2006 Fellows
Report
Blog
Aimée
Alexander
Fundación Cimas del Ecuador
Quito, Ecuador
Aimée
Alexander received her Bachelor of Arts in Biological Sciences
from the University of Delaware in 2002, and is currently studying
medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School. After
finishing her undergraduate degree, Aimée pursued her interests
in international medicine and serving underrepresented communities
through several experiences abroad. Aimée spent sixteen
months in Mexico studying Spanish and working with a Catholic
missionary in the poorest area of the Nuevo Laredo, where Aimée
worked as a medical aide in a clinic and also as a youth group
leader. After her first year in medical school, Aimée spent three
weeks assisting surgeons and general physicians to provide medical
care in the rural town of Sabana Grande de Boya in the Dominican
Republic. For the past two years she has also served as a Spanish
translator for patients at the student-run Phillips Neighborhood
Clinic in Minneapolis.
For her Fellowship, Aimée is excited to work with the non-profit
development organization Fundación Cimas del Ecuador this summer
outside of Quito, Ecuador, in Pedro Moncayo County. There,
she will research community exposure to toxins and the risk of
developing cancer to prepare for a pilot project focused on improving
community efforts to detect children with chronic illness and
cancer. As part of the project, she will help perform interviews
and physicals on patients in addition to the promotion of public
health awareness and education on the dangers of toxic exposure.
Aimée plans on continuing her research on toxins and cancer in
children, as well as sharing her first-hand experiences working
on social justice in the Minnesota medical community with her
colleagues at the Medical School and also her colleagues at the
Phillips Neighborhood Clinic.
Blog
Marcia Ashong
Commission
on Human Rights and Administrative Justice
Accra,
Ghana
Marcia
Ashong is a senior at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
campus and now makes Minnesota her home. Marcia moved to the United
States after completing her secondary education in England and
is currently pursuing majors in Global Studies (International
Relations) and Political Science and minors in Journalism and
African Studies.
She
will work with the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative
Justice (CHRAJ), which was established in 1992 as the Republic
of Ghana made its transition from single-party authoritarian rule
to a constitutional democracy. CHRAJ was established to not only
keep the Government of Ghana in check, but also as a mechanism
to investigate complaints concerning violations of fundamental
human rights, injustice, corruption, abuse of power, and unfair
treatment by the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC).
CHRAJ is responsible for the investigation, pursuit, and prosecution
of anyone involved in human rights abuses. CHRAJ’s commitment
to protecting human rights is ensured by maintaining a non-partisan
identity. During her stay in Accra, Marcia will work closely with
CHRAJ’s public education programs and help CHRAJ push the government
into shaping socially just policies, especially for those individuals
who need assistance the most. Marcia will also be attending seminars
and conferences and getting first hand experience in the field
of human rights. Upon her return, Marcia will share her new skills
in policy making by hosting discussion events through the student
group Raising Awareness for Africa (RAFA), a group that she has
co-founded in Minnesota.
Report
Blog
Vanna Chan
End Child
Prostitution, Abuse and Trafficking- ECPAT
Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
Vanna
Chan is a Cambodian-American woman originally from France, whose
family now permanently resides in Shakopee, Minnesota. Vanna has
taken a leadership role in raising awareness about, and working
against, human trafficking, and in particular the sexual exploitation
of children. Vanna has assisted in the coordination of conferences,
meetings, and film screenings that aim to find solutions for the
global problem of human trafficking. She is a recent graduate
from the University of Minnesota Institute for Global Studies.
Vanna is also a Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA)
fellow and plans on attending graduate school in the Fall of 2007.
During
the summer, Vanna will be an intern with ECPAT-Cambodia, which
is a network of national and international organizations working
to prevent the commercial sexual exploitation of children. ECPAT-Cambodia
works to ensure that children in Cambodia enjoy their fundamental
rights and to protect them from all kinds of sexual abuse and
exploitation. This summer, Vanna hopes to learn effective
strategies to combat human trafficking. Upon
her return, Vanna will continue her activism by sharing her experiences
and by working on issues relating to human rights trafficking
in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest.
Blog
Obi
Chukwu
Comunidade de Resgate Afro
Maua, Brazil
Obi
Chukwu was born in Nigeria and raised in Texas. He received his
B.A. in Economics from the University of North Texas and J.D.
from the University of Saint Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis.
Obi worked for Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, Fourth
Judicial District Court, and currently serves as a legal analyst
for the International Leadership Institute (ILI) in Minnesota.
