacy to be at the end of the day? We talked about a lot of stuff. It's the heavy question.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:58

So we hear this a lot. So it's it's the my my ceiling, you know, um, to be the floors of those that I've I've invested in. Um that my my kids would would take the baton and and run. And and again, not only my kids, you know, but just just all that I involve myself in. I I feel as if God's called me to build people. And and so those people, you know, if they if they can spread the gospel and and do it, do it with with zeal and compassion, man, that's that's a great legacy, you know, um, while at the same time, there's also the other part is the physical. Um I don't know I'm gonna leave some stuff for my my kids, you know. I want to leave some stuff where they they don't have to struggle like like I struggle, you know, um, to make life a little bit easier for them. So into that that's where that's what my my passion is right now, you know. Definitely.

SPEAKER_02: 1:03:02

I mean, I I know I know I know plenty of folks that personally credit you for their growth and the development. I see your boys and I see them learning how to be men, how to be respectful, and look folks in the eyes and and greet them properly, and you're teaching your boys right, man. So off to a great start. Uh definitely a man of integrity, man. So I appreciate you so much, man.

SPEAKER_01: 1:03:25

Okay, man. So intentionality is a big thing, man.

SPEAKER_02: 1:03:29

So if you can, and go ahead and just uh last thing, just go ahead and share how people can uh help Stanford Haiti and support your efforts there.

SPEAKER_01: 1:03:40

So um if you just want to kind of keep up with what's going on or to partner with us or to donate, you can easily go to uh standfore.org. Um, um website is.org. Um, and also you can um check us out on Facebook on um Stanford at Stanford Haiti. You can also go to our Instagram at Compahiti. Compati is K-A-N-P-E Haiti H A I T I is our Instagram um link. You can connect with us there. Um, you can also kind of request partnership or newsletters as well, or if you wanted to sponsor a child to go to school, you can do that as well. Um, we you can give on the website standfora.org. You can also give via cash app with the dollar sign stand for 80, or you can give via Venmo with the um at symbol um stand for 80 as well.

SPEAKER_02: 1:04:38

Absolutely. We're gonna go ahead and it's already on all of our socials, at least it should be. Um, we're gonna go ahead and definitely uh share the episode a lot more. A lot of people are, I believe you made an impact on their life. I definitely want them to hear uh what you said today and what you shared. I think it's gonna deepen some relationships for you. Hopefully deepen some support as well. So I'll be promoting it throughout the course of the day, and I'll definitely be sharing the information on how people can support your show. Oh, yeah, not your show, support what you what you're trying to accomplish, man. So I'm I'm pretty excited for you, and I'm really grateful you could be able to come on today.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:15

Well, Mr. U, thanks for having me on the show, man. Thank you for not only having me uh on the show, but you're hearing my heart about um Haiti and then just just your relationship and what you're building. So um, I thank God for your ministry. I pray for um increase. Um I pray for the right partnerships um to come to um and attach to to what you're doing as well as you're you're building a strong platform for um for Christ and to get things done, you know. So so thank you for the opportunity to for me to share my story. I really appreciate it, man.

SPEAKER_02: 1:05:49

Thank you, man. You and uh your wife Sylvia are blessings to us, your family in our eyes. I know you got plenty of family, so we just kind of just squeezing in the back a little bit, just kind of come on, glean, glean and get and get some of the the massive love that we know you guys already get, man. But we just thank you for founding this incredible organization, man, and for caring about people. Like I said before, it kind of burns my biscuits a little bit when people act like you know it don't matter because it's not touching their house, man. But you bring it home at hope. I hope and prayer episode does something for the people who think like that, and it kind of changes some perceptions, you know, some eyes from folks. So I'm gonna be uh knocking on some folks' doors today. I don't normally say that during the interview, but I'm just letting you know what's getting ready to happen. So I'm the tagging support, letting people hey, do you know about this? What you're doing? So that's getting ready to happen on this day. So just want you to know that within 24 hours this is happening. But I just want to know that, man. I appreciate you so much, man. I love you. You are a blessing to not only the ministry, but you bless our community too. Thank you for all you do, man. Yes, sir. Thank you. All you guys are my pleasure. All you guys that are listening and watching the episode today, thank you for supporting us. If you are audio listener, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts is gone, so you can't use that anymore. But anyway, you listen to our audio podcast, you can find our show all four seasons so far. Uh then the YouTube channel at they call me Mr. You. Please subscribe to the channel there. Check out our content. We got everything on there from gardening to Bible teachings to sports shows and interviews. It's it's it's life and it's happening. Uh, but thank you for your support, and we definitely appreciate you being uh willing to lean into this and to have a show like this. So we thank you for that and all your support, and we hope you have a great day. Gene, thanks again, brother. We love and appreciate you so much.