We’d love for you to meet a very special part of the Heliotrope Foundation Team. Michael has been a valuable member of the Heliotrope Foundation for over six years. He hails from the Leogane region of Haiti and is our local liaison in Cormiers.  He serves as the Program Manager and Lead Instructor of our kids program, Klub Obzevatwa.In addition to his work with the kids club, he also serves as one of Heliotrope’s local translators and communications liaison with the US based team. Michael is strongly committed to helping the children learn valuable skills and awareness that will allow them to respond to the challenges of life. He is dedicated to creating a positive, caring and fun learning environment that the kids can grow and thrive in. His abilities to solve problems and listen to others makes him someone everyone can turn to for guidance. 

Swoon connected with Michael for an in-depth interview about his life, growing up in his community in Haiti and what drives him to do the work he does. He is one mighty, passionate individual and we are pleased to share his insightful perspectives in this first segment of a multi-part interview. Enjoy!

C: Can you introduce yourself? Name, age, where you’re from, and any other details you’d like to add.

M: My name is Michael Jocelyn Aristil. I was born on June 3rd, 1994 in a small, but beautiful village called Cormiers. It is located in the West of Haiti, specifically in Leogane. Just like it has been the case for so many fellow Haitians, I grew up in a single parent family and was raised by my mother. Completely devoted myself to education, I managed to finish High School very early to pursue a higher education at the university. I received a bachelor degree in Applied Linguistics from the State University of Haiti and I am now working as a freelance interpreter & translator. I am also working as the manager and lead-teacher of an amazing children’s club in my community.

C: Can you talk a little bit about what motivates you? When we met you, you had taught yourself English from a very young age, you were extremely focused on your studies, and were always an incredibly conscientious and caring person – can you talk a little bit about where you get the strength and focus to be and do all of these things?

M: Actually, what truly motivates me is a burning desire to achieve great and meaningful things in life. I am highly determined to positively transform my life, to allow my family to live a decent life, and to create a positive impact in the lives of the people in my community and beyond. Above all, it would be impossible for me not to mention one of my main motives; a burning desire to achieve success in order to honor the efforts and sacrifices of an extraordinary person, someone who had fought so hard to make me who I am today. I am making reference to my mother, Genise Aurelien Mira, unfortunately, who passed away few years ago. Without her unyielding support, I cannot imagine what my life would be like. After all, I am from an underdeveloped country, where even the basic human needs such as good education is reserved for a lucky few. In addition to that, I was born into a family that is not well-situated financially. Worst of all, I had to be raised only by my mother because my father had left home and flied from his responsibility shortly after I took birth. So, all things considered, I was more likely to fall into delinquency. Fortunately, I was so lucky to have such a responsible, caring, and courageous mother who acted both as a mother and a father to raise us. She strived hard to ensure that my sister and I get a comfortable life and got an education of good quality. Conscious of all the sacrifices she had made to pay for my schooling, I decided to make my study my top priority in life so her efforts would not be in vain. Moreover, considering the place where I am from both on a macro and micro point of view, education is my one and only way out. That is why I have tried so hard not to give in to pleasure. Instead, I have given myself up to learning. Up until now, most of my time are spent in books, libraries, the internet, constructive discussions. Even if she’s gone, my goal is to keep her dream alive by becoming the man she had always wanted me to be. That is one of the things that motivate me.  

My mother was my main source of motivation in life, my real motivator. She was also my true inspiration, my mentor, and my booster. In other words, she was not only my mother, but also my role model. Since my childhood till I grew up, she had taught me so many lessons that continue to guide me in life. For example, she taught me that nothing in life is given; so, I should always work hard to get what I want and not to hold others responsible for my failure - a very common practice in today’s society. It’s like it happened yesterday; I was in elementary school and I was in a strong competition with some of my classmates, including my sister. That competition was mainly about our academic excellence; we had competed for the highest score, the sticker rewards etc... Usually, I did the best I could to keep up with my fellow competitors. However, it happened that I didn’t get good marks for a term, probably due to my poor performance. Consequently, my report card was not decorated with those gold star stickers that most school use as a means of reward to reinforce children with positive behavior. Needless to say how sad, ashamed, and resentful I was against those who scored the highest point. I failed to remember how many times my report card had been decorated before, especially when I had truly deserved that. As a matter of fact, I started to think of my teacher as an unfair man. I could not stop myself from crying that day and I refused to eat. My mother came and sat down next to me; she started to question me pretending that she was trying to find out what my problem was. When I told her that I was unhappy and I felt bad because not only my teacher did not give me the gold star sticker, but also those who got them were mocking at me. That was when my mother once said to me that teachers don’t give good marks nor star stickers, but students work hard to get them. She added that next time I should work harder and study more to get better results and to avoid the mocking of my friends as well if that truly hurt me To top all it off, she said that despite my poor performance she had not had in mind to punish me; so I had better stop crying and eat dinner or else, she could have a change of mind. From that time on, I have stuck to the moral behind this and I will pass it on to my own children. 

