Local pastor fights for Boston's Haitian Immigrant Community

PASTOR KEKE: It's a nickname given to me by my mom and the fact that I had that nickname and when I came here, when I first opened up my business, I called my business Keke Financial Services, because I do accounting. But when I became a pastor, they call me Pastor Keke. So the name remained with me.

STEPH CONQUEST-WARE: At the center of Boston’s Haitian migrant crisis, is a Pastor from Mattapan, Dieufort Jean Fleurissaint, but everyone calls him Pastor Keke.

DR. GABEAU: Pastor Keke has been like, God sent man to this community where in every sense of the way he's leading the way. He's helping people, caring for people. So he's really a cheerleader.

CONQUEST: That’s Dr. Gabeau, the director of the Immigrant Family Services Institute, or IFSI. Since 2022, the Institute has helped over 14,000 new Haitian immigrants. After migrant shelter waitlists began to overflow, Haitian migrants were forced to camp at Logan Airport during the winter in 2023. Pastor Keke visited the airport with Dr. Gabeau where they noticed many families with children.

KEKE: We rented nine hotel rooms to making sure we get those people out of the airport. We were able to get them out. They spent the night there and then in the morning they came to us. We helped them apply for some public benefits because those families who are arriving here, they are not undocumented.

CONQUEST-WARE: Many Haitian immigrants have called Boston home since the late 1950s and 60s. Now, Massachusetts houses the 3rd largest diaspora of Haitians with many residing in Mattapan. The neighborhood south of Boston nicknamed the ‘Heart of Haiti’ is home to Pastor Keke’s church, Total Health Ministries.

CONQUEST-WARE: At 7:45 a.m. with the sun barely above the horizon, Haitians of various backgrounds gathered at the church to sing and practice their faith after a long week since the national election.

CONQUEST-WARE: I later spoke with the Pastor and community activist at his office on Blue Hill Ave, the center of Boston’s ‘Heart of Haiti’. Fleurissaint recalled a time when he was first called to serve his community.

PASTOR KEKE (03:41): I was a teenager in Haiti and I was part of a community led organization to improve the quality of the roads

CONQUEST: He and his family relied on donkeys for all transportation, but the dirt roads muddied when it rained. This created problems for Fleurissaint and his friends whose mothers used donkeys to transport goods from their farms.

KEKE : And then we teenagers, 16, 17 years of age gathered together and say that we could not accept that anymore. We must do something.

CONQUEST-WARE: With concrete and shovels gifted to them by a local man from a wealthier nearby neighborhood, Fleurissaint and his friends fixed the roads.

CONQUEST-WARE: But that was only the beginning of his journey. At 20-years-old, Fleurissaint came to the United States on a visa, later becoming undocumented living on the streets of New York City.

KEKE : Just thank God I had a job. I was able just to get to that job with my back on, just get showered when I get to the job. And then during the day rode, I ride the train from to Brooklyn to Quin, as you know. So understanding this path, the past that I had as a young adult, as someone who had a great hope, a great dream, and see the difficulties that I have been through propel me basically to dedicate my life to helping others. This is how I get so involved in all these things that I'm involved in doing right now.

CONQUEST-WARE: After coming to Massachusetts, Pastor Keke worked at a factory in Watertown during the day for a wage of less than $5 an hour. Eager to improve his education, Fleurissaint attended night school eventually getting his degree. He’s been self-employed ever since, working to help his community and those with similar dreams coming from Haiti.

KEKE: I know how difficult it is. I didn't have that opportunity when I first migrated, but the Lord allows me just to build connections and to establish as well partnership with several institutions down here so I can connect members of my community to well needed resources. So was able just to do that.

CONQUEST-WARE: City Counselor Enrique Pepén highlighted the importance of Haitian community activists and advocates like Pastor Keke in his district which includes Mattapan and Hyde Park.

ENRIQUE PEPEN: This gentleman does everything. And the way that I'm working with him is making sure that one of his churches in Mattapan is actually used as a food pantry and also a shelter. He's someone that I think about immediately when I think about advocates in District five.

CONQUEST-WARE: That next Sunday, I commuted to Total Health Ministries where the pastor led another service which included a children’s choir.

CONQUEST-WARE: It was easy to see the impact the pastor had on the community around him. I asked him how he’s stayed motivated throughout his time in the U.S.

KEKE: My faith plays a big role in that because my mom is my mom still. My mom she told me the story. She couldn't have any children. Every child that she had, she lost it and then she had to go, there was a mountain in Haiti called that. She had to go and pray and say, God, please give me a child. If you give a child so that child will be consecrated for you for your service, please give me a child. And she was able to have me. And that's what my name is Drew for mean God is powerful. I definitely carry that with me every day. The problems that I had did not discourage me. God will always make a way. And surely God made a way.

CONQUEST-WARE: This is Steph Conquest-Ware for Northeastern University reporting from Mattapan