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Kaleid scope THE MAGAZINE OF UWC-USA, THE ARMAND HAMMER UWC OF THE AMERICAN WEST
Vo l u m e 4 1
THE WOUNDS OF WAR The Legacy of Guatemala’s Violent History page 9
Coming Home
UWC-USA as a Place for Our Best and Truest Selves page 11
LIVING UWC AFTER UWC
Alumni Stories of UWC-USA’s Influence on Their Lives page 12-13
PRESIDENT ’S MESSAGE:
CREDITS editor in chief
We’re almost 30! Somehow when we turned the calendar to 2011, the proximity to 2012, and the College’s 30th anniversary, became very real to me. This marker seems a good moment to update our alumni, parents, and friends on some key events in the life of our school. As I believe you all know, Peter Hamer-Hodges, who served the school from 1983 to 2010 and was our distinguished graduation speaker last May, departed for new adventures in his native UK. In many respects, he exemplifies the life of service and the commitment of many of our faculty. It is not surprising that, after long and distinguished tenures at UWC, other faculty members are also considering transitioning to new opportunities such as writing, consulting, or retirement. In recognition of their extraordinary service to students and the UWC movement, the board has created a transition fund to support longer serving faculty members as they move to the next chapters in their lives. There are cases where we will not be replacing these departing faculty members. In this era, when we are juggling the challenge of the loss of value of our endowment from its peak in 2008 and facing the anticipated loss of the Armand Hammer Trust in 2013, it is only responsible to contain costs wherever we can. Teachers who will remain on the faculty have indicated a willingness to take on additional responsibilities to make this possible. We will also seek to reduce non-teaching staff positions through attrition over time. What is important to me is that the giants who founded and shepherded this school and so many generations of students go on to their next phase in life with honor, support, and celebration. I want you to know we’re working to do exactly that. It’s also important that you know that we will be seeking to find the next generation of great faculty members who can influence lives, participate in our intensely experiential and residential program, and deliver high intellectual content in the classroom in vital and exciting ways. Know that as we do all of this, we do so with a clear eye on our mission and on the welfare of our students. Know that we are redoubling efforts, with considerable success and thanks to many of you, to raise more financial support. Know that we remain focused on everything central to our important purpose in the world. As always, please let us know if you have questions. In the meanwhile, be prepared to honor the pioneers and welcome the new adventurers.
Elizabeth Morse contributing editor Emily Withnall MUWCI ‘01 designer Danielle Wollner contributors Abuubakar Ally ‘12 Innocent Basso ’11 Omar Yaxmehen Bello Chavolla ’11 Gert Danielsen ’96 Aminata Deme ’11 Marie Dixon Frisch ’84 Cassandra Doremus ’11 Timothy J. Dougherty Rodrigo Erazo ’12 Nofar Hamrany ’11 Ali Jamoos ‘12 Henrik Jenssen ’12 Pedro Monque ’12 Kevin Mazariegos Moralles ’11 Natalia Bernal Restrepo ’05 Julian Rios ‘12 Kate Russell Jake Rutherford Arjan Stockhausen ’11 Vichea Tan ’11 Elizabeth Withnall
With warm best wishes from Montezuma,
Bereket Zekarias ’11 contact UWC-USA
Lisa A. H. Darling President
PO Box 248 Montezuma, NM 87731 USA 505-454-4200 publications@uwc-usa.org Kaleidoscope is published biannually by the UWC-USA Development Office, for the purpose of keeping the extended UWC-USA community connected. feedback Send an email to publications@uwc-usa.org, or post a comment online at www.uwc-usa.org/read. We look forward to hearing your comments and critiques!
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On the cover: UWC-USA students at the Grand Canyon. W W W . U W C - U S A . O R G Photo credit: Timothy J. Dougherty
SPRING 2011
TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S A Distinctly “HK” Alumni Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Opportunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Possession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Backpack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Grandmother . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 A Lesson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Writing the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 The Wounds of War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Music is a Conversation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Coming Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Living UWC After UWC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13 How I Became a Clown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 -15 Alumni Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 -17 Photo credit: Jake Rutherford
THE 2010-2011 ANNUAL-FUND CHALLENGE Alumni, parents, trustees, get-aways, employees, and friends have come for inspiring scores of others to dramatically increase their support together this year to help broaden and deepen philanthropic support for at a time when building our Annual Fund is essential to the school’s UWC-USA and close the funding gap that the school will soon face. future. We are also extremely grateful for the generous donors who Led by the Annual-Fund are stepping up to meet the Challenge Committee, a group Challenge. These gifts will of leaders who pooled funds help transition UWC-USA The Annual-Fund Challenge Committee used to match gifts from othto a more sustainable base er supporters, the Challenge of philanthropic support Marc Blum, UWC-USA Trustee, Committee Chair matches gifts from those who and strengthen the school to (1) become a Castle Club memfulfill its mission for generaSebastien de Halleux ’96 ber and (2) double their previtions to come. KC Kung ’87 ous Annual-Fund gift. If you haven’t made your Challenge Committee memAnnual Fund gift yet, it’s not too Tom and Beverley McGuckin, current parents bers committed a combined late! The Annual Fund, which Benjamin Melkman ’98 and Alexa Melkman ’99 total of $215,000 for the Chalraises money for current-year lenge, and the response was operations, ends on May 31. SupBill Moore, former UWC-USA Trustee and Capital Campaign Chair strong. The Challenge was port it by making a gift online at Michael Stern ’89, Distinguished Trustee met in early February, thanks www.uwc-usa.org/give or sendto the 132 people who made ing a check to UWC-USA DeJames and Sarah Taylor, alumni parents and UWC-USA Trustees qualifying gifts. velopment Office, PO Box 248, UWC-USA is very grateful Montezuma, NM 87731, USA. Charles C. Wong ’84 to the Challenge Committee Kenneth Yeung ’84 K A L E I D O S C O P E
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A Distinctly “HK” Alumni Event
Charles Wong ’84 and his mother arrived in Hong Kong at the train terminal in Kowloon from mainland China when he was twelve years old. According to Charles, this was during a time when people from mainland China were seen in Hong Kong as coarse and ill-mannered. Charles was tormented in school but nevertheless excelled academically. In spite of his lack of familial connections, which were important and highly regarded in Hong Kong society, Charles was determined, against all odds, to go to the best school in Hong Kong. One day, he walked into an esteemed school and asked to see the headmaster. The headmaster happened to be standing near the receptionist, asked what he wanted, and brought him in to his office. The headmaster invited Charles to apply, and he was admitted. While he attended the school, Charles ran track, swam, and played the violin—things he still enjoys. Charles attended UWC-USA because of the opportunity and adventure it offered. From UWC, he went to Pomona College and studied liberal arts. His first job was with General Electric. He eventually attended the Harvard’s Kennedy School, and during his summer breaks he interned for both McKinsey and Goldman Sachs. Charles left school early and started late so he could intern for eight weeks at each of these prestigious companies, and he remembers taking his end-of-year exams on an airplane and faxing them back to his professors. Charles is now CEO and Chairman of the Board at Global Flex Holdings as well as a Director of Chi Capital. Charles will be on campus in April to participate in Alumni Weekend, an annual event which brings inspiring alumni back to campus to interact with current students. He will be joined by diplomat Laura TaylorKale ’96, and conservationist Aurelio Ramos ’91.
