A country, a university, and a person: How community builds capacity

Fiver years ago we met Samuel Charles, a young man studying in his final year of high school in Cap-Haitien, Haiti. Samy joined Laurier's week-long ESL program and made a significant impression as a young man with a deep desire to change his community.

Samy continued to be involved with the Laurier University ESL programs in Haiti over the next few years. We followed Samy's education, now in the local state university hoping to study medicine, with interest. We also observed the challenges of attending a university that seemed to lack the capacity to provide a solid education to its students.

Three years ago, Samy and I had a discussion about what it would take to attend a university with a bona fide medical program. Samy indicated that there were a few universities in Port au Prince, five hours away by car, that did have good reputations. I asked Samy to explore the programs while I returned to Canada to see how we could fund his move to a private university.

I came to find out that one of my Laurier students had a personal connection to Haiti: Her mother-in-law, Yvonne Martin, was a nurse from our community who had been killed in the 2010 earthquake (click here to read the story at the time). A scholarship fund had been set up in memory of  Yvonne to support young medical students in Haiti. I was soon in touch with the person who coordinated the program and not long after this we had a commitment to support Samy if he got into medical school.

Samy did indeed get into medical school (placing 7th out of 1,500 on the entrance exam) which was a significant accomplishment for someone who had been in some challenging school contexts (I visited Samy's high school and counted 110 students in senior classes). The scholarship paid his tuition and Laurier students and friends paid for his monthly room-and-board. An incredible story of how members of diverse communities supported one person's capacity for a better life.

But that's not the end of the story.

Samy worked hard in his first two years of medical studies. As a result, he was short-listed for a special one month program that would allow him to study at McGill University in Montreal, all-expenses paid. He passed multiples sets of interviews. In early June, he found out that he had been one of three Haitian students selected for the program.

Now the story comes full circle. 

Samy spent July at McGill and then came to the Waterloo Region this past weekend to connect with some of the Laurier students and friends who have sponsored him over the years. He was able to meet with deans from Laurier who have enabled the Laurier program in Haiti. He also met with business and tech leaders who have supported the program.

And, last night at our house, he met two of Yvonne Martin's sons (and family  members), as well as Marilyn McIlroy, the Canadian nurse who coordinates the medical scholarship.

An incredible story of community and capacity. 

Why do we do what we do in Haiti? To support the capacity of a whole generation of Samy's to build a better future for themselves AND for their community. 

There is a reciprocal benefit to this work: It also builds the capacity of those of us in Canada to be more globally-minded, compassionate, and caring. It builds a better future for ourselves and for our community.

This blog is entitled "glocal perspective building." Likewise, the story of Samy is a story of glocal perspective building.