Wilhem Hector and Gil Sander Joseph, childhood friends from Haiti, shared a commitment to learning long before they earned national scholarships to study abroad. As teenagers, they taught themselves English and Science using limited school resources, often drawing curious stares for practising a foreign language during lunch breaks. That curiosity soon became a discipline. Discipline turned into an opportunity.

In 2019, both were awarded highly competitive national scholarships. Wilhem went on to study in Norway while Gil pursued his degree in Germany. Their paths led them into rigorous academic environments where they deepened their expertise in engineering and the social sciences, respectively. Today, Wilhem is finishing mechanical engineering at MIT, spearheading wind-energy research, active in campus innovation labs, and was recently named the first Haitian Rhodes Scholar, set for Oxford in late 2025. Gil is wrapping up sociology at Princeton, leading community life as a residential advisor and student-body president. He earned a prestigious Knight‑Hennessy scholarship and heads to Stanford this fall for a master’s in international policy.

In 2020, driven by a belief that others in Haiti deserved the same opportunities, they co-founded the Hector Foundation. What began as a virtual summer course has since evolved into a growing community-led education movement. In 2023, they launched DRILL, an introductory robotics programme, and opened Manus 1, Haiti’s first open-access engineering maker space.

Why this matters

In Port-au-Prince, over 80% of the city is under gang control. Schools are often closed due to violence. For young people, especially young men, access to education is not only scarce, but it is often also dangerous. In this context, learning becomes an act of defiance and hope.

Since 2018, political instability and crumbling infrastructure have further eroded access to education, especially in science and technology. Public programmes are limited, and most international initiatives are short-term or externally driven. The Hector Foundation is building something different: a permanent, community-owned maker space, peer-led teaching, and a pathway from curiosity to competence.

What the project will change

The GEAR Lab will turn exposure into expertise. Over the course of two weeks, 20 DRILL alumni will design and build Segway-style robots from scratch. They will start with control theory and simulations, then prototype, test, and iterate. The process will be challenging. But by the end, every student will have contributed to a fully functioning machine.

The impact will not end with the camp. It will carry forward into college applications, internships, and self-directed learning. And it will reinforce a message these students rarely hear: you belong in science and engineering.