Immigrant Voices Podcast Project

The Immigrant Voices Podcast Project brings you the voices of the courageous people who have made the U.S. their home. In their own words, you’ll hear about the lives and people they left behind in their native countries, their journeys here, their struggles and successes. You’ll hear from parents of “dreamers,” “dreamers” themselves, undocumented to naturalized citizens, and everything in between.

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Immigrant Voices Podcast Project

Archange from Haiti

May 31, 2022 • Deborah • Season 3 • Episode 23

A few months after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Archange, a trained and certified accountant but jobless, left Haiti to join his sister in the U.S. His journey here started a more extensive personal and professional journey in his new home. Working first as a supermarket clerk and personal shopper, he earned money to bring his wife and children here. Still working, he attended multiple schools to learn English and to train to become a nurse’s assistant. While his English improved steadily, he became a U.S. citizen. After taking more than 40 courses to satisfy prerequisites, he has been accepted into a nurse’s training program in the fall of 2022. Ambitious, compassionate, and patient, Archange exemplifies the drive and resilience I have seen in many immigrants. His determination to make a new life and thrive in the process is unstoppable no matter the obstacles.

Guest Intro/00:38

Coming to the U.S./02:00

Deborah: So Archange, welcome to the Immigrant Voices Podcast Project.

Archange: Thank you for having me today.

Deborah: Can you tell me about your story of coming to the States when you did and what was the journey like and what made you decide to come to the States?

Archange: Like you know Haiti is a poor country. And even when you went to school, you have a career like me. I have a diploma in accounting and when you finish, it’s really hard to find a job. Finally, I decided to my mother was here before, and she applied for me, and they calling me to give me a green card, and finally, I decided to come here, but I didn’t have plans to go back to school. First I find a personal part-time job at Stop and Shop. And then a few months later I find another part-time job at Star Market, but after one year I found that very, very tired with these two jobs. And I changed my mind and I decided to go back to school and keep one part-time job. So I went to Jewish Vocational Services in Boston, affiliated with the American Red Cross and I took the CNA classes to become a nurse’s assistant and my first job was at Benchmark Senior Living in Newton.

Deborah: How was your English when you got here?

Archange: When I got here, I can really read, but I can’t understand when someone talked to me because I think they’re going too fast. But thanks to my sister, she was a good support from and for and she after one week I came here and then she brought me to the Gardner School for learn English. And Mrs. Duval suggested me to start with first with the second level. Yeah. But after six months, I love this school because I found a personal part time job at Stop and Shop because I left my wife pregnant, and I would like to do something to help her while she’s pregnant this again and was shopping to buy some stuff for the little girls.

Deborah: Did your wife come with you from Haiti?

Archange: No. I came first and then apply for my wife and my two daughters.

New Country, New Career/04:27

Deborah: What were some of the obstacles that you encountered when you got here?

Archange: When I got here, my sister encouraged me to go to nursing school and that’s why I started with the CNA first to see if I can go to nursing school.

Deborah: About your accounting career. Do you have plans to go back to that?

Archange: No, because actually last month I just received an email from Bunker Hill Community College and I just been accepted to the nursing program for the fall of 2022.

Deborah: You’re going into the nursing program? That’s fantastic. What made you decide on that career path?

Archange: You know, when you’re working with people, it’s compassion. And I’m very sensitive for them though. And many of them encouraged me to go to nursing school and the way I’m working with them, they encouraged me saying “You should be a nurse,” be in school and I listened to them.

Deborah: What happened during the pandemic for you?

Archange: During the pandemic it’s hard for us. So especially when you’re working in a hospital is a lot of people come with COVID and I have high blood pressure and I am prediabetes too. Finally I had an appointment with my doctor and I asked her to put in a leave for me. And she did that for me. And after three months, I should go back to school because I cannot stay without a job because I have the bills to pay. I got the vaccine in December 2020. And this second shot in January 2021. Thanks to God I’m still alive. It’s thanks to God because a lot of people pass away.

Deborah: Really. So during the pandemic you were actually working in a hospital— Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Okay. And what did you do there?

Archange: I’m working as a patient care technician. Helping people with their vital signs, EKG, taking their blood sugar and so on.

