Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Guerda Romain Chartelain: No one can be Phenomenal without hard work and creativity.

1) Who is Guerda Romain?

I am a product of globalization.  I was born in Colombia, of Haitian parents, grew up and studied in the United States, and am now living in Haiti with my husband and daughter. 
I completed a doctorate in French and Francophone literature at Princeton University and have been working as a translator and interpreter for the Department of State since 2005.  Before that, I worked as a university professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
As a child of immigrants, language has always played an important role in my life.  Although I was schooled in the US, my parents always required that French be spoken in our home.  My first discovery of Haitian and French literature was through my father who remained attached to his mother language and cultures throughout our lives in America.
It was only natural then that I pursue my studies in French with a concentration in Haitian literature. I wrote my doctoral thesis on the Haitian novel in the late 19th and early 20th century.  This further ignited my interest in the history and culture of Haiti.
I was a toddler when we moved to the United States. Before beginning school, I was in an exclusively francophone setting and only began to speak English when I went to kindergarden.  At that young age, I was introduced to the duality in mindsets that comes with being bilingual.  For a child, this is a natural thing. Our elders from the country of origin are associated with the French language and with a certain behavior and attitude.  It was just as natural to become little Americans when we were with our American friends and classmates.  I have never felt any conflict between the two.  Through the books I read, through my mother’s enchanting stories about her childhood in Haiti and through the tightly-knit family bonds that pushed and encouraged me in all I did, Haiti felt like home and its culture has been endlessly compelling to me.  It is a bilingual country with French and Creole as its official languages, and there is plenty of literature to be studied in both idioms.  Therefore, all Haitians at home or abroad experience the same duality as I do.  Of course, French was considered to be the exclusive domain of the educated and cultured, so for some Haitians it is intimidating. But the enormous output of literature written in French shows us that many Haitians have appropriated the French language and made it theirs.
Now that I am a parent, I have exposed my daughter from birth to both languages and cultures and can only feel she is enriched by being bilingual and multicultural.
This is so important to me that in January 2018, I founded a reading program for schoolchildren in Haiti. Since we are in a French- and Creole-speaking environment, I work with them in English. I like to think that I am giving back to Haiti after having my horizons widened and my universe made richer when I was growing up in a world of diverse cultures.


2) What fuels Guerda?


My beginnings in interpretation were quite unusual!
I was teaching Creole language at the United States embassy in Port-au-Prince when I was approached to interpret for Hillary Rodham Clinton when she was the First Lady of the United States.  I had never studied interpreting and always thought it would be too difficult to think in both languages at the same time.  I first refused the job on the weak excuse that I was to travel to the US to spend Thanksgiving with my family.  When I called my parents to boast that I’d given up this opportunity to be with them, my mother told me that she would not let me enter her house if I did not accept the job!  I suppose she and the embassy officers saw something in me.  With no experience, in front of TV cameras, without even a scrap of paper to take notes, I had my baptism by fire as an interpreter.  Mrs. Clinton was very kind and I suppose my natural boldness took over.  It was exhilarating, one of the high points of my professional life.
I have been extremely fortunate to have had a few such moments, thanks not only to my skill but also because I was given stellar opportunities.  One of my kindest clients was a president of Haiti who made sure I grew and stepped up to professional challenges. That is how I even had the chance to work at the White House.  My work as a consultant with the Department of State has taken me all over the world and given me a chance to meet some of the most dynamic and committed people working in journalism, government, entrepreneurship and the social sector.  I consider myself to be very fortunate and I always strive to live up to these amazing opportunities.
This alone would have made for a wonderful life of achievements beyond anything I might have imagined when I was younger.  But now, a new layer has been added, first since my daughter came along, and now in my work with children in Haiti. This has given me a chance to look beyond myself and into the future, and it has taught me priceless lessons about communication and language.
I think that for anyone, the greatest achievement is adaptability and the refusal to rest on one’s laurels.  As an interpreter, any job is an opportunity to learn and grow.  One assignment can teach you about police work, another will have you spending time with journalists and yet another will be about GMO mosquitos.  And now, since last year, I am testing my limits and expressing my creativity in new ways in the classroom. By opening up the world of reading to young children, I can find ways of teaching them kindness, respect for the environment, self-respect and acceptance of all fellow human beings.  In the Haitian setting, this is not as easy as in the United States, probably because of the considerable pressure exerted by political and economic instability and social strife. Life is not easy in Haiti, and children are not immune to these pressures. This school year ended rather abruptly because street riots caused schools to close before the end of the yearly calendar. Families have had to deal with the fear of being attacked in the streets or at home. Social division makes it challenging to teach children peace and harmony.  A special effort should therefore be made to make sure they love themselves, thereby making it possible to love and share with others.  Books do that while still keeping their worlds full of wonder and creativity. I do not know if this is my greatest achievement—someone else will perhaps have to make that judgment—but I consider it to be a challenge that forces me to grow in new directions. 

3) Who is your role model?

My parents taught me to stand and deliver no matter how difficult the situation. They both had to leave their families, learn a new language, adapt to a new culture and thrived professionally and personally. One of the challenges they faced was raising two daughters in an unfamiliar environment and without the usual support given by extended family. But they created a new environment around us, and my sister and I never felt isolated, nor was our cultural world every impoverished.  This is the most important thing that I emulate.

