This is the story of my life so far: 68 years and counting.
Prequel: A Brief History of my Family in France
The story starts here
Previous episode: Part 74
Roseline and Betty arrive in Brest
As soon as we agreed to adopt the two Haitian sisters that the Belgian organization has found for us, we started the paperwork.
There was, of course, some money involved, quite understandably, but nothing outrageous. For example, the airfare of the two girls from Port-au-Prince to Brussels. Also, there were some people in Haiti that needed to be reimbursed, we did not really know what they have done, but we were assured that their work was needed. We had no problem paying.
We learned that the two girls were named Roseline and Betty and that they were coming from an orphanage managed by nuns.
Roseline and Betty in Haiti in 1985
In June 1985, Geneviève traveled to Belgium by train and came back with Roseline and Betty. I was on the station platform when they exited from the train.
Geneviève had been given some papers from Haiti: ID cards, birth certificates, and some legal documents.
Betty was speaking almost no French, only Haitian Creole (kreyòl ayisyen). But Roseline had been to school and spoke and understood French. When we had to tell something to Betty, Roseline would translate into Creole.
Roseline soon told us that their birth certificates were all fake. Their last names were not the one on the certificates, their birth dates were also wrong, and probably the birth locations too, although she did not know where they were born exactly.
Only their first names were correct. But we learned later that the spelling of their first names had been altered: Roseline originally was named Roselaine and Betty was named Elisabete, shortened as Bette.
Roseline remembered with certitude that their last name was Dominique and not Clervyl as written on their birth certificates.
From the legal documents, we understood that a woman had stated that she had two daughters and that she has failed to declare them when they were born, several years ago. All the names and dates on the birth certificates came from this woman. It was obvious to me that a lawyer had paid this woman to make such a declaration, and probably the Haitian administration knew it, but they went along.
The idea was that without their real names and birth dates, they would never found their birth parents. However, as we will see later, Roseline remembered enough details of her life in Haiti and she found without too many difficulties their birth parents some 15 years later.
Both my daughters are on Steemit (I had bribed them!).
Roseline is @rosie.posie. She has not started to blog yet, but she is assuring me that she will do it soon.
Betty is @bettym3. If you are interested in the memories of Betty in Haiti and coming to Brest, you can read her posts: Haiti birthplace, Haiti early memories and Meeting our adoptive parents.
Continue to Part 76.
If you like this story, please consider following me @vcelier
Summary
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7
Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13 - Part 14
Part 15 - Part 16 - Part 17 - Part 18 - Part 19 - Part 20 - Part 21
Part 22 - Part 23 - Part 24 - Part 25 - Part 26 - Part 27 - Part 28
Part 29 - Part 30 - Part 31 - Part 32 - Part 33 - Part 34 - Part 35
Part 36 - Part 37 - Part 38 - Part 39 - Part 40 - Part 41 - Part 42
Part 43 - Part 44 - Part 45 - Part 46 - Part 47 - Part 48 - Part 49
Part 50 - Part 51 - Part 52 - Part 53 - Part 54 - Part 55 - Part 56
Part 57 - Part 58 - Part 59 - Part 60 - Part 61 - Part 62 - Part 63
Part 64 - Part 65 - Part 66 - Part 67 - Part 68 - Part 69 - Part 70
Part 71 - Part 72 - Part 73 - Part 74
That is something.
I did check them.
Yes they are on steemit.
Glad to read your story.
Sorry i havent had the time to steem.
Vincent, ton histoire me parle plus que de raison! Même si tu caches la pudeur des sentiments, tes propres émotions, je vais aller jeter un oeil au blog de Betty! Elle doit avoir mon âge en gros et sur Brest? :-)
38 ans sur mon act de naissance donnez par les seurs en Belgiq Mais J 'habite a Vancouver au Canada maintenant 24 ans.
What a wonderful; moment this must have been for you and your wife. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I can only imagine the things that those two girls had seen and experienced in Haiti at that time. It must have been a scary and exciting transition for them. A huge culture shock for both them and you. How nice that Roseline was able to communicate with you. This was the beginning of the life you have known since 1985. I can only imagine how everything changed. I know with teh birth of each of our kids it was life altering and here you were able to introduce two young girls into you homes, lives and make a new family.
Thank you for your kind words.
At least you did not talk about money, like 3 of the commenters ;-)
I noticed those comments. It's unfortunate that money is the first place someone's head goes after reading this. This story had nothing to do with money and everything to do with family and providing a home to two young girls who needed one.
To me this 1st culture shock i dont remember as much as the one when we move to Canada...sorry dad a bit if spoiler here.
no matter how biological parents must have an inner bond though birth certificate and also name changed but the sense of a child with the parents is different from the person who nurtures her
Fabulous story. Money is great problem in whole world.
interesting story, money indeed is a world problem.
Dad, i was not speaking at all. No french no creole, but understood creole. At least thats what i remember.