Nadine Pinede, Author: Why Invest in Haiti Now

Nadine Pinede, PhD is a poet, editor essayist, translator, and creator of the Claudette Pinede Memorial Scholarship Fund at HELP in honor of her mother, who grew up in Haiti. Nadine formed the fund to empower young Haitian women who share her mother’s passion for math and science:

“In whatever university classroom she studied, my mother was always one of the few women, and nearly always the only Black woman. She hardly noticed, she said, because her passion for chemistry, biology, and math drove her to learn as much as she could. 

In Montreal, in the growing community of Haitians exiled by Duvalier, my mother began teaching science and math at Ecole Pie IX. She loved teaching so much that she taught algebra, geometry, chemistry, and biology for nearly half a century. 

My mother was a math and science teacher in the days when there were no programs to encourage her trailblazing path. Then she became a social worker, focused on helping Haitian refugees and impoverished immigrants navigate Florida’s complicated benefits system.”

When the Claudette Pinede Memorial Scholarship Fund first launched, Nadine was met with occasional skepticism about the wisdom of supporting a program in Haiti, “There were some who questioned why they should give to a ‘hopeless’ cause.” But many shared Nadine’s belief that “Haitians must have the agency to decide their own nation’s future.” Together with Nadine, supporters pooled their resources to fund the education of HELP student Berchie Semerzier, an economics student from Carrefour. Now a senior, Berchie has been a regular on the HELP Honor Roll, living up to the legacy of Claudette, her scholarship’s namesake. “We stand on the shoulders of those who came before, most of whose names are not in any books,” Nadine says.  And Berchie’s success shows what great progress is possible when we invest in the next generation.  “Today I have become the independent woman I always wanted to be,” Berchie says. “I have come a long way to reach that goal.”

Berchie Semerzier (economics ‘24)

Through Haiti’s turbulent present, Nadine, like HELP scholars, retains the conviction that those in Haiti and allies abroad can together chart a more positive future path: “My parents’ homeland is on the verge of civil war, with thousands dying and on the brink of starvation. However, having worked for decades with Haitian environmentalists, human rights activists, journalists, grassroots organizers, educators like HELP and its students, and so many others committed to Haiti’s thriving, I have faith that Haiti can rise again.”