PEP: I have heard many great things about Haiti Lumiere de Demain (HLD), Inc. over the past couple years.  Please tell us more about your organization.

Louis Elneus: HLD (Haiti’s light of tomorrow) is a non-profit organization based in Bridgeport, CT that I started eight years ago.  We aim to help eradicate the high rate of illiteracy among the children in Haiti.  Our focus is on primary and secondary education, as well as the environment, working towards preventing mudslides. 

PEP: What is the meaning behind the name “HLD”?  What specifically is the "light"? 

LE: I believe Haiti’s children are the light of tomorrow for Haiti.  Light in this case represents the ability to hope and contribute constructively for a better tomorrow.  Intertwined in this vision of hope and positive contribution to society is an education system that takes into account the environment. 

PEP: HLD’s programs are currently implemented in La Gonave, did you previously have ties to that community?

LE: Yes, I was born in Haiti, on the Island of La Gonave, in a community called Palma in the Commune of Anse-a-Galets.  Unfortunately, many do not know where La Gonave is located.  It is an island approximately 13 times the size of Manhattan, situated west of Port-au-Prince, with a population of approximately 120,000.  It is one of the more rural and impoverished parts of Haiti.  La Gonave is part of the West Department, so we vote for the same senator that the people in Port-au-Prince vote for.  There are two communes in La Gonave, Anse-a-Galets and Point-a-Raquets; With Anse-a-Galets being the larger of the two, we focus our efforts there.  We have some great pictures of the island taken by a friend of HLD, Mark Stanczak, that can be viewed at www.stanczakimages.com/.

PEP: That’s wonderful that you’ve been able to give back to your hometown and to contribute in such a significant way.  What is HLD’s vision?

LE: The short term vision is to see children attend school and be educated in the most effective way possible.  By this I mean having all the textbooks and supplies they need, qualified teachers, and decent classrooms.  Another goal is for the students to live in an environment that inspires hope and challenges them to become contributing citizens for the development of their community.

My long term vision is to see our efforts create a more hopeful, educated, and prosperous Haiti that will once again become a bright light of hope for the oppressed, abandoned, and enslaved.

PEP: You mentioned focusing on improving educational opportunities and environmental conditions.  Please share with us some of the specific programs or services you provide to help achieve these goals?

LE: Some of the programs can be summed up as follows:
 
1. The organization's efforts on the public primary school system by:

• Giving children greater access to books on a lending basis.
• Encouraging further education through merit and need-based scholarships for secondary school.
• Sponsoring after-school programs that provide students with an environment that facilitate and enhance their ability for learning beyond the classroom.

2. Build the capacity of teachers to become better prepared to teach by:

• Making grants and seminars available to qualified teachers for further professional training during Christmas and summer vacations.
• Providing teachers and students with greater access to reference and educational materials through a system of Lending Libraries.

3. Promote sustainable environmental education program by:

• Planting trees to protect against erosion.
• Developing a park system to ensure land preservation.

PEP: How are these outcomes measured and sustainability achieved?

LE: The measurable outcomes are based on how many kids attend and stay in school to finish the year and eventually graduate.  Sustainability is achieved by engaging all concerned groups: parents, teachers, community leaders, local elected officials, and school directors at every level of the planning and implementation process.  Once these players realize their role in the education of children as their replacement of tomorrow, they become a sustainable source themselves.  We train local teachers and community leaders who directly work with the residents and live in the same communities and empower them with new techniques and access to quality resources.  Also, regarding the school books we purchase for children, we take the books back at the end of the school year for use the next year.  For as long we can keep the textbooks in good conditions, we will continue to reuse them.  Therefore, one initial investment can contribute to the education of 2 to 3 generations of children. 

PEP: Please elaborate on some of HLD's highlights to date?

LE: Since we started implementing the program in La Gonave six years ago, at the primary level close to 3,000 children are now attending school full-time with all the textbooks they need.  These are children who would otherwise be left without formal education. 

