Sam Siyon, 15 years old in 2001 

How many brothers and sisters do you have?
Five brothers and two sisters. I'm the 5th child.

Who lives in your house?
My grandmother, my mother my seven brothers and sisters.

What is your favorite subject in school?
Math

What does school mean to you?
I like it a lot because I would like to succeed in life.

What do you do with your free time (for fun)?
Drive cars. I get to do that once or twice a month.

What is your favorite (most important) possession?
I'm really looking forward to having a car. But, for now, my favorite possession is my bike.

What is the greatest distance you have traveled from home?
The beach. I've been to Port Au Prince once but I think the beach is a greater distance from home.

What do you want to be (do for a living) when you grow up?
An engineer or an architect.

What do you feel about your country?
I don't like Haiti because a lot of people are killed.

What do you think about Americans?
I like Americans because they are very beautiful.

What makes you happy? What do you like most about your life?
Playing soccer and riding my bike.

What makes you sad? What is your biggest complaint about life?
Death makes me sad...when a person close to me dies.

What is your greatest wish/hope?
I wish to become a mechanical engineer or an architect.

I was a little nervous as my interview day with Sam Siyon began. I had never seen him smile in any of our previous meetings and I began to wonder if he was forced into this project. But, he turned out to be the most polite of all the children I interviewed.

Sam lives in the village, so we were accompanied by many other young villagers on the way to Sam's house. For reasons I am still unsure of, we couldn't enter his house right away. So, Sam brought me a cushy chair so I wouldn't have to stand in the yard. My interpreter, Darryll noted that they treated me like royalty.

When the house was available, we began the interview with several children packed into one room. Sam has a pretty average family for Haiti. He lives with five brothers and two sisters, his mother and his grandmother. He is the fifth child and is 15 years old.

Sam's lack of smiles was indicative of how serious he is. He wants to succeed in life and he is going about it in the best ways available to him. He attends school in Dumay every day and he loves it. Math is his favorite subject. He aspires to be a mechanical engineer. That is his greatest wish.

Sam was the only child interviewed who said he doesn't like Haiti. He says this because of the great insecurity they all feel and because many people die or are killed. He told me he doesn't know anyone who has been murdered but he does know a thief. I could tell that violence makes him nervous. Ironically, he was also the only child who said nothing about wanting to go to the United States. He did tell me that he likes Americans for the simple reason that they are very beautiful.

Sam seems to enjoy life at a fast pace. His favorite activities are soccer, riding his bike and driving cars. When he gets a car of his own, it will replace his bike as his favorite possession.