Jean T. Parisien

Homework: Memoir

Hollys Papas

Man is a social being who is called upon to lead a life adaptation in society. That means he can live wherever. I remember the first time; I received a call from Northeastern conference, in Cap-haitien, Haiti to work for them as a pastor. At this time I lived with my family in southern Jeremiah, Haiti far from Cap-haitien. They are two opposite cities. At this moment I had obligation to leave my parents and move to cap-haitien to live by myself. That was a terrible experience for me; two reasons explain that: I never lived by myself, that was my first experience and my living conditions were very bad.

My own experience proves that is not an easy thing to leave your own family to live alone. Since I was born I was always with my family. They took care of me. They gave me attention and many things I needed. I am the only one of my brothers in my family to be considered the most cherished. I was very attached to my family. We used to eat together, going on vacation together, going to church together. Every morning at 5:30 we used to wake up and sit in the TV room for the bible study. However, one day I had obligation to separate myself from them to live alone. It was often said that separation has caused much bitterness. I lived that in my life because it is was so hard for me to leave my mother, my father, my brothers and my sisters. At that day, I could not even kiss my parents to say goodbye. I will have to learn so many things that I never did when I was with my mom. I never cooked and washed my clothes, which was mom’s job. Now, I was obliged to take care of myself. I remember the first day I moved in Cap-haitien, I was very sad and I couldn’t eat. In the other day, I was very hungry and there was not  a restaurant in the area. I had obligation to cook. I was trying to remember what mom used to do. I did something any way, but the food did not taste good. I ate it because I didn’t have any choice. I will never forget that.

When I first moved from home to Cap haitien I was feeling lonely and abandoned. Every day my eyes were wet of the tears. My life looked deserted. It was as if I had no one. One of my brothers that I m very closed to, with him, I used to give some junk and share my emotions, he was not there for me. My Mammy that kissed me all the time and used to prepare food and clothes for me every morning wasn’t there anymore. My father that used to meet us every morning to give us advice and pray with us, the situation t wasn’t the same. All of things explain how I was sad and thinking to my family. The worst things, I couldn’t communicate with them because there was no phone in the area. Because of that I was very perplexed. I could not sleep as before. I had some inquietude, thinking if something happened during the night what I am going to do, because I was living by myself. . I was embarrassment of setting my things at home. I obliged to send my mom a letter to come in Cap-Haitan and fix them for me. My Mom left her work and came for three days to do it for me.

My living conditions were very bad. The area was not developed, no roads, no electricity, and no water pipe. I didn’t have a car. I had the obligation to travel by public transportation. The bus schedule is twice a week because the road was very bad. This situation was very difficult for me because I was always stressing during my travels. The situation was more complicated to me especially when there is rain. One day I made an accicident because the car was stuck in mud and the driver tried to get out of the mud the car fell over. Every night I had to go home early, but when I was back at home I didn’t have to go home early. I never thought if I could live in a situation like this. I always thought that my parents would be there for me.

My separation with my parents helped me to live in whatever the situation. It helped me too to evaluate myself.