In addition, there are so many people who have taught me by example, not the least of which are my daughter and the children with whom I work now. There is nothing like the candor of a child to keep you humble and force you to reevaluate your outlook.
I have to say that as a woman of color and as a child of immigrants, I have often felt I was embarking on uncharted territory in my academic and professional life; sometimes the net of role models was not always visible. In those moments, it became necessary to get down to the basics: family who may not be experienced in the type of work I did, but who gave me enough love and self-confidence to simply put one foot in front of the other and move forward with the usual conscientiousness. Sometimes no one else can guide you, and that’s okay because you have beacons within you too.



4) Where do you see yourself in the next five years?


I’ve given myself two years to put out a culture and language program for adults. I am working so that in five years these programs will be self-sustaining so that I can devote myself to new commercial ventures. Beyond that, I am working towards writing my own books.

5) What are the challenges of a vibrant, smart, result oriented and creative interpreter like yourself?


Interpreting is not always easy work: it requires a broad base of general knowledge and considerable skills in concentration and memory.  But I have an “attitude of gratitude” and am especially thankful for opportunities to work and grow. When my daughter was younger, it was difficult to be away from home for three weeks at a time several times per year. However, there is a positive side to this because I come home with stories from exotic places that otherwise I would never visit.  In addition, one of the best ways of raising a daughter who is confident and happy is by doing work that you love and that makes you rise to different challenges.



6) What is your greatest influence before your shift for Interpretation?


Then and now, the greatest influence on me has been the world of reading.  My sister once told me that I was wise beyond my years because books have made me experience several lifetimes!  When I was younger, I was very shy and felt more comfortable in a library than with people my age.  Now, I have overcome my shyness, I love the company of people, and my favorite thing to do is sharing the literary universe with others, particularly children.

7) How was your media experience with 2016 Edward Murrow Fellows who were chosen from over 80 countries in the world to cover the Presidentials in the US?


The 2016 Murrow Program was a beautiful chance to make new friends from all over the world. The highlights for me were Saint Petersburg, Florida and New York. I learned so much about communications Poynter Institute in Florida.

8) While giving your best at work, who are some of the female colleagues you admire and why?


I have worked with women and men who just blew me away with their skills or with their ability to work harmoniously with even the most difficult visitors.  Maryvonne Kerzabi is a friend and a person whose professionalism and superior social skills have afforded her a prize from Global Ties this year. The fact of working with different groups of people at every assignment makes it possible to hone my skills and acquire new techniques or to learn more elegant vocabulary from colleagues.  I do really love that about my work.

9) How do you relax yourself ?


Since almost all my work involves thought and the mind, I like to relax by doing very basic and physical things like cooking and exercising.  My best ideas come when I do housework or when I am out walking or testing myself physically.  My family loves music of all kinds.  Because of the situation in Haiti, we do not go out as often as we would like, but we are perfectly happy listening to music and spending time with family and friends at home. I have to admit that we “come up for air” by traveling to places where we can engage in fun and cultural activities.

10) What is your ICE Vision for young girls, women of your age and mothers who have gone on a slumber trip?


I love this question because it is perhaps the most difficult! It is interesting: I never thought about being a woman until I came to live in Haiti. Thanks to my parents and because I developed in an America where paths had already been blazed by women of color, I never thought that being a woman or being black would be obstacles to achievement.  In Haiti it is a different story. Although this country is ahead of others in that it has already had a woman as president, the status of women is still very complicated in Haiti. There is no shortage of strong and accomplished women here but they still face the stereotype of women who are weak and overly sensitive. Men and boys are somehow considered more important and entitled and women and girls still accept a secondary role. Various forms of abuse are also accepted to a certain extent, and economic hardship makes it difficult for women and girls to say “no” or to leave unacceptable situations. I am committed to developing materials and programs to help girls in my reading program become self-aware and independent women. But this will not bear any fruit if the boys are not taught to be men who respect women’s rights.

11)What are some of the things young girls and women do that put you off?

I do not consider that I am in any position to judge another woman or a girl. This year in the reading program, we learned the story of Sadako Sasiki, a young girl who, after surviving the atomic blast in Hiroshima in 1945, later contracted leukemia and passed away at age 12.  She made 1,000 origami cranes because Japanese legend has it that that will help you find a solution to even the worst problems. With the children I have been making peace cranes since last fall. The repetitive and complicated motions do make for a kind of meditation, and when we did it together, I had a chance to share with them on a level that created lasting bonds. We wrote a play about Sadako and peace cranes, and the final words of the play were “We must build peace. First, build peace within yourself. Then build peace in your family. Then in your community, state and country.  Then in the whole world.” Peace starts within and moves out in concentric circles. And inner peace and stability, self-love and self-respect show us that we cannot judge others because we cannot know their struggle.

12) How will you want the Phenomenal African Woman (American in particular) woman to carry herself? 

Self respect, honor and dignity are necessary qualities. And no one can be Phenomenal without hard work and creativity. But I think that what is the most important quality is to be self-aware and to be conscious of others with the kindness that comes from knowing your own value and being able to respect any other human being. 

Thank you Guerda for accepting to share your inspiration with IMA readers and we hope to have more of you in the nearest future.








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