Obi has worked on several human rights projects around the world
ranging from legal trainings to technology education with many
international communities and organizations. Obi is an economic
development and comparative legal systems scholar and has journeyed
to such countries as Spain, Italy, England, France, Switzerland,
and Morocco where he was able to study international legal systems
as he absorbed history and languages from around the world. He
plans to use his command of Spanish, Portuguese, Igbo, and West
African Pidgin to start similar resource centers in developing
areas of the world.
Obi
is undertaking his fellowship in Maua, Brazil, where he hopes
to establish a pubic technological resource center specifically
designed to supplement the education of community children living
in a desolate slum. Obi will be working with Rosas Negras,
an organization that seeks to establish a resource center for
basic reading and writing classes, access to technology, and teaching
children the practical uses of technology. Rosas Negras seeks to help kids learn about international social justice
protections through technological skills to acquire the information
and tools they need. Upon his return to Minnesota, Obi will be
involved in speaking to audiences about his experiences working
to change the technological divide in some of the world’s poorest
areas, and how access to technology and knowledge really is a
critical factor in mitigating discrepancies in social justice.
Report
Blog
Sarah
Drake
The
St. Cloud Human Rights Office
St. Cloud, Minnesota
Sarah
Drake is currently a student at St. Cloud State University in
St. Cloud, Minnesota, working on her Master’s of Science Degree
in Social Responsibility. Sarah will be working with the
St. Cloud Human Rights Office this summer to address issues of
racism in the community. Her specific focus will be working with
the growing Somali community to advocate for fair housing and
employment policies. Sarah will work with Human Rights Office
to understand the current issues and then try to bring the Somali
and St. Cloud communities together to foster a better St. Cloud
for all members of the community. Sarah’s goal is to put prevention
measures in place so that human rights violations will not only
decrease, but will cease for the St. Cloud Somali community.
Report
Lindsay
Eastwood
Immigrant
Law Center
St. Paul, Minnesota
Lindsay
Eastwood graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a major
in International Relations concentrating in East Asia and a minor
in Mathematics. Lindsay now makes Minnesota her home, and is currently
a student at the University of Minnesota Law School.
This summer, Lindsay will be working with the Immigration Law
Center of Minnesota (ILCM). ILCM provides assistance to immigrants
forced to defend themselves in court on matters ranging from asylum,
Violence Against Women Act applications, Temporary Protected Status,
and appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals. Lindsay
hopes to bring her background in studying Chinese language and
Eastern culture as well as her legal education to this position
and gain further insight into the practice of immigration law.
When she completes her Fellowship, Lindsay is looking forward
to participating on panels for community discussions, speaking
at St. Paul Central High School, and reaching out to younger people
to educate them on current immigration issues in Minnesota.
Report
Laura
Flynn
Midwest Coalition
for Human
Rights
Minnesota, USA
Laura
Flynn is working on her MFA in Creative Writing from the University
of Minnesota. Laura is working on two books, a memoir of childhood,
and a memoir of her experiences in Haiti, where she lived from
1994-2000. Laura is the editor of Eyes of the Heart:
Seeking a Path for the Poor in the Age of Globalization by Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Common Courage Press, 2000. Her essay,
“Where my Mother Lives,� is forthcoming in the Northwest Review.
In January
2006, Laura became the first “Scribe for Human Rights,� a joint
fellowship appointment of the Human Rights Program and the Creative
Writing Program at the University of Minnesota, where she is researching
and writing a feature-length article on immigrant detention in
the Midwest. This summer, she will carry out fieldwork for this
project with the support of the Upper Midwest Human Rights Fellowship,
to conduct research on the quality of life for immigrants living
in the Midwest. Laura will share her findings with the publication
of her article on human rights and immigration.
Report
Nicole
Leigh Harris
Texas
Defender Service
Houston, Texas
Nicole
Leigh Harris is a second year student at the University of Minnesota
Law School. For her undergraduate degree, Nicole studied French,
Spanish, and Classics (with an emphasis in Latin) at Arizona State
University.
This
summer, Nicole is thrilled to put her anti-death penalty ideals
into action by working with Texas Defender Service (TDS) in Houston,
Texas. TDS’s mission is “to help improve the quality of representation
afforded to indigent Texans charged with a capital crime or under
sentence of death.� TDS participates in a wide range of activities
to this end, from directly representing death row inmates in the
appellate process, to advocating policy reform. When Nicole returns
to Minnesota, she has plans to organize a public anti-death penalty
event, and also to lead the next Law Student Day Against the Death
Penalty.
