Describes the challenges, surprises, and achievements of immigration from the point of view of young refugees from Haiti. Part of a series of books aimed at young people, this volume contains the personal stories of 9 Haitian adolescent girls and boys whose families came to, or sent them to, the United States or Canada to escape a country filled with terror, corruption, and exploitation. In their own voices, these refugees relate experiences that encompass: dangerous journeys on rickety boats and facing the risk of being deported back to Haiti; the difficulties of life in a refugee camp; personal and cultural losses and subsequent adjustment; and mixed feelings about returning to their homeland. A comprehensive introduction to the book supplies the necessary context in which to place the teenagers’ narratives and provides background information about Haiti’s history of oppressive rule, including the slave trade in the 1700’s, military occupation by the United States in the early 1900’s, and the corrupt and bloody regime of Fran??ois (“Papa Doc”) and Jean-Claude (“Baby Doc”) Duvalier, whose private militia, the tonton macoutes, carried out random acts of violence. Also includes photographs, glossary, index, and suggestions for further reading.
