Diaspora

A Letter from Samyr Lainé's Mom: Samyr Laine is a new york based haitian olympian

Friends, I received the letter below from Samyr Laine's mother. Samyr is a Harvard alumunus, lawyer, and olympian who is representing Haiti at London Olympics. His mom Evelyne Laine is a colleague. I got her permission to share this letter with the forums. I will be sending French and Creole versions of this letter.

Marc-Arthur Pierre-Louis

Dear friends:

Louis and I are deeply appreciative of your unwavering support and generosity over the past few months, from the time since Sam has qualified to compete in the 2012 Olympic Games.  More importantly Sam views your encouragement as a vital source of strengths from which he constantly taps in order to forge forward toward his dreams.  Indeed, Sam, by any standard is a special person and his ability to self-motivate is inspiring.  He is driven totally by an unshakable determination to make whatever sacrifices it takes for the pursuit of excellence.  By his twenty-seventh birthday Sam had already earned a degree from Harvard, a Masters Degree from Texas State University at Austin and a law degree from the Georgetown Law Center, including passing the New York State Bar.  All through law school he traveled the world over to track and field meets not just to compete but seeking to catapult himself closer toward his set goal.  One of Sam’s attributes has consistently been his sense of purpose permeated by an optimistic world view.  Sam remains among the most self-effacing individuals anyone can ever encounter; never taking himself seriously.  Instead he is engaging toward everyone and exudes the most positive disposition toward people from any walk of life.  He relishes very much in your words of support, kindness and sense of brotherhood.  As for me and Louis we see your encouragement as a manifestation of practicing the old African Adage “It takes a village to raise a child.”

Many of you have been asking the day and time Sam's event will take place and I want to keep you posted.  We will be traveling to London on the 26th to celebrate with our son as he is poised to come face to face with the realization of his long-held dream while the entire world is watching.  He will be walking among the best athletes from around the world, recognizing that you have played your part in all of it.  He will be competing on the seventh of August  (8/7), which unfortunately will be at 5:30 am New York time.  That notwithstanding, your emails to us and him, your phone calls, buying a newspaper that carries his story and sharing your interest in him with a friend have all played an essential role in helping us and persuading him to push on one inch further at a time toward his Olympic dream.

In our minds Sam is already our hero regardless of how events turn out in London and he surely is a source of inspiration to anyone; young and old.

Again, Louis, I and the rest of the family are grateful to you for having been in Sam’s corner, the village corner.  

p.s. you can follow him at SAMYRLAINE.COM

Evelyne Laine