LETTER FROM ERICA WILLIAMS CONNELL:

I am writing to introduce you to Yanik Quesnel from Trinidad and Tobago whose story is, at one and the same time, both heartbreaking, yet immensely heartwarming - and I am soliciting your help! You may have heard of the terrible accident in July at Pigeon Point in Tobago. Yanik and his girlfriend were run over by a speedboat. Carolina (airlifted to her home in Spain ) was gravely injured by the propeller, while Yanik suffered a massive brain injury which has left him completely coherent but with the use of only one arm. He is unable to walk.
Yanik has been receiving treatment at Ryder Trauma Center for some weeks now and is likely to be there for a considerable time. He has just turned 18. He and his mother know only three people here in Miami and I have now made the fourth. I never knew the family in Trinidad but accompanied their friend on her visit to the hospital where I was so moved, so inspired by this boy that I decided I wanted to try to arrange as many visitors for him as I could. While I have attempted - in vain and disappointingly - to convince the youth group from my parish church to see him, I have asked a few Trinidad friends to step into the breach and I, myself, visited tonight.

There, all alone, I found myself in the presence of true courage, and if I may say so, even greatness - yes, at that tender age! Yanik is astonishingly upbeat. He is humble, sensitive, profound and unfailingly compassionate. The International Kids Fund is assisting with his enormous medical bills and when this facility came through, he expressed to me his hesitation in accepting it - believing there were others far more in need of this avenue than he was.

This is more than just a bright young man with a future - and he is no 'nerd' either. He has been, variously and at a younger age, just as excessive and intemperate as most teenagers. At 15, he absconded with his parents' car, totalled it, and was put to work in a soup kitchen in Trinidad as a consequence. It was there, he confided, that he developed a social conscience.
Yanik won an International Baccalaureate (IB) scholarship to Costa Rica after high school and has already finished one year. Upon successful completion, he will be eligible for entry into most major metropol itan universities. The IB programme is recognized internationally. He is a voracious reader, writes poetry, has just entered an online contest and his winning poem will shortly be published. In Costa Rica, his community service included coaching the disabled. In fact, his protege has just won a medal at the Beijing Special Olympics! With the new knowledge and perspective at his disposal, we both agreed that if before he was a good coach, now he will be a GREAT coach. His goal is to study environmental science.

During the two hours I spent with Yanik, it was heartening to see the affection with which the nurses hold him. It is both obvious and infectious. This is an exceedingly special young man who has attained a wisdom some of us can still only guess at. As I said to him, I can't tell you how you're going to get there, but I KNOW you're going to go far. And I have no doubt whatever that he will. His spirit is indomitable and led me to remark to one of the friends I was persuading to visit him that "I just saw God lying in a bed." For it is indisputably BECAUSE a Higher Power is within him that he is able to be so extraordinarily positive and confident.

So many of our children fritter away their talents and abilities. I have personally been uplifted by the experience that is Yanik, and I PRAY that he will obtain the wherewithal to overcome his limitations and not in any way, to be hindered by them. And this is where you come in. My friends and I are asking the Consulate to assist in raising funds for Yanik's continuing care. He may need as much as 10-12 more months of rehabilitation and in fact, he has just undergone a US $40,000 operation to install a device in his spine that will time-release much-needed medication - for the rest of his life - to alleviate the severe leg spasms which MUST be diminished if he is ever to have a shot at walking once again. As you can imagine, the International Kids Fund is hardly a bottomless pit and they have already begun making noises about his longterm care.

All donations can be made to: INTERNATIONAL KIDS FUND, PO BOX 2020, MIAMI , FL 33101. Tel: 877-453-5437 The reference must clearly state: For the benefit of Yanik Quesnel.
With his permission, then, I am sending to you a poem Yanik composed about his condition a few weeks ago. While I can only WRITE about his situation, Yanik's own words will make you FEEL it!

Repercussions by Yanik v. Quesnel

The monotony can poison the strongest of men
Being as before is my only yen
So much in my life has been broken
Cursed with a seemingly indefinite stillness
My paralysis I believe to be a chronic illness
Rarely is effort not followed by progress
I summoned the will and therefore it is impossible to fail
To the disease progress is my only assail
Persistent struggling has been to my avail

REMEMBER: SEND YOUR BANK DRAFT OR WIRE TRANSFER TO: INTERNATIONAL KIDS FUND, PO BOX 2020, MIAMI , FL 33101. Tel: 877-453-5437 or donate online here https://www.internationalkidsfund.org/how_you_can_help/donation.cfm

Select Yanick Quesnel from the drop down.

Clearly state that your donation is "for the benefit of Yanik Quesnel".

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Shots ring out one winter night and a bullet meant for a local street dealer kills a ten-year-old boy. In the downtown Toronto community of Parkdale, grief and suspicion hang heavily in the air, while the nightly patrons at Miss G’s Caribbean TakeAway resume their ritual of beer and banter. But one of them, Gene Wright, cannot go on. He begs his friends for help. In a most unusual development, six Black men make a pact to form a support group in hopes of salvaging their broken spirits and redeeming their besieged community.

A Winter Tale is set against the backdrop of a multicultural community's unrealized hopes and dreams. Bitter and tragic, funny and hopeful, the film tells a uniquely Canadian story that features Toronto as a central character.

Director -  Frances-Anne Solomon is a Director, Producer and Writer in film, TV, radio, theatre, and new media. Born in England of Trinidadian parents, she was raised and educated in the Caribbean and Canada, lived and worked in the UK for several years, and has been based in Toronto since 1999.

Theatres: Coming to Cinemas in T&T in May 2008

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Cast: Professa: Dennis "Sprangalang" Hall
Dennis "Sprangalang" Hall is a popular comedian, historian, producer and singer/composer from Trinidad. He has worked with Caribbean Tales in the Gemini-nominated sitcom "Lord Have Mercy". See Full Cast

Crew: CHRISTOPHER PINHEIRO: Production Designer - The founding Artistic Director of the Toronto-based SwizzleStick Theatre, he designs and directs scenarios for Stilt-Dancing Moko Jumbies and has been working on Caribana since 1985 with Shadowland, VideoCabaret and the Toronto Island Mas Band. Recipient of a Commonwealth Foundation Fellowship in Textile Design, he study-toured in India. Beginning with the Trinidad Theatre Workshop of Derek Walcott, he was a foundation member of the Banyan Television Workshop and the Callaloo Company of Peter Minshall. This is his second project with Leda Serene.  The first was as Art Director on “What My Mother Told Me.”

MAURI HALL: Composer - Mauri has been doing music since the age of seven, singing and song writing, as well as composing. He has produced many songs for radio in Trinidad and Tobago, working with artists such as Bunji Garlin and 3 Canal. He has composed for Literature Alive, a 13-part documentry series which aired on Bravo! in late 2005 for Leda Serene Films. Mauri has composed for theatre productions such as A Winter Tale (Leda Serene/Caribbean Tales) and is also working on the music for a feature film version of A Winter Tale. He is also an audio engineer, holding a diploma in recording engineering from Recording Arts Canada and has worked professionally as an audio engineer since 2000. 
See Full Crew.