A few weeks ago, we got the chance to sit down with Denise Mortel Mitchell, daughter of the Mortel High Hopes for Haiti Foundation Founder Dr. Rodrigue Mortel, and now President of the organization. Here's what she had to share.
We know your father, Dr. Mortel, passed away earlier this year. As his daughter, you got to witness firsthand the incredible impact that he had on so many lives. Could you talk a little bit about what Dr. Mortel envisioned when starting the Mortel High Hopes for Haiti Foundation?
I think he envisioned ultimately creating a new generation of Haitians. It’s funny how a lot of people thought that his contribution back to his country would be medically related because he was a doctor for so many years, but he felt strongly that the only reason why he was able to be in that position in the first place is because his family sacrificed everything for him to be able to go to school and ultimately come to the States. I think him being in the States for as long as he was and seeing the way things operate here versus how they operate in Haiti, he was able to see the clear differences between our educational system and what the educational systems are like in Haiti. The ideology is so often academically driven, and what's missing in a lot of cases is teaching the kids things outside of the classroom. He always talked about character formation, understanding how important it is to give back to your community, integrating the Christian principles into education, and exposing kids to things that are outside of textbooks. He believed that being able to bring that portion of it to the poorest of the poor will help frame their perspective on how a human is supposed to be and how important it is to give back, and that would ultimately create a new generation of Haitians who could change the country.
Where do you see the foundation going in the next several years?
For this year, our plan is to do business as usual and continue operating the foundation. Dr. Mortel spent a lot of time putting everything into place for our practices and policies, and that's what we plan to do for this new school year. Longer term, I know that he wanted and started to develop more programs for adults – we have the kids covered with the childhood education all the way from preschool to when they graduate high school, but the adult aspect was something that he became passionate about before he got sick. We started an agriculture program where we have farmland at the high school, and we're growing plants like bananas and papayas and coconuts and teaching some of our adult students how to sell in the marketplace. And we use some of that food as well to help feed the kids in the school. There’s a literacy program we have, an artisanship program that we're going to start and some vocational training that he wanted to create. These are on the horizon – programs for the adult educational side of things that we have the funds for but haven't been able to fully implement yet.
COVID-19 brought challenges across the globe, including in Haiti. Can you talk a little bit about how the High Hopes for Haiti schools and programs were able to navigate these challenges?
I think we were able to do it because of our donors. We never had a lapse in support, and there was such a will among our donors to be able to keep as much normalcy as we could for the students during these hard times. They really motivated us to try to become innovative to help the kids during it all. In working with you all and the 11 Days Campaign, we were able to raise funds to be able to provide masks and hand sanitizer and things of that nature so that we could keep the schools open with the health and safety requirements. In the beginning when the schools were being closed for political conflicts and riots, we were able to still have the funds to invite some of the kids to come back and eat for a little bit, even though the school was closed. We could let them know that we weren’t going anywhere, and that even though it felt very dismal, we had full intentions of resuming. So even at those darkest and most uncertain hours, we were able to keep the hope alive for them, which was so important.
How can we all continue Dr. Mortel’s legacy?
I was joking with the staff when we first had our staff meeting after he passed away that he made sure that we all knew what our job was. I think that he dedicated his whole second part of his life to ensuring that the foundation would be able to stand on its own once he was no longer here. The obvious answer is that we can keep his legacy by raising funds so we can keep the schools open and feeding kids and bringing new kids in, but I think what we've been talking about as staff is finding ways and opportunities to actually keep his name alive as we move forward. He has this incredible story where he was able to succeed from rags to riches and wanted to bring that opportunity back to his homeland. For us here, that means that within our community and with our own neighborhoods, we all have the ability to touch the lives of someone else and leave them in a little bit of a better place than where they were when they met us. That's the philosophy that he started, and that's what we're going to try to continue for him.
Why is education and support for organizations like the Mortel HHH Foundation so important?
Dr. Mortel always believed that education was the one gift that you could give to people that could never be taken away from them. I think the same is true whether you're looking at developing countries or looking at countries like the United States – when you step back and you look at your entire life and you see what were the changing points or the milestones, it's education. The value that education gives to the smallest preschooler in Haiti up through college graduates in the United States – it’s a power, a confidence, something to instill in others, and it's something that can never be taken away. When you're dealing with a country like Haiti, which doesn't have much to cling on to in terms of hope because of the disparity, sharing the gift of bettering yourself as an individual and learning something that can ultimately help you and your family, is a catalyst for self-confidence and a gift that will always have value no matter your path. That hope is so important, and it has to come from somewhere. Supporting education and the mission is giving tangibility to that hope.
To donate to the 11 Days in Haiti Campaign, click here.