Support Angelo and his family's resettlement

Please join us in sponsoring our dear friend Angelo and his family as they navigate the refugee resettlement process from Haiti to Durham, NC.

We are joining thousands of Americans who, with the support of the US government and Welcome.US, are sponsoring the migration and resettlement of a Haitian refugee and his family, via a new pathway to migration that will save millions of lives. On Jan. 3, 2023, the US Government announced a new pathway to lawful migration for Haitians, Nicaraguans, Cubans, and Venezuelans--as long as they have American sponsors--with the plan to process 30,000 migrants per month. This humanitarian program was established in response to the overwhelming success of Uniting for Ukraine, in which everyday American families sponsored over 200,000 Ukrainian refugees.

A bit about Angelo: He is the son of subsistence farmers, a graduate of Université Quisqueya Medical School, a trailblazing community leader, a caring eldest brother, and truly one of the most brilliant people we know. Angelo, Vyvy, and Annie became friends through Social Medicine, a course we took in Haiti in 2016 that brought together a dozen Haitian and American medical students for a radical, experimental pedagogical experience in which we read books together, facilitated workshops together, confronted our brutally unequal lives together, and above all formed relationships of solidarity and love. Since then, he has navigated a situation familiar to too many Haitians: brilliant, educated--a doctor even--but unable to make his contribution to the world due to endless cycles of instability and violence. You can watch a short video created by Vyvy about Angelo here.

In recent years, that instability, which in 2016 felt indolent and chronic, has exploded into an acute crisis of violence that even Angelo, with all he has endured, has never seen before. Recent years in Haiti have been defined by record inflation, severe famine, a presidential assassination, and the takeover of the capital city by armed gangs. In the past two years alone Angelo has lost his mother, and then his father. In December his little brother went missing and is presumed dead, likely lost to gang violence.

On our end, we submitted applications and identified individuals and community support services in Durham, NC, where Angelo and his family plan to relocate. Meanwhile, Angelo, his wife, and his five-year-old son have had to wait overnight in a line outside a government building, camping out in the cold, in order to have passports made. When they were 18th in line, everyone waiting in line had to flee a violent police raid. Angelo and his family waited out the violence for a few days, returned to the building, and succeeded in securing passports. The risks they are taking, their courage and tenacity, have moved us to tears and to action, and we hope they might move you, too.

We received the amazing news in early October that after nearly eight long months of waiting, their applications were approved, and they have recently moved to Durham.

We are raising funds to help Angelo and his family get on their feet. Specifically, these funds will be used for rent, bills and other initial living expenses. We are also seeking volunteers in the Raleigh/Durham area willing to donate their time to help them get settled. Please reach out if you are interested in contributing in one of these other ways.

With gratitude and love,

Vyvy Trinh, Paul Wallace, Conor McDonough, Stephanie Forman, Annie McDonough, and Max Pillsbury