Honoring Rose-Marie Chierici
On behalf of the Board of Directors and Staff of H.O.P.E., it is with deep sadness and shared sympathies for all who knew her and supported her work, that we mourn the loss of our founder, leader, and dear friend, Rose-Marie Chierici. As you may already know, Rose-Marie passed away on Friday August 14th after a struggle with cancer. For those who have not yet seen it, here is the announcement shared by her family.
Rose-Marie was an extraordinary teacher and what she taught was, at its core, how to see the dignity of all people, and in this she was a patient and generous guide. Few of us at H.O.P.E. knew how to approach poverty reduction when we first began working with the community of Borgne. Rose-Marie taught us to de-center ourselves and work to know ourselves before we could ever hope to partner effectively with others. Thus, RMC (as we affectionately refer to her) set us right and taught us how to listen, learn, and be patient.
H.O.P.E. Staff Honor Rose Marie in Borgne
"Rose-Marie taught us about Haitian culture and history, and taught us how to avoid taking actions that would be disruptive and harmful despite good intentions. As perhaps some of you experienced, many of our initial ideas were confronted with a firm but loving, “no,” from Rose-Marie. In truth, her “no’s” reflected a deeper set of positive principles, and a framework we all learned to employ over time. In this way, she taught us the difference between charity and development work. Through her, we learned first-hand how development work done well lifts up, celebrates and emboldens local knowledge and capacity."
– Jim Myers
