While Randolph struggled to learn English, she did not have to deal with illiteracy--a problem for an estimated 80 percent of Haitian immigrants, Jeune says.
"People come from Haiti with a very high illiteracy rate," Jeune says. "Often, they need years of basic reading and writing programs."
However, Randolph is the first to admit that her life has been no Cinderella tale.
"We came to America and I had to work hard," she says. "I had to work hard to get where I am now."
She recalls Halloween of 1991, when a house fire left her family without a home for two months.
"Oh my God! I didn't know what to do," she says, sitting forward in her chair, eyes wide. "I was shaking and scared."
In the fire, Randolph lost the few things that she had brought with her from Haiti: a picture of her mother and herself, and some French music that she had copied. Both, she says, were remembrances of her youth.
Read more in News
Schor To Leave Harvard For B.C.Recommended Articles
-
Janowski Rebounds From InjuriesThis was supposed to be the year Rose Janowski exploded onto the Harvard women's basketball scene. She was finally to
-
Behind Every Great Harvard ProfessorAfter 33 years, her routine is the same. In the morning, she walks through millennia-dead invertebrates to reach her desk.
-
Student Moms Juggle Schoolwork, ParentingT he carriage Gina M. Ocon '98-'00 steers is too wide to fit into the narrow aisle of the shuttle
-
Emotions, Expression Pervade Cauvin’s ArtAt the intersection of Irving and Kirkland streets, Haiti meets Harvard. “Crossroads,” an exhibition of Haitian artist Marie-Hélène Cauvin’s paintings
-
New Kidd in University Hall -
Alumna Levine Probes Lives of Hasidic TeensFor an alumna of Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, inspiration for a dissertation topic came out of a
