To register, click on this link.

1.  ISHMAEL BEAH

“I know the nature of what it is to be forgotten, what it is to lose your humanity, and more importantly, what it is to recover from it and to have another life.”

Ishmael Beah, Sierra Leone

Ishmael Beah is a Sierra Leonean author and human rights activist who rose to fame with his acclaimed memoir, A Long Way Gone.

In 1991, the Sierra Leone Civil War started. Rebels invaded Beah’s hometown, Mogbwemo, located in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone, and he was forced to flee. Separated from his family, he spent months wandering south with a group of other boys. At the age of 13, he was forced to become a child soldier. he fought for almost three years before being rescued by UNICEF. In 1997 with the help of UNICEF, Beah left Sierra Leone and arrived in New York City, New York, where he lived with Laura Simms, his foster mother. Beah, now seventeen, attended high school at the United Nations International School. After graduating, Beah enrolled at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, graduating in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. 

 In 2007 Beah published A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of A Boy Soldier, which told his story as a child soldier in the Sierra Leone Civil War. The book became a bestseller and was nominated for a Quill Award in the Best Debut Author category for 2007. Time magazine named it one of the Top Nonfiction Books of 2007.

Through advocacy, he aims to change the course for thousands of children still trapped in war.

Ishmael is a member of the Human Rights Watch Children’s Rights Division Advisory Committee.

 

2. SARAH PRINCE: UBUNTU FOOTBALL

“A non-profit football academy with a mission to mentor and educate the next generation of great African leaders”

Ubuntu is an African expression of togetherness, meaning that what I am is intrinsically linked to what we are. Ubuntu Football was born in 2011 in response to a crisis of fatherlessness in South African society, where 60% of children are growing up without a father in their home. The lack of positive, male role models is a root cause of cycles of alcoholism, drug addiction, gender inequality, corruption, and more. The Ubuntu Football team wants every child leaving Ubuntu to be holistically mentored to be a leader, professionally developed to be a footballer, and uniquely educated to reach their academic potential. UBUNTU Football

3. SIYA AND RACHEL KOLISI

By working alongside others, adding our story to the stories of communities and individuals who are changing the world. By “remembering the one: one by one” we will impact the nation.

The Kolisi Foundation was founded by Siya and Rachel Kolisi with a vision to change narratives of inequality in South Africa.  The Kolisi Foundation was established in April 2020 by Siya and Rachel Kolisi. The Foundation was birthed through Siya and Rachel’s desire to change the story of inequality in South Africa, responding with compassion and courage to the challenges faced by our nation.

Rachel was born in Mafikeng, and raised in Grahamstown, a small town in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. She attended Victoria Girls’ High School and matriculated in 2008. She worked five jobs simultaneously in order to put herself through tertiary studies, graduating with a degree in Events Management at the Stellenbosch Hotel School. After completing her studies, Rachel worked as a marketing and events coordinator at a large marketing company in Cape Town. 

Empowering and encouraging women, while facilitating spaces and conversations for women to discover and unleash their world-changing potential is important to Rachel. Making room for these conversations that are rooted in health, wellness, self-care, responsibility and ownership, has been – and will continue to be – a significant part of Rachel living out her purpose, while working towards leaving the world a better place than what she found it as.

With hearts willing to respond, hands ready to serve, and heads ready to learn, the Kolisi Foundation team is committed to the vision of changing narratives of inequality in South Africa. The Kolisi Foundation

4. LEEANNE LAVENDER

LeeAnne Lavender is a storytelling and service learning/global citizenship educator who loves to collaborate and partner with educators worldwide. She has been a service learning coach and mentor for many years, and is now the service learning advisor for AISA. While working in Shanghai, LeeAnne co-founded the Shanghai Service and Sustainability Network, a robust group of 200+ educators in and around Shanghai. She regularly offers webinars and professional learning experiences about storytelling and service learning and she is a facilitator with CBK Associates. LeeAnne is a poet and engages in digital storytelling in a variety of ways. She is passionate about all things sustainable, particularly local food systems, living in a minimalist/zero waste way, and personal health and wellness. You can learn more about her at https://www.leeannelavender.com/.

5. Shei Asuncio

Shei is a dedicated educator at heart with two decades of teaching experience in different countries. She strongly believes in empowering children and young people for positive and sustainable change in the world and working alongside students to realize initiatives that matter most to them is one of her greatest passions. Shei is proud and honored to work for CBK Associates and Orenda Learning where she has grown personally and professionally. 

Shei is an advocate for women’s and girls’ access to menstrual education and care products. Her students’ work with girls and women in a refugee setting in north Angola was featured by Ruby Cup (“a savvy period company fighting for equality”) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Angola. 

6. Tiwana Merritt

Tiwana Merritt works as an educator at the American International School of Johannesburg (AISJ). After spending many years teaching in Australia and most recently in southern China, she now called Johannesburg home. She graduated from Southern Oregon University with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science then completed a Graduate Diploma of Education at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia and has a Masters in Educational Leadership through Monash University. She has specialized in outdoor and experiential education throughout most of her teaching career. Her passion lies in student leadership, sustainability and motivating her community towards using their power and privilege to uplift others. As a member of the AISJ Teaching and Learning coaching team and the Service Learning Coordinator, Tiwana is responsible for the development and implementation of AISJ’s service learning standards.

7. Constance Collins

Constance Darshea Collins, an Atlanta, GA native, is a Humanities, Language Arts and the Service Learning Coordinator at the International School of Uganda. The heart of her work as an educator rests in affirming the power of student voice and imagination, and leveraging their rich cultural power to resist oppressive forces and drive change.

Constance has lived internationally in France, Switzerland, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Constance received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Yale University and Teachers College, Columbia University, respectively. Her scholarly research and practice has been in areas of critical pedagogy, liberatory education, as well as culturally relevant and gender responsive pedagogies. She is currently obtaining a second master’s degree in Race, Gender, and Educational Leadership from Harvard Graduate School of Education.