Ridgewood August 15, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 3 Visitors from Haiti loving village at first sight by John Koster Views of Ridgewood engendered love at first sight for the 22 Haitians now visiting the village through a program sponsored by the U.S. State Department and coordinated through the Ridgewood YMCA. The student travelers, who were selected for their leadership qualities, are on the first leg of a three-week tour of the United States with support from the YMCA’s World Service Program. “Oh, so beautiful,” said Tour Leader Ivens Dalmacy when he got to Ridgewood. “When we are here, we knew the difference between New York and New Jersey. Everyone loves New Jersey!” “If we come to live in the U.S.A., we all want to live in New Jersey!” said Rose Aline Famoud. nicknamed “Lovely.” Famoud said her ambition is to have two children, a boy and a girl. Sindie Frederic, the other tour leader, said the positive response to Ridgewood was instantaneous. The first look at New York City startled the Haitians because of the noise of the city and the disconcerting size of the tall buildings. Frederic said her group was surprised to see how many Chinese there were in America, and how many Sindie Frederic Dalou Andressol other different groups there were -- something the Haitians had not expected. A teacher of American Sign Language, Frederic asked hopefully if there were any American Indians living in New Jersey so she could try out her sign language. She was disappointed to learn that the last of the Lenapes had moved to Wisconsin in 1809, and later to Oklahoma, which she knew (continued on page 15)