At the secondary level, more than thirty students, whose education would have been terminated after the sixth grade, are now attending secondary school.  They are not just in school; they are actively participating in their communities, working with HLD to find ways to develop projects that would improve life for all people in their respective communities.

From the teachers’ perspective not only are they receiving teaching guides, they are also receiving training that HLD is conducting on a bi-annual basis. 

At the community level, everyone from the mayor to the students has realized their stake in the education of the children.  That is why they have pooled their resources to refurbish two of the schools that we work with.  To me, that is one of our greatest achievements, when the community is improving itself.

HLD brought to attention to the community the necessity of a library.  This year we hope to break ground with the full support of the community of La Gonave. 

PEP: These are some amazing accomplishments, Mr. Elneus!  As a non-profit organization, how is all this funded?

LE: Funding is our greatest obstacle.  We receive no major grants from foundations or other organizations.  Yet, we have loyal friends and volunteers who truly believe in our work and in educating children; they have been extremely generous in the past couple of years.  We sometimes host benefit dinners and concerts.  The rest comes from my meager resources.  We are a 501 (c) 3 federally recognized tax-exempted organization.  Anyone from the public sector can make a financial contribution to our efforts by visiting our website: www.haitilumiere.org/ . 

I am currently trying to raise funds to purchase textbooks for approximately 1,800 students.  It only costs $75.00 to purchase all the textbooks a child will need for the entire school year.  We continuously welcome all those who wish to become a part of this growing circle of friends. 

PEP: And as you mentioned earlier, these books keep on giving and providing more opportunities for other students to attend school for years to come, since they are well taken care of and are on a lending basis.  What led you to Connecticut, where HLD’s office is currently based?

LE: I came to Connecticut by choice and for a purpose.  After graduating from high school, I felt I needed a small college/university education to continue improving my English and my studies effectively.  After all, I had only been in the U.S. for about two and a half years.  Sacred Heart University, a small liberal arts catholic institution located in Fairfield, Connecticut, met my requirements perfectly.  In fact, the school motto is “Where personal attention leads to personal achievements”, and that caught my attention.  The university lived and is continuing to live up to this motto.  Attending Sacred Heart University was one of the best decisions I have made in my life so far.  

After I evaluated the many opportunities that were opened up to me, I realized how many lived in the dark and in deprived conditions in Haiti due to the lack of education.  Thus, I questioned my role in society and my God-given opportunities.  The call was to go back and try to help make a difference. 

PEP: Is that where you learned the ins and outs of founding a non-profit organization?  Prior to the launch of HLD, did you have much experience in the non-profit sector?

LE: I worked for a couple of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and major international organizations.  I was very familiar with the world of the non-profit sector, albeit it was a sector that was still emerging.  It is hard to imagine it was ten years ago.  Back then, the world of the non-profit belonged to larger organizations.  You did not see many small non-profits.  Today, it seems everyone has one.  But I never thought I would one day be operating one that I started myself.  In fact, I made many attempts to work with other organizations that were doing work in Haiti.  Unfortunately, they had no interest in hiring Haitians that wanted to go back to their homeland to help make a difference. 

It is never easy to start an organization from the ground with no start up funds, especially an organization that seeks to bring the kind of vision we are embarking on and in the way we hope to implement it.

The learning process is on-going; new challenges arise every day.  No one person can ever meet them alone.  In our quest to bring educational opportunities to the children in Haiti, I was aided by some of my teachers at Sacred Heart University, particularly, Dr. Katherine Kidd, Dr. Charlotte Gradie, and friends like Dr. Yves Gerald Augustin, Tim Case, Remy Sason, Dr. Maxime Coles, Dr. David Maurrasse, Dr. James Conway, Jeanne Stoney-Disston, Gina Cheron, Juliet Solomon, Mrs. Roseline Borno, coach Richard Packer, Attys. Steve Levy and David Weber, Tom Smith, the Frisk and Bowie families to name a few.  After explaining my dream to them, they turned it into an organization.  As we go along, more good hearted people come to help sustain it.   