Zainab
Hassan
Environmental Justice
Advocates of Minnesota
Nairobi, Kenya
Zainab
Hassan holds a B.S. in Environmental Health, with a minor in Chemistry,
from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Now living
in Minnesota, Zainab will complete a Masters of Public Affairs
(MPA) at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota
in the summer of 2006.
Zainab’s
international fellowship will focus on illegal hazardous and nuclear
waste dumping in Somalia. Somalia has been without a central
government since 1991. As the state has collapsed and factional
disputes continued, Italian and Swiss firms have taken advantage
of the chaotic Somali situation. During her fellowship, she will
conduct cooperative research and advocacy with Environmental Justice
Advocates of Minnesota (EJAM). EJAM
participated in forums about the hazardous waste dumping in Somalia.
She also plans to visit the headquarters of the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya. UNEP has
launched an investigation into the hazardous waste and nuclear
waste dumping in Somalia. She will
further explore ways that EJAM, UNEP, and other agencies can collaborate in halting the dumping.
When she returns to Minnesota, Zainab also plans to do public speaking and raising awareness
of other local, national, and international environmental organizations
and advocates holding accountable the perpetrators of the illegal
dumping.
Blog
Ben
Kaster
The
Uganda Rural Community Support Foundation
Masaka, Uganda
Ben
Kaster is a 2006 graduate in Peace Studies from St. John's University
in Collegeville, Minnesota. After graduation, Ben will use his
Upper Midwest Fellowship to work with the Uganda Rural Community
Support Foundation (URCSF). URCSF recognizes the need to help
destitute street children, child-headed families, abused children,
conflict communities, children and families affected by HIV/AIDS,
internally displaced persons, refugees, disabled children, and
disadvantaged women. URCSF also works to educate girl children,
fight abject poverty in rural communities, and to advocate for
peace and human rights of the marginalized in Uganda .
Bearing
in mind the geographical, historical, economic, social, and
political situation Uganda has experienced in recent years,
URCSF aims at reintegrating underprivileged children into normal
life in their society by empowering them both with education and
practical skills. As an intern with URCSF, Ben will have the opportunity
to participate in community organizing in rural communities in
Uganda, helping them set up an education system for their future
school. Ben will also be working with the organization’s volunteer
team to mobilize resources for the children’s projects, while
broadening his understanding of development issues of rural Africa.
As a culmination of his Fellowship experience, Ben will return
to St. Cloud State University and speak to audiences there about
his work in Uganda. Ben also is interested in speaking with the
Rotary Club, and working with community leaders to think about
local social justice concerns in new ways.
Report
Anna Kerner
Amnesty International
(AIA)
Sydney, Australia
Anna
Kerner is pursuing a law degree at the University of South Dakota.
She received her undergraduate degree in Political Science from
the University of South Dakota and a Masters of Arts in International
Relations from Australian National University in Canberra, Australia.
This
summer, Anna will be working with Amnesty International Australia
(AIA) in Sydney as a member of the Refugee Team. The AIA Refugee
Team strives to uphold the basic human rights outlined in treaties
and other international human rights instruments. The team’s goals
are to help onshore asylum seekers in Australia obtain information
regarding the human rights situation in their countries of origin
with a specific focus on their claims. As a case worker, Anna
will have the opportunity to help produce Country Information
Reports, which provide independent and objective information on
the current human rights situation in the applicants’ countries
of origin in order to assist asylum seekers apply for a protection
visa. When she returns, Anna intends to share her experiences
with local organizations in order to further draw attention to
new ways of ensuring rights for immigrants and refugees in the
Midwest.
Report
Erin
Martin
Člověk
v Tisnà - People in Need
Prague, Czech Republic
Erin Martin,
a Minnesota native, is a third-year undergraduate student at the
University of Minnesota, double majoring in Philosophy and Global
Studies (thematic concentration in Governance, Peace and Justice;
regional concentration on Russia ). Erin plans to pursue a J.D.
and practice in the areas of international human rights law and
immigration law; her interests include advocating for minority
rights and the rights of the child.
Erin’s
Fellowship will support an internship with ÄŒlovÄ›k v TisnÃ, a Czech
non-profit, non-governmental human rights organization based in
Prague, where she will work in three departments: Variants Intercultural
Education, Human Rights and Democracy, and Relief and Development.
