Skyler Badenoch
Skyler Badenoch, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, is Executive Director for the Hope for Haiti organization. Hope for Haiti is a developmental organization focusing on poverty alleviation with an emphasis on women and children. It has 150-full time staff working on education, health care, clean water, and economic development programs in the southern region. Haiti, the size of Maryland, shares the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. Although the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and the first free Black Republic, Haiti is culturally rich but has a tragic history of natural, economic and political disasters. Various Rotary International Clubs have assisted with clean water projects, whereas the United Nations UNICEF agency has collaborated in implementing nutrition and water sanitation programs. Haiti has several challenges, and often is depicted as a failing country, the reality is that many successful programs operate to improve the peoples’ quality of life.