30146: Hermantin(News)Awards salute kids who left tough times behind (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


Awards salute kids who left tough times behind
By Jolie Breeden (Contact)
Wednesday, March 7, 2007


Photo by David Jennings

TOP-NOTCH TEEN: Guerline Donisvitch, 19, is among 10 local youths nominated for 
Metropolitan Mayors and Commissioners Youth Awards. The awards will be given at 
a reception on May 13.
Nineteen-year-old Guerline Donisvitch has fond memories of her native Haiti.

Never mind that she grew up in orphanages, survived a military coup and was 
sold into indentured servitude. In her mind it's not the suffering that floats 
to the surface, but the sun on her face.


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"Haiti was good," she said. "The day is warm, every day. When you're in Haiti, 
you're busy doing something. You can never be bored."

Donisvitch's ability to rise above the adversity that characterized her 
impoverished childhood and make the best of her opportunities secured her 
nomination for the Metropolitan Mayors and Commissioners Youth Awards.

Since 1986, the awards have honored young people who refused to let 
less-than-optimum beginnings keep them from moving forward. Four teens from 
each of the participating counties — Broomfield, Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, 
Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Gilpin and Jefferson — will be honored May 13, 
but, like Donisvitch, they've already won the big prize — a somewhat normal 
life.

"I'm pretty surprised I'm alive today," Donisvitch said in the lilting accent 
that still carries the cadence of the Creole she used to speak. "Two times I 
almost died."

The Broomfield High School senior began life in Haiti as one of 14 children. 
Poverty forced her mother to put her in a Port au Prince orphanage where, at 
10, she was caught in a military attack on a children's shelter by a group 
retaliating against the government. She fled to her mother's home, where she 
was sent to work as an indentured servant. After suffering abuse in that 
situation, she was sent to a U.S.-operated orphanage, and she was eventually 
placed with an American family.

At first, life was difficult for Donisvitch, who spoke intermediate English and 
missed her family. But now, four years later, she's found her niche. She works 
hard — as a hostess at Bennigan's — is a member of student council, keeps a 
high grade point average and has been accepted to several colleges at which she 
hopes to study business. Ultimately, Donisvitch said, she's working for her 
family.

"One day, when I'm good enough, I'll go back to Haiti and find my family and 
help them," she said.

For now though, Donisvitch is happy to be here and continues working toward the 
future she said she's lucky to have.

"I'm thankful I got to America and to have this life," she said. "I don't know 
what happened to me that I got this life, but I'm pretty grateful."

http://www.broomfieldenterprise.com/news/2007/mar/07/awards-salute-kids-who-left-tough-times-behind/

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