Deborah: Great training for you for the nursing career. Tell me some more about what it was like what made you decide. I know you said that your mother was here, your sister was here and you had become an accountant but there wasn’t that much work in Haiti. So you decided to come here.

Archange: Yeah, finding a job in Haiti it’s not you must have someone in the government to give you something to do. It’s not easy.

Deborah: Connections.

Archange: Yeah. A connection in the government.

Deborah: So now you have connections here.

Helpful Connections for Learning/06:47

Archange: Yeah, connections here. Thanks God. Many people have made.

Deborah: Who are some of the people that have helped you?

Archange: I have my sister. I can say thanks also to Mrs. Duval. She was a good help for me too and I would like to thank her for everything she has done for me. I feel I think, another connection in Brighton to Sister Pat. She taught me very well to become a U.S. citizen. I took a computer class at Jackson Mann in Brighton and Charlesview Center in Brighton. Yeah, that’s a lot of people helped me.

Deborah: So you took English classes and computer classes and what other kinds of classes did you take?

Archange: I took two distance classes. One at Notre Dame education center in Boston and one at Jackson Mann. While I left that nurse school to work as a personal shopper at Stop and Shop, I took two distance classes to improve my English.

Deborah: You’re pretty ambitious about learning English.

Archange: My family came. While I came and my family wasn’t here, but I think they will come here. I have to improve my English so when they come here, I can help them with everything they need.

Deborah: Did your wife come here?

Archange: My wife came six years ago with my two children.

Deborah: How old are your children now?

Archange: The older one is 11 and the other one is nine years old.

Missing Haiti/08:25

Deborah: What do you miss about Haiti?

Archange: I miss a lot of things from Haiti: my friends, my family. But during winter, it’s really cold! But Haiti natives always is always hot. But thanks to technology, I bought a Roku box; sometime I’m watching Haitian TV while I’m here.

Deborah: Connected to the culture.

Archange: To the culture, yeah.

Deborah: Did you bring anything from Haiti that you have always keep with you, maybe something you carry in your pocket, or maybe a book or something?

Archange: I came with an album photo. When I’m thinking about my family and I can see their pictures I have their photo and I can take a look when I miss them.

Deborah: Does that help?

Archange: Yeah. It helps.

Deborah: FaceTime and Skype and those kinds of things are you connecting with friends and family that way?

Archange: I used Skype while my wife and my kids were in Haiti. When I need to talk to my wife, I’ll use Skype on Facebook and I talked to them. It was very useful.

Deborah: How is your wife adjusting and the kids adjusting to being here?

Archange: They are very adjusted here because they’ve been here for six years. My wife going to school to learn English and my kids going to Boston public school, and they really have to take.

A Path to Citizenship/09:48

Deborah: Tell me a little bit more about your path to citizenship. When you decided to do it and how long it took you and what was involved for you?

Archange: Because when my family was in Haiti, my sister encouraged me to become a U.S. citizen. When you are a U.S. citizen and things was fast, and that’s why pushing me to become a U.S. citizen. I took courses for three months at the Literacy Connection in Brighton with Sister Pat, and then she helped me with the application with everything and I’m so grateful to her.

Deborah: What advice would you give to other immigrants coming to this country? Either from your country or just about from anywhere?

Archange: It’s really good to go back to school learn English and because the school is going to help them with everything they need. Yeah, I think so. When you have a career, you can have everything and everything. You can have car, can have a house. Everything you want.

Growing His Career/10:46

Deborah: How long is the nursing program for you? When will you be done?

Archange: I’ll be done in 2024. But I took my first pre college class at BIDMC in spring 2017. Now I finished with all prerequisites. And I’d been accepted to the nursing program.

Deborah: You started taking courses to become a nurse in 2017?

Archange: Yeah, I took math, English, biology, sociology, psychology. Now I finished with last semester. I finished with the last course sociology. And now I am accepted into the nursing program.

Deborah: You excited about it?

Archange: Yeah. Very excited. I can’t wait to start.

Deborah: Those were all courses you needed to take in advance before you get into the nursing programs, is that it?

Archange: I was more interesting to take English courses, but, the person responsible for this school program put me in math class and I was at the top of the class at the end. And the next semester I registered to take reading 095. Yeah, I pass it and I take writing 090 and so on.