PEP: During HLD’s early years, what was the biggest hurdle in getting community leaders and the Haitian residents to believe and trust in the organization?

LE: From the start I knew gaining the residents’ trust was not going to be easy.  I knew I had to find ways to deal with people’s skepticism.  So I went in the field in Haiti to research the best practice initiatives.  I talked to the local people about their needs.  I talked to the area elected officials about points of collaboration.  Also, I received plenty of advice, solicited and unsolicited.  It took me two years to research, plan, and decide on a strategy of execution and to find a community we wanted to work in.  Together, with the community, we decided on primary and secondary education and the environment as obstacles we must confront.

The people of La Gonave want to change their surroundings and the conditions where their children are being educated.  They seek cooperation from individuals and groups, native or foreign, people that have a genuine interest to help them meet their challenges.  I am humbled by the trust that they have placed in HLD.  From the start, we included the people in the decision-making process.  It became their ideas and now we are only helping them implement their ideas.  That is why they trust us; they want their ideas to become a reality.

PEP: How about in the States (board of directors, donors and volunteers)?

LE: I gained trust in the States by opening up the processes by which we implement the programs.  We give our supporters accurate and truthful information as we know it and share the possibilities and impossibilities of Haiti honestly with them.  I do not believe that it is the information I give them that convinces them.  Rather, it is our passion and their genuine interests in ensuring that every child everywhere deserves a chance to become educated.  Those interested in this cause took action to make it happen in Haiti. 

PEP: How is the support from the Haitian community here in the tri-state area?

LE: I am honored by the support of those in the Haitian community.  One must realize that Haitians have done quite a bit to help Haiti and that some have yet to see a positive outcome.  From that perspective, I can understand the apprehensiveness of some.  Once they see what we do, how we do it, and why we do it, they come along. 

PEP: The enduring dire state of Haiti seems to be deeply rooted and intertwined amongst various historical, political, educational, and economic factors…and I’m sure such conditions have made your efforts that much more challenging to execute.  Have you ever felt discouraged?  Have you ever wanted to give up?

LE: First, I would not characterize the situation in Haiti as dire, but I do understand why it is seen that way by some.  Whenever you have gross mismanagement of human potential, one has to wonder.  Haiti’s challenges are no different than the problems many countries of Haiti’s size with similar geo-political issues are facing.  What do they do better than us?  I think that is a question we must ask.  Second, conditions in Haiti can and should not be dire, given the size of Haiti’s Diaspora community.  We are the best connected generation Haiti has ever had in her history.  With the click of mouse we can communicate with the entire world.  Imagine, for a moment, our forefathers and their struggles….they, had the courage to stand and be counted.  By their actions they liberated not just a nation or a people but the whole of humanity.  They believed deep in their hearts that you and I and generations yet to be born should live in freedom and dignity. 

Have I ever felt discouraged or wanted to give up? Yes and no.

Yes, because often I do not have the funding necessary to implement the programs or to even pay our bills.  It is frustrating because you know how often these kids have been let down.  That is when I start to evaluate my options - do I give up when I cannot come through for the kids or do I stick to my goal? I know the potential consequences of these options. As I am speaking to you, we still have 1,800 kids who do not have textbooks.  They come to school only because they believe HLD will help them.  We have not been able to and we are halfway through the school year, still I cannot imagine the possibility of giving up on so many children.

And, no, because giving up is THE very challenge we are trying to conquer through education.  It is our problem from which we cannot run away.

Today by our actions, or lack thereof, we have enslaved ourselves.  Instead of engaging ourselves in the process of government, economics, and social activism, we disengage and let others make decisions for us.  We give up hope.  Who is running Haiti’s affairs?  All we do is complain about what “they” are not doing right for us, as if it were their duty.

