In His Own Words
I am a 2012 university graduate of the Crosby Scholarship Program.
In 2015, I was very proud to be hired as the new Crosby Fund for Haitian Education Program Administrator. I want to share a little about my life to this point in time.
I was born in 1982 in Deschapelle, the town where the Crosby office is located. I was the sixth of ten children (4 brothers and 5 sisters). Life has not been easy for my family because they are poor. My father was a small farmer and worked on the land. He was able to pay for me to go to primary school, but he could not pay for all of my brothers and sisters to go. Because I did very well in the primary grades, I was selected to attend the Lycee Jacques Stephene Alexis Verrette (one of the few public schools with reduced tuition fees). I was there from 7th to 10th grade (3e secondaire).
Life was difficult at home, and I decided to go to the Dominican Republic to search for a better life. This was not a good decision, because I didn’t have a visa or papers and couldn’t find work, so I returned three months later. I lost my place at the Lycee, and I had no possibility to go back to school. A year passed, and I received a scholarship from a principal at a school in Verrette (C.E.S.D.) for two years. In 2006, I entered the Crosby Fund scholarship program and finished the final Philo year of secondary. Because I was a good student, the Crosby program offered me a scholarship to attend the University of Notre Dame in Port-au-Prince. My favorite classes were economics and management. In 2012, I graduated with a bachelor degree in Management.
The Crosby program has changed my life completely. I am the only one in my family to finish secondary (high school) and one of the few in Haiti to receive a bachelor’s degree. Now I am able to serve my community as the administrator of the scholarship program. I am also able to help my family and other persons in need. Recently one of my younger brothers died of renal insufficiency, and I was able to help pay the funeral expenses. I am paying for my little sister, Pascal, to go to school, and she has one year before she graduates from secondary. I am also paying for my nieces to go to school. It makes me proud to have a job that helps so many people. I thank the Crosbys for the great work that they do in Haiti. Education is so important for our country. Education will help Haiti rebuild. I hope the Crosbys’ work will grow and grow, so that they can help more and more students. Thank you to all who have helped the Haitian students through your gifts. It is so important.