A Brilliant Future

Just got to the office about 8:30 A.M and came across Rachel at the reception door. ‘’Eh, I am glad that you got here just in time because there’s a distribution at the new community house in Delmas 32, I would like you to come if you are available’’. I answered with a quick ‘’yes’’ and after 15 minutes we were already at the community house where there were a lot of people sitting on benches waiting.

Rachel Beach is the returns and relocation project manager for J/P HRO so she always keep me posted whenever there’s something new happening in her department.

It was around 10: 45 A.M when a crowd of young people gathered in front of the gate of the community house and were very excited to get registered for a scholarship at ‘’Alliance’’. This was a scholarship to learn computer and English.

Alliance is a vocational school where almost all the young people in Haiti, after their last secondary class, register to learn a profession. They can start making some money to help their family and themselves while they can still go to University. This vocational school provides training in various fields for example: Computer; English; Secretariat; Electricity; Plumbing; mechanic; etc.

In the middle of a discussion among these young people, I noticed that there were adolescents with a brilliant future and as I was excited to find out what the discussion was really about or what brought about it; I bent down and with a smile, I smoothly glided into the crowd and started making some points also. Finally it took me a while to discover the one who started with the discussion.

‘’My name is Jean Jacques Juenson, I am 22 years old and I am living at Delmas 32.I am here today because of a scholarship that the organization is granting me and some other young people then I am very interested in learning computer and English, I don’t want to lose this opportunity”.

Jean Jacques is one of the young beneficiaries extremely excited to learn computer and English and he believes that with this scholarship at ‘’Alliance’’ that J/P HRO has done the most important thing in his life and is very grateful for this generous action. Jean Jacques, from afar looks older than his age but naturally he took after his father, who was a tall man but unfortunately died in the earthquake. Now that he’s granted a scholarship to learn computer and English, when he finishes with the training, his dream would be to find a job with this new profession so he can start helping his family and himself.

‘’Me also, my dream is to become independent and go to university in the United States, I do want to learn English and computer because nowadays in Haiti, someone who knows computer and can speak English very well, can find jobs easier and even find scholarships to study at a university abroad’’. Those are words from Rebecca Seraphin, a young girl probably in the 20s, living in Delmas 32 just like Jean Jacques but a bit more motivated and passionate about studying. She is short with black air but if you just look at her, you would not think that she has such conviction in terms of studying. Her way of speaking and interacting with other people at the community center that morning just remind me of a proverb: “Don’t judge a book by its cover’’.

Those young people who came at the new community house have a brilliant future and if we just considered them from what we see in the outside, we would miss the most important aspect of what they are and what they want to accomplish in their lives.

‘‘Me, I am grateful and as a result want to be part of J/P volunteers so I can share with other young people what I will have been studied after a few months’’. Those were the last words of Rebecca Seraphin before she got called to start with the registration process for the scholarship.

Good luck guys, you have a brilliant future so go for it!!!