From our early days as a small education initiative in Port-au-Prince, mentoring has been a core part of our vision. So when we relocated to Jeremie last fall, one of our first goals was to launch a mentoring program for university students in Jeremie.

This month we officially launched by recruiting our first three mentors and assigning one to each of our three university students in Jeremie. It’s a small start, but we believe that this can be one of the most transformational aspects of our work. Most university students in Haiti are the first people in their family to go to college, so they often don’t have anyone in their life with the personal experience to guide them as they go through college and prepare for their future career. Our mentors are all local Haitians, and they are all college graduates who are established in their careers, so they can share with the students from their own life experience.

I know that in my own life it’s been the people who mentored me (whether formally or informally) who have had the biggest impact on my personal development as an adult. Academic knowledge is valuable, but nothing can replace the wisdom of someone who has walked the path before.

Our goal at Thrive Ansanm isn’t just to help young people graduate from high school or college but to empower them to build a thriving future. That is why we don’t just pay for kids to go to school, but we also connect them to a community of mentors who encourage them as they discover their unique abilities and pursue their goals. This is only the beginning, and we are excited to partner with these students and mentors, as they seek to empower one another to thrive.