December Newsletter: A Year in Review
“Throughout this period the support HELP provided was critical. While insecurity was prevalent throughout the capital, HELP’s dorms were safe, so much so that if we didn’t listen to the radio or go on social media, we might not have known what was happening in the city!”
Dear Friends,
After more than 12 months of turbulence and school closures in Haiti, first due to political strikes and then to the coronavirus, all universities are now back in session, with courses taught in person, as Haiti seems to have been spared the worst of the virus. However, things are not entirely “back to normal”, as a wave of violent crime has swept the capital, causing yet another round of disruption.
Despite the good news regarding Covid-19 in Haiti, on the advice of experts we will maintain our dorms at approximately forty percent capacity through the second semester, with the remaining students either commuting to university from private housing or waiting to enroll in summer school. The courses that HELP offers will continue online for all students. Like educational institutions everywhere, we struggle to balance our students’ health, safety, and education.
And yet in the face of adversity, thanks to you, HELP remains a place of opportunity. The loss of HELP’s board chair and great friend Bernard Fils-Aimé in August to covid-19 led to the creation of HELP’s first memorial scholarship fund, honoring Bernard’s enduring contributions to HELP. Thanks to the generosity of donors, we are able to introduce the first three recipients. Nishina Previlon’s story is another example of creating opportunity from tragedy. Orphaned at a young age, Nishina’s hard work and your support have recently culminated with Nishina’s graduation and her first job, as one of the few special-ed teachers in Haiti!
Thankfully, one thing that has not changed in 2020 is our year-end matching grant. As usual, a generous donor will match all gifts through December 31st, up to a total of $50,000! As the year comes to an end, as difficult as it has been, we are grateful for your unerring support that enables HELP students to continue to thrive and work for a better Haiti.
Happy Holidays from all of us at HELP.
Conor Bohan
Founder & Executive Director
Announcing the Bernard Fils-Aimé Memorial Fund Scholars!
As many of you know, HELP’s board chair and great friend Bernard Fils-Aimé passed away in August of Covid-19. HELP and the Fils-Aimé family HELP have created our first memorial scholarship fund to honor Bernard’s enduring contribution to HELP. Thanks to the generosity of donors, the fund has already raised enough to sponsor three students and we are halfway to a fourth. HELP is pleased to introduce to you these three inaugural Bernard Fils-Aimé Memorial Fund Scholars. Ymca Dolburn, Jephtanie Edlin, and Wilderson Voltaire are all in their second year at HELP. Since they started in September of 2019 their time at HELP has been full of disruption and constant adjustment, yet Ymca, Jephtanie, and Wilderson are used to persevering through adversity. You can Read more about these three remarkable students below and meet them on Dec 22 at 1p eastern at a live webinar!
Ymca DOLBRUN (management ’24) had a fractured childhood. Born in Port-au-Prince she began her schooling there, raised by her father after her mother grew ill and moved to Gonaives. In the sixth grade, Ymca (pronounced "Eem-ka") moved to Gonaives to be with her mother. In spite of all the disruption, Ymca remained focused in school and with her top grades came opportunities. The director of her middle school was so impressed with Ymca he offered to pay for her high school since her mother, a street vendor, could not afford the fees. Ymca continued to excel even when her mother fell ill and her benefactor fell behind on tuition payments. “I had to be successful,” Ymca says, “for my mother, for myself.” Now a HELP student, Ymca is studying management and hopes to support orphaned children after she graduates. “I was helped to be here, so I have to help others in turn.” When asked what she likes most about HELP, Ymca says “Career Services and internships. It’s a great way to learn more and prepare for your future professional career. If we take advantage of that, we will come out with a lot of experience.”
Jephtanie EDLIN (political science ’24) was raised in a small house with her extended family – parents, brother, grandparents, aunts, and uncles in the small town of Gros-Sable on Haiti’s southern coast. Her father works as a lottery salesman, a job that does not provide enough to fully support both Jephtanie and her little brother. Studying and reading were always a passion for Jephtanie. They provided an outlet that she could pour her unused energy into and fueled her studies. She regularly received merit scholarships, funding all of her secondary school education. Now at HELP, Jephtanie she is in her second year studying political science at the University of Notre Dame of Haiti. Motivated by the political turmoil she grew up around in Haiti and the poverty she experienced firsthand, Jephtanie is excited to continue learning philosophies of government and politics and how to put her newfound knowledge to use. Jephtanie is also finding that HELP Leadership courses are broadening her horizons and allowing her to understand more fully the problems which have bothered her, like violence against women. Jephtanie is seeing how this deeper understanding can lead to solutions and she already sees herself as someone who campaigns for change. “I want to listen and be the voice of the most vulnerable in our society,” she says.
Wilderson Voltaire (agro-economics ’24) grew up in a rough neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. When Wildersion was 18 months old, his father abandoned the family and so Wilderson and his brother were raised by their mother and grandmother. Wilderson was aware of the great sacrifices that his mother made to pay for her sons’ schooling, at one point taking contributions from relatives and friends to keep the boys in school. Wilderson worked hard in spite of the obstacles and with all the help from people who believed in him and invested in his education, he says, “I could not give in”. By senior year of highschool, Wilderson’s top grades had earned him a full scholarship, relieving the pressure on his mother and setting him up for a strong application to HELP. Though he knew he was qualified for a HELP scholarship, Wilderson was wary of NGOs. But when he arrived, he found that HELP was the opposite of his perception. Wilderson was surprised by how welcome he felt and he quickly learned the depth of HELP’s team spirit. Capturing his interest in science and practical initiatives, Wilderson is studying agro-economics; he hopes to find new ways for Haiti’s agricultural resources to support business opportunities and a stronger economy.
