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| Meet the International Class...
Dejan Dimitrov, Powpee Lee Bottom Row: Julie Vaudrin-Charette, Rebecca Widom, Lois Holzman, Synthia Borilekic Not Pictured: Diane Holliman, Pamela Ateka
Ernesto Barahona Ernesto was born in El Salvador, and immigrated to the United States when he was seven. His family lived in a poor and dangerous neighborhood in northeast Los Angeles, where his father was a fundamentalist preacher. A community activist and organizer, Ernesto directs outreach and education for St. John’s and is director of the L.A. chapter of the All-Stars Talent Show Network, a performance-based supplemental education program for young people.
Synthia Borilekic Synthia (Synthia Zbojilek) —Czechoslovakian, Spanish, Portuguese, and French Canadian—is a film director and writer based in Montreal. She is currently completing her graduate studies in drama therapy at Concordia University and works as director of business development for Voice Job, Inc. Synthia has worked as a drama and singing teacher and at numerous arts centers, community development organizations and youth organizations, including Carrefor Jeunesse Emploi, where she served as immigration counselor. Synthia’s latest project is Ça brime Sabrina, a short film on the theme of bullying that she wrote, directed and produced with a grouping of 27 Haitian, Central and South American drama students. Other collaborations with students include Au Retour de l'Amour (about September 11th), and "We Know Aliens.” Synthia is currently writing her first documentary on the subject of freedom.
Dejan Dimitrov Dejan is from Glozan, a town in Vojvodina, Serbia. An activist and organizer, he works with the Roma Students Association, a 20-member grouping helping Roma (gypsy) and other marginalized people living in Serbia lead more dignified lives. The Association has been effective in advancing the mainstreaming of Roma children into the public schools. Their practical assistance to Roma first-graders includes providing snacks, books and other materials that the children need for school. Dejan also contributes as facilitator, organizer and advisor to other social and educational inclusion-projects advocating on behalf of the Roma community. These include the League for the Decade of Roma; the Educational and Health Committees; the Roma School; and the “Happy Childhood” organization. All work to create public dialogue on inclusionary pre-school education policy. Recently, Dejan also served in the Roma Elderly Care Project and Roma Health Education Project. In his free time he likes going fishing!
Halim Faisal Halim is a clinical social worker at the Odyssey Health Care and Home Care Hospice in Valdosta, Georgia. He came of age in New York City during the 1960s and was involved in a variety of counter-cultural experiences (social and political). He left New York as a young man in his mid-20s. Presently, he works for a rural clinic, where he spends his days traveling from home to home meeting and interacting with people who are dying or are grieving the loss of a spouse, parent or friend. He also works with young people referred by the court system. “I am someone who works in the trenches, wherever I am,” says Halim. “I occasionally experience a connection with people so different from myself that I am able to see the world through their eyes. People who would have been strangers or enemies, or merely nondescript, teach me something I hadn't expected to learn. They teach me what it means to be a human being, regardless of what my preconceptions may have been.“
Diane Holliman Diane is an Associate Professor of Social Work at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia. She completed her social work studies at the University of Georgia and her Ph.D. at the University of Alabama. Her research and teaching interests focus on social work and health care, hospice care, social work with the elderly, and social work policy/services in rural areas. A postmodern social worker, Diane attended and performed at the Institute’s Performing the World 3 conference in 200
Loree Lawrence
Loree is an artist, educator and researcher whose work with community arts initiatives in Canada spans 20 years. She worked as theatre director with KYTES (“a sanctuary for single parents”) in Toronto, then went on to do theatre with street youth. Working in both Toronto and Vancouver, Loree organized “at-risk” young people to create collaborative multi-disciplinary performances combining theatre, video, music, movement and visual arts. In 2006, Loree completed her Masters degree in Arts Education, focusing her studies on the evaluation of community arts projects. Currently in Toronto, she is researching and developing The Junction Storefront Installation/Performance Project. She is the lead installation artist and the youth and evaluation consultant with the Jumblies Theatre, and has a developing consulting practice: Resonance Creative Consulting Partners.
Powpee Lee
Powpee was born into a farming family in rural Taiwan. After graduating from college in 1991 where he was active in the student movement, Powpee became a community organizer – helping to build alliances among local trade union laborers and undocumented workers. Powpee served a compulsory two-year tour of duty in the Taiwan Army, then went back to his work in the labor movement, where he served as a labor education projects organizer for the National Confederation of Trade Unions. In 1999, Powpee helped establish a community university for radical adult education, Lu-Di Community University. He has served as director of Lu-Di since 2002. Powpee received his Masters degree in psychology in 1995 and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Fu-Jen Catholic University, Taiwan.