Emily Withnall, MUWCI ’01 Communications “How is UWC to remain relevant?” Foundation to facilitate support of the school This was one of the many UWC-themed and scholarships for students attending the topics that came up during the Hong Kong school. In addition, three of these graduates, UWC-USA alumni barbeque, hosted by Charles Wong, Kenneth Yeung, and KC Kung, Charles Wong ’84 last October on Middle Ishave taken a leadership role in fund-raising land, Hong Kong. for the school by The answers to becoming part While regular representation this question covof the Annualof mainland Chinese students ered vast ground, Fund Challenge but some of the Committee for remains a long-term ambition, first alumni from the 2010-11 school they agreed that with the 1980’s talked year. This comat length about mittee, composed China growing in economic the importance of of alumni, parimportance, it will be essential having mainland ents, and friends, to ensure this representation Chinese students has pledged to regularly reprematch gifts to from China to anticipate and sented at UWCthis year’s annual further support the ideals of USA. While regufund from donors lar representation who double their peace, sustainability, and the of mainland Chiprevious gifts and bridging of cultures. nese students rejoin the Castle mains a long-term Club. More inambition, they agreed that with China growing formation on the challenge can be found at in economic importance, it will be essential to www.uwc-usa.org/annualfundchallenge. ensure this representation from China to anThis Hong Kong UWC-USA alumni gathticipate and further support the ideals of peace, ering was the second event Charles Wong has sustainability, and the bridging of cultures. hosted for UWC-USA. Charles’s dedication Charles Wong ’84, Kenneth Yeung ’84, Anto UWC runs deep: “UWC-USA was such a nie Fung ’85, Fiona Siu ’86, and KC Kung ’87 powerful and important part of my life that I count among the senior group of Hong-Kong am thrilled to be able to support the school alumni very active in supporting and sustainand to help foster connections among my feling UWC-USA, a group that has recently low graduates.” established the UWC-USA Greater China
Photo courtesy of Timothy J. Dougherty
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WHERE WE’RE FROM
Opportunity Vichea Tan ’11 Cambodia Working with AFESIP Cambodia (Acting for Women in Distressas they always do, they started to talk and were passionate in doing ing Situations) last summer was the most wonderful experience I the activities. have ever had. As it went on I started to learn about a 14-year-old girl who was rescued People have equal rights and the same value but unfortunately a few months before we went to the center. I was showing the girl how some have been valued in terms of money. One of many problems to play guitar and having conversation with her. While we were talking, I we are facing in our society is human trafficking. In Cambodia, asked her where she came from. She suddenly turned quiet, bending her thousands of kids and women get into this problem every year. face down. I felt bad because I knew that I had done something wrong. At AFESIP is working very hard to the end of the day, before we left the rescue people who have been center, the girl came to me and gave I used to think that I had very little traded. Many of them are still me a piece of paper. She told me in young and have seriously sufthe paper that she was also from the opportunity in my tiny world, but after I fered, which makes it very hard place where I came from. She has met these people, I knew I had been wrong. to go back and face the realities six younger brothers and sisters, of our society. but her mother died four years ago. I spent five days workShe had been sold to be a prostitute ing in the AFESIP center. We were not allowed to stay overnight before she was rescued and sent to the AFESIP center. “I am so glad that because we were not familiar to the girls in the center. The first you all came and taught us a lot of things which make me really happy,” time I entered the center I felt we were feared, and I saw that she wrote, “and I really hope I will have another chance to learn how to there were some people who were trying to stay apart from our play guitar.” I was so touched by the letter. group. We tried to make ourselves familiar so that we could work I used to think that I had very little opportunity in my tiny world, with them well. We played some games, had a discussion about but after I met these people, I knew I had been wrong. After five days of food, and created a music lesson. After a few days of effort I could working in the center, we learned a lot from each other. I left Siem Riep feel the improvement by the way they interacted with us. Smiling and returned home. I hoped that we made good memories for those girls.
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WHERE WE’RE FROM
Possession Aminata Deme ’11 Senegal
Julian Rios ’12 Colombia Inspired by “Theme for English B,” by Langston Hughes
FROM THE DEEP BOWELS OF THE ROCK, From the sacred heart of the mountain, And from the wild arms of the torrential river, A voice like a sorrow is rising up to me.
With the blood of my people in his hands And the burden of our eternal struggle in his shoulders My father Wiracocha through the wind my name is calling.
My name and all the names, My name and the names of my brothers who died, My name that is the rose of my pacha.
Although, I was born in a Spanish cradle, In my blood indigenous strength flows. The breath of my grandparents my secret embraces As one day from Mother Bachue a muisca people was born.
