Mercetaine's
journey began in Haiti in 1991 when she boarded a boat bound for
Florida. "Never, never, ever say you can't do it. I learned that at
African Services. "
Mercetaine’s journey
began in 1991 when she landed in Florida after four days at sea. She
boarded a boat from Haiti just before the election of President Jean
Bertrand Aristede. A year later, the infamous military coup set an
international refugee crisis in motion. Nearly three-quarters of the
40,000 people who fled were eventually returned to Haiti.
After arriving, Mercetaine headed to New York City where she lived
with extended family. She applied for political asylum and began
working, but less than a year later, an immigration judge denied her
asylum claim on the grounds that Haiti was safe enough to return.
Knowing that chronic political instability and violence in Haiti meant
there was no guarantee of personal safety, Mercetaine appealed her
case. The process would stretch out over a period of more than ten
years.
During
that time, Mercetaine suffered a bout of pneumonia and, after a long
hospitalization, was diagnosed with HIV in 2001. With her immigration
status in limbo, she didn’t think any options would be available to
her. In need of emotional support, a social worker at a city hospital
suggested she talk to someone at African Services.
Soon after, Mercetaine met Claudette Francois, a case worker at
African Services originally from Haiti herself. Claudette helped
Mercetaine enroll in ADAP, a program that provides AIDS care for
uninsured New Yorkers, and she began attending ACS’s weekly support
group for people with HIV. Looking back, Mercetaine says she never
could have sustained ARV therapy without the support of other
French-speaking women in the group who gave her tips on managing
side-effects. “I saw a better life is possible,” she says.
After
regaining her health, Mercetaine became increasingly involved at
African Services with ESL classes, our women’s advocacy program, and
legislative visits to Albany and Washington, D.C. where she spoke to
elected officials about issues impacting the lives of immigrants in the
U.S. She also began advocating aggressively on her own behalf, working
with African Services legal staff on her asylum case.
Through her committed involvement and spirit of volunteerism,
Mercetaine has helped build a strong support network among African and
Caribbean newcomers at ASC and has spearheaded a fundraising effort
among clients. “You have to be good to the people that are good to
you,” she says. Among her family, she is known as an outspoken advocate
of safe sex and says that her nieces and nephews seek her out for
relationship advice, knowing that they’ll never leave without condoms.
And
this fall, 16 years after arriving in the U.S., Mercetaine was granted
a green card. “Everything is different now,” she says. “Never, never,
never say you can’t do it. I learned that at African Services.”