Deborah: Altogether, how many courses have you been taking since 2017?

Archange: Forty classes that took BIDMC. It’s one per semester. And while I’m moving to Bunker Hill Community College I took two for every semester. Yeah. And during the summertime, I took total.

Deborah: How do you compare a career as an accountant with a career as nurse? They’re so different. Or maybe not, I don’t know. How do you see it?

Archange: Yeah. It’s very different. For accounting you work with computer, but for nursing, you work with people and I really like to help people, especially when they are sick.

Deborah: During COVID you were in the hospital working around COVID patients?

Archange: Yes. Yes. Because I mean an assistant nurse needs to do vital signs, you should go and taking vital signs, taking blood sugar in the patient. If the patient is dirty, you should clean the patient. We should do everything for the patient.

Deborah: Kind of like a nurse’s aide.

A Man of Faith/13:16

Archange: But I’m a Christian so I always pray to God to keep me alive And I say, thank you.

Deborah: So the church is a big part of your life. You want to talk about that a little bit? How you found a community here in the States.

Archange: I found the community here because my sister already connected with people here. And when I came here she connect me with someone. And someone every Saturday. I’m a Seventh Day Adventist. Every Saturday someone picks me up and we go to church together.

Deborah: You’re a Seventh Day Adventist?

Archange: Seventh Day Adventist, yes.

Deborah: Wow. That’s very particular kind of religion. You have a lot of strict rules, right?

Archange: Very strict rules. You cannot work on Saturday. At the beginning, they put me to work every night on Saturday, and on Sunday at BI. It was really hard for me, especially when you have kids. Sometimes the little one comes and says, “I want you to pick me up, Daddy!” It’s very tired. But when, when I go back to school the manager took me off from the night and I’m working day now.

Deborah: It must’ve been hard. Well, how did you decide when you had to work on Saturdays when they asked you to work on Saturdays?

Archange: Because Sabbath starts on Friday, on sunset on Friday and finish on sunset time on Saturday that I can work at from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. on Saturdays.

Deborah: You can work Saturday night.

Archange: Saturday night.

Deborah: Were you a Seventh Day Adventist in Haiti?

Archange: Yes. I have been a Seventh Day Adventist since 1995.

Hobbies/15:00

Deborah: It must give you a lot of stability in your life. Tell me a little bit about the music that you do or that you enjoy. Do you have hobbies?

Archange: Yes. I would like to listen to music, especially Christian music. I would like to play soccer, ride bike with my kids and play ball with my kids, especially when they have time off and we can go to the park and play together.

Deborah: Are you able to play soccer? Have you connected with people to play soccer locally?

Archange: No. Not here. I played only when I was in Haiti.

Deborah: You missed that?

Archange: Yeah. I miss that. When I go to the park with the girls, I play soccer with them.

Deborah: You play soccer with your kids. How do they like it?

Archange: They like it.

Haiti’s Hardships/15:42

Deborah: There’ve been a lot of tragedies in Haiti. Acts of, you know, just mother nature, tearing the place apart. That must be hard to be here and watch what’s going on there. How do you deal with that?

Archange: I was in Haiti when the earthquake in 2010. And that earthquake killed more than 3000 people. I was there too. I was sleeping and shaking. But while they are shaking I said “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.” And finally, thanks God. I lost many people in my family too and some friends.

Deborah: They perished in the earthquake.

Archange: Yeah.

Deborah: Did you come to the States related to that event?

Archange: I came nine months after the earthquake.

Deborah: Is it a special visa because of the earthquake?

Archange: But I cannot find job there, that’s the problem though. And right now I think the thing is worse now. People kidnapping people.

Future Plans/16:51

Deborah: There’s a lot of hardship there. Tell me about the future. What are some of your future plans, Archange?

Archange: My future I would like to be a registered nurse, taking care of people. And the Christian views too, I would like to share the gospel with people and with my friends.

Deborah: Any other thoughts of things that you had wanted to be sure to talk about?

Archange: I would like to thank you for your time talking to me today. I would like to thank many people who helped me.This is a certificate I received while I’m here. And from Mrs. Duval, Gardner Pilot Academy Adult Education Program, Beverly Bass Harvard Education Portal, Carol Kolenik Harvard Workforce and Sister Pat Andrews The Literacy Connection.