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Sometimes we can be blinded by a strong they are women. Even women who have experiand irrefutable sense of belonging to and enced similar situations often become so brainpossessing our culture. Not only do we tend washed that when their daughters and sisters to defend our culture, but we also love to suffer, and hope to be rescued, they lecture them think of it or look at it as the most perfect, about being better wives. How paradoxical! the most authentic. For so long, we have paid respect to ancient I believe there are times when we need to traditions that have ignored the rights of youth challenge our convictions about our own culand children and oppress women in the grosstures, to accept and be open to the changes that est and most outrageous forms. might benefit our societies. It’s now the time to abolish all restrictive Where I come from, some women are and backward cultural practices that hinder still oppressed for the sake of culture and women’s and youth’s free will. tradition. I often think, “I could be one of those Where I come from, some women are young women.” I am terrified by that thought. still oppressed for the sake of culture and So much I would suftradition. I often think, “I could be one of fer, prisoner of a society those young women.” I am terrified by with no mercy. As a woman in that that thought. culture, I would never dare claim my rights in my society. By the age of sixteen, I would already have been married by force to a fifty-year-old stranger. I would have no say. As a woman, my opinions would be neither heard nor valued, my choices would not be considered, and no escape would be possible. My life would be reduced to bearing children with no strength, feeding a family with no joy, forever being the subaltern in a society governed by men’s power. How excruciating can it be to undergo all this misery, having society trivialize it, with no ability to act upon it? The traditions and the community make it impossible for women to break free from forced marriages. Mothers and sisters can’t even help; they do not get involved in Photo credit: Arjan Stockhausen these decisions because U W C - U S A
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Backpack Nofar Hamrany ’11 Israel that we were breathing. I just looked at the school supply store. The It was August 2003, the end of summer break. I actually wanted it doors were broken, and all the backpacks had turned black. I couldn’t to end. I was so excited to go and buy a new backpack, notebooks, colorbelieve that I was standing there yesterday trying them on. That night ful pens, and all the other school supplies that I needed. My mom took on the news, they announced that twenty-nine people had been injured me to the shopping center in our town. The minute I got to the store I and two people had started looking at all the been killed. backpacks, trying on each In the background I could see the paramedics and A few days after that, one of them. My mom school started. I went told me to choose quickly, dozens of people crying and bleeding. And I knew all on the first day with my but I didn’t listen. of them; they were all from my town. new backpack, expecting After two hours, we everything to be normal went back home, and again, but it wasn’t. For I ran to my room and the first week we just talked about the terrorist attack and how it affected started to put my notebooks in my new bag. My mom said I needed to us. I was very excited to go to school, but after this attack I didn’t want to sleep because it was late. I went to bed, but I couldn’t sleep. I stayed talk about it. I just wanted to forget it happened, but I couldn’t. I still can’t. up all night thinking about school and being able to see my friends. The next morning I woke up and wanted to visit my friend. I called my mom at work to ask her. She sounded angry, and she told me not to leave the house. I asked her, “What’s wrong?” She didn’t answer but just kept saying, “Do not leave the house.” I was mad because I couldn’t visit my friend, and I was embarrassed to call her and tell her that I couldn’t come. I finally dialed the number, and she answered so fast that I didn’t even have the time to speak; she was already asking, “Are you OK? Where are you?” I said, “I’m in my house.” “Where are your parents?” “My mom is at work and I don’t know where my dad is. Why?” “You didn’t hear it?” I still didn’t know what she was talking about, but I understood that something bad had happened. She started to tell me that she heard a big “boom” an hour ago. She looked out her window, and she saw fire and a lot of smoke. There was a suicide-bomber attack in the shopping center in our town. I couldn’t believe it. I switched on the TV and saw it all over the news. I called my dad to make sure that he was ok, and then I started to call all the people I knew. When I finished calling all my friends and family to make sure that they were ok, I started watching the news. There were interviews of people who were there when it happened, and I recognized all of them. In the background I could see the paramedics and dozens of people crying and bleeding. And I knew all of them; they were all from my town. When my mom came back from work, we went to my aunt’s house. We drove past the shopping center, or rather what was left of it. The skies where still black from all the smoke, and the smell was still in Photo credit: Arjan Stockhausen the air. The smoky smell of fear blended in the air K A L E I D O S C O P E
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Grandmother Bereket Zekarias ’11 Ethiopia She said she had lost eight of her children, was beaten by her husShe took a deep breath as if to let all the lamentation out. Her eyes band every day, and had suffered most of her life. When she told me these are small, so very small that it’s amazing that she can see. I deduced things, all I could utter was, “Everything is for a reason,” but deep inside that the smallness of her eyes came from crying all the time, or from I inquired, “Why? Why does she have to go through all this injustice?” When I feel depressed because I didn’t do well on a chemistry test I call her Abeye; she is my grandmother, my guardian, and my second or I didn’t do a good job on my class presentation, I immediately mom. remember that I am an Ethiopian woman. What Ethiopian women “Don’t associate with boys; they are evil. Promise me to keep yourself away do best is beat all the odds in life. To fight for better treatment from them while you are in school.” and to fight for a happier and more fulfilled life is the battle of I guess she doesn’t want me to go Ethiopian women every day. through the suffering she was forced to bear. “Getachew, Kebede, Belay, Ayele, Zenebe, Neway, Abebe, Zelalem. I got used to letting them go. Every time the sunshine that was hidden from her while the whole world had the I got pregnant, I knew deep inside of me that I had to let go a person chance to see the sun. inside my womb. Your grandfather was no help; he said I had a curse “God is good; he gave me your mother. I didn’t even name her because I didn’t want to be cheated again. When your mother was three months old, I went to church and begged God to make her live, and it worked.” She stopped to wipe away the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. She kissed the ground and said, “Thank you God for giving me an opportunity to have grandchildren. I can die now.” That was one of the saddest moments of my life, not only because I knew that my grandmother’s life was full of challenges but also because it took me forever to realize what she went through to protect me. Her gratitude struck me like a lightning bolt, because she is a woman who keeps thanking God though she has little reason to do so. When I asked what the happiest moment in her life was, she looked me in the eyes and said, “I have had a lot of happy moments, dear; we are responsible for creating our happy moments. Though my life was hard, I have had magnificent moments that make my life worth living. The nine times I gave birth to my children and when I saw their closed eyes and heard their crying for the first time, I thanked God because he gave me the opportunity to see these wonderful beings. The day you were born was also one of the happiest moments of my life. Promise me that you will study hard, promise me not to let others control you and take your rights from you.” I nodded, thinking “How does she do it? How can you be optimistic when life treats you so badly?” In the end I comprehended that my grandPhoto credit: Arjan Stockhausen mother is one of a kind to hold this quality. My grandmother and all women in Ethiopia keep me going every day. When I feel depressed because I didn’t do well on a chemistry test which was responsible for the death of all of his children, but I never got or I didn’t do a good job on my class presentation, I immediately rethe courage to tell him that they were my children too and that I carried member that I am an Ethiopian woman. What Ethiopian women do them inside my womb for nine months anticipating seeing them alive. best is beat all the odds in life. To fight for better treatment and to fight Your grandfather even brought his child from another woman and told for a happier and more fulfilled life is the battle of Ethiopian women me to raise the baby. I raised the baby like it was mine, first because I every day. Luckily I don’t fight the same fight; I fight easy things. Maybe didn’t have a choice, and second because I needed a baby that was mine.” I can fight the battle for the ones who are too tired to do so.
