Un Jeune Haïtien
A 15-year old Haitian boy named Ephraim sat across from me in the upstairs common room of the pastor’s home. He asked me questions about myself and the United States. Then, I asked to see a piece of paper he held in his hands.
On the paper, he had sketched in profile the head of a Haitian man. Across the top of the page, he had written, “Un Jeune Haitien.” Along the left side of the page, he had written details about this young Haitian man: his name, date of birth, and address.
Ephraim explained to me that the paper described the life of a typical Haitian male youth. Beneath the profile were three tiny drawings, each numbered and corresponding to three short descriptions of what Ephraim had identified as the three stages of a young Haitian man’s life.
The first drawing showed a boy sitting at a desk. The accompanying text read: “First, the young Haitian is a student without hope. He goes through school laughing.” Ephraim explained that many Haitians can’t go to school and that those who do have no hope of getting a good job after school unless their parents are rich.
The second drawing showed a young man with a motorcycle. The text read: “Next, the Haitian buys a motorcycle, if he can afford it, so he can have some money in his pocket.” In Haiti, a common sight is the hordes of young men who drive around on motorcycles, offering pedestrians a ride on the back for a small fee.
The third drawing showed a man and a woman with a line of children in tow. The text read: “Finally, the Haitian gets married and has five children.”
I longed to tell Ephraim his life could be different but I feared I would be lying to him.