Člověk v Tisnà supports human rights movements and administers
humanitarian relief and development aid to crisis areas all over
the world. The organization is devoted to the support of political
prisoners and the documentation of torture, execution, and crimes
against humanity in oppressed societies. In the Czech Republic,
Člověk v Tisnà works to raise public consciousness of human rights
issues around the globe and focuses attention in particular on
the improvement of social conditions for the Czech Roma population.
Člověk v TisnÒs Field Service Program was created to address
issues affecting Roma human rights by deploying street workers
to operate as mediators, community planners, consultants and organizers,
with the aim of providing rehabilitation and making communities
self-sustainable.
Erin
has worked on two political campaigns and served as a Constituent
Advocate Intern in the office of U.S. Senator Mark Dayton during
summer 2005. Four organizations involved in the delivery of basic
human services have recognized Erin for outstanding volunteer
service. Erin plans to continue her activism when she returns
to the Twin Cities by getting youth and University students involved
in raising community awareness regarding torture and crimes against
humanity.
Report
Blog
Cari
O’Brien
International
Leadership Institute
Kigali, Rwanda
Cari
O’Brien is currently a third-year student at William Mitchell
College of Law. Cari received her B.A. in Political Science
and Sociology from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.
This summer, she will be working with the International Leadership
Institute in Kigali, Rwanda. The Fellowship is aimed at assisting
women who were raped and intentionally infected with HIV during
the 1994 genocide. Cari’s work will include exploring the legal,
communal, and personal effects that these rapes had on Rwandan
society with the goal of creating sustainable solutions to the
everyday needs of these women. Upon returning from Rwanda,
Cari will work with the ILI to continue to educate our Minnesota
community on the aftermath of the genocide. Upon completion of
her Fellowship, Cari will write a research paper based on her
work in Rwanda, and she has plans to speak at William Mitchell
College of Law and Macalester College.
Report
Jessica
Paquin
High Range Plantation Workers Development Society
Kerela,
India
Jessica
Paquin holds a B.A. in Human Services and graduated in May 2006,
with a Masters of Public Policy degree from the Hubert Humphrey
Institute of Public Affairs. Jessica’s professional career includes
both the development of targeted programs and organizational capacity
of anti-poverty initiatives. Prior to working and studying in
the Twin Cities, Jessica spent two years working and living in
Mexico City.
Jessica
will complete her placement at the High Range Plantation Workers
Development Society (HRPWDS), located in the southern Indian state
of Kerala. Recently established after the closure of 17 tea plantations
displaced 25,000 workers and their families, HRPWDS assists these
dislocated workers to regain lost social, cultural, and worker
rights. As a new non-governmental organization quickly established
to aid these workers in absence of other NGO or state assistance,
Jessica will assist HRPWDS to build organizational capacity, establish
legitimacy in the funding realm, increase capacity for grassroots
advocacy, and provide effective services to dislocated workers.
Jessica
would like to further her career in increasing organizational
capacity for human rights organizations. Jessica feels that as
markets become increasing global, poor and marginalized populations
will be the hardest hit by fluctuations. As a result, organizational
leaders who wish to sustain the rights and freedoms of these populations
need to be equally responsive to the emerging consequences. New
human rights organizations, and other NGOs, established in the
absence of other aid to deal with local populations and issues,
will have to quickly learn to compete for resources with other
more established organizations. Jessica plans to create teaching
materials and a case study on these issues. Jessica also plans
to present her case study to non-profit management classes at
the Humphrey Institute.
Blog
Nicholas
Petersen
National Housing Federation
London, UK
Nicholas
Petersen is a life-long resident of Minnesota. He graduated from
the University of Minnesota, Morris (UMM) in May 2006, with a
B.A. in Political Science and History. During his years at UMM,
he was involved with the Center for Small Towns, assisting rural
communities in the areas of program evaluation and housing development.
During the past year, Nicholas has worked on the Center for Small
Towns’ Dept. of Housing and Urban Development Community Outreach
Partnership Center (COPC) Grant as the administrative assistant
for the housing priority area of the grant.
As
part of the Fellowship he received, Nicholas will be traveling
to London, UK, to work with the National Housing Federation, assisting
with advocacy and education on housing from a human rights perspective.
