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US Marine comes home to help stricken Haiti

by Staff Writers
Leogane, Haiti (AFP) Jan 27, 2010
When Jean Cetoute joined the US Marines he never imagined he would be deployed back to his homeland of Haiti to help his fellow countrymen in their darkest hour.

"It's strange, but it almost feels like I've never left," said Staff Sergeant Cetoute as he surveyed the scene around him.

It has been 22 years since the young Marine, who now lives in Brooklyn, New York, has stepped foot in the country of his birth.

But it still feels like coming home, even though the Caribbean country was devastated by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake on January 12.

"You don't know how much you miss it until you see it again. Being away for so long you forget what it's like," said Cetoute.

"Everything here just clicks and it feels so good. The temperature and the humidity are the right weather for me."

Cetoute left when he was still a boy, travelling with his father to the United States where he was handed over into the care of his aunt, who raised him.

"We couldn't afford college so the military was the perfect option," he said. After eight years of service, he finally won his US citizenship.

Now a member of the 22nd Marines Expeditionary Unit, Cetoute is among 20,000 US forces deployed to Haiti in a massive aid operation since the quake leveled much of the capital Port-au-Prince, leaving 150,000 dead and a million homeless.

He has been unloading cartons of aid on the plains of Leogane, at the epicenter of the quake, which was 90 percent destroyed.

"It's unfortunate it happened but I am glad to be here to help the people."

Fluent in Creole, Cetoute has been particularly valuable in acting as an interpreter amid the chaos.

A small group of Haitian men approached as he was working, and his commander sent him to find out what they wanted.

"They came looking for a job as translators," Cetoute said. "Another one wanted to know where the distribution centers are."

"They're happy when I open my mouth. They are relieved to find somebody from their own country to communicate with.

"When you talk to them in Creole, they connect to you, they sit down, talking about their lives."

His fluency in Creole proved especially useful when he had to explain that the Marines could not hand out aid supplies they were guarding, because they belonged to the United Nations.

"It's frustrating because you can't give them what they're asking for," Cetoute said.

"We take their complaints back to our leadership and say, 'that's what we are hearing, that's what is going on.' That helps knowing what is happening in remote areas where helicopters can't go to."

And for Cetoute, this mission is personal. His father and cousins still live in Haiti and he has had no news of their fate since the quake.

One of his fellow troops, who also originally hails from Haiti, has just got some good news about his relatives.

"I was born 35 minutes away from here in Carrefour," said Private Cyrille James, referring to a town outside the capital Port-au-Prince.

"There has been a lot of damage, but thanks to God I've seen my family and they are all right. Two cousins and a brother came to see me yesterday. It's a blessing."



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