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A Lesson Innocent Basso ’11 Tanzania I grew up in a very strict Christian family. I was expected to do exin a meeting that he did not let me attend, and successfully convinced actly as I was instructed without questioning. Failure to comply with them to retreat from their mission. these principles resulted in severe punishment from my parents. It is I have become more flexible. I now know that there is always anfor this reason that I developed strong abidance to certain precepts in other way to do something. I learned about my weaknesses, and I have life. In addition, I always wanted to lead most of the activities I was inbeen made stronger. I appreciate the adventures that life has to give volved in because I could not afford to see something done differently. because they broaden my perception and make me a better person. I Despite my strong attachment to the teachings of my parents, at believe that what I learn from my experiences now are the tools for one point I had to deviate from the set of formula and actually do what I overcoming greater challenges in the future. personally thought was right. In my third year in a seminary, back home in Tanzania, I was elected I have become more flexible. I now know that there is the General Secretary of the Students’ Council. My job was to organize and coordinate different always another way to do something. I learned about my activities on campus. In one particular case, my weaknesses, and I have been made stronger. classmates agreed not to do a job they were assigned. Considering the essential nature of the job, I informed the school administration about the situation, asking for assistance to make them do it. My action offended my classmates, and it was taken as an act of betrayal. Although I tried to explain myself, they ignored me and decided to teach me a lesson. My classmates excluded me from all class matters, and nobody was allowed to talk to me. Offensive comments against me were spread all over campus. I tried to ignore them, but the situation got worse. Some of them began to insult me verbally, and my personal belongings were vandalized. As the General Secretary, I could report them to the seminary’s administration. According to principles I grew up with, this is what was right to do. Nevertheless, this option would unnecessarily harm the student community because it would result in the expulsion of many of the students–even innocent ones. I believed that as a leader my primary goal was to assure a fruitful and enjoyable school experience for everyone; therefore, reporting them was not an option. I understood that anger was in control of my classmates. It was difficult for them to accept that I could “betray” my class and get away with it. During this time, the whole student community was watching me, waiting to see how I was going to handle the situation. I was confused. I did not like all the harassment I was subjected to, but all the same, I was not ready to lose members of our community. Luckily, an alumnus visited the seminary, and I did not hesitate to share my problems. He promised me that he would help. He talked to my classmates Photo credit: Arjan Stockhausen K A L E I D O S C O P E
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Writing the World Omar Yaxmehen Bello Chavolla ’11 Mexico
Rodrigo Erazo ’12 Ecuador Inspired by “Theme for English B,” by Langston Hughes “It’s going to be better.” I guess not… As I wake up at 4 am in “my” bed that I share with my 8 siblings As I take a shower with cold water, not really in a shower, but with a bowl from the kitchen As I put on the same clothes that I wear every day As I go to the kitchen just to realize there’s nothing to eat… I walk out of there to find a job, to bring something to eat to my home At least a couple of dollars in my pocket to buy some bread for my family nothing… Failure followed by failure… I’m tired of trying the same everyday I’m tired of watching my brothers going to bed with hunger I’m tired of watching my mother dealing with my drunken father
Storms and earthquakes, special dishes stories were for me more than a hobby; they and exotic flavors, the warmth of the sand and were a lifestyle. I turned myself into a character the cruel coldness of the hard rocks. Those and lived my life as a story that I tried to tell were some of the images that vibrated in every myself every day. surface of the dining room every night as my Storytelling was the way I found myself parents told me countless stories about things living in the 1960s in that terrible storm that I never heard before. These and more of their my father used to recall with angst, and the words kept resonating in my head while I slowly way I felt inside a building in inner Mexico returned to reality. I City after the 1985 found myself starearthquake in SepStorytelling was the way I ing at a blank piece tember, when my of paper in front mother was helpfound myself living in the of me, a pen in my ing to coordinate 1960s in that terrible storm hand. phone calls for the These stories only telephones that my father used to recall came to life for me that were available with angst… in a way that was as near the disaster real as the words I zone. It is amusing am writing. I write to live the unthinkable, to to look back on those stories about elves that teleport myself to the endless scenarios the my father used to tell me, remembering how mind creates. I write because it keeps me alive, they became for me as tangible as any other makes me feel that the world can be sketched thing in this world. I soon realized that I wrote beyond what can be seen with a simple glance. because I wanted the world to make sense, beIdeas turned into motion, motion turned cause words were the only way I could make into ink, ink into capricious swirls that sank in the world real. the fibers of a corroded paper. The idea became And I am still sitting in front of a blank pathe word, the word became the story. All those per while thinking of all the stories that could stories that were bound to be told resonated as possibly be written. Every bit I write makes me echoes in my head; as the words flowed slowly feel that the world makes more sense to me. throughout the years, the pile of paper next to Will it ever be completely clear? I hope not. I my bed kept growing. I soon realized that the want to keep trying to figure it out.
q Omar with co-year Ivana Marincic.
I’m tired of being useless… My father is no longer At least my mother will wake up without bruises on her face And now off to the city, to find a better life I’ve been crying since my father died; even though he beat my mother I loved him… I’m reading what I wrote And I have a simple question: Is it going to be better? Photo credit: Arjan Stockhausen
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The Wounds of War Kevin Mazariegos Moralles ’11 Guatemala of us. To our left there was a little workshop, and two guys were standI was born at the end of Guatemala’s civil war. My family suffered ing by a car. In just a second, the three of them pulled their guns out, the cruelties of war for a long time. I was lucky to be just six-years-old and, like in the movies, my mom turned almost immediately around. when the Civil War ended. She was nervous and really afraid. We left as quickly as possible. We After a war, a country is never the same. Many things change. The heard the shots in the distance. people’s minds are full of fear and pain. The wounds of my nation are They tell me the war is over. I don’t believe them. Each day people just starting to heal. get massacred by violence. People live with fear. You turn, and someMy story is about living in Guatemala. Guatemala is a third-world thing is happening. There is no way to escape. I live with fear. country with one of the highest indexes of violence in the world. I remember the first time I was ever They tell me the war is over. I don’t believe them. Each day people get robbed. I was 14 years massacred by violence. People live with fear. You turn, and something is old. It was on a Saturday morning, and happening. There is no way to escape. I live with fear. I was walking from my mom’s coffee q Chichicastenago, Guatemala, 1992. During the Guatemalan civil war, indigenous women sought out American clothing to avoid being identified and targeted. shop toward my best friend’s house. Like every Saturday morning, the streets were crowded with people. I was passing though a parking lot when a little boy around 10 years old came to me and asked for money. That day I was carrying a lot of money with me, but I didn’t give any to him. Suddenly he put his hand on his pocket at the same time he told me it was not a question. I was really lucky that the boy was afraid of me that time. Drug Trafficking is one of the major problems in Guatemala. I remember traveling with my mother and sister to a little village where my mom had a small business. It was noon, and we were going through a dirt track off the principal avenue. Suddenly one guy came out from a house just to the right
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WHO WE ARE BECOMING
Music is a Conversation Pedro Monque ’12 Venezuela One of the first things Markus Stockhausen said to my friends and me during our preparation to perform with him in concert was about expanding our window of musical appreciation. Markus is a renowned German musician with abilities in composing, directing, improvising, and performing trumpet solos. He initially came to UWC-USA with the purpose of visiting his son Arjan, but in staying here for a week as an artist-in-residence, he profoundly changed many people in the school. Our music teacher Ron Maltais arranged a concert and practiced with all students interested in learning intuitive music with Markus. Intuitive music, as Markus likes to call it, is basically music improvisation—but with a special approach. I practiced for the concert with ten friends, plus Ron. The time we spent with Markus learning how to intuit music was both amazing and hard. In order to do a good job, there was a high amount of concentration, energy, and creativity needed. “Listen to the others all the time” and “Music is a conversation, and you should only talk when you have something to say” were some of the phrases Markus repeated often. One of the hardest parts for me was to start playing in an atonal way (not in any particular key). I think that we all felt that something wasn’t right the first time we did it. The week went fast. We were practicing a lot, developing new skills, and suddenly it was the concert day. The anxiety rose every second, but
q Markus Stockhausen performing with UWC-USA students.
