“Welcome Home!”
by Meredith Monnich, 2024 Summer Intern
“Welcome home!” An officer stamped Fritz’s passport and handed it back with a smile. Fritz, a former Project Citizenship client from Haiti, looked left to observe a snaking line for non-U.S. citizens waiting to gain re-entry into the U.S. This moment was the first time he had ever entered the right lane when coming back to the U.S. from Haiti, his home country. He felt a sense of excitement — the right lane was the one for American citizens.
Fritz’s childhood was marked by the sticky sweetness of mangoes and the joy of playing street soccer in the rain. He grew up in Haiti and thinks back on his younger years with a smile.
“I remember going to the beach with friends and family [and] playing marbles,” Fritz said. “[Haiti] is nice, it’s gorgeous.” His youth remained like this – bright and carefree – for a long time. When Fritz thinks back to his childhood, he remembers the perfect days spent with his family at the beach.
At the end of the summer of 1991, however, Fritz began to feel the atmosphere shift in his home country. He recounted that by September, the sudden political turmoil in Haiti caused schools to close. At that point, most of his childhood friends were already looking for ways to move away from Haiti.
At 17, Fritz, too, boarded the plane to the United States, forced to say a difficult goodbye to his beautiful country. And it certainly wasn’t easy at first. In high school, Fritz struggled to maintain his Haitian identity in Chicago. Speaking up was difficult for him.
“I felt bad as a senior in high school when it was my turn to speak. My accent was heavy, although I was smart in school. I was a straight-A student, but my accent was still there.”
Fritz recounted a story of a high school bully who laughed at him every time he read aloud in class. “He affected me for a long, long time. In my life even after high school because I was shy because of him. I was afraid to talk in public spaces.”
However, his confidence grew with each year he spent in the United States. As most of his extended family and friends joined him in the U.S., he slowly began to feel more comfortable in his new home – without ever forgetting about his life back in Haiti.
Now, Fritz is grateful he found Project Citizenship and followed through with the naturalization process. He described his experience with Project Citizenship as “amazing, incredible, and outstanding.”
“Whenever I needed you guys, you guys were there for me. If I [went]to the office, [you would] direct me to what I needed. You guys were always there for me.”
Fritz attended one of Project Citizenship’s workshops to complete his application. “We talked, we listened, we learned, there was always someone there to help us out, I even passed your number to a couple friends.”
Now a citizen, when Fritz thinks about the incredible work he has accomplished in Haiti and the beautiful life he has created in the United States, he feels proud at the coexistence of his two lives. When he hears the phrase ‘Welcome Home!’ he smiles and thinks about two countries instead of one.