Fabienne Desilien, Country Coordinator, Haiti

In a mountainous region north of Port-au-Prince in rural Haiti, daily life is shaped by both beauty and hardship. The residual effects of rampant gang violence are felt throughout the entire nation, but in this community the efforts of one woman are relentlessly pushing back. Fabienne Desilien is helping to create new pathways to more promising futures for the country’s girls and women. As Country Coordinator for Mercy Beyond Borders (MBB) in Haiti, she brings personal conviction, deeply impacted by lived experience, to a role that sits at the intersection of education, leadership, and hope.

The path to her current role began with a clear calling. “I wanted to be a social worker from the time that I was in high school,” she says. Driven by a desire “to make a positive impact in the lives of young people and families in my community,” that early vision is now expressed in both purpose and practice through her work with MBB Scholars. 

What first drew Desilien to MBB was the weight and promise of its mission. “To accompany girls, create and support their future via access to education so that they can take their rightful place in society, and eradicate poverty is a big heavy mission, and it deserves to be pursued with all of our energy,” she reflects. Desilien creates safe and supportive spaces where girls can explore who they are and who they want to become. Her holistic approach to education includes sexual and reproductive health for the Scholars. “I knew that this would make a big impact in the community,” she says, “and would lead to fewer instances of early pregnancy which is a big problem in our community, 

Desilien’s mornings are filled with planning, team coordination, and meetings with partners and families. But it is in the afternoons, at the Learning Center, where her work comes alive through direct connection with the Scholars. She leads counseling and listening sessions, creating what she describes as a space to “write on the Scholars’ hearts the idea that they can do anything.”

Desilien believes in her work with MBB because she sees its ripple effects in the girls themselves. She shares the story of Rooby Christie, a senior Scholar who now mentors younger students in her neighborhood, encouraging them to stay in school and sharing knowledge from MBB sessions. It is a powerful example of what happens when education takes root. “They become young leaders who grow in character and influence other girls,” Fabienne explains. What begins as one tree, soon becomes an orchard with the potential to become a forest.

The challenges are real. Insecurity and limited resources create daily obstacles, but Desilien is not deterred. If anything, the setbacks fuel her resolve to provide the MBB Scholars with what they need to thrive, because mere survival is not enough. Just as she has shaped her invaluable role, the work it entails has shaped her in return. “I am more patient, I identify more joy, and I have become more courageous,” she says. “I have learned to make hope grow in places where it should not be able to grow.”

For Desilien, educating girls is about disrupting an unacceptable status quo that all too often sets women up for a life that falls short of their dreams and potential. It is both an intervention and long-term investment in their individual lives, families, communities and country. “Leaders carry the vision that creates the mission that gives the community and larger society direction,” she says. Desilien envisions a future for Haiti shaped by educated women who lead with wisdom and strength.