Meditations on Violence

Building Hope in Haiti

Renate Schneider, the University of Fondwa, Haiti

With the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Artistide and recent flooding, Haiti has been much in the news recently. Significant roots of Haiti's political violence can be found in its history of brutal economic exploitation. Yet despite the current turmoil, efforts persist to address the root causes of poverty and violence in Haiti.

Chicagoan Renate Schneider directs the development of the University of Fondwa, Haiti. A multinational effort of Haitians, Cubans, French and Americans, the University of Fondwa is the latest project sponsored by the Asoyasyon Paizan Fondwa (Peasant Association of Fondwa), a grassroots peasant organization which has been creating local infrastructure and sustainable development since 1988. Haiti's first rural university, the University of Fondwa educates the children of peasants in agronomy, veterinary medicine and management. A Maryknoll affiliate, Renate Schneider has a long-standing interest in the developing world and helped organize a 2003 conference of indigenous people in Peru to discuss their response to globalization. When in Chicago, she works in sleep research at the University of Chicago and as a parish counselor in the Back of the Yards community.