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Markus Stockhausen studied initially at the Cologne Musikhochschule and is as much at home in jazz as in contemporary and classical music. For about 25 years, Markus collaborated closely with his father, the composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. Markus’s son, Arjan, is a second-year student at UWC-USA.
Markus kept himself very calm and confident. The whole point of intuitive music is to play what we feel in the moment and to make a musical conversation out of it. There were no scores, just instruments and enthusiasm. Before going on stage, we all meditated in a circle and tried to connect. It worked. The audience was waiting. We sat and started playing, trying to feel the music from inside. For two periods of 15 minutes each we played. The ending of the second period was very special because we were actually feeling each other’s music. At the end of our last improvisation, people started to clap intensely as we left the stage, and we experienced an adrenaline rush. It was hard to believe that we had reached that special state of symbiosis. Afterwards, Markus played with Kevin Zoernig, a jazz pianist, and Ralph Marquez, a drummer. The trio played some of Markus’s compositions. It was stunning. The last two pieces were played with Amir Shemesh ’11, Israel, who also added his great talent to the trio with a saxophone performance. Then the time was over. We all said goodbye to Markus. I felt proud of what we accomplished, but overall I felt immensely grateful for the experience of working with Markus, one of the best musicians I have ever met. I wouldn’t have had this opportunity anywhere else, and that week changed not only my musical perception, but everyone who was involved in this experience. We will never forget the time we shared with Markus StockPhoto credit: Arjan Stockhausen hausen and with each other. U W C - U S A
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Coming Home Cassandra Doremus ’11 USA-Nebraska Grit burns my eyes and dust coats my mouth. I am tired—no, I am exhausted. I am exhausted beyond any point I have ever reached in my eighteen years on this planet. I have spent the last fifteen hours on a bus, and all I want is sleep.
Castle looms overhead, glowing in the night. Suddenly, we are all cheering. It has only been five days, and yet it has been a lifetime. We’ve been so far away from this place, and we’ve seen things I don’t think any of us were ready to see. We’ve only lived at UWC-USA for two months but it is home now. UWC—it’s a place where two hundred students from every background imaginable have come together and formed something incredible. It is pitch dark outside, and as we round that final No matter where I come from, and no matter where bend, Montezuma Castle looms overhead, glowing I go from now on, I will always remember this moment. I will remember the luminous windows of the castle, the in the night. Suddenly, we are all cheering. It has cheers of my peers, and the rumble of the bus as it makes only been five days, and yet it has been a lifetime. its way up the hill. I know that I am a part of something bigger than myself here. No matter how much I struggle at UWC, I am surrounded by beautiful individuals, each with In the last five days, I have seen both the best and the worst of huthe potential to change the world. I will always remember this sensamanity. I have seen small children running in the streets toward homes tion, this feeling of coming home. made of aluminum. I have seen a handful of men wander through the desert picking up the garbage left by desperate men and women in a race to find a means of survival. I have seen people meant to represent justice insult these same men and women. I have spent the last five days in Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico. I am on a bus with fourteen other people. Together, we have witnessed so much. I feel close to these students, though I hardly knew any of them a week ago. We represent twelve different countries across five continents. Each one of us is an individual—completely unique and different from every other. And yet, here we sit, waiting intently for the same thing: to round one more bend and see our home. The bus is somehow cold and stuffy at the same time. We’ve all been breathing each other’s air and smelling each other’s sweat for far too long. I, personally, have had a headache since we passed through Hatch, New Mexico— about five hours ago. My seat-mate has just woken up from his fourth nap of the day. His eyes are red from the strain of sleeping on a bus, and he’s continually rolling his shoulders to relieve the I-sat-in-a-strange-position-for-threehours neck cramp. It is pitch dark outside, and as we Photo credit: Kate Russell round that final bend, Montezuma K A L E I D O S C O P E
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LIVING UWC AFTER UWC
Returning Home to Find My Path in Education Natalia Bernal Restrepo ’05 Colombia When trying to describe my life after UWC, I immediately realize that there is definitely a before and an after. Before I was accepted to UWC, I always thought I would become a successful lawyer, or perhaps a doctor. But then my life was turned upside down. UWC challenged everything I believed in, and questioned all the choices I had made in my life, and the choices I thought about making.
Photo courtesy of Natalia Restrepo
p Natalia Bernal Restrepo I made a choice not very common among UWCers. While all my UWC friends were applying for colleges, taking SATs, and writing admissions essays, I was booking my ticket home. At home, I enrolled in a Colombian university and started my studies in law school. But something just didn’t fit. I was away from my UWC community and felt as if I were living someone else’s life. I changed my career path and got my bachelors degree in Political Science at Universidad de los Andes. Still, I found very few challenges in that career, and the classes were not the same as the ones I had received at UWC. There was a void in my life which no class was able to fill. Upon graduation I thought I was headed for an NGO or an International Organization, so I started to seek my path there. I had remained very involved with UWC by working as Vice Chair for my national committee, but in living 12
awareness that I got in the classes in New away from the UWC environment it was hard Mexico: the excellent writing skills provided to pinpoint what I missed about that part of my by English teacher Anne Farrell, the fun I life. I had to return to my UWC experience to find guidance. I remembered my SaturWhen trying to describe my life after day afternoons at the Santa Fe’s Children Museum, tuUWC, I immediately realize that there toring some of the small chilis definitely a before and an after. dren on campus, and helping my classmates Before I was accepted to UWC, I always with French, but thought I would become a successful most of all I remembered the lawyer, or perhaps a doctor. But then huge respect and my life was turned upside down. UWC love I had for my teachers at UWC. challenged everything I believed in, Hence, I decided and questioned all the choices I had to pursue a path made in my life, and the choices I in education, thinking that thought about making. perhaps I could make students had with French teacher Julie Ham, the great feel the way my teachers made discussions with Spanish teacher Tom Curme feel at UWC. tis, the patience and understanding taught by I began teaching as an intern Math teacher Shirleen Lanham, the learning at Colegio Santa María in Bogoby doing with Biology teacher Fernando Metá—the school I went to before jia, and most of all, the love and caring for all UWC. I taught Social Studies my students that I learned from Economics to middle-school girls, and in teacher Ravi Parashar. two days I realized that this was what I wanted to q Gert Danielsen do with my life. Children and teenagers need people who will guide them and who want to teach and bring out the best in them in the classroom environment. I fell in love with being in the classroom and having 30 girls in front of me, with reading their exam responses, and having them enjoy history and question their reality. I am now getting my masters in education and will hopefully continue to teach at my school. Maybe I will even work at a UWC at some point. But for now, I just want to bring to my classroom the Photo courtesy of Gert Danielsen cultural understanding and U W C - U S A
