Inside HELP's Dorms

HELP houses approximately 150 students in three CHEs (Centre d’Hébergement de HELP), student housing similar to university dorms. Each dorm has a student "Chargé du CHE" who manages dorm life. One of HELP's CCHE, Dieuva Pierre, is a third year HELP student who recently won the HELP award for his dedication to the HELP pillars (service, sacrifice, courage, rigor, respect). In this interview with Academic Director Meaghan Balzer, Dieuva speaks about his experience as CCHE, and about the importance of the CHE to HELP students.Meaghan : Can you please introduce yourself?DP: My name is Dieuva PIERRE. I am originally from the Central Plateau. I just finished my 3rd year at HELP and my 3rd year studying Management at ESIH. I’ve also been involved in leadership and management initiatives in HELP’s student housing for three years. I am a person who lives to serve my community. I really appreciate this value, service. I live to serve others.Meaghan: What is your role within the student housing?DP: I am currently the CCHE in HELP’s freshmen house. Prior to this experience, I worked as a substitute CCHE (2012/2013), and last year as a CCHE Assistant (2013/2014). I have also just been re-elected by HELP students to be a CCHE again for the upcoming academic year (2015/2016).My role as a CCHE is to oversee the management of house activities, like the food budget, cleaning committee, safety and electricity committee, and house meetings, to name a few. I also act to inspire student leadership in the houses. I am also responsible for maintaining positive relationships and communication between the student housing and HELP’s administrations.As a CCHE, I am an advisor and a mentor to the students. I am someone who is available when the students need assistance. This is the biggest challenge. As a CCHE, I have to be a model of the HELP pillars (courage, respect, rigor, sacrifice, service), and I need to ask other students to also be models of the pillars. When I look back and reflect on the year, I would say I’m about 95% successful in my job.Meaghan: What role do you think student housing plays in the life of a HELP student?DP: In my opinion, student housing is the most important place at HELP, and it is the most important service that HELP provides. Housing permits students to come to Port-au-Prince to study. If a HELP student doesn’t have family in Port-au-Prince, it would be very difficult or impossible for that student to attend university. This is the situation that I am in. I don’t have family or any place to stay in Port- au-Prince, so going to ESIH would not have been a possibility for me.The networks and relationships built within the CHE are extremely important as well. I now have friends from all over the country, like in Aux Cap, Aux Cayes, etc… If I need to do an internship in another part of the country, for example, I can always stay with another HELP students’ family. I can say that I have family all over the country.Meaghan: What role has the CHE played in your life?DP: The CHE is not only a place where I can live and study, but it’s also a place where I can develop my leadership and management skills. It has extremely important implications for my professional life. This morning, for example, I updated my CV and had a very valuable component to add: my experience as CCHE. It’s quite an experience to have managed a house with 40-50 students!Socially, the CHE has given me a place to meet friends. All of the students I live with end up becoming my friends. We share advice (personal and academic). There is always someone available to exchange advice and academic experiences.The CHE is a very important service for HELP students, and the CCHE position is extremely important for developing a students’ leadership and management skills. Not only have I been able to build my leadership skills and capacity within the CHE, I am always encouraging other students to participate as the CCHE, and am therefore generating leadership opportunities for others. It’s a big experience- a big challenge- but after two years of working as a CCHE, I have become much more mature.