PWW Team Member Highlight: January 2020
Each month we are featuring a member of PWW’s staff. This gives you the opportunity to get to know our team a little better and gain an understanding about what makes them such a special part of PWW’s safe water programs.
PWW Team Member: Jean Pape Ferolus
PWW Office: Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Position within PWW: Chief Project Coordinator
Years with PWW: 7+ years
How did you first learn about PWW?
I discovered PWW through a friend in my church who was a trainer at PWW. She told me about what she was doing in Haitian communities to change unhealthy behaviors with regard to water, sanitation and hygiene practices.
What inspires you the most about the work you do?
What inspires me most in my work is when I am training my compatriots on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) treatment, and also when I am organizing a launching ceremony for a WASH project in a community.
What does a typical day look like for you?
A typical day for me is when I am conducting a training course or carrying out a mission of inquiry of eligibility criteria for a new WASH project.
What has been your favorite project…or your proudest moment?
The projects that I prefer the most are the WASH-in-Schools projects, which contain three activities:
- Rehabilitation of health infrastructure in schools
- MHM (Menstrual Hygiene Management) education program
- Training on water treatment with proper use of the bio-sand water filters in the school
What has been your greatest challenge?
My biggest challenge is seeing the significant need and wanting to further expand our work with WASH-in-Schools and safe water projects into more disadvantaged communities.
What is your favorite thing about working for PWW?
Working for PWW is great! What I see as a trainer and as Chief Project Coordinator is that, even with our small size and limited funds, we carry out extraordinary projects…creating the same impact that larger NGOs are known to spend much more on (especially with the WASH-in-School projects). Many school principals congratulate us widely.
Tell us a little bit about your family.
I am married (since August 2014). I have my mother, father, four brothers, and four sisters.
What is your favorite activity to do when you are not working?
When I’m not working I like to chat with my friends about social and political matters, and I also like to watch TV series.
What is your favorite food?
My favorite dish is white rice, pea puree, and Artibonite lalo vegetable.
Anything else you want people to know about you?
Another thing that I want people to know about me is that I love my work. I love humanitarian work, helping people in the countryside of my country, Haiti. I feel useful when I transfer knowledge to others on good practices with hygiene, sanitation and water treatment.
I do not like office positions. Having studied Anthropo-Sociology, I was born to work in the field, with various environments and different communities.