While many students use the winter break to go home and see family, doctoral student Jean Rene Thelusmond went home to Haiti to provide relief and start a non-profit organization.
After Hurricane Matthew hit the island nation on Oct. 4, 2016, Thelusmond outlined the situation for both his family, who lives in the northern part of Haiti, and his wife’s family, who lives in the southern part of Haiti.
Thelusmond said going home helped him get a better picture of the situation three months later.
“It was a relief in a sense that I see what was going on the ground and eventually what I can do in the future to help them,” Thelusmond said.
Thelusmond visited for a month, and when he arrived he said the people weren’t in good condition.
“People lost their (homes) and all the vegetation was destroyed,” Thelusmond said.
Thelusmond said he went around to help in Haiti with a focus group that consisted of members of the community in the southern part of the country.
Thelusmond asked the focus group what their experiences were during Hurricane Matthew to see what the people need. Their first priority was to get their houses rebuilt, and their second priority was to get agricultural activities back in their respective areas.
“It wouldn't cost a lot of money, but for them it’s tons of money,” Thelusmond said.
Thelusmond said one of the experiences he was told was heartbreaking to him, especially since Hurricane Matthew hit the southern parts of Haiti at night.
“He was in a house and it was raining so heavily and the trees were kind of moving and he felt like the house was going to collapse on them,” Thelusmond said. “Thankfully they had another house in the yard, and they had to flee. It was very, very terrible … because they almost lost their lives.”
With tragedies like these happening often Haiti, Thelusmond has formed a non-profit organization called “Friend of the Afflicted” after trying to raise funds on his GoFundMe page.
“This organization will help me carry out that initiative to help out help those families,” Thelusmond said. “People would trust an organized body to give the money to do something to carry out the project (over) giving it to an individual.”
One of the members of the board of advisers, MSU faculty member Nicholas McCann, said he first met Thelusmond at their kids' swimming lessons.
McCann said he used to do mission work in Haiti and has a lot of passion for the country and its people.
“People shouldn’t have to live the way a lot of times Haitians do live,” McCann said. “I feel like I have to help because it’s not right, what’s happening.”
The U.S.'s proximity to Haiti has both its positives and negatives, McCann said.
“It’s sad that a place so close to our own country (U.S.) has the problems it has, and part of that is the history of U.S. intervention in Haiti,” McCann said. “If you have a chance, write your representative, find out what the U.S. is doing in Haiti right now and help out if you can.”
Thelusmond said he goes to MSU to learn how to solve challenging problems. He said he strives to solve these problems instead of focusing on easier ones.
“If it’s something very easy, not only will everybody do it, (but) you wouldn’t find any reward in getting it done,” Thelusmond said. “At least at the end you can feel like you’ve done something.
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“My passion, my desire, is to help people. For me personally, what I’ve seen, there’s a problem that needs to be solved, especially when people are being affected by it, especially those who can’t help themselves. If I don’t help, I feel like I’m guilty because I should be a citizen trying to help those who can’t help themselves.”