Driven by a passion for languages, I decided to embark on the journey of learning foreign languages, particularly the English language at a very early young age indeed.  Now, few years later I can say that it is one of the wisest decision I have made. For, that single choice has opened a whole new world of opportunities to me. My English competencies has significant impact on my study, my professional life, and my personal growth; for, it allows me to have access to the world of information. As you know, most of the articles, books, study, theses, particularly in the Human & Social Sciences are published in English. So, the ability to read and understand English allows me to explore the work of so many authors and authorities in my field of study. Moreover, my ability to speak English has opened doors for me to enter the professional world. As we all know, in this era of high technology and globalization, the world becomes a global village and people from different places, different cultures and backgrounds are now connected, working and doing business together more than ever before. As the main language used to ensure communication between everyone in such context is English, there comes a high demand of people who have a good command of English everywhere. That being said, I started to earn my living by working as a freelance interpreter for some NGOs and entrepreneurs in my country. Thanks to that I started to cut down on the responsibility of my mother as I became more and more financially independent. Another area where my English skills has proved to be useful is in what has to do with my social life and personal growth. It allows me to socialize with other people of different cultures and backgrounds; such opportunities allow me to enhance my skills, to learn about different cultures and societies, to learn to see things from other’s point of view, and to increase awareness of the world around me.

Regarding to some aspects of my personality and my attitude towards other people, I can say that I had developed a part of them through the parental guidance I received from my mother at the beginning, reinforced later through my contacts and interactions with the world. It is true that I will never reach perfection; for we all have our own flaws, but it is something I am trying to improve each and every day. I try to integrate into my personalities some traits that, to me, will make me become a better person. That is one reason behind my reading a lot of books on personal self-help. I also read books to learn more and to cultivate new interests, because I always want to have something to share with my friends. I try to be more and more supportive to other people in ways I can, because one has to be grateful in life; I always find people who are there to support me in life in every ways, especially when I need it the most. That’s why at a very young age I started to establish language clubs in my community and to gather young students in group to help them with their homework. I believe it is a way for me to give back what I have received.

C: How did you first become familiar with Konbit Shelter?

M: With the arrival of a lot of humanitarian Non-Governmental Organizations to provide assistance to the victims of the devastated earthquake in 2010, a friend of mine came home to inform me that there was an NGO operating in my community and that they seemed to be native English Speakers. His focus was on language because at that time I was not mature enough to perform some kinds of work. As my friend knew I was studying English and so was he, he believed that could be an opportunity for both of us to practice and improve our English skills. When I got to the work site, something else had caught all my attention; it was the type of construction you had brought in our community. Everything was completely new to me, including the materials you used to build the dome. As the construction progressed, I became more and more excited to visit the work site every once in a while. Because I was so curious to have an idea about how things work and what the new construction would be like upon its completion. That curiosity would, in the end, allow me to meet and socialize with some extraordinary Konbit Shelter team members. One of my best encounters, one that would later turn into a good friendship that would influence my life in so many ways, was when the artist Caledonia Curry, also known as Swoon had crossed my path, back in 2014. It was through those people I had met that I started to really know about what Konbit Shelter is, what its vision and mission are. While a great deal of NGOs that came after the quake had already left few years later, Konbit Shelter has continued to work closely with the people of Cormiers. That is one among many other reasons I have started to develop a genuine appreciation for this team. It has distinguished itself from many NGOs that pretended to come and lend a hand to those in need, but in reality had absolutely no impact and left no trace in the community where they had operated. Konbit Shelter, as I just said, has continued to come up with projects like reparation of the previous buildings and the construction of new ones in order to bring about considerable change in the community. So, the more I met them, the stronger our bonds became. It did not take me long to find my place around and now I am so proud to be a partner of such an incredible organization.