A young Haitian immigrant’s struggles — and her successes — at making her way in Miami
Meloveda Victor had no idea what kind of life awaited her in the United States.
At 12 years old, she left her hometown of Cap-Haïtien, the small port city on the northern coast, leaving behind her mother and siblings, and the only life she knew to move to Miami with her father.
Now age 20, Victor recalls the day she entered the home of her father’s family and feeling a shock going through her body, a sense of foreboding came over her before she even had a chance to get settled in.
Her anxiety was soon confirmed as it quickly became clear that although she was a child, she was there to work, and the environment would not be caring. She became responsible for the cooking and cleaning and all other domestic duties. She spent her Saturdays in the kitchen making Haitian-style rice, beans, and stewed vegetables, and cleaning the bedrooms and bathrooms while the adults worked.
Years before, her mother and her father’s family had a falling out, and Victor believes the reason her aunt and family were so hard on her was they were using her to “make their point.” There was both physical and verbal abuse, said Victor, who still struggles to talk about specifics. But she believes her Florida relatives were taking out the problems they had with their mother on her.
She lived with her father, but he acted more as a roommate than a parent. She would see him in passing at home, but he did not ask about her life, or make an effort to provide any support. “I barely noticed him and he barely noticed me,” she said. She gave him an invitation to her eighth-grade graduation ceremony only for him to not show up.
“I remember that day I cried because all my friends had their mom, dad, and siblings,” she said.
“I started to have to do everything by myself. It was challenging,” said Victor, sitting in the office of Casa Valentina, a transitional housing nonprofit where she now lives. “It taught me that I have to be a grown-up, I have to think as a 30-year-old.”
Jasmine Miles, the program coordinator at Casa Valentina, says that Victor has excelled in the program, studying hard in school and working hard to build a live for herself. Noting Victor’s progress and commitment, Casa Valentina nominated her for Wish Book.
Recently, Victor was able to make a trip home to Cap-Haïtien. Miles said she noticed when Victor returned from visiting her family, she was incredibly happy.
“It wasn’t her decision to have to take care of herself,” said Miles, who has observed again and again that being far away from her home country and her mom, who she is close with, is a huge challenge for Victor.
Breaking point
While Victor attended North Miami Senior High, she would eat as much food as she could during lunch on campus, knowing that when she got home there might not be food. The food wasn’t great, she said, but it was better than going to bed feeling hungry.
The school was her haven away from the chaos at home. She would leave her house early in the morning, and stay on campus until 7 p.m., signing up for volleyball and wrestling to have an excuse not to be home and around her family.While the home environment was always bad, one day, things changed for the worse.
Victor shared a room with her older cousin — and it was her job to ensure the room remained clean. This meant washing and putting away their clothes, vacuuming, and dusting.
One day, Victor says she was recovering from abdominal surgery and became so fed up with doing all of the cleaning that she decided not to do her chores this time. Her cousin returned from a vacation and was furious, said Victor.
They began fighting and it once again turned physical, with her cousin following her into the kitchen and hitting her.
But this time, “there was blood everywhere,” said Victor. It was not the first time she had been physically and verbally abused — but she had never been hurt this bad before, she said.
Her aunt blamed Victor for the fight, saying “That’s what you get for talking back to [your cousin].”
“That was when I said I couldn’t do it anymore,“ she said.
Her guidance counselor at school noticed the bruises on her face, and Victor explained what had happened. She chose not to report her family but decided to leave.
She remembers saying to herself, “It’s either I call the police or move out.”
Learning self-sufficiency
Soon, she was staying in a shelter in Opa-locka, her heart set on getting an education and preparing for her own future, clear that she couldn’t count on support from her family in the United States.
“I probably would have been in the [foster care] system if I didn’t use my voice,” she said.
“I am the only one that has to work for my future.”
Since leaving the abusive family home, she has been thriving at Casa Valentina, a temporary transitional housing program for young adults experiencing housing instability or exiting the foster care system. It provides mentorship, housing, and programming for young adults enrolled in school.
“A lot of choice has been taken away from the residents in their lives,” said Miles, the program coordinator at the nonprofit. “I like to give them a choice; we are always advocating for the residents.”
Victor is studying at Miami Dade College. She works at Starbucks part-time.
She recently got a car with the help of the nonprofit Keys to Independence. The car has given her freedom and allows her to drive to the campus to attend class.
“I call my car ‘Hope’ because she gives me hope,” she said. But ‘Hope’ is currently struggling a bit. The brakes are not working, and it takes Victor a good minute to stop the car completely. “It’s bumpy,” she said of the brakes.
Victor is asking Wish Book for financial assistance to help fix her car and pay her expensive car insurance, which is $230 a month.
“I am determined. I came from nothing, and I am the only one here doing everything for myself,” she said.
After she graduates, she is considering the idea of opening her own business or going into real estate, although she is still exploring her options.
“I see myself as a businesswoman,” she said.
Victor says that every day she wishes her mother was in Miami with her.
If she was able to reunite with her mom, she says “I feel like I will have a piece of me filled that is missing.”
Her program coordinator agrees. “She is still working through not having her mom here; she is very close with her mom,” said Miles.
When Victor can, she goes to the Western Union and sends small amounts of money from her Starbucks paycheck to her siblings and mom in Haiti. During the holidays, she tries to send at least $50 for each family member and tells her mom to give the money to her siblings as if it is coming from the mom.
“I don’t know how the money is gonna be this year now because I have a car,” she said.
HOW TO HELP
To help this Wish Book nominee and more than 100 others who are in need this year:
▪ To donate, use the coupon found in the newspaper or pay securely online through www.MiamiHerald.com/wishbook
▪ For more information, call 305-376-2906 or email Wishbook@MiamiHerald.com
▪ The most requested items are often laptops and tablets for school, furniture, and accessible vans
▪ Read all Wish Book stories on www.MiamiHerald.com/wishbook
