Haiti

I am Haitian, and I speak Creole, French and a little English. I was born in Jeremie, Dec. 17, 1988. My family and I are Catholic. I was baptized, had my first communion and was confirmed. I come from a family who is not rich. I went to elementary school at Notre Dame de Lourdes and to high school at the Lycee de Jeunes Filles. Currently, I am studying agronomy at the University of the Nouvelle Grand’Anse. I am going into my third year of studies.

I live with my mother and father, but they are not legally married. I have five brothers and one sister. My mother’s name is Antonin Marcelin, and my father’s name is Arnold Francois. My mother is from an area called Testas, and my father is from the community of Roseaux. My mother had 11 children; I am the ninth. Four of my siblings died. My father is a mechanic. My mother is a seamstress, but right now she sells various items like rice and oil.

I am member of a number of organizations like Association de L’Avancement pour le Progres de la Grand’Anse, Association de la Grand’Anse pour L’Education and also Fondasyon ak Konesans ak Libete. I like to participate in movements that help my country to advance, because I love progress, and I believe in development.

I like to read, in particular history books and literature. My dream is to help disadvantaged children so they can reach the same education level as I have. What interested me to become a journalist is that I need to be informed in order to pass that information on and to become a voice for the truth, so that the population and people everywhere know what happened, how it happened, when and why.

What I like about this work is making news, investigating and getting information so I can inform the population and people in other countries what is going on. I came to know about GPI from Madame Renate Schneider. I met her at the University of the Nouvelle Grand’Anse, where she asked me if I was interested. She explained to me all about GPI, and once I understood what it was about, I said yes. Starting in October 2011, she gave us training in how to be good journalists.