Personal Narrative: My Haitian-American Family

What is a leader?” John Quincy Adams once declared “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” If I never expressed my story to others. No one would know how much I have achieved in the past 17 years. I grew up in a Haitian-American household, with my mother, and my three younger siblings. My mother was born and raised in Carrefour, Haiti. She came to the United States to live with her father. While living here she learned how to mature on her own, drive on her own, and learned how to cook because at the age of 17 years old, she was living on her own because of family issues. Growing up I was close to my dad, but my mother demonstrated to me how to be a leader and how to be independent.

During that time, the relationship that with my step-father was much stronger and my relationship with my siblings (at that time my brother was 8, my sister was 3 and my newborn baby delivered in the facility and then was sent to live with us.) This was the most challenging time of my life and with people who were important to me coming in and out of my life. I worked to keep my siblings protected from the truth about our mother, and a longed for the day she was coming home.

It seemed like that day would never come. The release dates kept changing and finally the day came. I did not realize how dramatic the change would be in our relationship with my mother. After her return home, we both struggled to find our roles in the house and that was a huge challenge. The arguing between my mother and step-father became more obvious and illustrated just how different things were at home since my mother’s departure. Eventually that led to a divorce and yet another loss in my life. My step-father had been the only steady adult figure in my life and now he was gone

I have struggled to keep my school work a priority as I need to balance it with my part-time work and with the things I like to do to keep my life as normal as possible (like cheerleading and spending time with my friends).

I am very honored and thankful to be the first the person in my family to attend college fall of 2016. As I strive to end my senior year positive, I always remember to tell my younger siblings to try as hard as they can in school, because “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” I’ve decided that I would like to get my degree in social work, specifically working with children. Growing I’ve been around kids that are unhappy with thier home, but couldn’t do anything about it. My mother’s story really contributed to what I want to become in the future. I want to be there for all my clients, just the way my mother was there for me when I needed her support or when her clients needed