Syed Mizanur Rahman Syed Rahman is a youth worker and community theatre organizer from Bangladesh. He describes himself as someone who has come from poverty and, because of this, can relate to development / growth issues with an empathetic heart. For Syed, psychological poverty is a major contributor to financial poverty. Syed completed a second Masters in Drama (Direction) at Rabindra Bharati University, India and received a Diploma in film direction from the National Institute of Film and Fine Arts in India. Upon his return to Bangladesh, he joined an advertising firm as Executive Creative, and later Directorate of non-formal education for social mobilization.
Julie Vaudrin-Charette Julie Vaudrin-Charette is a Montreal-based practitioner in Theater for Change. Over the last five years, she has led participatory drama and media workshops in Senegal, Peru and Malawi. She is particularly interested in using theatre as a language to build empathy and community, and especially in communities affected by HIV / AIDS. At home in Quebec, she is part of Vichama Collectif, a socially engaged multimedia art group. She is also working in the NGO sector as a communications specialist, integrating storytelling into development education. On a more personal note, Julie is a proud mother of baby Theo.
Rebecca Widom Rebecca is a researcher, program evaluator, advocate and activist currently working on the Homelessness Outreach and Prevention Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York. In her work with the homeless, she advocates for improved access to public benefits. An innovator in finding new ways to use research for social change, Rebecca is involved in a number of research projects at the Urban Justice Center. Her research on the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Stamps Program has drawn attention from policy researchers across the country and has been cited in publications such as The New York Times. Rebecca completed her Masters degree in Sociology from the University of Arizona.
International Class 2005-6
Bottom Row: Betsi Pendry, Anna Gertruida Pistorius, Joan Mahon-Powell, Lois Holzman, Melina Lucila Baracco Not Pictured: PabloTulio Colongo, Jane Mueni Lundi, Jack O. Ogembo
Melina Lucila Baracco is a community psychologist from Rosario (Santa Fe) Argentina. She works at the Centro Unico de Donación, Abación e Implante de Organos (an organ donation center.) She volunteers with the Community Assistance Center at the Universidad Nacional De Rosario and with Volunteers Against AIDS. Melina completed her postgraduate studies in Clinical, Institutional and Community Psychology at Universidad Nacional De Rosario. Kitche Magak is a lecturer in Psychology at Maseno University in Kisumu, Kenya and a longtime community organizer and communications consultant in the area of reproductive rights. Kitche has a Masters in Literature from the University of Nairobi and a Diploma in Mass Communications from its School of Journalism. He is a published poet and short-story writer. Joan Mahon-Powell is an educational consultant with 25 years experience in New York City public schools as a teacher, curriculum writer, staff developer, assistant principal, principal, community school district superintendent and local instructional superintendent. Betsi Pendry is the founder and director of the Living Together Project in Johannesburg, South Africa, an organization dedicated to helping families and communities overcome the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS. Betsi completed her undergraduate studies in Dance and Psychology at Hampshire College and earned a Masters in Public Health from Columbia University. She is a graduate of the Institute’s postgraduate therapist training program. Anna Gertruida Pistorius is a licensed clinical and industrial psychologist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa in Pretoria and a senior lecturer in community psychology at the University of Limpopo. Annalie spearheaded the Youth Psychosocial Wellness Project in partnership with the Johannesburg-based Living Together Project. Kathleen Stauffer is a specialist in early childhood education. She is a pre-school teacher at the Paoli Methodist Nursery School in Paoli, Pennsylvania, helps prepare new teachers as a faculty member at Montgomery County Community College, and is an instructor at Pennsylvania Pathways, a career development program for childcare workers. Kate has a Masters in Education from Cabrini College in Philadelphia. Charlie Weinberg, originally from the U.K., has worked with young people in Managua, Nicaragua since 2001 as part of Puntos de Encuentro youth development program. Charlie is the script-writing coordinator for organization’s original TV “soap opera,” Sexto Sentido, which invites exploration of sexuality, family relationships, drug use and violence.
International Class 2004-5 Bottom Row: Bibiana Cologne, Marjory Levitt, Lola Broomberg, Kerstin Gauffin-Holmberg, Lois Holzman |
