Nurses from Marysville work to bring Haitian teen here to attend school

MARYSVILLE -- Autumn Kostelecky is putting together a scrapbook and hoping she'll get the opportunity to give it away next year.

The photographs inside the book will help her explain all of the work and fundraising that was done to help a 16-year-old Haitian boy attend school in the area.

Kostelecky met the boy, Louvenet Fertilus, while she was on a 16-day mission trip to Haiti in January 2009 with her friend and work colleague, Jaclyn Owings, and members of the Snohomish Community Church.

Both nurses at the Everett Clinic Kemp Surgery Center in Everett, Kostelecky and Owings were introduced to Louvenet by French missionaries while they were working together to build a hospital.

The Marysville residents were told the teenager was different. He rarely asked for anything and had a keen interest in learning. They were asked to consider helping him receive an education in America.

"The (missionaries) live there for six months out of the year," Kostelecky said. "They know the culture and the people and they said, 'This kid stands out.' "

Kostelecky, 40, and Owings, 34, became fast friends with Louvenet. He was their protector and tour guide, showing them around his school, home and surroundings in Passe Catabois, near the northern coast of Haiti. He helped build the hospital. Kostelecky and Owings asked him questions to help him practice his English.

"One day I asked Louvenet, 'Did you eat today?' and he kind of thought for a minute and he said he did," Kostelecky said. "So I said, 'What did you eat?' and he said he took flour and water and made balls."

He translated English phrases to Creole for the women and shared his dream to become a doctor and help people in his country.

Kostelecky and Owings listened.

"We thought plenty of people come (to America) to go to school, it should be easy," Owings said. "We didn't know what we were getting ourselves into."

The friends decided if Louvenet could get his passport, they would help him attend school near their Marysville homes.

In January, Louvenet learned he could take an eight-hour bus ride to pick up his passport in Haiti's capital city of Port-au-Prince.

Three days later, on Jan. 12, a massive earthquake hit Haiti. Kostelecky and Owings received good news when they heard from Louvenet. His mother, father, and six siblings were all fine. He also shared one other piece of good news.

"We were holding our breath thinking please let there be a passport," Owings said. "He got the passport. So we thought it's going to happen."

Owings plans to make several return trips to Haiti before Louvenet can come to Washington, she said. He will need to complete paperwork to obtain his F-1 student visa and he and his parents will visit the Unites States embassy in Haiti. If everything goes well, Louvenet can begin attending Grace Academy School in Marysville early next year.

"I'm very much looking forward to meeting him," said Jonathan Sarr, secondary vice principal at Grace Academy. "He sounds like an interesting character with big dreams."

Students have attended Grace Academy from China, Germany, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam, Sarr said. Louvenet would be the first international student at the school from Haiti.

The families of international students typically pay the school's tuition of more than $7,200, he added. Kostelecky and Owings are planning to pay for Louvenet to attend the school.

"I've never seen anybody except for the families of students pay for their schooling," Sarr said. "It's unprecedented in my experience."

Louvenet will have the choice of living with Owings' family or with her own family, Kostelecky said. They hope to raise at least $8,900 through fundraisers to put toward his first year of schooling. They expect the total to be $15,700 for his entire first year. A wine-tasting fundraiser will be from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday at Wine Styles in Marysville.

"Before the earthquake he didn't have a lot of opportunity for education but now since the earthquake it's even more important he have the opportunity to learn and do something that might make a difference," Kostelecky said.



Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491; adaybert@heraldnet.com.