The National Housing Federation is a national non-profit that
assists with the development of non-discriminatory housing throughout
the United Kingdom. The organization works with the newly established
Commission for Equality and Human Rights, which was formed as
part of Parliament’s Equality Bill. While in London, Nicholas
will be assisting with research and publications on housing in
relation to gender, race and ethnicity, age, sexual orientation,
and faith or belief in order to better educate landlords and housing
associations throughout the United Kingdom. When he returns from
the United Kingdom, he will draft a report on his research for
the Center for Small Towns. Nicholas also plans to present his
findings at housing conferences and other community events.
Report
Elizabeth
Powers
FIDA-Kenya
Nairobi,
Kenya
Beth
Powers was born in Minnesota and is currently a student at William
Mitchell College of Law. She graduated from the University of
Minnesota-Duluth in 2004 with a B.A. in Political Science and
International Relations. While completing her undergraduate degree,
she participated in the Minnesota Studies in Development (MSID)
program in Kenya and interned with the Centre for Governance and
Development.
This
summer, she is thrilled to return to Kenya to intern for FIDA-Kenya,
a Women’s Rights organization based out of Nairobi. FIDA provides
legal aid, monitors and advocates for Women’s Rights, and promotes
Gender and Legal Rights awareness. Beth’s work with FIDA will
consist of monitoring reports of Women’s Rights violations throughout
the country and making policy recommendations based upon these
reports. FIDA’s work is crucial for Kenya at this time as the
country is in the midst of a democratic transition. Beth hopes
to use the experience she gains from working at FIDA to benefit
legal aid clinics in Minnesota, as well as to educate marginalized
groups in Minnesota to advocate for their rights.
Preeti
Kaur Rajpal
SAATHII
Punjab, India
Preeti
Kaur Rajpal is a medical student at the University of Minnesota-Twin
Cities campus. She is interested in the intersections between
health and human rights.
For
her fellowship, she will be working on HIV issues in Punjab, India,
with SAATHII, an Indian NGO whose mission is to strengthen and
expand HIV services in India . Her project goals are to: (1) Increase
knowledge about HIV/AIDS prevalence and intervention in the state;
(2) increase awareness and understanding of HIV/AIDS issues among
communities in the state; and (3) improve coordination between
NGOs in the state. Upon her return from India, Preeti will write
papers on the status of the human right to health in Punjab, addressing
such issues as HIV/AIDS and female infanticide.
Report
Adam Robbins
The Center for Victims of
Torture
Minneapolis, MN
Adam
Robbins is originally from Minnesota and is currently a student
at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. His academic interests
include indigenous peoples of the Andes and human rights and he
will graduate in May 2007 with a B.A. in Anthropology. During
the fall of 2005, he studied at Pontific Catholic University in
Quito, Ecuador. In May 2005, he received a research grant from
the Freeman Foundation to work with the National Council of Churches
of the Philippines in Manila, where he studied the Council’s use
of new media to create global networks of human rights advocates.
Adam plans to continue with human rights work after his graduation
from Colby in 2007.
Adam
will use his Upper Midwest Human Rights Fellowship to work with
the Center of Victims of Torture (CVT) in Minneapolis . He will
work on grassroots efforts to promote awareness of torture and
human rights and to frame torture/ill-treatment as public issues
in Minnesota.
Blog
Elizabeth Royal
ProBono Project
New Orleans, Louisiana
Elizabeth
Royal was born in Hanau, Germany, during the Cold War, to a German
goldsmith apprentice and a United States soldier. In 1996, she
graduated from the University of St. Thomas with a B.A. in Sociology
and Theology and from William Mitchell College of Law with a J.D.
in 2002. She was admitted to the Minnesota Supreme Court as an
Attorney in September 2003 and admitted to the United States District
Court in the District of Minnesota in October 2003 and has been
in private practice. Her practice includes state and federal criminal
district court matters; state and federal criminal appeals; family
law appeals, and immigration consequences of criminal sentences.
She has also served as a consulting attorney and fundraiser for
the International Leadership Institute. Currently, She is a partner
in the law firm of Royal & Sheryzen, PLLP.
