At Haiti Outreach, we believe it’s important to introduce the employees who carry out our work in Haiti. Without their diligent efforts day in and day out, our mission could not come to fruition. Roge Michel is our Director of Community Development and has been with us for 20 years!
Intelligent, energetic and determined, he puts his all into developing the Animators (community group leaders) who train our communities to manage their wells and to practice proper sanitation.
A man of principle, Roge desires above all to influence and positively change the life of his fellow Haitians. The youngest of 9 children, he was born in Plateau Central in the town of Thomassique on October 19, 1963. His father was a Lieutenant in the Haitian Army and his mother was a shopkeeper. His innate desire to influence and lead began at a young age. As a high school student, he had the opportunity to lead a theatrical production, but his efforts were not successful. Instead of calling it quits, he chose to learn from the opportunity and continued to develop his leadership talents.
Rogé began his professional career in the classroom as an elementary teacher to 3rd graders in Hinche and eventually taught 5th and 6th graders. His experience as a guide in the classroom prepared him very well for his next focus. After many years of teaching, Rogé changed hats from teaching to humanitarian work. In December 1994 his next adventure began working for an NGO called International Organization of Migrations (IOM). He served for two years, as a facilitator and group leader in the field.
Having proven himself in this role, in September 1999, he was invited by his former supervisor at IOM, Mr. Neil Van Dine, to join the Haiti Outreach team. He began as a field animator and has since been promoted to Project Supervisor and now is our Community Development Director. Roge’s involvement in the development of our model and philosophy at Haiti Outreach has been pivotal. He helped shape the vision of this organization, created the FRAPE model to assess the impact rate of the wells and the communities that manage them, and developed a curriculum for our field Animators to assist in guiding the community members to work though conflicts and to shift their mentality and embrace concepts of: ownership, responsibility, accountability, and transparency.
Tenacious, curious, meticulous, and goal oriented, he knows how to produce results and push people to reach their maximum potential. For Rogé his work is not a coincidence and serves as a source of inspiration for the residents of Pignon and the surrounding areas. He states, “To be at the head of a department that promotes the development directly within the communities, creates powerful people and great leaders who value their own development; this is the ideal of Haiti Outreach.”
Some people live and die without leaving any traces during their passage on this earth. Others on the contrary, live to be a guiding light, and their life is a succession of greatness. When such people come to the end of their lives, they have finished their race a glorious name; a name which can serve as a role model to those who supersede them. This is Roge Michel’s greatest dream.
