Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine APRIL 2019 | Page 338

E
Evains Wêche
Author
vains Wêche was
born in the city of
Jérémie (southwest
of Haïti), known as
the city of poets, on March 5,
1980. He spent his childhood
there until his parents
decided to move to Port-au-
Prince so that he could obtain
better schooling. He is now a
dentist and also has a master’s
degree in health systems
management. While studying
at the university or working at
hospitals, he was an animator
at the Justin Lhérisson Library
in the Carrefour area (south
of Port-au-Prince), and then
at the Alliance Française and
the Centre Numa-Drouin in
the city of Jérémie where he
decided to go back to live.
His love for writing
Evains started writing at
around age 13. It was while
reading the story of Israel
in the Bible with his mother
that he discovered the power
of words. After the coup
d’état against President Jean
Bertrand Aristide in 1991, his
mother had to leave Port-
au-Prince. They took refuge
in the city of Jérémie, where
the sea breeze mixed with
the roosters crowing woke
him up every morning. He
remembers discovering,
while reading the Bible, the
Great Songs (Song of Songs)
Solomon wrote to the Queen
of Sheba in the midst of the
stories of warfare and Biblical
prophecies. He was amazed
to read of the big issues of
women and men in God's
word! His mother told him
this was a book of poetry. She
told him poetry is a wonderful
language to express life and
thoughts. In his mind, this
language was transgression.
The Bible freed him, he saw
the human face of sin.
He wrote his first text to tell of
his love for the sea, where he
always wanted to live because
his home was too small. He
could only share this feeling
with his mother through
poetry.
Literary role models
When he was young, Evains’s
role models were the
authors he studied at school.
During his younger years,
he systematically tore up
the poems he used to write
during summer vacations
because, after reading
Ronsard and Antoine Dupré,
Victor Hugo and Etzer Vilaire,
he felt his verses were bad.
But when he got older, he met
at the Justin Lhérisson Library
a group of fellow students
who shared the same passion.
Under the direction of Lesly
Giordani, they formed the
Marcel Gilbert's workshop
to learn to write together.
Writers such as Jacques
Roumain, Jacques Stephen
Alexis, Ernest Hemingway,