Elizabeth's fellowship
project is sponsored by the International Leadership Institute
and at the Pro Bono Project in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Louisiana
Supreme Court has issued an order allowing attorneys licensed
in other states to practice civil law in Louisiana if they are
supervised by a qualifying agency. The Pro Bono Project is such
a qualifying agency and they are in need of attorneys to assist
with their caseloads in which Elizabeth will provide legal services
to families impacted by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
Katherine
Sewell
ProBAR
Harlingen, Texas
Katie
Sewell was born and raised in Wisconsin and obtained her engineering
degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Katie is now
a resident of Minnesota, and currently a student at the University
of Minnesota Law School. Katie spent two years in the Peace Corps
in South Africa training rural primary school teachers in outcome-based
education and alternatives to corporal punishment. She also worked
with girls and women on HIV/AIDS prevention issues.
Katie
was introduced to her Fellowship host organization, the South
Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project (ProBAR), through
her participation in the Law School’s Asylum Law Project for first-year
students. During the summer of 2006, she will work with ProBAR
in Harlingen, Texas, representing indigent and detained asylum
seekers principally from countries in Africa, South America, and
Central America. Katie hopes to use the experience she gains from
working with ProBAR to benefit the immigrant community in Minnesota,
chiefly through law clinics and volunteer work with the Minnesota
Justice Foundation.
Jared
Shepherd
Human Rights Center
Minneapolis,
MN
Jared
Shepherd is currently a student at the University of Minnesota
Law School. Jared received his Bachelors of Science in Socio-Political
Communication from Missouri State University in 2003. After
graduating, he served in the U.S. Peace Corps as a Health Education
Volunteer in Jermuk, Republic of Armenia.
During
the summer of 2006, Jared will help to prepare class materials
on genocide with attention to the Armenian Genocide and consideration
as to whether humanitarian intervention would be an appropriate
approach to genocidal situations. He will also do legal research
for Taner Akçam, a University of Minnesota History Professor and
prominent scholar of the Armenian Genocide. When he completes
his fellowship, Jared hopes to organize speaking events on genocide
issues through Amnesty International to inform and motivate young
professional in taking actions against genocide.
Report
Andrea
Templeton
The Center for Victims of
Torture
Minneapolis, MN
UN
Human Rights Committee
Geneva, Switzerland
Andrea
Templeton was born and raised in Minnesota. She is currently a
joint-degree student at the University of Minnesota Law School
and the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Andrea graduated
from Middlebury College with a B.A. in Geography and French. In
the summer of 2004, Andrea participated in a conflict resolution
seminar at The Hague, Netherlands, with the Institute for International
Mediation and Conflict Resolution.
During
the summer and fall of 2006, Andrea will be working with the Center
for Victims of Torture as an Intern, organizing a grassroots effort
to frame torture and ill-treatment as public issues in Minnesota.
She will also go to Geneva, Switzerland, in July 2006 to observe,
advocate about, and report on the U.S. appearance before the Human
Rights Committee to discuss its compliance with the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Upon her return, Andrea
will submit an article to the Journal for Law and Inequality about
the proceedings in order to bring these important events to the
attention of the Midwest community. Andrea is also looking forward
to sharing her experiences with her colleagues and community leaders
interested in bringing about public policies that work to eliminate
torture.
Report
Babina
Tuladhar
Esther Benjamins
Trust
Kathmandu, Nepal
Babina
Tuladhar is a student from Nepal who is studying at the College
of St. Catherine in Minnesota. Babina is in her junior year pursuing
a double major in International Relations and Political Science,
as well as a minor in Women’s Studies. She is active in her campus
community through various organizations and is actively involved
in anti-human trafficking campaigns on and off campus.
This
summer she is going back to Nepal to work for Esther Benjamin
Trust (EBT), an organization that helps the most marginalized
children and young people in her native country. EBT has projects
in several parts of Nepal, but Babina will be spending most of
her time in Hetauda in Makwanpur district. Her main focus
will be the rehabilitation of young girls rescued from circuses
and other forms of bonded labor in India. Upon her return, she
hopes to act as a liaison between the Nepali Diaspora in the United
States and EBT, initiating fundraising and sponsorship programs,
as well as continuing to educate the local community on issues
of human trafficking.
Andrew
Turpening
Human Rights Center
Minneapolis,
Minnesota
Andrew
Turpening, a longstanding resident of Central Minnesota, is working
on a Fellowship to increase public awareness of the problem of
homelessness in Minnesota. Andrew has been working in the social
services field for the past seven years, and is very troubled
by the lack of political representation or even presence in the
mainstream media of underprivileged groups, such as people experiencing
homelessness, or those working in this country without papers.
He is interested in the intersection between art and social activism;
as a response to the silence and under-representation of people
in these difficult life situations, Andrew has begun the development
of a website to host music designed to shed light on the problem
of homelessness.
