LAKELAND, Fla. — Cooking together brings one Lakeland family closer after a busy week. Stacey Angulo said the kitchen is where her big family finds time to catch up.
“We have a really interesting family. There’s seven children. I’m in a blended family,” said Stacey Angulo.
Following the large-scale earthquake that hit Haiti in 2010, Angulo fell in love with a three-year-old orphan named Marven and adopted him.
“I saw a photo of him and instantly I knew he was my child. This was meant to be,” Angulo said.
Marven is now a soft-spoken 13-year-old, loves playing football, and excels in science. He faintly remembers the day he left Haiti.
“One of the memories I have is being in the pool at the hotel we were in,” said Marven Adams.
Today Haiti is dealing with civil unrest, alarming levels of gang violence, and an increase in kidnappings following the assassination of its president in 2021.
According to the UN, more than 600 people were killed in Haiti in the month of April alone.
“We've seen videos of bodies that were murdered, just being ravaged and cut apart. We’ve seen terrible, terrible things,” said Angulo.
So, it was an easy decision for Angulo to apply for humanitarian parole for Marven's birth mother in January. His biological mother and sister and his adoptive family are now all living under one roof.
“I thought it would be just a thought. I didn’t really think the reality of it happening,” Marven said.
The Biden administration's humanitarian parole program allows 30,000 migrants from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to enter into the US each month through a sponsor.
Marven’s 18-year-old sister, who speaks four languages, said gangs have kidnapped students at school.
“No, it’s not safe. A lot of people are in danger,” she said.
The UN is calling for more than $700 million in humanitarian aid. Angulo would like to see more action taken by the United States government to help Haiti's spiraling humanitarian crisis.
“Send a fraction of our military down there and establish order until proper elections can be had. Until the country can be stabilized,” she said.
Haiti holds a special place in her heart.
“When I saw those little faces climbing out of the rubble in 2010, it really imparted something in my heart that has stuck with me all these years,” said Angulo.
