Gregory Chevalier

February 2015 was my first experience of working in America. It was horrible. On January 12, 2015, I came to the United states, and in February I got my first job in a restaurant close to my house. It was around a 10 minutes walk, and it was a cleaning job. The job was hard, but the hardest part was the way the boss talked to people. People were nothing to him, and he abused people. They did not get to take lunch with that boss. He only cared about money. I was paid $300 a week; I was not paid hourly. I started work on a weekend, but he didn’t pay me for training.

Every morning when I listened to the radio to wake up I felt like crying because I hated the job, and at the same time I was happy because I had a job. In spite of all that, I felt released because I was in a very difficult situation. I was in need of a job. I needed it because my brother and I were in my mother’s house and it was public housing for old people. To be in that housing made my mom uncomfortable in case people reported that we were in the house.

The job was a necessary evil. I couldn't look for another one because it would be too late for my wedding in Haiti that would be on December 25, 2015. When I came back from my wedding, I got another job. It was a little bit different; I was treated differently. Now I'm enjoying my present job. I don't know in the future how it's going to be because things change all the time.

A Preamble

We, people of different color, different education, different history, different culture, in order to respect our dignity, we are meeting today at SCALE in Somerville to talk together, to share ideas in a purpose to know how are we going to live differently, how are we going to improve the education of our kids in order to have better posterity.

Years ago we came to the United states to look for a better life. The present president does not like immigrants. For that reason, we need to work harder to avoid our children's miserable life, and in the future our posterity are going to think of our memory. May God bless you all.

November 21, 2020

A Stone of Hope

People's life has always been a struggle and will always be a struggle. Sometimes life is like you look for something important and difficult to find. If you see that, always it is difficult to reach, but you hope to have it anyway. Martin Luther King in his speech used this metaphor, "with this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope." In that speech, a mountain was used like a dark view, a hard and difficult situation for the people at that time, but Martin Luther King got a powerful word to keep them strong and give them hope that they'll rise, "hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope."

Let's analyze a bit two words in that sentence, mountain and stone. When you have a walk to do and you have to climb a mountain, that's the hardest part in your walk. That means the mountain always represents a problem. A stone is a material from the earth. It’s strong, hard, and important in a construction. That's why in the Bible Jesus said, ”On this stone I will build my church" because Peter said a strong word that Jesus compared like a stone. As a pastor, Martin Luther King knows that word, and as a pastor he knows how to keep people in faith. He would like the people to have that hope as strong as a stone in their mind and as long as a stone's life.

Politics and History in Haiti

The class today was horrible to me because something is happening right now in my country. And it's preventing me from concentrating enough. What shocks me the most is the way politicians do politics in Haiti. It's horrible, because politicians do not care about what Haitians represented in the past.

What Haitians did was so great. Their actions raised all people who were in slavery, especially black people, because we became the first free black people in the world. In 1804, we fought against the French who were a powerful country. After our independence, Dessalines the leader said, “Wherever you are from, if you are a slave, when you arrive in Haiti, you are free.'' Earlier, in 1779, Haitians helped the Americans free Savannah in the American Revolution against Britain. Not only that, Haiti helped the gran Colombia to fight against Spain to become free, and the flag of Colombia was sewed in Jacmel, a city of Haiti. In memory of what Haiti did for Colombia the president Chavez went to Haiti and he said, “My country owes Haiti” and built three power plants in order to help in electricity. And actually Colombia is helping our national police against kidnapping. The Equator has always helped the police, all that I say is to let you know how those countries are grateful for Haiti, and politicians don't care.

I said Haiti is now an industry of slavery, of terror, fears. Many people leave the country to live in other countries, Lots of people (sometimes called “boat people”) die in the ocean, in the forest by crossing Mexico toward the USA. Some of them are killed by thieves when they cross a country to another, some by wild animals, and some by hunger when they leave a country to another because they can't walk because they don't have enough money to take care of themselves. So many students leave Haiti from university to look for a better life, but they are treated as slaves. That's why I talked about industry of slavery. Haiti is the victim of its own children. It is humiliated by its own children. The powerful people invest money in political parties to fight for their own interest. They oppose any president that leads the country and works for the good of the majority of the people. All media are paid by the powerful people who oppose the president, and the media never say good things that the president does. If it wasn't for technology, no one would know anything about the president. Fortunately, international organizations understand the situation a little bit.

