Help Fouche go to Medical School
Donation protected
We are three middle-class women from opposite sides of the U.S. Lisa and Anna are from Durham and Owls Head, Maine, and Sallie is from New Orleans, but lives in Berkeley, California. In January the three of us went for the first time to the Dominican Republic with Partners for Rural Health in the Dominican Republic (PRHDR), a group that for over 20 years has been delivering health care in villages in the northeastern part of the Dominican Republic. PRHDR visits twice yearly and treats people for chronic and non-chronic health conditions. The organization does amazing work, treating people without any other health care resources. Please look at their website (www.prhdr.org).
It was a life-changing experience, and we plan to return in January. Now we want to pay that life-changing experience forward, but we need your help.
While in the Dominican Republic, we met a 25-year old Haitian named Fouche Love-Michel. Fouche is fluent in Creole, French, and Spanish and speaks good English. He's a high school graduate, which is not the norm for Haitians, many of whom are unable to read and write. He left Haiti for the D.R. in the summer of 2017, hoping to find work to earn money to go to medical school in Santiago. Haitians are not typically welcome to live and work in the Dominican Republic. Social integration between the two populations is problematic, at best. Even with a high school diploma, Fouche’s efforts to find work have been unsuccessful.
We met Fouche in the middle of a dirt road, began chatting, and invited him to join us as a volunteer interpreter. He interpreted from Creole to Spanish in our "pop-up clinics,” which we set up each day in different schools and churches in remote villages. He had been despondent about his failure to find a job, but with us he worked long hours without pay, but with a radiant smile on his face. When we left, Fouche told us our two weeks together constituted "the best moment here in the D.R. because you treated me like family."
Fouche's father left the family when Fouche was seven months old. His mother, her parents, and an aunt and uncle supported him during elementary and high school. He studied chemistry, biology, math, computer science, and non-technical subjects (social studies, ethics, foreign languages) in high school, and his grades were excellent. He always wanted to become a doctor. But his family can't help him go to university; his mother has remarried and has had four more children.
Asked why he wants to go to medical school, his answer is "I want to help my community. I want to help my family. The best way I can do that is to become a doctor. It's my dream. It's my passion."
It's our passion to help him live his dream, realize his passion. We have already provided $600 in funding for him to legalize his status for acceptance into university as a non-resident. Now we want to raise $11,000 to raise money for his first year of medical school, which includes lodging, food, transportation, tuition, books, and incidentals. That amount also includes the one-time costs for a laptop computer and bare-bones furniture (bed, chair, table, etc.). We are taking this one year at a time, but are committed to continuing our efforts on his behalf until Fouche becomes a doctor.
Your contribution will help this deserving young man overcome the limitations and obstacles of having been born and raised in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Thank you deeply for your generosity.
Anna, Lisa, and Sallie
This project is being assisted by the Rotaract Club of Berkeley. For any questions, please visit www.calrotaract.com or contact [email redacted]
It was a life-changing experience, and we plan to return in January. Now we want to pay that life-changing experience forward, but we need your help.
While in the Dominican Republic, we met a 25-year old Haitian named Fouche Love-Michel. Fouche is fluent in Creole, French, and Spanish and speaks good English. He's a high school graduate, which is not the norm for Haitians, many of whom are unable to read and write. He left Haiti for the D.R. in the summer of 2017, hoping to find work to earn money to go to medical school in Santiago. Haitians are not typically welcome to live and work in the Dominican Republic. Social integration between the two populations is problematic, at best. Even with a high school diploma, Fouche’s efforts to find work have been unsuccessful.
We met Fouche in the middle of a dirt road, began chatting, and invited him to join us as a volunteer interpreter. He interpreted from Creole to Spanish in our "pop-up clinics,” which we set up each day in different schools and churches in remote villages. He had been despondent about his failure to find a job, but with us he worked long hours without pay, but with a radiant smile on his face. When we left, Fouche told us our two weeks together constituted "the best moment here in the D.R. because you treated me like family."
Fouche's father left the family when Fouche was seven months old. His mother, her parents, and an aunt and uncle supported him during elementary and high school. He studied chemistry, biology, math, computer science, and non-technical subjects (social studies, ethics, foreign languages) in high school, and his grades were excellent. He always wanted to become a doctor. But his family can't help him go to university; his mother has remarried and has had four more children.
Asked why he wants to go to medical school, his answer is "I want to help my community. I want to help my family. The best way I can do that is to become a doctor. It's my dream. It's my passion."
It's our passion to help him live his dream, realize his passion. We have already provided $600 in funding for him to legalize his status for acceptance into university as a non-resident. Now we want to raise $11,000 to raise money for his first year of medical school, which includes lodging, food, transportation, tuition, books, and incidentals. That amount also includes the one-time costs for a laptop computer and bare-bones furniture (bed, chair, table, etc.). We are taking this one year at a time, but are committed to continuing our efforts on his behalf until Fouche becomes a doctor.
Your contribution will help this deserving young man overcome the limitations and obstacles of having been born and raised in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Thank you deeply for your generosity.
Anna, Lisa, and Sallie
This project is being assisted by the Rotaract Club of Berkeley. For any questions, please visit www.calrotaract.com or contact [email redacted]
Organizer
Cal Rotaract
Organizer
Berkeley, CA