Leveraging Higher Education to Impact Haiti: 

A Conversation with Haitians at Harvard and Beyond

by Moise Anilus

04/24/2024

The Team

On April 19, 2024, a group of Haitian students at Harvard, including alums and Harvard affiliates, launched an inspired initiative to begin a conversation to invoke a renewed sense of intellectual and practical patriotism on the campus of Harvard University.  With a deep sense of national pride, this group of Haitians endeavored to synergize their collective strength to articulate a shared purpose and a future of possibility for Haiti. 

There is an urgency to elevate the conversation about Haiti beyond imaginative hope to a sense of practical patriotism intended to meet our most significant challenges at home. Thus, in the spirit of collaboration, coordinating committee members invested extraordinary time and effort in reaching out to Haitian activists, current Harvard students and alumni, accomplished professionals, and community leaders well-positioned to expound on leveraging higher education to impact Haiti. The panelists intentionally mandated that Haitian immigrants' sons and daughters be engaged with Haiti with a focus on Haiti.

While intellectual patriotism allows for greater awareness and appreciation of our country and broadens our understanding of our nationalism, practical patriotism converts our wishes into tangible interactions and interventions to help make a difference. This understanding of patriotic participation can instill an inclination of involvement in this new generation of Haitians, particularly those who have received the best education from the top academic institutions in the U.S.   It can also enrich their ethnic connections with fellow compatriots in Haiti, strengthening community ties, and develop scholarly projects with increasing relevance to the Haiti we all envision.

The team: Marc Alain Bousicault, Marc Ruben Claude, Milady Auguste, Moise Anilus, Daphanee Charles, Donaldy Salvant, John Sterlin Duverseau, Winifred Ulysse, Renee Perpignan, Sam Connor, Sari Saint-Hilaire, Marie-Goretti Poulard

Dr. Moise Anilus is an academic consultant, standardized test instructor, and president of Ethno Ivyleague Academy. He has written both academically and creatively and believes strongly in community development through the power of education. As a researcher, his academic work primarily focuses on examining the experiences of Haitian students in prestigious colleges and universities.