Thelmy Guerlande grew up in a very large family. She had 8 other siblings and the likelihood of an impoverished young girl with 8 siblings going to school for any meaningful duration in rural Haiti is close to zero.
But Thelmy Guerlande was an exception. Thelmy grew up in a rural region of Haiti, about a three hour drive from Port au Prince, known as the Artibonite Valley. Like so many other families in rural Haiti, Thelmy parents were subsistence farmers, scratching at the earth with handmade tools, growing just enough food to survive and nothing more.
Thelmy was a bright eyed young girl with a shy smile and her parents did what they could for her. Education is highly valued by families in Haiti, despite the cost, so starting in pre-K Thelmy’s parents somehow found a way to pay for her to attend school. But as often happens with 8 children and barely enough food to eat, Thelmy’s parents had to tell her they could no longer afford her tuition, and she would not be able to go to school anymore. But Thelmy’s teacher couldn’t bear to see this smart little girl taken out of school, so she reached out to a teacher at another school who had told her about the Crosby Fund, perhaps they could help. And help they did.
Thelmy was selected to be a Crosby Fund scholarship recipient and from that day forward the rest of her education would be covered entirely by the Crosby Fund. Thelmy went on to receive her high school diploma, graduating near the top of her class. She then scored high enough on the state exams to be admitted to university in Port au Prince, where every penny of her college education would be covered; her tuition, books, room and board, all her living expenses. Everything. Thelmy went on to earn her bachelors degree in Accounting and after graduation Thelmy Guerlande was offered a job with the very organization that had seen to her education, The Crosby Fund for Haitian Education. Today Thelmy is a respected member of the CFHE staff and that shy smile she wore as a child seems to never leave her face.