KANPE is one step closer to launching its program on the ground in Thomonde! Three months after beginning our worldwide search, we’ve hired a Haiti-based program coordinator, Fritz Louis. His title sounds as simple as his job will be challenging. KANPE believes that only a comprehensive approach that looks at education, healthcare, safe housing, nutrition and more, can help Haitians to help themselves, so we sought to hire someone who not only shares our vision, but is capable of making it happen. What we wanted was someone who lives, breathes and dreams of the best that Haiti can be, and we found him.

Fritz was born in the South of Haiti, and his siblings still live there. In addition to having a university degree in French literature, Fritz studied philosophy and theology, to which he adds years of hands-on experience gained in the field from working in community development programs.  He speaks fluent French, English, Italian, some Spanish, and of course, Creole.

Fritz recently moved back to Haiti after teaching at Notre-Dame University in the U.S. After a thorough selection process, he was sent to Thomonde last month to meet with our partners, Fonkoze, Haiti’s largest micro-finance institution, and Partners in Health “Zanmi Lasante” (PIH), which offers full-service medical care for the inhabitants of the region. As a potential candidate, it was crucial for us to have Fritz evaluated by the partners we’ll be working with so closely in the future, and indeed they were very impressed and believe that he will be a great asset to Thomonde.

He got a taste of the practical, hands-on approach that PIH is known for from the first meeting, “The day I arrived to meet PIH, they were heading off to a public market to explain to people how to prevent cholera in the community. I learned how to purify water and was immediately put to work in the field.”

Thank you to all those who reached out to assist KANPE, and welcome Fritz!