"There used to be two factories here that would hire people," Jeune says. "Since they closed, people only have opportunities cleaning restaurants, hospitals or nursing homes. And they are lucky to find that."

But five months after Randolph began work, she found out she was pregnant.

She speaks of how, in Haiti, people who had been to America would bring pennies they said that they found in the street. But Randolph soon found out otherwise.

"They told me I was going to find money here," she says. "I'm still working hard for the money!"

At the beginning of her pregnancy, her husband had to return to Haiti, leaving Randolph to live with her father, who had moved to Greater Boston in 1973.

When her husband returned 10 months later, the couple moved to Cambridge, where Randolph has lived ever since.

Cambridge Community

Over the last two decades, things have changed for Randolph. Now a single mother of two--she and her husband are divorced--she speaks fluent English, works as a kindergarten teaching assistant at the Graham & Parks School and recently moved into a new townhouse.