Sixty years ago, a small child with lively brown eyes picked up Barbara's LIFE magazine and held it upside down to “read” and look at the pictures. Education for Haiti’s rural mountain children has been her passion since that day. Apart from brief interludes in Haiti, her professional career focused on U.S. social policy, first working in HUD’s Model Cities Program, then leading a division of a policy research firm, and finally as President of TERC, a not-for-profit education R&D organization. Since 2001 she has been deeply involved in, and remains an enthusiastic supporter of Matènwa’s progress and dreams.

Chris W Low is the Executive Director of Friends of Matènwa and the Co-founder of Matènwa Community Learning Center. She received her BA in Psychology from Vassar College and M Ed from Lesley University. Chris taught in the Cambridge, Massachusetts Public Schools for 9 years, 5 of which were in a Haitian Bi-lingual school. She also taught at the Atrium School and Fayerweather Street School. She has worked as a teacher, administrator, teacher trainer and curriculum developer. She currently divides her time between Cambridge, MA, Matènwa, Haiti, and Cabarete, Dominican Republic. Chris has one daughter, Juliette, who lives in Cambridge, MA.

Heather Yow is an actuary with over 35 years of experience in the property/casualty insurance industry.  She has a B.A. in Economics from Hamilton College, is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society, and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.  Heather is a lifelong friend of Chris Low’s and longtime supporter of MCLC. Heather is committed to helping Friends of Matènwa achieve its mission to support education at MCLC, across Lagonav, and all of Haiti.