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True Colors Gert Danielsen ’96 Norway When I left UWC-USA, I wanted to work amazing world and respecting everything I for the UN. Having arrived in New Mexico didn’t like. In a room full of colors, it is easier with a plan to study medicine, the microto be different. No one really notices much: world unfolding in Montezuma changed all you become “normal,” common. that. Naively, I asked my adviser Anne FarGraduating in 1996, smitten by Aleyda rell to write me a reference for a job with the McKiernan’s Spanish classes, the merengue UN. Anne knew this would be impossible for show we did on Latin American and Caribbean 18-year-old with no university studies, but an Cultural Day, and my new Latino friends, she also knew the importance of encourageI went home and literally looked up “Latin ment. So she wrote the reference, saying I have now been with the UN for four years, that I “would and I am convinced it wouldn’t have happened be an asset without UWC. to the UN, if not now, then immediately after university.” Anne believed in me. I have America” in the pink pages of the phone book. now been with the UN for four years, and I A couple of months later I found myself in the am convinced it wouldn’t have happened Guatemalan forests working with the Norwewithout UWC. gian NGO “Latin America Groups.” I studied My career change from medicine to interInternational Relations and Spanish and volnational relations is merely symbolic of what unteered in a conflict management program UWC did for me. UWC was all about findin Colombia. I taught Latin American dance ing myself, finding an environment which and engaged in student councils and NGOs was inductive to a stronger identity. If you which promoted peace, social justice, human have been in a room of red and orange for a rights, and environmental consciousness. I lifetime, how do you know that your passion worked with the Norwegian Peace Corps in really is blue, green, or yellow—colors you’ve South Africa, did my MA in International never seen or you’ve been told do not exist? Relations and Conflict Resolution through UWC does that to a Rotary World Peace Fellowship in Buenos us—it exposes us Aires, and conducted Empathy and Nonvioto the colors out lent Communication workshops. In 2006 I there, and we learn worked on the Norwegian Millennium Dewhich ones we envelopment Goals Campaign before—I guess joy and which ones I can say finally—I started working with the we don’t, which colUN in South Africa, 10 years after Anne had ors we feel are “us” written me that reference. and which ones As we speak, I am starting a new job with are definitely not. the UN in Yemen, where I will be working I became a Latin on democratic governance, human rights America fan and a and gender equality. Studying Arabic and exSpanish-speaker, tremely sensitive to the cultural shifts I will a conflict resolube experiencing there, I am calm and feel tion enthusiast, an prepared. UWC-USA helped me adapt to, reenvironmentalist, spect, learn from, and enjoy our diverse and a vegetarian, an fascinating world. I still carry many Norweopenly gay man, a gian colors—ethnically, socially, culturally, volunteer, and a reland politically. But like all of you, I am now so ativist, embracing much more. UWC helped me bring out the the diversity of our true colors of my life. K A L E I D O S C O P E
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Ali Jamoos ‘12 Palestine Inspired by “Theme for English B,” Langston Hughes I’m seventeen. Too young, some might say, But the truth: what I have seen Is more than most people have seen in a life time. What kind of human are you? You may ask. To tell the truth, nothing but the truth, I’m like any other Palestinian. We’re old men since the minute we are born. We have suffered, and gone through catastrophes Normal people won’t even dare to dream of. Like what? You may wonder. A life of a thirteen-year-old child in my country shall be the answer. Getting arrested when you are only 13, Thrown in a small dark cell for 5 days. For what? For throwing a stone at the occupant who violated the rights of his city, He was prohibited to see sun light for three months, To play with his friends, whom he misses, but nothing can be done. And now, do you still think that I’m too young? If you do, How about the little kid who has been through all that? What do you have to say to him? Tell me, because I can’t think of anything fair to say to him. Tell me, because I don’t know.
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LIVING UWC AFTER UWC
How I Became A Clown Marie Dixon Frisch ’84, Jamaica Edited by Emily Withnall, Communications Coordinator I was born one. Folks think clowns are for kids, but I swear, adults need them a lot more. All my heroes and role models have been murdered or assassinated: Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Kennedy, and Lincoln. They stood up for the kind of change I want to achieve, and they died for it. I don’t particularly want to die yet. I have developed a way of working that’s less confrontational. I tickle and hint instead of blaring the truth out loud. In my youth, I was very straight-laced and proper. I always wanted things to work properly, and I hated lackluster performance. I was also not very tolerant of failure; it incited and challenged me to do better. Mostly, I minded my own business. But there came times when I couldn’t tolerate some situations, and I took action. Later, I hated the way people divided the world into developed and developing countries. Aren’t we all developing? As a medical student in Germany, I joined the student governments in Göttingen and Lübeck and set up seminars and workshops about medicine in the developing world. To me it meant the whole world, although other people might have interpreted the series differently. I also joined World University Service after participating in a training session and was chosen as a student board member. I did my doctoral thesis in Zurich on a nationwide health campaign that was a bit of a joke in the Swiss scientific community. But it fulfilled its purpose, and I learned about prevention and quality control. I moved on and set up a quality circle at a day clinic for children. I got a commendation and a raise for it. However, along with getting my doctor’s title, these were rare moments of professional pride as a doctor. As a physician, I kept to the principle of recording patient histories and chief complaints verbatim. They tell us to do that in med school. But people say funny things, and doctors often paraphrase patient histories to make them fit their diagnostic ruminatings and preconceptions. One woman, a psychiatric patient with diabetic complications, kept insisting her chief complaint was “the heat inside.” I had no clue what she meant. But I wrote it down. My consultant later said I couldn’t write that because who knew what “the heat inside” was? There was no such medical term. Which was my point exactly; it was the woman’s complaint. If we don’t accept that she knows her main complaint, who does? He thought I should have pri-
Marie Dixon Frisch attended Yale, then studied medicine in Göttingen and Lübeck, Germany, completing her doctorate at the University of Zürich in 1998. She retired from medicine in 2003 and later became a clown, writer, and English teacher. She now lives in Norway and plans to work as a communal clown in nursing homes, social and medical institutions, and prisons. oritised the referring physician’s problem with a diabetic control/management plan. I thought to myself, “It’s no wonder people don’t get healthy when we don’t even pay attention to what’s important to them.” The point was lost on him, but it remains forever etched in the woman’s docket. My tribute of respect to her. And to the truth of medical mysteries unsolved. I came to see myself more as a therapist than a doctor. The latter is a position of exaltation, the former one of service. A therapist is a servant. A doctor prescribes; a therapist accompanies, supports. I loved psychotherapy training and probably got more out of it than my clients did. I went on a Patch Adams healing tour of Russia, visiting prisons. The prison wardens got upset because they were afraid of losing control of their juvenile detainees as a result of the clowning. I defused the tension at one prison by handing the head lady a bar of melting Jamaican chocolate with a comment in bad Russian and an apologetic tone. It saved the moment. My clown has also manifested itself through political power. Returning to Jamaica in 2007, over twenty years after UWC, I was appalled by the state of the nation. With the support of a group of largely UWC friends, I began a campaign to depose the government which had been in power too long. But the government was only symptomatic; I also did a lot of grassroots work to show people options and alternatives, working with environmental groups and the organic movement, as well as doing small-time clowning work. Then I threw a snowball, which had an avalanche effect. My snowball was suggesting people take the government to court over an environmen-
p On Patch Adams’ Healing Tour of Russia 2003 where we almost got banned for inciting JOY amongst the inmates and disturbance amongst the guards. A mushy bar of p Jamaican chocolate softened the fronts.
