02/04/2025
Solidarité et espoir pour l'éducation en Haïti 🇭🇹💛🙋🏾♀️
Nous souhaitons saluer notre partenaire PRODEV à l’occasion de leur 30e anniversaire, et souligner leur engagement indéfectible pour une éducation de qualité accessible à tous les enfants d’Haïti.
Dans un contexte difficile, PRODEV continue d’être un pilier d’espoir, d’humanité et de transformation sociale. Leur vision rejoint la nôtre : croire en la puissance de l’enfance, en la capacité de rêver, d’apprendre et de grandir, même dans l’adversité.
Merci à toute l’équipe de PRODEV et à Maryse Pénette-Kedar pour leur leadership inspirant.
À 30 autres années de projets porteurs de sens et de justice !
We are so honored to post our Board President’s speech at the celebration of 30th Anniversary celebration! Thank you Maryse Pénette-Kedar!
First, I want to thank all of you for coming to PRODEV’s 30th anniversary celebration this means a lot to me and to the PRODEV family that includes our students, teachers, principals, parents, cooks, nurses, security guards and groundskeepers.
Thirty years ago, my late father Max Penette, one of my generation’s most loved educators, gave birth to The Foundation for Progres and Development, PRODEV, his most enduring legacy to our beloved Haiti.
Even 30 years ago, Max Penette understood that we were at a critical stage as a country. As the people of Haiti demanded justice, equality and prosperity, my father understood, that beyond catchy slogans, the Haiti we wanted to see had to be re-engineered through education. An educator and a school principal Max Penette understood the power of quality education as the social equalizer. It was his profound belief that the only way to transform Haitian society was to use education as a tool to level the playing field. In the classroom there should be no moun an haut, no moun anba.
Today, we know that things are difficult in Haiti, particularly in the West and in the Artibonite. Communities are under attack, and children, our most valuable assets, have suffered the most from this calamity. We know that many schools are closed because they are used as shelter for the internally displaced making it very difficult for children, particularly in poor neighborhoods to receive an education. UNICEF estimates that children as young as 10 years of age are recruited into gangs.
But I am not here tonight to give you yet another long list of what is wrong with Haiti. I am here to remind you, friends of Haiti, members of the Haitian American Diaspora, that HAITI IS POSSIBLE. We are not a lost case; we will not perish.
Over 2/3 of Haiti’s population of 11 million is under the age of 25. Although our youth live under extremely challenging conditions, they have not lost hope. As they access information through technology, their thirst for knowledge, for education has increased exponentially.
Haiti and these children need advocates, partners who can amplify their voices, allies who believe that education can and will be the only solution to a new society. Haiti needs schools where ALL CHILDREN, rich or poor are given the tools to become civic leaders, engineers, lawyers, entrepreneurs, tech innovators, artists and yes dreamers.
I am so proud to say that PRODEV, is indeed part of the solution. We are still driven by Max Penette’s vision and passion for education as the social equalizer. Our focus on quality and transformative education, has not wavered. Our reach has grown tremendously. We are now actively present in 5 departments, where we operate schools and provide training to teachers and school administrators and community stakeholders. Today, more than ever, we experienced the importance of engaged parents and community members. They have been our eyes and ears, have protected our teachers and more importantly have inspired us to remain open, because they too firmly believe that education is Haiti’s only solution.
Tonight, I want to express my gratitude to all of those who have stood in solidarity with us. Your financial support, has allowed us to remain the pocket of hope, the safe space where children are allowed to learn, play and dream of a peaceful and prosperous Haiti. To 30 more years! To a new and prosperous Haiti! Thank you!
