UN GRAND MERCI To The Community
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything and every moment we have shared.
Merci
This is one of the most powerful words in French. I moved to the United States because I was looking for a safer place for me and my children. I moved to Maine on Christmas Day of 2016 because I thought there is not a better day for exploring a better place in the country, where my children could grow and have better chances than in the Bronx. Did I expect 2017 to bring to the kids and me all the wonderful opportunities we had? No. But it did.
Better opportunities were on the way. At the end of 2017, I met a wonderful group of people who were about to bring another big change in our lives. From taking my Accuplacer at SMCC Brunswick campus to going to my first ever job interview in the United States at Winship Green, it was all about people supporting my dreams in the first weeks in Bath. All of you were part of that journey of mine to become a nurse. Through ups and downs, we made it possible for me to graduate with honors in May 2023.
This is what a caring community does. My path was never a straight line. It took a lot of detours. When I landed at JFK on July 10, 2016, I didn’t know I will be starting to work exactly 7 years later, the week of July 10 2023, as an RN at Maine Medical Center cardio-thoracic unit as a new grad (my starting date if I pass my board exam on the first try) I hope I will be a caring nurse for my patients as all of you were to me. Each one of you saw something in me and in each immigrant that makes you get involved. I hope you can keep that energy to care for yourself, too, every single day in your life. I encourage you to do things that feed your soul. If there is one thing that I learned in the holistic nursing program at UMA, it is the importance of self-care for people who care for others. Please care for yourself as you have been caring for my children and me. This is my first nursing prescription, even though I am not allowed to prescribe anything.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything and every moment we have shared.
Odette
Odette Zouri, RN, BSN
