Dr. Rodrigue Mortel, High Hopes for Haiti

Join Fellow Rotarian Rod Mortel as he updates the club on his schools and the current climate in Haiti.

In Haiti, where 40 percent of the population is still illiterate, a good school is a beacon of hope. Unfortunately, those beacons are rare. Yet education remains the most effective way to climb from poverty and despair to opportunity and success. Rodrigue Mortel, M.D., has traveled that road. He helped his unschooled mother resell rice and vegetables in various markets. Foremost among his mother’s sacrifices was ensuring that her son received a good education.

Rodrigue attended primary, secondary and medical school in Haiti. He then entered the United States and became a world-renowned gynecologic oncologist. Dr. Mortel created the Mortel High Hopes for Haiti Foundation to empower through education the poorest of the poor Haitian children.