Politics in Haiti, Part 2

President Jovenel Moise is the 42nd president of Haiti and the most contested. I said the most contested because he is the first president for whom the powerful people invested money during elections, but he does not serve them. Because of that, those powerful people invest lots of money everywhere on social media to say that the president is a dictator. The same people who supported him during the election had bad contracts from the government like electricity. Moise cut those contracts and tried to realize what he had promised to people. All that makes him a dictator and what I am going to explain to you.

During his campaign, he promised people that he was going to bring electricity to the whole country. And he also promised many kilometres of roads that would be built by public workers.T he powerful people do not like him because they do not have enough contract to make a lot of money. In some areas, he is the first president to bring electricity since we are independent. He is the first president who brings machines to cultivate rice in Haiti.

The president also told Haitians that he knows how to put people, the sun, the water, the land together to change their life. When he questioned some engineers about the cost of a hydroelectric dam that he had just inaugurated, they told him he would need 70.000.000 dollars during 15 years. It was to discourage him that they said that.

Finally, he built the hydroelectric dam with $10.000.000 in a space of 3 years with Cuba’s cooperation. The Haitian engineers that he questioned thought that they would have the contract of the building to make lots of money and finish it over15 years. If those people had the contract, they would make the president appear like a liar because they want him to fail.

My Cars

When you first come to the United States, the first thing you need is a job. Second, you need to go to school to learn the language. Then you need a license to drive.

When I got my license, I wanted to buy a car to experience the road. This idea led me to buy a 2003 Honda Civic, and it was in the year 2016. It was an old car. I bought this car for $300. You can imagine it was not a beautiful car. The body was taped, and one day it fell apart because I backed up on a pile of snow and it was a rotten car. My second car was a Toyota Rav4. It was normal and a good car. I liked it because it was small and easy to park on the street. Unfortunately, it could not stay longer; it was weak uphill. I tried to change to a Subaru that was actually to the hospital because the engine was breaking. Finally, I fixed it, and I can drive it now.

Many people like to take bills to afford a car, but I avoid high insurance. I have too much responsibility to buy a brand new car because the insurance is going to prevent me from doing other stuff, and I want my mind free of thinking about high bills. I need to focus on the people that I have to help. They need my financial help to have enough food, for education, medical care, etc. I am a servant. My money is to serve God. If I take a bill to afford a brand new car, I am going to consider myself like a murderer because too many people are going to suffer, and I won’t be able to live in peace.

The Good and Bad Sides of Online Class

It is important to me today to talk to you about online class, and to go to class in person. This conversation is to let you know that both of them have challenges and solutions . Let's talk about online classes a bit . Online class is the way that the technology gives to people to do things without leaving home. Schools use zoom to connect students with teachers, just as some administrations use it to connect employees with employers.

As a student I use online classes for a special situation that everyone knows, the pandemic. Education is so important even a war cannot prevent people from going to school. Covid 19 looks like World War 3 because it kills lots of people around the world. To avoid too many infected and dying, the technology helps in that way in continuing to learn on zoom. In the past years, if the technology existed it would help a lot because I heard during the world war some countries made tunnels to help students go to school.

I find online classes great and interesting. Online classes help me a lot, and I love it. Online class helps me to practice on the computer, like google docs to do homework. It helps me to get more sleep. I do not have the challenge of finding parking when I go to school. All that good side I find from online class.

Online has a bad side too. Online class makes students miss some information, according to the teacher, and some students. When we are in person we have the opportunity to work more, like having books, we could have more tools of work like hand lens and go to the computer lab. We used to have images to work on. According to me, online classes can affect your eyes too because of the Computer screen. We can imagine that all in life have good and bad sides. It is up to us to make the best choice even if it is not without consequences.

Around all I say about online classes about the good side and bad side, is that I am worried too a little bit for the next school year because I don’t know what is going to happen, and I would like to know. Which choice is going to be the best one in September?

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