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medicine as prescribed by current standards, and giving it up was the best decision I’ve made. I had been feeling the conflict of interest acutely: being a doctor, I was dependent on other people’s suffering for my livelihood. As a clown, I am independent. I also am able to do low-level interventions that people don’t even recognize as therapeutic. My current job working as an English trainer for unemployed Germans manifested itself miraculously because I followed my heart and nose and feet. I was handed the job on a platter and grabbed it. I do mostly selfworth building, group and team building, fostering creativity and limitless thinking and encouraging participants to create a better future. They think I’m teaching them English. I make them do a lot, stretch them to capacity and beyond, but they don’t notice. They think it’s all just fun and games. I work as an undercover clown in different capacities and rarely do open clown gigs at the moment. An undercover clown uses the power of the moment; right action, pure intention and awareness are some of the guiding principles I strive for. So I can’t foretell what I will do until I see what needs to be done. My job is to scatter seeds and to move on, let the wind do with them as it will. I am good at validating others, clients, colleagues, and superiors alike; it makes no difference to me. Strangers, too: a smile, a shared moment of pleasure or suffering. Looking back, we sometimes catch a glimpse of the impact of what we have done. But I never have the feeling I can see the whole picture. It’s not my job to hang on. I always have to let go, let go joyfully and gratefully so things can take their course.
Photos c0urtesy of Marie Dixon Frisch
tal issue. It was done by others and they won the case—the Pear Tree Bottom Case. I doubt anyone besides a few select friends even realized I threw the snow ball. It was one of those clown actions you do and tiptoe away before the fall-out comes, giggling guiltily but gleefully all the way. In connection with the same political issues, I upstaged the reigning Prime Minister of Jamaica in her own court. I had asked for permission to stage a demonstration against the Pear Tree Bottom development, and permission was first delayed and then denied. But I had prepared all the protest materials, including some self-composed protest songs. Shortly after, I was asked to attend a meeting set up by PM Portia Simpson Miller for political and NGO activists from the region. The PM allowed herself to be an unthinkable 90 minutes late for the meeting; two or three hundred delegates who had travelled for hours to get there were waiting, and while we waited, I asked permission to lead the group in song. After ascertaining my identity (i.e., nobody), they shrugged their shoulders and agreed. I began with “We Shall Overcome.” They sang that readily enough. Then I delivered my protest songs, getting them to join in the choruses. The conference room rocked. And the tactic wasn’t lost on them. By the time the PM came, the hall was abuzz. Many of her supporters signed the petition I had taken along to prohibit the government’s planned exploitation of the Cockpit Country, the next endangered area on our list. After 9/11, my life fell apart. My first husband and I separated that week. I started to re-examine my life, exploring possibilities. I was working in child and adolescent psychiatry in Zurich at the time. I was really good at play therapy and resource activation, client rapport. I took a therapeutic magic course and, while there, made everyone laugh. In that moment I remembered my clown. I realized that the clown was my core, and the doctor and therapist were adjunct. I had always wanted to be a good doctor. I had loved our family doctor and wanted to emulate him. But the clown was never something I had to become. I was a clown. I am a clown. I moved out of hospitals and clinics and into the world because that’s where sickness begins and can be prevented. I don’t believe we’ve understood how life and health really work. I believe our medicine is clumsy at best. Healing comes from within, and much of what we do prolongs suffering instead of curing it. It became increasingly difficult to practice
p Meddling with a motor. A bit like medicine. K A L E I D O S C O P E
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p Clowning around. 2 0 1 1
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Alumni Profiles
Abuubakar Ally ’12 Tanzania Inspired by “Theme for English B,” by Langston Hughes The instructor said Go home and write A page tonight And let that page come out of you— Then it will be true. I doubt if it’s that simple. I am seventeen, young, but old, born in Migo-Dar. I grew up there, went to school at Kino One hour drive from there. Then here To this college, amidst the canyons of Montezuma. Twenty-two hour flight. I am the oldest student in my class. The steps near the science building lead up to the castle Where I take the elevator, up to my room, sit down and write this page: It’s difficult to know what’s true for you or me At seventeen, my age. But I think I am what I believe, feel and consider, My life, I hear you, hear me, we two, talk on this page. I like to eat well, sleep well, hang out with friends, but how? I like to enjoy my life, with my mom, dad, siblings, But where are they? continued on page 17...
