HELP Students Give Back Through Le Rézo

Through the admissions process, HELP actively seeks students who are civic-minded and interested in community development. Jean Thadée Fils Joseph (psychology ’22) came to HELP from Cité-Soleil with the idea for Le Rézo (The Network in Creole). "I wanted to create a network of university students, volunteering and sharing knowledge and providing support across different fields," he says.

At HELP, with inspiration and guidance from his leadership classes and like-minded classmates, the organization has taken off, boasting 20 student members who lend their talents. Le Rézo’s members identify training and educational needs within their hometowns and the group teams up to organize a response, from providing vocational guidance, to pooling their money to provide school fees for two abandoned children.

"Thanks to my involvement with Le Rézo, I have emerged from the shadows and I have learned that I can create the best version of myself.” - Noskano Petit-Frere, Le Rézo Head of Academic Affairs (education '22)

"Our first project, in 2018, was to put together a professional orientation for young people in Cabaret," Jean-Thadée explains. "In 2019 we were putting on a training for students in Jacmel on the principles of citizenship and leadership and we met a girl who was very smart but had dropped out of school because she couldn’t afford the fees. She couldn’t even come into the training because she didn’t have any shoes.  We decided then that we should support her education."

In November 2020, the group honored International Children’s Day with a workshop at an orphanage in Port-au-Prince. The day included civics lessons on individual rights, esteem building activities, and a small gift for each of the 24, delighted, children.

Looking to the future, Jean Thadée Fils says, "I hope that we will grow to have donor support so that we can continue our operations."