Getting to Know You

Thursday, February 11th

12:30 (Lunch is Served) Today the office manager must have felt sorry for me because she made me eat something for lunch. Bertiny helped me prepare a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and that’s when I began to get to know more about him. He told me that he is the eldest of five children and he left home for work in order to help his family, to pay for school, and to buy nice clothes. His home collapsed during the earthquake and he explained that his family was living elsewhere. Bertiny is neat in appearance and always smells good and seems to be like a typical young man that I see at home every day. But I know the reality of his life is far grimmer than any that I know. Bertiney only speaks Creole and French so we communicate by using hand gestures and a free translation tool on the internet. He is 21 years old (same age as my brother) and desires to live elsewhere but at this point he has no other choice. When I told him that he reminded me of my brother he gave a surprised look. He wanted to know if my brother was black so I showed him a picture that my sister, brother, and I had taken together. He giggled when he saw it. He then asked if I had any children and a fiancée. When I told him that I had a boyfriend he also wanted to know if he was black (I still don’t know why that was important to him). Bertiny pulled out a photo of him and his mom and expressed to me how much he loves and misses his family. I tried not to let my emotions get the best of me.