Nadia Visited Today

Saturday, May 02, 2009

Nadia Visited Today

Nadia visited today.

Nadia is Jackson Jean-Baptiste’s sister.

Jackson was refused care at OSF in Peoria and died in January 2006.

Nadia told me how her life is going in Haiti today. She and her four siblings and her mom still live in a tiny two-room house without running water in the mountains overlooking the capital.

Her mom broke her leg one year ago and has not been able to work since then. Prior to her fall, Nadia’s mom was traveling to a coastal town, far from their home, to buy second-hand clothes ("pepe") that she would sell on the street corner. This provided a little money for food. Now money is scarce which makes food more scarce for the family.

Nadia completed high school but flunked the baccalaureate (baca) test. She needed to pass this test to allow her to proceed in school and take the philo. The vast majority of Haitian kids flunk the baca because the test is difficult and their schools don't prepare them well enough. (Incidentally, the tests are in French, not in Haitian Creole. Most kids like Nadia are bilingual.)

Nadia spoke lovingly of the people in Peoria that had helped Jackson. He is buried in a little town outside of Peoria.

Nadia asked me if she could come to Illinois to put a flower on Jackson’s grave.

I told her “probably not”.