By the time Stephanie Estilet, her father, and two younger siblings arrived in Boston from Haiti earlier this year, they had endured political turmoil, hurricanes, and an earthquake that killed friends and relatives and demolished their home.
Now they were supposed to be safe. But Estilet’s father, knowing no English, could find no work. He soon returned to Haiti.
Estilet, who is 20, was determined to stay, and thrive. And in her new home, she knew, survival meant being able to speak English.
“I knew English and education open doors for life,’’ Estilet said.
The young woman had already spent months in Haiti fighting to earn her high school diploma, even after the earthquake struck and left her mired in severe depression. Here in Boston, she had a new challenge: She began English classes in January with a vocabulary so limited that she did not know how to answer a phone in English.
Yesterday, she was one of 67 students to receive diplomas from the English for Advancement program offered by Jewish Vocational Services, a local organization that pairs with local churches to prepare Haitians for jobs, training, or college.
She is preparing to enroll at Bunker Hill Community College, where she plans to spend two years before transferring to nursing school. To save up, she works at a hair salon as a receptionist and custodian.
“I’m ready to go to college,’’ Estilet said.
Dreams like Estilet’s were in abundance yesterday in the basement auditorium of Boston Missionary Baptist Church in Roxbury, where teachers conferred certificates on the graduates, the first class to complete the program. Most had fit classes into schedules already packed with jobs, vocational training, or taking care of their children.
Some are graduating to more advanced English classes next year. Others are ready for nursing courses. A few, like Estilet, are planning for college.
For many, it was a small but significant triumph: About 60 percent were survivors of the earthquake that ravaged Haiti last year.
“I’m not nervous when I speak on the phone any more, because my English is good,’’ Patrips Fleurival told his fellow graduates at the simple ceremony.
Jerry Rubin, the chief executive of Jewish Vocational Services, said that few of the Haitian refugees who wish to work or go to college have sufficient English skills. The organization’s classes focus on teaching English that will help the students meet specific career or educational goals.
So students interested in careers as nursing assistants - among the most popular vocations for Haitians here - start with the basics, learning to explain in English how to cut hair.
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