ELIZABETH (“LIZZIE”) COOKE serves as the President and Treasurer of Imagine Haitian. She grew up in rural Wisconsin and went on to earn undergraduate and master’s degrees in Environmental Science at Furman University and Indiana University.
Lizzie lived and worked in Gonaives, Haiti from the summer of 2008 to the summer of 2009. With the support of a fellowship from the Compton Foundation, she partnered with Josué Jean and other local community leaders to establish a pilot reforestation project. She also taught classes in English and Environmental Science to young people in the area while doing her best to learn Creole and adapt to the Caribbean climate.
“It probably sounds cliche,” says Lizzie, “but I learned at least as much from my students as they learned from me.”
Lizzie remained involved with the reforestation program after returning to the United States, providing communications and fundraising support to her partners in Haiti. She returned to Gonaives in 2010 and 2012 for visits. Today she lives in Chicago with her husband and two daughters and dreams of eating a perfect Haitian mango fresh off the branch.
WILMONISE JEAN ELIZE serves as the Vice President of Imagine Haitian. Married and the mother of one, she graduated from law school in Haiti and now lives in Florida, where she works in the healthcare industry. She is the sister of Josué Jean and has long collaborated with him on his ministry and community development work.
JOSUÉ JEAN serves as the Lead Project Manager for Imagine Haitian. Born in the northern region of Haiti, he grew up working in the coffee fields with his father, as well as cultivating plantains, yams, taro, and other food for the family to eat.
Josué studied community development at William Carey International University in Pasadena, California. He went on to manage the agriculture program at Eben-Ezer Mission in Gonaives, Haiti for more than a decade. He completed additional training in Texas and Costa Rica on growing edible cactuses and farming tilapia and carp.
A dedicated pastor, Josué uses his ministry to serve the rural poor. Always looking for ways to improve the lives of the Haitian people spiritually, physically, and materially, Josue has worked as a community healthcare agent and is an active supporter of small business entrepreneurship. Since 2008, Josué has collaborated with Elizabeth Cooke and other local and international partners to spearhead reforestation projects in more than 10 communities around Gonaives.
“I am from the most beautiful green space in the northern area of Haiti,” says Josué. “My father used fruits from his garden to feed us and lumber from his garden to make furniture for my mother. I want to repeat the same things with young people in Gonaives. I’m training them for a green and new Haiti.”
LAURA WUNDER serves as the Secretary of Imagine Haitian. A long-time Chicago resident, she holds two degrees from the University of Chicago—a Bachelor of Arts in English literature and a Juris Doctorate that formed the basis of a lengthy career as a public sector attorney. “I’m excited to be part of Imagine Haitian,” she says, “because it allows me to have a positive effect both within my community and in communities many hundreds of miles away, and to promote climate stability, satisfying work, beauty, and delicious bounty—all things that trees bring. Especially in this time of focus on the decline of nature, it’s good to be involved in putting some of it back.”
Imagine Haitian 