Vincent & Smeralda
On January 12, 2010, Vincent’s and his daughter, Smeralda’s, lives changed forever.
Their home country of Haiti was rocked by a catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake. Vincent, who lived in the city of Belladère, only felt small tremors. But he feared for his 14-year-old daughter, who at the time lived with his ex-wife in capital city of Port-au-Prince, only 16 miles from the quake’s epicenter.
“When I heard the news, I urgently traveled to Port-au-Prince with a first aid kit because the situation was very chaotic and the authorities were completely overwhelmed by the events,” he said.
Fortunately, his daughter and her mother were safe, but were forced to live in a tent as their house was deemed unsafe. Vincent decided to bring his daughter back to his home city and then shortly thereafter to the United States to give her a better life. Vincent’s mother had moved to Massachusetts a few years earlier and he said he wanted them to be close to family.
“I wanted to come to the USA because this country offers a better education and job opportunities, especially for my daughter,” he said.
Vincent, now 60, who has a law degree and worked as a French teacher for 23 years in Haiti, unfortunately couldn’t find a job that paid enough to pay rent in the Bay State and within months he and his daughter found themselves homeless.
“We lived with friends for a few months at a time in Somerville and Mattapan, and that helped, but we couldn’t stay there for long,” he said. Vincent’s friends suggested that he reach out to the local welfare office (Department of Transitional Assistance) and the pair were placed in a shelter in Lowell.
“It was stressful,” Smerlada said. “I was brought here for a better life. I was in a new country, learning a new language and it wasn’t easy. We had to start from zero.”
The pair lived in the shelter for four months before being selected in the summer of 2013 to live in one of Emmaus’ 26 units of permanent affordable housing reserved for families. In total, Emmaus has 99 units of permanent affordable housing for both families and individual adults.
According to MIT’s Livable Wage calculator, a single adult with one child in Massachusetts must make $45.57 per hour to make ends meet. Minimum wage is $15 per hour. Most immigrants make minimum wage or less, especially if language is a barrier.
Both Victor and Smerlada credit Emmaus, and the fact that they were able to live in their own apartment, with helping them to succeed.
“Emmaus played a big part,” Victor said. “I used to be independent and I never wanted to feel indebted to people. I taught my daughter how to be independent, but there are times when everyone does need some help.”
While at Emmaus, Victor was able to participate in a job training program which led to an internship at a local manufacturing company and then a job at Cedar’s Mediterranean Foods in Haverhill. Following that job, he attended another job training program and now holds a position at a manufacturing company on the North Shore.
He said he does miss teaching and is currently in a program to improve his English so that he can find a job that is less physical.
“You should always want to move forward in life,” Vincent added. “Independence is freedom.”
Smerlada graduated from Haverhill High School in 2015, attended Northern Essex Community College and obtained her bachelor’s degree in Biology from UMass Amherst. She now works at a hospital near Boston. She said having a stable home was critical to her success in school.
“When we got our own apartment I finally had a permanent address,” she said, adding that when they were homeless and moving from place-to-place it was tough to enroll in school without a permanent address. She said she went to three different high schools due to being homeless. “Knowing where you are going to sleep tonight is just a great feeling.”
According to the Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness, homeless students often fall behind their housed peers academically before they even begin high school. Additionally, students who experience homelessness are 50% less likely to graduate, four times more likely to drop out of school, and three times more likely to need special programs, as reported by the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Smerlada added that once she had a permanent address she was finally able to get her driver’s license and find a job. Victor, too, got his driver’s license and saved up to buy a car. The pair also became U.S. Citizens in 2017.
Their Emmaus case manager Jeanette said Vincent and Smerlada are examples of how people can thrive when given the opportunity to succeed.
“They are both so very responsible and hardworking,” Jeanette said. “By having a stable home they were able to move forward,” Jeanette said. “Without a stable home, you can’t think ahead. You are just trying to survive and you can’t see what you are capable of accomplishing.”
“When we got our own apartment I finally had a permanent address,” Smeralda said, adding that when they were homeless and moving from place-to-place it was tough to enroll in school without a permanent address. She said she went to three different high schools due to being homeless. “Knowing where you are going to sleep tonight is just a great feeling.”