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Gio Bacareza ’89, Philippines, completed two engineering majors in the Philippines and went on to spend two years in Spain working for Telefonica. An inspirational letter from a high school teacher prompted Gio to return home to help with Philippine technology development. Gio spent three years with Microsoft, moving on to support start-ups by working for a local venture capitalist where he handled the selection of investments in locally developed technology. In 2006, Gio brought innovations from Chikka.com, one of his investee companies, to international markets in the US, Europe, and Latin America. In 2009, he pitched and sold the company to Smart Communications, the largest mobile operator in the Philippines. Gio now runs Smart’s Internet business. He says, “My vision is to provide internet for everyone in the country. I’ve always believed that technology is the great equalizer. It promotes opportunity and equal access to information and education. One of the projects I’m very excited about right now is providing internet to those who cannot afford basic telephones.” Gio also organizes rescue and relief efforts such as those needed during the Ketsana Typhoon flood in Sept 2009. He also helped organize the citizen election monitoring group during the Philippine general elections in 2010. Of his experience at UWC-USA, Gio says “The fortunate chance gave me a sense of responsibility to be an instrument for change from which I have chosen my path and purpose in life.” Aurelio Ramos ’91, Colombia, earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Colombia’s Universidad de los Andes and a master’s degree in Environmental Economics and Natural Resources from the University of Maryland and the Universidad de los Andes. He has worked with the Andean Development Bank, the Biotrade Program of the United Nations Conference of Trade and Commerce, and the Humboldt Biological
Research Institute. Aurelio began working with the Nature Conservancy in 2003 as Director of the Northern Tropical Andes Conservation Program, where he led his team to pioneer conservation strategies through the use of innovative, incentive-based conservation financing across the Andean landscapes of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. He currently serves as the Director of Conservation Programs for Latin America, overseeing the Nature Conservancy´s conservation investments and external affairs work throughout Latin America. Aurelio says, “UWC-USA influenced me deeply. Think big: what can we do to change the problems our world has? Be pragmatic: we need to think globally and locally. Our community work at UWC-USA is a good example that allowed us to connect with the necessities of our local community, and, through discussions, understand what needed to happen at a macro level. Peace: peace cannot be reached if we do not balance everyone´s needs and expectations. Having lived in a country like Colombia, with its decades of violence, I know we need to find projects and solutions that help the most. Without satisfying basic needs, true peace will not come. International understanding is a principle for peace.” After completing his education, Nobuki Asahina ’93, Japan, joined Sony Electronics and worked in an overseas position based in Singapore. He soon realized that thanks to his UWC experience, he found it easy to adapt himself to local business clients, employees, and friends. His job covered both Vietnam and Ukraine, and Nobuki noticed that his comfort with other cultures significantly enhanced his business career. Now based in Miami, Florida, Nobuki looks after his company’s Latin American operation. Nobuki recalls, “When I look back my time at UWC, I recall that it was a valuable experience, but at the same time, a struggle to adapt myself to the ‘global society’ of UWC. I was
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not so confident or even sometimes confused in front of all the different behaviors, cultures, races, and people around me. However, now I can proudly say that it was an inevitable step for me to enter the world, to change myself from a domestic Japanese fielder to a global player… UWC opened the door to the world for me.”
Amie Ferris-Rotman ’98, USA, graduated with a BA and an MA in Russian Studies and Literature at University College London. She went on to become a journalist and now works as a foreign correspondent covering political news at Reuters in Moscow, focusing on human rights and the Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus. Amie says that “there is nothing more rewarding and adrenaline-filled than getting a front-row seat at world events as they unfold.” Her work engages her all over Russia and the former Soviet Union, and she regularly ventures into the violence-wracked Muslim North Caucasus, where her job is to tell the world firsthand about the plight of the people there. She reports that the tiny backwater is full of cultural gems and regularly makes world news for its violence, and Amie hopes that the news helps people everywhere realize how important it is to combat racism, extremism, and poverty. Amie says, “Being at UWC—two of the most treasured years of my life—made me think hard about how other people across our globe live, and gave me the drive to tell others about it in an objective way. That is why I became a journalist.”
Ryan Richards ’02, USA, majored in International Development and minored in Spanish and World Religions at Juniata College. He spent three years living in Latin America working as the Director of External Relations for the Asturias Academy, a human rights school in Guatemala, where he oversaw the creation of the organization’s fundraising and volunteer programs, as well as serving on K A L E I D O S C O P E
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the Board of Directors of Reading Village, a US nonprofit creating a culture of reading in Guatemala. Ryan went on to receive his MPA in Nonprofit Management from New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service. Ryan currently serves as the Executive Director of Nourish International, a network of 25 college chapters engaging US students in supporting locally-grown development initiatives abroad. A believer in the transformative power of cross-cultural exchange, Ryan seeks to support the next generation of change-makers in acquiring the tools they need to solve society’s most intractable problems. Ryan says, “Like so many of my peers, the UWC-USA experience catalyzed me into a global citizen. It brought home for me, on a visceral level, the equal value of all people, and that awareness—of equal human dignity and dis-equal access to basic needs—is one of the key motivators behind my work.”
James Byrne ‘03, USA, attended the University of Texas at Austin and graduated with a BS in Biomedical Engineering. He is currently enrolled in a joint MD/PhD program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a graduate student, he is working with an academic and industrial team on developing medical devices for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. James reports, “Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal cancers, with a five-year survival of less than five percent of the patients diagnosed. Better therapies are needed to improve the management of this disease, and we hope to create technologies that shift the paradigm in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.” Of his experience at UWC-USA, James says it “made me aware of the grand challenges that we face as a world, including disparities in health care, energy, clean water, among many others. My interests are in biology and medicine, and it was my experience at UWC that guided me to apply my interests to tackle the disparities in health care through low-cost, effective strategies for the treatment of disease.”
continued from page 16... I hear my friends, I hear them saying, “My mom is annoying,” “I love my dad,” “Your brother loves you.” But what’s Dad, Mom, and Brother to me? A puzzle. As I came out of her womb, crying, off she went, To her heavenly father. When I grew up, I heard the world saying, “He passed away before the birth of his first born.” Oh! Me. I hear my age mates, I hear them saying, “Enjoy your life, for you are a teenager.” “Too young to work,” they say. But I hear my life, I hear it saying, “Work hard, Jamal, for you are old.” “A father of two children,” my life adds. “What? A father? Two children?” I ask. “Yes,” my life roars, “One older than your mom, one younger than you.” Oh! My grandma, my niece. Through ups and downs, we went. Your inspirational smiles Strengthened me. Harder and harder I worked, in OUR SERVICE. For it’s you, only you, the beauty of my life. I hope that you love me, as much as I do you.
If you would like to be featured in an upcoming Kaleidoscope issue, or if you’d like to nominate another graduate, please email publications@uwc-usa.org. 2 0 1 1
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Nonprofit Org. US Postage PAID Permit No. 42 Albuquerque, NM
V o l ume 4 1 UWC- USA Post Office Box 248 Montezuma, NM 87731-0248 USA (505) 454-4200 www.uwc-usa.org RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
UWC makes education a force to unite people, nations, and cultures for peace and a sustainable future.
E nvironmental B E N E F I T S
REUNION 2011
of using post-consumer waste fiber vs. virgin fiber
July 29 - August 3
The following resources were saved by using 1312 pounds of Reincarnation Matte (FSC), made with an average of 100% recycled fiber and an average of 60% postconsumer waste, processed chlorine free, designated Ancient Forest Friendly™ and manufactured with electricity that is offset with Green-e® certified renewable energy certificates.
Experience the nostalgia of Montezuma Castle alongside your classmates. Fuse old memories with new and rekindle your bond with the UWC spirit!
8 trees preserved for the future 236 lbs. solid waste not generated
This year we will be celebrating the classes of 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006, but all class years are welcome to attend. Please go to www.uwc-usa.org/reunioninfo for details and18 registration.
807 lbs. of greenhouse gases prevented 3,885 gallons water saved 2,500,000 BTUs energy not consumed U W C - U S A
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Photo credit: Jake Rutherford
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Calculations based on research by Environmental Defense and other members of the Paper Task Force.