It is embodied in this country with its unlimited possibilities — this country that we sometimes take for granted. My own story begins as a young child in another country, one " draped in barbed wire from head to toe,'' in the powerful words of the Haitian poet in exile, René Depestre, who is also my uncle. The story of that little girl, who watched her parents, her family, and her friends grappling with the horrors of a ruthless dictatorship, who became the woman standing before you today, is a lesson in learning to be free.
Depuis la petite fille née dans un autre pays « barbelé de pied en cap », pour reprendre l'expression si forte de mon oncle le poète René Depestre, celle qui a vu ses parents, sa famille, ses amis aux prises avec les horreurs d'une dictature sans merci, jusqu'à la femme qui se tient devant vous aujourd'hui, c'est tout un apprentissage de la liberté qui a vu le jour.