Andrew
is currently working with the Human Rights Center on a project
entitled “The Land of 10,000 Homeless,� which documents the experiences
of individuals currently experiencing homelessness in the Twin
Cities. Andrew is recording interviews with local homeless
people and adapting them musically to create a fusion of music
and documentary that has evolved into a pop-umentary for his website. When the website is complete in the fall of 2006,
Andrew will use the film/music recordings of homeless people and
other local resources to launch a public relations campaign to
educate Minnesotans about homelessness. Andrew will use the music
he creates to produce a CD that will help communicate and open
avenues of discussion regarding homelessness throughout the state.
The web address for the site will be www.voicesofthestreets.org.
Report
Jenni
Vainik
Hennepin
County Domestic Abuse Service Center
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jenni
Vainik was born and raised in Minnesota. She graduated from Northwestern
University in Evanston, Illinois, in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree
in Gender Studies and Political Science. Currently, Jenni is a
student at the University of Minnesota Law School. She expects
to graduate in 2008 and hopes to use her law degree to defend
battered women and promote women’s rights.
Jenni
will be an Upper Midwest Human Rights Fellow at the Hennepin County
’s Domestic Abuse Service Center (DASC) in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
DASC’s comprehensive approach to women’s human rights has been
recognized throughout the United States and the world as a unique
and effective model for serving domestic abuse victims and their
families. At DASC, Jenni will have the opportunity to learn how
to provide victims with the legal and social services necessary
to ensure their safety. Upon completion of her fellowship, Jenni
plans to share her experiences with the greater law community
by giving talks at law schools and other university venues. It
is her hope that such events will not only allow her to share
her experiences, but also serve as a forum to discuss women’s
human rights issues.
Report
Edward
Wilson
Pilgrim Center for Reconciliation
Rwanda
Edward
Wilson has been a District Court Judge in Saint Paul, Minnesota
since 1987. He has presided over a wide variety of cases including
juvenile, family, and civil matters, but now works primarily on
criminal cases. In 2003, he was chosen as one of four Minnesota
judges to work for the United Nations as a judge in Kosovo, Serbia.
He is particularly interested in restorative justice and, with
the help of community members and criminal justice professionals,
started a restorative justice sentencing program in 1998. Prior
to being appointed to the bench, Ed was a criminal defense attorney
with the Neighborhood Justice Center in Saint Paul.
For
his Fellowship project, Ed will work with the Pilgrim Center for
Reconciliation, a non-denominational organization that works in
Rwanda to bring peace between the Hutu and Tutsi through small
group healing retreats. He plans, with their permission, to film
interviews with retreat participants. Ed will also observe the
gacaca courts, which are community-based courts that have been
instituted by the government to try people accused of participating
in the 1994 genocide, and to bring reconciliation to the country.
He will compare the gacaca courts’ methods of working for reconciliation
with those of private groups, such as the Pilgrim Center. When
he returns from his Fellowship, Ed will speak about his experiences
in Rwanda, supplementing his presentations with film, in order
to increase public awareness of restorative justice and the continuing
effects of the Rwandan genocide.
Report
Quito Ziegler
Resource Center of Americas/Centro
Derechos Laborales
Minneapolis, MN and Mexico
A
New York native, Quito Ziegler came to Minnesota in 1994 to study
at Macalester College and has since become a resident of the state.
She is a documentary photographer and the co-director of the Minnesota
Immigrant Freedom Network, an organization which works to fix
the broken immigration system in this country. She co-founded
the Freedom Network out of her belief in public art’s ability
to have an impact on social justice, and has completed several
photography projects on immigrants in Minnesota.
For
this fellowship, she will work with El Centro de Derechos Laborales
of Minneapolis to complete Documenting the Undocumented,
a project focusing on the human rights violations inherent in
illegal immigration from Mexico to the United States. Through
interviews and photography, she will document the stories of immigrants
to Minnesota and the families and places they left behind in Mexico,
looking specifically at workplace rights issues, crossing the
border, divided families, and the conditions that cause this migration
in the first place. For Spring 2006 Quito displayed her photos
at the McKnight Foundation in Minneapolis because she received
some funding from that foundation. When she returns from her travels,
Quito will create a photography exhibit that will debut at the
Resource Center of the Americas in Minnesota. In tandem with
the exhibit, she also plans to facilitate community discussions
on immigration issues.
