A HELP Romance: Ermine CIVIL & Monil PARAISON

At HELP, students learn about collaboration, teamwork, and communication. While these are important skills to hone for the business world, they are also essential to practice in a relationship! HELP’s Fedorah Pierre-Louis sat down with Ermine and Monil to learn the story of the first-ever HELP marriage.

How did you two meet?

Ermine: We met at HELP. We were both interning in the accounting department at the American Institute for Research. I didn’t think that Monil had feelings for me until I started coming to the HELP Center every day to finish my thesis. Every time I left the Center, Monil wanted to come with me. He became my confidante and I explained my romantic problems to him.

But he never told you he liked you?

Ermine: After I finished my thesis, I got a job at the consumer loan branch of SOGEBANK, and Monil began working at their home mortgage affiliate. He started calling me on the internal phone line. He called every day after work to ask me to walk home with him and we would talk. We flirted…that’s how it began.

Monil: We were together for one year before we got married on June 11 this year.

How did he propose?

Ermine: He asked me the question during every conversation we had! He was a good writer and a good poet, so he would speak very well when he asked me.

And Monil, when did you know that you wanted to marry her? Was it love at first sight?

Monil: No, I spent a long time analyzing my candidacy and thinking about the different possibilities. We flirted... I wrote her poems, because I knew she loved to read and I love to write poems. I wanted to tell her my feelings…indirectly. I sent text messages. I was really scared to tell her I loved her. We used to work together, and share ideas. I would ask her for advice about someone that I loved. I would say “I want to tell this person how I feel, but I’m scared.” And she told me to be brave and share my feelings. So I said “The girl I love is you.” There was complete silence! I thought she was going to run away…but she didn’t.

Does he still write you poems now that you’re married?

Ermine: Yes

How has HELP prepared you for your current professions? How have you changed, professionally and personally?

Ermine: It has helped me a lot – in my English, for example. I knew a lot of vocabulary but it was at HELP that I began to really practice speaking with my friends. I was an accounting intern at HELP, which is where I learned Excel and QuickBooks. But the most important thing I learned was discipline. HELP has really supported me.

Monil: It has greatly influenced my professional and personal life. You learn how to share with people, how to work with them, and it helps prepare you to enter the workforce, to get internships and a job. HELP is not only a scholarship program, it’s a community.

What are your goals for the future?

Monil: We’re trying to save for the future, to get enough money to start our own business. We want to help create jobs for other people. If we build our own business, we can help others and contribute to our country, too.

HELP wishes Ermine & Monil great success, both in their budding entrepreneurship and in their marriage!