The Diamond Connection

There has been a lot of changes for Sulaiman Guilbault in the nearly five years since his move from Sierra Leone, Africa, to Amesbury. As an 8-year-old, he moved from where the diamonds flow in Africa when he was adopted by the Guilbault family.

Playing on diamonds now, one of the star Little Leaguers of the Amesbury Williamsport team in the semifinal today against Beverly West, 13-year-old Sulai, as he goes by now, did not even pick up a bat until he was 8 years old. Basketball, baseball, iPods and cell phones were just a few of the new games and devices that quickly became integrated into the life of a boy, who for the first five years of his life, ate one meal a day and slept in a bed with six other children.

Just six months old at the time the rebels came through his village, Sulai grew up, just after the civil war that ravaged and devastated the small western African nation had ended, without a mother, who disappeared during his infancy, and with a father who lost a leg and was unable to take care of him. Luckily, however, he did not have to bear witness to the numerous atrocities that had been committed in his homeland.

Raised by family and friends until he was 5 in Sierra Leone, Sulai would then go to the All as One children's center, where Brooke Guilbault would accidentally stumble onto his photo when she and her husband, Ryan, were looking for a child to adopt.

"Finding Sulai in the Sierra Leone was kind of a random act," said Brooke, who also has two daughters ages 13 and 9, and a younger son, age 4. "We had been certified for a while to adopt and planned to adopt through social services in the States. We were actively searching for a year and a half, and then by mistake I ended up on the wrong website but saw Sulai, and we decided to go after him. We hadn't thought about international adoption until then; it was all a random occurrence, but we went from there."

What was initially described to Brooke and Ryan as a six-month process, after which they would able to get Sulai home to Amesbury, ended up taking three years, many letters and phone conversations with Sulai, and two lengthy trips by Ryan to Africa to see Sulai, his family and where he lived before the young boy who is now adoringly called "Daddy" by his Amesbury Little League teammates, much in the same way David Ortiz is called "Big Papi" by Red Sox nation, could get his visa to come to the States.

Brooke credited those years when, despite being an ocean apart, for what would eventually be a very smooth transition after Ryan, on his second trip to Sierra Leone, was finally able to bring Sulai back to the States.

"It was a long process, but it's been fantastic ever since he got here," said Brooke of Sulai, whom she described as a very even-keeled kid — in fact, the peacemaker of her busy household. "(Sulai) and our children are really close; they are buddies.

"As a mom, when I think about Sulai, I feel incredibly lucky. He's an amazing kid with a great heart," said Brooke of Sulai, who spoke Kriol in Sierra Leone and only a little bit of English before coming to the U.S. "I also feel really lucky he happens to be good at things. He's a good artist and plays the drums. He does well in school. He's such a natural part of our family; the kids love him. You really couldn't ask for a better kid."

In fact, Ryan said their family has been lucky to learn more from Sulai than he has from them.

"I spent a good deal of time over there where he came from," Ryan said. "It certainly made me appreciate how fortunate we are here. In the whole adoption process, everything is phrased, 'Get the kid out of there or you'll try to help them,' but in the grand scheme of things, it's been great for our family to have him come over here. He's taught us a lot of stuff from living in that environment for eight years and having that under his belt; he's a strong kid."

A natural athlete, Sulai grew up playing soccer in the Sierra Leone. However, once he discovered the sports of basketball, baseball, and karate, he didn't have much trouble fitting right in with the rest of his soon-to-be friends. Now, whatever sport is in season is his favorite.

"Pretty much, it was all soccer over there, and he was a pretty good soccer player," Ryan said. "When he came here, he hadn't seen basketball or baseball or anything else, but he finds those more interesting than soccer now.

"You could see right away when he was just starting with any sport, he was a pretty coordinated kid," Ryan continued. "We weren't going to push him; we've let him do his own thing because there are so many great coaches in town with Peter Dodier (Little League) and Jim O'Leary in basketball. He's got a ton of great coaches that have taught him a ton about sports."

According to Dodier, Sulai clearly had a lot of raw talent right off the bat (no pun intended), but what stuck out was his eye-hand coordination — a trait imperative in baseball.

"He's a real good ball player, and he's got a lot of raw talent there," said Dodier, who added that Sulai has quick hands at the plate and throws hard with a natural tail as a lefty on the mound. "Over the years, we've tried to work on that to refine it. I've never seen anyone hit the ball as hard as he does; the ball just has this incredible spin, which for fielders to try and field is really difficult."

To top off a great success story, hopefully Sulai and his Amesbury Williamsport team can end Peabody West's four-year grip on the District 15 title by defeating Beverly tonight and adding two more wins this weekend.

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Guilbault has Amesbury one game from District 15 final

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