"He's just friendly," says Steve B. Singer, a customer for several years. "He looks friendly, he acts friendly. He's got the real thing."

A Commitment to Work and Faith

What is it that so endears Wernher P. to so many? His friends credit his hard work, outgoing personality and religious devotion.

"The way you see him now? He's like that all day long," says J. Wilner Loiseau, who has known Wernher since his early days in Port-au-Prince.

"Since I know him, he talks a lot," Loiseau says. "Once he starts talking, it's difficult to stop him."

Wernher laughs at the characterization, but he admits it is true. He credits his missionary work as a devout Jehovah's Witness with developing his public speaking skills.

"I got in the habit of talking to people...since I've been that high," Wernher P. says, gesturing to an imaginary point about two feet above ABP's tile floor.

"I keep doing it, knocking on people's doors...trying to teach them the good news about the future," he says of his religious work.

Wernher says it is his unfaltering belief in such a future--a time when the world will be at peace and everyone will be happy--that allows him to greet each day cheerfully.

"Those promises don't depend on me and you," he says, "so I'm real optimistic about the future."

Keeping the Faith

Wernher says his devotion comes from his having much to be thankful for. His faith has saved him from disaster more than a few times, he says.

"I'm 80 percent sure that if I weren't a Jehovah's Witness, I might be dead now," he says, explaining, "I've stayed away from drugs, politics and bad companionships."

Seems like a simple formula for a good life. But it hasn't always been easy for Wernher P.

A Hard Road