My 2026 Commencement Address to University of Fondwa Graduates
Graduates, it is a deep honor to be here with you today — and a special joy for me personally. I have spent much of my life working alongside Haitians who believe, as this university believes, in the dignity and potential of rural communities. Being here feels less like visiting a university and more like coming home to a shared purpose.
Today you leave here with degrees in agronomy, veterinary medicine, and business management. But what you are really carrying with you is something far more powerful: the ability to serve, to lead, and to help transform Haiti's rural communal sections. Let me be clear: leadership is not something you step into someday, after more experience or a better title. Leadership begins now — in how you use what you already know, with the people who already depend on you.
Over the years, I have learned — sometimes the hard way — that real leadership is not about standing above others. It is about standing with them. It is about presence. Showing up consistently, listening deeply, and using your skills not only for personal advancement, but for the common good. This university has prepared you for exactly that kind of leadership.
As agronomists, you understand that the land is not simply something to be exploited, but something to be cared for. You know that healthy soil leads to healthy crops, healthier families, and a more secure future. You will help farmers improve yields, adapt to climate challenges, and protect the land for generations to come.
As veterinarians, your work will extend far beyond animal health. You will protect livelihoods, strengthen food systems, and bring stability to households that depend on livestock to survive. In rural communities, veterinary medicine is not a luxury — it is essential.
And as business leaders, you will build enterprises that create opportunity where it is most needed. You will make decisions with fairness, transparency, and sustainability. You will demonstrate that business can be a force for dignity, resilience, and shared prosperity — not just profit.
Each of these paths requires knowledge. But more than that, they require perseverance.
Let me share something from my own life. I have worked in Haiti for many years, often during periods of profound challenge — political instability, natural disasters, economic hardship. There were times when progress felt painfully slow, and times when it would have been easier to walk away. What I learned is this: lasting change rarely comes from dramatic moments. It comes from steady, ethical, everyday action. From people who keep showing up when the work is hard. From leaders who refuse to give up on their communities. There will be days when resources are limited, systems don’t work as they should, and the needs feel overwhelming. In those moments, remember this: transformation does not require perfection. It requires commitment.
You were educated here not to escape rural Haiti, but to return to your community equipped with knowledge, skills, and responsibility. That is a profound and courageous choice. I applaud you for making it. Leadership rooted in service is rarely glamorous. It often happens quietly — in fields, clinics, classrooms, and small offices. But it matters deeply. The decisions you make — how you treat people, how you solve problems, how you use your education — will ripple outward in ways you may never fully see.
You are graduating at a time when the world urgently needs leaders who understand interdependence — between land, animals, water, the sun, the climate, economic decisions, and human well-being. They are all woven together. Rural development is not something apart. It is central to building a just and stable future for Haiti.
So today, I offer you this charge:
- Use your education with humility.
- Lead with courage.
- Serve with compassion.
Do not measure your success only by income or recognition, but by the strength of the communities you help sustain. Listen as much as you speak. Learn as much as you teach. And when you are tired — and you will be — remember why you chose this path.
You are now stewards of knowledge, of trust, and of hope. The people you serve may not always say thank you, but they will feel the impact of your work in fuller harvests, healthier animals, stronger businesses, and more resilient families. Go forward knowing this: your work matters. Your communities need you. And the future of Haiti will be shaped, in no small part, by what you choose to do with the education you received here.
Congratulations, graduates. May you lead well, serve generously, and help build the future Haiti is waiting for.
