Dr. Renate Schneider, Founder and President of Haitian Connection
Renate has spent 22 years living and working in Haiti. She initially served for over two years in a small rural community as Director, as well as the campus minister and English professor, of the University of Fondwa. She then moved to Jeremie, where she worked as the Director of the Center of Hope, a maternal waiting home for women with high risk pregnancies.
In Jeremie, Renate founded the University of the Nouvelle Grand’Anse and formed strong bonds and partnerships with the people of Jeremie. In 2007, she started her own NGO—Haitian Connection, with activities mostly concentrated in the Jeremie area. She has trained 20 community members as mental health agents, built 124 houses for women and their children, established an after-school center and a foster care program, formed microcredit programs for women in two rural communities, facilitated the establishment of a social business using local products—Jeremie Breadfruit Flour and Nursery, and taught English at the Jeremie law school.
Lorraine Antieau, Newsletter Editor
She has been with us for a number of years and is very talented in relating the various pieces of our activities every quarter as a comprehensive whole. Lorraine and Renate meet monthly to make plans for the newsletter, but also to reflect on the general situation in Haiti and brainstorm on future Haitian Connection activities.
Casimir Alfred, Community Mental Health Director
Casimir works with the community mental health agents in Jeremie to further their training and organizes our outreach sessions. In 2025, he will direct our efforts to expand the program with additional innovative components to serve more people with mental health needs during this difficult period in Haiti.
Eliasme Jean Silfin, After-School Program Coordinator
Eliasme coordinates our after-school program in Caracolie, directing two teachers: Flore Jean Silfin, who works with the younger children; and Jean Cafka DeGraf, who teaches math and science. The team are available five afternoons a week during the school year and enjoy working with the kids, who are also fond of them.
Haitian Connection 