January 14, 2025
THE TASTE OF FREEDOM
Joumou, Creole for squash or pumpkin, has been grown in Haiti since it was a slave colony. The enslaved people of Saint-Domingue often made the rich, luxurious Soup Joumou for their enslavers, and were themselves banned from ever eating it. On January 1st, 1804, when the revolution officially earned Haitians their freedom, they celebrated by eating the forbidden soup–and the tradition has continued each year on January 1st to celebrate Haitian independence. In December of 2021, Soup Joumou earned Haiti a place on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
BY AND FOR THE PEOPLE
Soup Joumou is still a luxury for many; those who cannot afford to make it themselves generally gather around pots made by family, friends, and neighbors. Since 2016, Konbit Soup Joumou, which is run by Roots of Development’s partner Gwoup Konbit, has offered another option–a community gathering where any and all can receive a bowl of Soup Joumou for free. In 2024, Gwoup Konbit’s network hosted Konbit Soup Joumou events in all ten of Haiti’s departments, serving a total of more than 18,000 bowls of soup.
BEYOND THE BOWL
Konbit Soup Joumou events weren’t just a meal–they were full day cultural celebrations, including everything from DJs and dance parties, to photo booths, to games and competitions.
Haitian artist Freedom also wrote an anthem for Konbit Soup Joumou this year. Here’s an excerpt of the lyrics:
Se nouk te kreye libète
Sèl linyon ka sove peyi a
Ayisyen Ayisyen, leve pou nal bwè Soup Joumou
Soup Joumou sa, se libète, fòs nou se nan
linyon li ye
Konbit la ap kontinye
We created freedom
Only unity can save the country
Haitians Haitians, wake up to drink Soup Joumou
This Soup Joumou is freedom, our strength is in our unity
The Konbit continues
HOME-GROWN CHANGE
Gwoup Konbit fundraised for the initiative from its network in and outside of Haiti, raising in total more than $6 million Gourde (about $46,000) from 1400 individuals across all ten departments and the diaspora.
The pumpkins themselves were grown in Haiti. After last year’s edition of Konbit Soup Joumou in Cap Haitien, the organizers collected the seeds from the squash and used them to start a Konbit Garden. This year, that garden furnished not only the pumpkins for Cap Haitien’s Konbit Soup Joumou, but for the events in Port-au-Prince and other areas as well. Their tandem fundraising efforts collected enough to fund all four of the Soup Joumou events in the North Department.