Students Say it Best!
Students' impressions and first-hand accounts paint a picture of HELP that is hard to improve upon. Here is a selection of quotes from the past year at HELP.
When he heard about HELP, Stael says,
“I immediately saw an opportunity. But when I arrived, I found much more than a scholarship … [here I have grown] to understand that HELP’s pillar of “sacrifice” exists not only for the scholarship holders, but also for the administration and faculty. They made many efforts to help continue the program and without them the students who mostly panicked, would feel isolated and lost.”
Alumni Spotlight: Nishina Previlon, Special Ed Teacher
Nishina Previlon (education ’20) is finding that the rigorous preparation at HELP extends beyond the diploma. “I currently work at Acacia School with children who have special needs or require individual attention. I help them improve socially, emotionally, and academically. I have two students full time and provide support to other students who learn primarily in their classroom. I prepare exams for those who have particular needs and those who require that I work with them at a slower pace on special and shorter programs than those used in their classrooms.”
Nishina grew up in the coastal town of Gonaives and has fond memories of her early childhood but a series of tragic events upended everything: the sudden death of her mother when Nishina was five was followed by the death of her father, and then Hurricane Hanna in 2008 which flooded her town and took the life of her grandmother. Orphaned, Nishina and her six siblings were left, living with their one surviving grandmother. They got by with remittances from an aunt who lived abroad. Despite everything, Nishina remained an optimist, who truly believed in the power of education. Her ambition and motivation came mainly from her father, a teacher, who had instilled a sense of purpose in his children. “I want to do everything I can to build a great future for myself and my family, to make him proud,” she said when she arrived at HELP. Nishina has grown to embody the power of education, using it to create opportunities for herself, majoring in education, and now teaching special education herself!
“At Acacia, when we talk about special class, it is more on the academic and emotional level. When children receive special and individual attention, it is easier for them to share their emotions and, we can better understand the causes of their difficulties. Sometimes it is a problem of self-esteem, for example. However, if the child finds someone’s special attention, someone who encourages him or her to work, it will be easier for him or her to improve.”
“HELP has helped me in the sense that it has prepared me to overcome challenges in my position. In fact, when I was a student at HELP, I always had a lot to do, courses at HELP, at the university, service projects and sometimes you had no weeks nor weekends off... As a student at HELP, we are always working and there are many challenges to face. In my job, this is also the case. Sometimes things happen that you did not expect, and you must know how to deal with them. For example, you must be flexible, new students can arrive without you having foreseen it, but you must welcome them and put them in the right atmosphere. Thanks to the service-learning projects at HELP, our ability to meet challenges has developed a lot, we always try to do our best to learn more to better accompany the people we are going to support. Moreover, HELP has trained us to become leaders, which means you must be in the forefront in giving to society. As a member of the educated elite, in the sense that we are obliged to help others because we have the capacity. That is why in my work even though a pupil may be failing a class, but I try to see the good in them and as a leader I use that to boost him forward. He/she can be good in drawing, writing, sports etc."
“Long before the government declared a state of emergency, HELP began taking action. They distributed hand sanitizer, set up hand-washing stations, and invited experts to explain the disease and how to take preventative measures. These were effective actions, they allowed us to feel better about the situation, protected, and then we were able to give this information to others.”
“The HELP courses made me think more positively, especially leadership which taught me to analyze problems I’d never considered before and think about my contributions to a better society. I also discovered potential in myself that I didn’t know existed and I am better able to assert myself.” … “When the second shutdown happened in March I did not want to leave this new life at HELP, I had enjoyed each moment.”
Student Focus
Penchely GERMAIN (agro-economics ’21) grew up with his mother and six siblings in a two room house in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Croix-des-Bouquet where life was hard and they often had to rely on the church for food. Penchely devoted himself to school and all extra-curricular activities that were available but the family’s situation worsened when Penchely was a senior in high school and his mother had a stroke; it was then that Penchely abandoned hope of going to university knowing he needed to support his family. When he heard about HELP, though, there was a bit of hope. Penchely applied and was accepted, grateful for the opportunity and the support, “we feel part of a team here,” he says. Now in his final year at HELP, Penchely says, “When the second shutdown happened in March, I was working exclusively on my thesis on ‘the effects of seeding density on corn and peanuts in Croix-des-Bouquets and didn’t have any classes. Having to work from home I encountered issues with electricity so I tried to make the most of the time when we had electricity and when we didn’t I went to the wire transfer office to work. HELP’s thesis advising team kept the tutoring structure in place with corrections and reviews so I stuck to the schedule. My stipend allowed me to finalize my field work, pay for internet, and eat. My advisor always checks in to see how I’m doing personally and academically; all of this has helped me. I did lots of reading and research for my thesis and also learned about the Covid-19 pandemic; I shared what I know with everyone I saw. In spite of the government not acting promptly, HELP was informed and gave us information sessions and a plan for dismissal; they were responsible and effective. Since this crisis has affected everyone, we see how connected the world is and how fragile we are. We are also learning the positive aspects of technology. When confinement is over, I will continue to make the most of my time, especially in social activities but I will be more vigilant about hand washing and virus prevention.” Penchely’s thesis defense is scheduled for January!
“Thank you, dear sponsors. I am extremely grateful for the support you provide to me and my fellow HELP students. I will not fail to take advantage of all the opportunities; I have your example to follow.”