Celene Gyles

Jamaica

PhD Education

Columbia University

Celene has demonstrated personal growth and development through her education, her volunteering and her career. She has been actively involved in working directly with children who have visual disorders and/or multiple handicapped conditions. Originally, she trained and worked as a nurse and her work with chronically ill children motivated her to pursue training in special education. After receiving her certificate ‘Learners with Physical Education’ she worked for five years in the classroom and then got her Bachelor of Science. This entitled her to work with children who were mentally retarded or physically handicapped. She the obtained a MA in blindness and visual impairment and began to train teachers in special education. She has worked in Jamaica as well as in other English speaking islands.

Celine wants to reorganize the teacher training programs in Jamaica and other Caribbean Islands. She has returned to Jamaica after receiving her degrees. She will complete her PHD in August 2002, She is on study leave from her position as lecturer in special education.

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Chantal Kayitesi

Rwanda

MA Public Health

Boston University

Chantal is a survivor of the genocide in Rwanda and a widow as a result. She has had to endure hardships complicated by her move to the United States with her 7 year old son. With her previous education and work in Rwanda in Public Health she is completing an MA in Boston.

Although she plans to return to Rwanda she recognizes that conditions may not allow it, but she believes she will easily find work in another developing country.

In Rwanda Chantal formed an association for genocide widows, acted as their president and program coordinator.

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Alice Mittwaruciu

Kenya

PhD Counseling Psychology

University of Utah

Alice graduated in Pastoral Care and Counseling in Kenya. She then entered University of Idaho and completed an MA in the Education Department in Counseling and Human Services. She transferred to the University of Utah for a PHD in Counseling Psychology with a special interest in women’s mental health. She plans to finish in Dec. 2003.

She has worked with the Methodist Church as a parish minister and as hospital counselor where she had to help woman and girls who had faced domestic violence and sexual assault.

Alice has achieved all her education through her own efforts. Her parents had no education and have never held a job. After graduation she will be able to provide support for the mentally ill in Kenya.

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Maria Nnyepi

Botswana

PhD Community Nutrition

Michigan State University

Maria comes from a home where neither parent completed primary education. She plans to complete her degree in May 2003.

Maria’s first degree was in Dietetics. She worked in rural communities and traveled with her own children encouraging other mothers to breastfeed their children.

Maria is in the US with her husband and children but has well founded plans to return to Botswana. She has a job offer from the U of Botswana and intends to work Maternal and Child Nutrition Policies and plans to do research on the transmission of HIV.

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Chung Pham

Vietnam

MS Social Work

Ohio University

Chung come from an extremely poor Vietnamese rural family where she was the child of a lesser wife. After going through school in Viet Nam she went to the USSR and took a degree in psychology. After returning to Viet Nam she worked as a volunteer with the Center for Child Psychological Studies and then in the Institute  of Psychology where she did research, directed some programs and counseled families and children.

When Chung worked with Plan International Vietnam she almost single handedly founded the Hanoi Street Children’s Project. These children have left their families in rural areas to work in the cities because of poverty, physical or mental abuse. Chung says that social work is quire new to her country and her recommenders believe she is likely to make a significant contribution and will work with NGO’s and grass roots organizations. She plans to finish her MA in 2002.

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Kadri Tamm

Estonia

BA Political Science

University of Oregon

Kadri is at the end of a unique journey by educating herself through volunteer work, NGO projects for and on behalf of the disabled. She has worked primarily with women and children and has taken advantage of a broad range of opportunities to build her academic and vocational skills. She had an internship at Mobility International USA and worked for Teen Challenge as a social worker in Sweden and Poland.  She founded the Estonian Association for Women with Disability and has served on the Estonian Disability Board and the Estonian Association of Muscular Disorders. Kadri is disabled herself and had to abandon her education in her home country where access to educational institutions are difficult or impossible for the disabled.

Kadri has shown determination to reach her goals and objectives. She plans to return to Estonia in June 2002.

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