News Information
- NEWS_POSTED_BY: Haiti Place
- NEWS_POSTED_ON: Dec 21, 2014
- Views : 2158
- Category : Haiti News
-
Description :
Photo: Nikenson Romage is one of hundreds of young men and women who have been sent to Haitian universities with the help of American donors. Credit Hananie Albert
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — MOST of us in Nikenson Romage’s situation would have given up.
- Location : Port-au-Prince, Ouest, Haiti
- Website : http://www.nytimes.com/column/nicholas-kristof?action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&module=Byline®ion=Header&pgtype=articl
Overview
His dad died when he was 3, and his mom — a food vendor — often couldn’t afford his school fees. So he got kicked out of school occasionally for nonpayment, a humiliating ordeal that leads some kids to drop out forever.
But Nikenson would sneak back onto the school grounds and stand outside the open classroom windows to eavesdrop, day after day. He studied on his own, keeping pace so that when his mom scraped together a few dollars, he could re-enter class — until the next time school fees were due.
Against all odds, Nikenson graduated from high school this year, first in his class, with straight A’s, and was elected class president by his peers. Nikenson is a reminder of the basic aphorism of life today: talent is universal, but opportunity is not.