Ewald's Graduation

Another trip home to Portland, another long flight, weather delay caused a missed flight and overnight stay in Dallas...minor frustrations only.  We all suffer through small and big frustrations and challenges daily.  How we deal with them helps make us the person we become.  We can't walk in other peoples shoes, we can't take on their challenges, their frustrations, their pain or their grief. We can bask in their happiness, their glory, their success, we can support and we can offer whatever we can to help them on their journey.  Last night my family and I, along with Angel, Ranee, Chris-girl and Maggie shared Ewald's success and his happiness.  Here is his speech and a couple of photos.  I hope that you will feel the pride that we all felt last night as he stood on that stage to speak and receive his diploma. 

Ewald Frank Estanis: 

I used to think that graduation ceremony is a celebration of the sacrifices we've made to get here; but by looking at the world today and its challenges,  it is to me more of a reminder of the commitments that life will now demand from us.

My name’s Ewald Estanis. I was born in Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere. It’s a country where over 50 percent of the population is illiterate. It’s a country where kids with dreams and determination can’t really project how their tomorrow will be. It’s a country where everyday people are desperate and tired of living the life they have been living forever. Every day they live with no conviction that something will turn out well. But an opportunity is what they are all dreaming of.  An opportunity that just only a few of them ever get.

I am the third oldest of a family of 8 children. My father was the manager of an organization and the main provider of the family. My mother stayed home taking care of the house and the children. Growing up, I had a dream to become a medical doctor or a business manager like my father.

When I was 17 years old, my father passed away. It was one year before graduating from secondary school which is the equivalent of high school.  This was a very though time for my family, but my mother’s courage pushed me to make it through graduation the following year.  After graduation, as one of the oldest children, I had to make a choice: I could go to a university or find a job to help my mother and my younger siblings get their education. I had to make a sacrifice. I had to move to Port-au-Prince working night shift just to support my family.

While in Port-au-Prince, I worked for an international organization called Healing Hands for Haiti as a medical translator. There I met Gail Buck and Angelina Sams from a medical team from Portland. They told me about opportunity for education and gave me information about colleges in Oregon and encouraged me to continue my education. I got connected to PCC not only because it was more affordable but also because of the diversity and the sense of community that PCC is known for. Staff and faculty were so helpful and responsive to my questions, that it did not take me too long to realize that this was the place for me.

I’m standing here today just because of one opportunity; an opportunity that could be me once in a lifetime; an opportunity that required sacrifices and perseverance, an opportunity that changed my life.

In September 2009, I came to the United States and began my first term at PCC. It was really hard to leave my mother and my brothers and sisters so far behind. Before I left, my mother said to me: “it’s your education, it’s your future, do it for yourself and do it for us”. - And I’m here today, not only because I wanted to be here but also because my mother who’s also my hero for raising us 8 without a father, my brothers and sisters, my friends Ranee, Angel, Chris, and so many others wanted this to happen;

It was because of them I had the financial resources to come here;

It was because of them I was able to take advantage of the opportunity to get an education;

It was because of them that I stand before you today.  They are my motivations and my reasons to never give up.

When I arrived in Portland, I was welcomed by Gail Buck, who told me: “from now on our family is also your family.” She had my room ready, a new cell phone and other things that I could ever dream of. Since that day, they’ve lived with me like I’m part of their family; their own blood. Today from the deepest of my heart I want to say to my dad Laddie, my sister Erin, my brothers Danny and Andy and my wonderful mother Gail:

Thank you for all the support and trust you have had in me;

 For the love you have given me;

 For giving me a home, and a home that will always be home.