FROM HAITI TO THE US — FOUR CUNY YORK COLLEGE GRADUATES
The Antoine family has a lot to celebrate. This year marks our 15th anniversary in the United States. We have learned to celebrate through the painful and joyful moments.
The Antoine siblings – Wendel, 34, Rebecca, 32, Rachelle, 26, and Nathalie, 24-graduated from CUNY, York College — and now we are proud alumni.
The diversity in our degrees shows a long-time interest in teaching and community service. Wendel Antoine is now an NYC DOE Teacher specialized in Special Education; Rebecca Antoine, a social worker; Rachelle Antoine, a community activist/Social Worker; and Nathalie Antoine, a teacher.
Recently, we attended Rebecca’s virtual graduation ceremony from the York College’s Social Work Program. I dived into deep thoughts, reliving our first time leaving our homeland — Haiti. I was mesmerized by the brand-new outfits that our parents purchased for us to wear to America. My sisters and I had two-piece cotton skirts and tops, and our mini heels could not wait to make joyful clicks through the Haitian Toussaint Louverture International Airport. I remember our hair being hot combed under our grandma’s big ol’ almond tree. It was the last time we inhaled the smell of fresh-brewed Haitian coffee especially made for us by our grandma, Amicie.
On December 14, 2006, my Godfather picked us up on his red pickup truck. He waited for us patiently as we loaded our suitcases. It was around 4 in the morning; we took off to the Haitian National Airport. Of course, we took back routes to avoid insecurity, potential attacks, or kidnapping. While driving to the airport, we saw a beheaded body — It scared us to the point my siblings and I tried to hide under the suitcases.
The political crisis in Haiti was outrageous, and the quality of life was deteriorating. We have experienced all the political instability together! We have seen tons of dead and decapitated bodies — together! We have run through the streets of Haiti while avoiding burned tires, gunshots, rocks, and glass bottles being thrown while we were on our way to school together! But our story from Haiti is a story of resilience. Through the calamities, tribulations, and hardships — Haiti has helped shape who we are today. Through it all, the journey never stopped –– Unity, Education, Prayer, and Discipline kept us together.
Unity, Education, Discipline and Prayer kept us together.
THE AMERICAN JOURNEY
Our American journey began when we had officially boarded an American Airlines flight — It was then we began to experience a surreal moment. For the first time, we tasted sweet chicken (barbecued chicken). Lord! It messed with our tastebuds! The flight landed around 6 pm, and we waited patiently at John F. Kennedy Airport for our uncle to pick us up. It was around 8 pm; we settled in Queens village in one bedroom with mixed feelings, not knowing what tomorrow will look like for us. But we had faith.
UNITY
Unity is key to our success. Here we were in 2006 in the United States, in a land full of opportunities that we couldn’t even call our own yet. However, unity has helped to open doors for us. Little did we know that our homeland Haiti had prepared us to face myriad challenges. From our motherland, Haiti — we learned resilience. Now, it was time to apply that resiliency here in the States. It was that resilience that kept us going. Through unity, we have learned that “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with a lot.” With the little that we had at hand and my brother working his first job, at McDonald's — we paid the rent for a single room and learned how to share one order of chicken wings pork fried rice with six people — My mother, My father, My brother, My two sisters and I.
EDUCATION
Education is the passport to everything. You are probably thinking that I’m speaking solely about the school system — Well, no. Our parents always say this, “education starts from home.” They have focused on our social, spiritual, physical education and our overall mindset. Our parents also focused on our emotional and behavioral development. In cultivating these aspects of education, my parents knew that they would instill the tools needed to succeed. From an early age, we understood the importance of dining together even if it was just a piece of bread, for it helps to maintain the family bond. We grew up watching our dad reading on a daily basis. Our mom working on all aspects from hygiene education to teaching us to master basic life skills. Our mother has taught us the importance of respect towards one another especially respecting and honoring our father and brother.
DISCIPLINE
D iscipline is one of the essential skills that we have learned. [Our father] demonstrated that through being consistent by vesting deeply in our education and responding to all schools’ requests, [we can succeed]. He showed discipline through his early 5 am shower routines and preparing to start his day at 6 am while patiently waiting on us to get ready for school by 7 am. Therefore, we had no choice but to be consistent ourselves. We had to be early for school. I remember my father attending every single parent-teacher conference from elementary school, middle school, and high school, without words of English. And of course, he never missed one and knew all of the teachers’ information and homeroom number. It was to the point my siblings disliked all the Haitian teachers because my father knew them all. We had no sick days. This discipline has helped us develop strong patterns and work ethic.
PRAYER
Constant prayer and Bible meditation have helped keep our mind, body, and spirit at peace. Prayer has been our anchor. We grew up in a religious home. My father has been a Pastor for 30 years, and my mother has been administrating churches from the age of 14. From a young age, we learned the role and importance of the church in the community. It was in the church [that] we amassed our leadership and servitude skills. We all have grown to embrace our careers and passion. We are forever grateful to the church. We have had our shares of ups and downs, but prayer has helped to strengthen our faith!
HIERARCHY
In the Antoine family, hierarchy also serves as a guide to our educational success. In Social Work, we refer to that as “Family Dynamics.” Family dynamics are the patterns of relating, or interactions, between family members. Each family system and its dynamics are unique, although there are some common patterns. It was vital for us to understand alignments, roles, hierarchies, ascribed characteristics, and ways of interactions. Growing up, my parents would say to our older brother, “If you do well — your sisters will follow.” What a heavy burden this may have been. He did an excellent job. It is important to respect those who came before us.
YORK COLLEGE
this 15th Anniversary in America, we are proud to say we have received our college degrees from the same college. My older brother Wendel enrolled at York College in 2011. Since then, he has created a Domino effect in the family. He has inspired us to pursue our education. He wanted to make sure that we stay connected, have an easy commute, serve our community while we all juggled our part-time job to support our living. He promised all of us that we would have an experience at York.
We trusted our brother’s choice of the university and blindly joined without thinking much about it, and today looking back, I feel it was the best decision I made. The entire journey has been an incredible learning experience and a significant development phase for all four of us. Sharing assignment tips to motivate each other to perform better academically and check our grades has been truly remarkable.
York College has helped shape who we are today and strengthened our skills. York has strong leadership and organizational skills. We are forever grateful for all the departments, faculty that never cease to share their expertise for us to succeed.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD – AFRICAN PROVERB
To our Parents — Your dreams have been accomplished. We watched you both through the good and bad times. You both have endured some of the most challenging moments together. Thank you to the Antoine family at large, who continue to maintain unity no matter how difficult life gets.
“ Embracing your past is never enough, but fulfilling your present with hard work and dedication will elevate the spirit of excellence within you.” — WENDEL
“Through all the tears, the laughter, the hard moment, its important to maintain strength and faith. Your glorious day is yet to come” — NATHALIE.
“Hard work is essential to my success. I owe my degree to coffee, sacrifice, humiliation, perseverance, and the most important, to the love and unity of my family.” – REBECCA
