God Has Saved Me: The Story of Rolson St Louis

By Rolson St. Louis

This book shares an inspirational story of my life experience in Haiti and my tragic journey to the United States. During the Lavalas and the De facto regime, I faced many problems in Haiti; killing, disease, starvation, and injustice were all over the land. Students went on strike almost every day. Some of them were shot, some were beat up to death, and others were burnt. I have watched people being stoned to death. In late 2002, a man named Jonas came to Haiti to help people flee the problems. On the night of August 4, 2003, I found myself among many in a big, wild bush in St. Marteen, waiting on a little canoe to take us to the United States. Some of us made it. Some didnt. But I thank God for allowing me to live to share this story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490845982

Rolson St. Louis

Rolson St Louis is known by several titles: writer, teacher, activist, valet, steelworker, and so forth. But most importantly, he is a man of God. He was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and grew up in Bonette, a small, poor village in the western part of Haiti. After facing death and many other problems at home, he moved to the United States to search for a better, secure, and hopeful future. Everything was different. Despite these changes, he did not know the true meaning of living until Christ came into his life.

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Copyright © 2014, 2015 Rolson St Louis.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Author Photo by Andrew Milne

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-4597-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-4599-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-4598-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014913250

WestBow Press rev. date: 11/04/2015

Contents

Acknowledgements

Chapter One    The Darkest Night

Chapter Two    The December Tragedy

Chapter Three    Farewell

Chapter Four    Welcome To St. Martin

Chapter Five    The Little Canoe

Chapter Six    I File For Asylum

Chapter Seven    Life In The United States

Chapter Eight    Work And Racism

Chapter Nine    Two Thousand Six Was A Good Year

Chapter Ten    God Has Saved Me

Acknowledgements

Writing and publishing this book was one of the biggest challenge that I had to face. When I received the call to write I was working full-time. I did not have a lot of times to write but through patience, hard work and perseverance I was able to complete it.

First of all, I thank God for strengthening me to the entire process of completing this book. Without the help of God this book could not have been possible.

To Oriana Baptist, my mother who I enjoy calling the street vender, who has worked immensely to raise me. I thank you, Mom for your unconditional love for me and your love for others. You have taught me so much about love and loving other people.

To Jn Claude St Louis, my father who cared so much about my education, and who brought me a little English book and said to me, Every language you speak you become another person. I thank you Dad for being there for me.

To Marvin St Louis, my son, you are one of the reason I did not give up, and I will never give up. I thank you, and love you, Babu. To Rosecarmelle St Louis, my sister, to Gregory St Louis, my brother, and to my little cousin Cassandra Joseph, I thank you all for believing in me and for your support.

To Mary Mc-beth, who was the first one to read my manuscript and suddenly said to me, You are an author. I thank you for your kind words of support.

To all my friends who has helped me, Bernadeau Brunel, Claudy Jean Baptiste, Ersnt Pierre, Sheila St Cyr, Darline, St Preux, Luis Rubio, Chase Pepper, Nadege Cadet, and so on,,,. I thank you all for your help.

To all the Miami Dade public Library employees, and North Miami Beach public Library employees, thank you for assisting me in finding great books to read. To librarian Yolette, Antoine and Stevenson Paul, I thank you for generous support.

To all my Pastors, I was able to connect with online. Your teachings have kept me motivated. I sincerely thank each one of you.

To Aaron Hall, my publishing consultant, I thank you for your advice and generous support. To Kevin Anderson, and Shayla, Eaton my editors I thank you for your editorial help.

To all the above, my deep and abiding thanks. Your contributions to publish this book made it perfect. Thank you, may God bless you all.

"Leave your country, your people and your father’s

household and go to the land I will show you."

(Gen, 12:1)

CHAPTER ONE

The Darkest Night

The night of August 4, 2003, was the scariest, and yet most hopeful, night of my entire life. It was a plain yet lovely evening with beautiful stars in the sky and moonlight glittering through the silhouettes of the trees—the kind of night when the ocean waves look as high as mountains. That night reminded me of my home country when kids played hide-and-seek in my grandmother’s backyard under the starlight.

Yet August 4, 2003, was also a tragic night.

I had just run away from home two days earlier and was far from any familiar rock or tree. At ten o’clock that evening, I hid in the brambles, waiting on the little motorboat to take me to the land of opportunity as wildlife chattered away beside me. My heart was beating so fast that I didn’t know what to do. I was, as the saying goes, between the Devil and the deep blue sea.

It was a night when I faced a choice: death in my country or life in another. It was a night when I looked up at the sky and identified one of the stars as myself and watched it grow brighter. And it was, most of all, a night that I hoped, more than anything, would lead to a morning that involved my waking up in Saint Thomas, an island of the United States of America—the place where dreams become reality.

As I hid in the big wildlife bush in St Martin, a British island in the northeast Caribbean, my mind raced about whether the boat would come, what kind of questions they would ask in the interview once I arrived in the States, and if anyone knew yet that I was gone. Part of me wanted to race back to my home, but I couldn’t give up. I couldn’t go back to the place where people openly killed one another and where I had watched people being stoned to death. I had left behind rape, injustice, starvation, a broken education system, no health care, and—worst of all—a tyrannical government.

I didn’t have any choice. I kept running until I heard that faint purr of the small boat destined for America. And what immigrant would turn away the prospect of living in America—the land that proudly promised safety, possibility, and a better future?

Amid the sound of cicadas and the steady waves, my cousin Junior’s words from earlier that day swirled through my head: If you miss that boat to Saint Thomas, you will be found and arrested before the next one.

I was born in October 1982, in Port-au-Prince on the island of Haiti. Christopher Columbus discovered my home country in 1492 long before he made his way to the New Land, which is now the United States. I have always thought the old name of the island, La Perle des Antilles, which means most beautiful island, was more fitting.

In 1804, through separation from the French, we became the only independent black state in the Western