MARYSVILLE — Autumn Kostelecky and Jaclyn Owings remember a picnic at a river in Passe Catabois, near the northern coast of Haiti.
It was the last day of a 16-day medical mission trip in January 2009. The women were part of a church group helping to build a hospital in the area. While o
n the trip, they met a teenage boy named Louvenet Fertilus. It was a happy day.
“We brought food — trail mix and Pringles — and shared a Coke we bought at the market,” Kostelecky said. “We taught (Louvenet) ‘cheers’ and he tried to teach us how to skip rocks.”
The memory is one the two friends cherish. They didn’t know two years later they would be dealing with immense disappointment.
Louvenet, now 16, was introduced to Kostelecky, 41, and Owings, 34, by French missionaries. Both are nurses at Everett Clinic Kemp Surgery Center in Everett. Louvenet helped his new friends learn Creole phrases and accompanied them on trips to buy food. When other missionaries asked if they would help him attend school in America, Kostelecky and Owings agreed.
Once they arrived home, they started raising money to help pay $8,900 in tuition for Louvenet to attend Grace Academy School, a private Christian school near their Marysville homes. They held fundraisers — car washes, a wine tasting, a Bunco night and served soup lunches at work. They put the money toward Louvenet’s entire first year.
They waited to see if Louvenet could get his passport.
In January 2010, several days after a massive earthquake hit Haiti, the women anxiously waited for word from Louvenet. When he called they found out not only were he and his seven siblings safe, but he had been able to travel eight hours to Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince and he had gotten his passport.
They started tackling the next step, assembling the required paperwork for a student visa. Louvenet was accepted to Grace Academy in September.
In December, Louvenet went to the United States Embassy in Port-au-Prince for two interviews for his visa. His application was denied both times.
“We were told it’s up to officer’s discretion, he doesn’t meet the criteria, but we weren’t told why,” Owings said.
Owings was in Haiti for both interviews, but only Louvenet and his father were allowed to attend. Owings waited outside a wrought-iron gate for six hours with Louvenet’s mother.
At home, Kostelecky frantically called the embassy after the second interview to find out why Louvenet didn’t receive his visa. She couldn’t find out why. Frustrated, she called a co-worker who helped her connect with Congressman Rick Larsen’s office in Bellingham. They signed Louvenet up for the next available interview slot on Wednesday.
One more appointment happened with the same result. Louvenet still didn’t get a visa.
Through a string of more phone calls to the embassy and to Larsen’s office, Kostelecky and Owings learned that the interviewers didn’t think the boy’s English was good enough. Officials were also confused that he had two sponsors and believed the women hadn’t known Louvenet long enough before they agreed to sponsor him. The most frustrating reason, the women said, was that officials didn’t think Louvenet would come back to Haiti after he completed his education.
“They look at every person as if they’re intending to immigrate to the U.S. and they have to prove differently,” Kostelecky said.
Owings said Louvenet tried to tell officials he wanted to come back to Haiti, but they didn’t believe him.
Owings said that it would be difficult for him to remain in the U.S., because he is so connected to his family.
“We’ve shown he’s connected to his family and church,” Owings said. “We’ve done everything we’re supposed to do.”
On Friday morning Kostelecky received an e-mail from Laurence Kent Jones, the chief of non-immigrant visas at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince. Jones said the embassy has to deny students visas every day.
“This is a hard process for everyone,” Jones wrote. “While it means more to the applicants, we have to do it every day, in large numbers.”
The women have kept track of every person who donated $50 or more during their fundraising efforts so that they can return the money if Louvenet can’t start at Grace Academy in February. They plan to use whatever is left over to help fund Louvenet’s education while he is in Haiti. They want to visit him in Haiti this year.
They know some people might question their desire to help one boy in a different country but they plan to continue offering their support.
“(Louvenet) has a drive to learn and wants to use it to make his country a better place,” Owings said. “How often do you have the chance to truly make a difference in someone’s life? It feels good, it feels like the right thing to do.”
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491; adaybert@heraldnet.com.
Blog for Louvenet
To follow the efforts of two Marysville women to bring Louvenet Fertilus, a 16-year-old Haitian boy to Marysville to attend school visit louvenetsdream.blogspot.com.
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