I do not see Haiti as a “half empty glass”.  That is why I focus on literacy and education.  HLD’s board chairman, Mr. Ron Gibbs, calls education “the great equalizer”.  We believe in the potential of an educated person, an educated Haitian. 

Conditions started to go bad in Haiti when we stopped educating our children to meet the challenges and the possibilities of the future.  Over the past 25 years or so, we have offered our children nothing but sheer violence, a dysfunctional government, corruption and an education system that does not conform to the reality of today’s interconnected world and global economy.

I decided to focus on education and the environment for they offer our country the best and the only possibility to wake up from the current nightmare she finds herself in over the past three decades or so.

PEP: From my brief interactions with you, I know what a busy man you are; you devote a lot of time to HLD, however, it is not the basis of your livelihood.

LE: Yes, I indeed spend a lot of time trying to make HLD work.  I do it for several reasons:

1) I feel indebted to the country that sacrificed so many of its sons and daughters to let the world know I am a human being.  Therefore, I must live in freedom and dignity.  But then when I look at the conditions its sons and daughters are living in today, I had to ask myself; what is the purpose of my freedom, my liberty when so many in my country, especially the children, are living in virtual slavery and extreme poverty?  Over the past 20 years we have given them nothing but a dysfunctional education system, corrupt government, a stagnant economy, extreme violence and abject poverty.  What can change these conditions?  I firmly believe it is EDUCATION!

2) I believe once you commit yourself to something you must see it through.  It has been only 8 years since I started HLD.  This is short in comparison to young people in Haiti who are now 25 or 30 years old who have yet to know one year of peace and security.  All they have seen is distrust, destruction, corruption, nepotism, interference and indifference.
 
3) I hear all the time people in the Haitian community say “bagay ayisyien pa jan-m dire-nothing Haitians do, last” and that Haitians have no commitment.  But I am not here to show anyone that I can hang in there the longest; it is not what the organization means to me.  It is about making a commitment to make a difference.

PEP: So, what do you do career-wise?  What else occupies your time?

LE: I am a teacher by training, which I maintain as a substitute teacher from time to time. I also work as a consultant.  I do market research for an international company and I am working in building my own consulting firm.  I also coach children in soccer and tennis.  I, myself, am a soccer player.  I play soccer as my therapy.

PEP:  How have you changed personally, if at all, from your experiences with HLD?
 
LE: It has helped me to become humble and to realize that I have a duty and responsibility to give back because I have been given so much.  I have also learned much about human beings, how big and open their hearts can be, and also closed and small.  Luckily for me, I have met so many with such huge hearts.  In spite of the remoteness of the project and the possibility that the benefactors may never meet the beneficiaries, they still give wholeheartedly.  Right now I am thinking of the founding board members of HLD, Tim Case, former Ambassador Pierre Lelong, and former Mayor of the commune of Anse-a-Galets, Mr. Delama Pierre, who have turned a dream into a reality for many children.

PEP: How may others get involved?  And what sorts of projects or duties might one get involved in, here or while in Haiti?  How often do you and volunteers travel abroad?

LE: We travel to Haiti three to four times a year.  We have numerous projects that people can get involved with locally or on one of our trips.  Please visit our website at www.Haitilumiere.org to read more or to see pictures from past endeavors.  Anyone with the desire to make a difference is welcome!  I invite those interested in learning more to contact our office in Bridgeport, CT by calling 203-339-1038 or 203-612-7860 or by emailing HLD@HaitiLumiere.org.

PEP: What advice would you like to leave with our readers who are interested in taking action in support of such important causes in Haiti but are afraid that their contributions won't make a difference?

LE: I will say that they should always know that their actions will make a difference.  They can choose the effect.

PEP: Mr. Elneus, we thank you for taking time out of your very busy schedule to speak with us!  We wish you and your organization much success.