Deborah: You’re a hard worker.

Archange: Thank you. Thank you.

Successes/17:48

Deborah: I have a few questions left. What do you feel has been your greatest success since you’ve been here and what has been the most difficult challenge since you’ve been here?

Archange: My big success is the letter I received from Bunker Hill Community College, and I’ve been accepted into the nursing program. I was so excited I, when I say this news and also I won a scholarship at BIDMC. One last year and the other one the year before to continue with my education.

Deborah: That’s fantastic.

Archange: And the hardest thing for me when I’m here, it was when I was looking for a place to live with my family. And before I live with my sister and some days I pass the day with my mother, but when my wife came with my children, it’s really hard for me. Sometimes when I’m looking for two-bedroom to rent. When they know, you have two kids, they refuse to give you we’ll give you their rental. And finally, I think I talked with Deborah [GM] and she said she can help me find someone to help me. And she connected me with Mrs. Duval. So thanks to Mrs. Duval for her help. I cannot find a word so that thank her for everything she had done for me. And she helped, she helped me after four months. And then they called me for an interview at the building where I’m living now. She helped me and she had me since 2016, I’m living here. That was great.

Deborah: She helped you find a place to live. That’s fantastic. So are you in the Charlesview community neighborhood there?

Archange: No. I apply over there but they didn’t call me yet. I applied over 10 years ago.

Favorite U.S. thing/20:00

Deborah: What’s your favorite thing about being here?

Archange: My favorite thing here is to go back to school to help me improve myself. Sometimes you see other people struggle to live here, but I think I do everything I can do to improve myself until I have a better life for myself and for my family. Now that I go back to school and say the same thing.

Deborah: So your kids have been here a while. Do they speak English with no accent? At this point? Are they bilingual? Do they speak French and English?

Archange: Haitian Creole. Haitian Creole and English. Sometimes they say, “Daddy, you speak with accent!” I said, “I didn’t born here.”I said it’s normal to speak with accent. But their English is very well.

Deborah: So Haitian Creole is connected to French, right?

Archange: And to French. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a chance to go to school in Haiti. For me I speak Haitian Creole French.

Deborah: So are the kids learning Haitian Creole French as well as English?

Archange: Haitian Creole and English.

Deborah: Tell me about the food here versus the food and Haiti.

Archange: I would say they are very different. Yeah.

Deborah: Can you be specific? Like how are they different?

Archange: Here I saw people who put a lot of sugar and a lot of salt on their food. It’s not healthy for people. In Haiti it is different. People like to cook in their own home. And here people go into restaurants more than people in Haiti. And our food is very good Haitian food.

Deborah: So are you eating that at home?

Archange: Yes. Every day Haitian food. Sometime we went to McDonald’s because sometimes the kids like some fries. Yeah.

Deborah: It’s not a regular part of their diet.

Archange: Not regular.

Advice/21:56

Deborah: Archange, is there anything else that you’d like to share that other immigrants might benefit from hearing about—either your philosophy about how to adjust here or what they should do when they come here?

Archange: My advice for other immigrants here, I would like to say to them to follow the people who did great things when they came here. They must go to school. Because with school they can do everything they want.

Deborah: Education is a big value for you. Anything else that you’d like to say?

Archange: And thank you for your time. I really appreciate it. And thank you everyone who has helped me.

Deborah: Thank you. What are your kids’ names. Talk to me about your kids?

Archange: Angela and Angie

Deborah: They must be very proud of their father. That’s fantastic. About the, about the nurse’s program. That’s really great.

Archange: Very good.

Deborah: Thanks so much, Archange.

Archange: Thank you too.

Deborah: I’m really impressed. If I go to the hospital, I want you to be my nurse. Yeah. It’s so good to have people who really love what they do. Thanks a lot.

Archange: Thank you, have a good one!

Wrapping Up/23:08

Staunchly compassionate, ambitious, and determined, Archange has made his way toward his American Dream. Leaving his accounting career behind in his native Haiti, Archange discovered his passion for helping people, especially when they are sick. Now enrolled in a program to become a registered nurse, his focus is clear, and his career path ahead is certain. Archange and his family continue to be an essential part of our greater Gardner Pilot Academy community.