Keziah Furth, pictured with Bernadin Guy Junior above, shares her impressions about this "exceptional young man".

After 5 months at HFC, I love all 60 kids very much, but there is one in particular who stands out when I think about my time in Haiti.   His name is Bernadin Guy Junior.  My earliest memory of Bernadin is from our first English class.  I asked all the students to write a letter to show me how advanced their English skills were.  As I read the letters, they all sounded the same, "Dear Keziah, My name is ... I am in 9th grade, I live in Haiti..." until I got to Bernadin's.

He had written to the Brazilian soccer star, Ronaldihno, introducing himself as another professional soccer player and proposing a scrimmage between their teams.  What a creative flair!  Since then, he has been a solid student, not always the smartest, but very attentive and always putting in the effort necessary to succeed.

Like most of the HFC boys, Bernadin loves playing soccer.  At his age, I would expect him to be fighting with all the other boys for a position as a forward so that he could score goals and be the team’s hero, but Bernadin humbly accepts the role of defender.  He rarely scores, but if that disappoints him, he doesn’t let it show.  Instead, he plays enthusiastically and whole-heartedly, helping his team on the defensive side.  His selflessness also shows in the sneaker contest – the boys do not have enough sneakers to go around, but instead of demanding a pair for himself, Bernadin always lets the attackers wear the sneakers while he plays with a sneaker on his left foot and a sandal on his right.

Bernadin has shared with me some stories about his family.  He told me how his mother used to sing him a Haitian lullaby every night before he went to sleep, a lullaby that promised a parent’s love and presence forever.  Bernadin remembers, “My mother brought me to the orphanage, she laid me down in a bed and she sang my lullaby to me.  Then she kissed me and said she would come back.  But she didn’t come back.”  His mother is alive, and Bernadin is allowed to go see her occasionally and the last time he saw her was in September 2006. Although it is wonderful to see her, it’s painful too.  He knows that Dr. Bernard and all the staff love him, but it is still very difficult to not have that consistent mother-love.  I asked Bernadin if he hoped that he would be adopted and he responded fervently, “Yes!  What I want more than anything is to be able to come back to Haiti and get my mother out of the mess that this country is in.”

The thing that I appreciate most about Bernadin, however, is the way he has taken it upon himself to be my bodyguard.  As a young white woman in Haiti, I get a lot of unwanted attention from men.  Time and time again, I have been walking somewhere with the children when a man has approached me and began asking me questions in English, trying to strike up a conversation.  And time and time again, Bernadin has appeared beside me, taken my hand, and walked me away from the annoyance.  It’s like magic – the presence of this tall 14 year old and no one dares bother me.  When we went downtown to the May Day fair, the place was packed with tens of thousands of young people.  What could be better than a white girl chatting away in Creole with a bunch of kids?  They started coming, one after another, and Bernadin took charge.  He gathered all the boys in a circle around me, put a protective arm around my shoulder, and defiantly told the gawkers that I was Haitian and not to be bothered. He is the same age as my baby brother back in Boston, but from the way he looks out for me, I consider him more like an older brother, and I’m not sure what I would do without him.

All of the HFC children are wonderful, and Bernadin is just one example of the amazing individuals they’ve become.  I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for this exceptional young man.