My Name is Vilio Bacette, and I am from Haiti in Port-AU-Prince, which is the capital, and Banlieue called Carrefour situated south of downtown. I was born in a family of four boys and two girls. We were raised very poorly. However, our unique chance was to continue our education. I have always believed my key to success is education. To repeat some scholars, "Knowledge is power." I grew up in Carrefour and went to a public primary school called Damocles Vieux. Most parts in my secondary school were at Jean Jacques Rousseau a regular student and another part as an irregular student. I take advantage of that occasion to send a flow of gratitude to the students and professors in Damocles Vieux. I salute my comrade's students and professors of Jean Jacques Rousseau, a prestigious school. I was worried about people's living conditions at school, including mine. To wear clothes, to eat food were a phenomenon. People always kept their distance from me at first sight, but in a short time I got their appreciation. At first, they did not know my talent, ideology, and savoir-faire in that political sphere. To help people and myself, I engaged in politics. My first empiric task was to hear people, accept their criticism, and understand their desires. The next step was to combine the different dichotomies and create an organization to address the commune demand, nothing but negative and positive rights. Some political friends and my brother decided to build up the public political movement called "Jeunes du pays en voie de développement (J.P.D.)." Translated meaning-Young people from developing countries. In 1989 a wind of change blew in Haiti and carried Jean Bertrand Aristide in power. Inaugurated on February 7, 1991, and overthrown in September 1991 by the army. It was reported a significant number of people died, and several thousand were injured. My family was saved, but I had to change my location because enemies came after me. Nonetheless, they came to shoot in the air to intimidate my family. In the next chapter, my family and I left Haiti on July 27, 1994. We entered Chicago on July 28, 1994. Arrival at Chicago My family is composed of my pregnant wife, Mimose Opont Bacette, and my two boys. Furthermore, I arrived in Chicago on July 28, 1994, around 11:30 a.m. at O'Hare airport. We were welcomed by Pastor Flecheimann of Lutheran church and his family, and Martine Theodore, the Director of the Haitian Americans center. While this may be true, I did not speak English, but I did not have relatives in America. The support given from the government had a duration of six months. Further, the government paid our rent and furnished us with some food stamps for the month, which we could not pay the bill. That forced me to get a job quickly to feed my family and help my relatives in Haiti. The Education The week after, an African American lady, named Lourdes, who spoke French sent me to the office for refugees. It was located at Sheridan Road. I was also sent to Truman College to study English. At the same time, I learned English and American customs, explored the area, and looked for a job to establish my family. Furthermore, after some classes, I went to Devry to learn electronics. I transferred my credits to Northeastern Illinois University to enroll in political science for one or two semesters. In comparison, my first professor told the class that the bachelor program took four years to graduate, which was not my original plan. Equally important, I had my hands full, working a full-time job, monitoring my children's school activities, and being involved in community activities, whose goal was to build a representative Haitian American Community Center. Analogous to that, I continued the program. Finally, I graduated with a bachelor's degree. That bachelor's degree studies had taken me more than four years to finish because I had to take more classes as a foreign language speaker. I felt tired, so I took a break for one year. After that year, in August 2019, I applied and registered to Northeastern Illinois University to pursue a master's degree program in the political science field. My gratitude to God, my family, and especially to my wife, Mimose O. Bacette, for supporting me and helping to graduate. I received my Master's Degree in Political Science, International Relations Sphere, at the age of fifty-five. My gratitude also goes to Carmelitte Breton, who pushed me to return to school. She brought her support to me by assisting me with my basic needs. Her support was a source of encouragement to motivate me to go to work and go to school at the same time. From this moment, I want to let her know that her motivation and support made me achieve a higher level of education. While the same motivation also manifested to support her to achieve the unexpected position in her last professional job position. The politologue Vilio Bacette encourages people of all ages to continue their education to change their life, because "knowledge is power," which is the key to success. Indeed, the grace of school politologue Vilio Bacette has the potential to think, share, teach, and bring his academic support to his community and the world.
