Janet Jeruto, (CSP 2012) from Kenya just spent 6 months in Norway. She gained more than some career-broadening encounters, as valuable as they were:

"Norwegians are as cold as the Scandinavian weather." That was the reply that I would most likely get from any person whom I told I was leaving for Norway. I landed in Oslo's Gardermoen Airport mid June 2013 to a blazing summer sun ready for my Peace Corps exchange experience. The next six months I was attached to the Norwegian Church Aid Global Office in the Gender Justice Program. My duties were to learn how the program was being run at the global level besides giving any support needed.

Together with seven colleagues, we organized a three day workshop on the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence, the first ever workshop of this kind to bring together representatives from thirteen countries. Our objective was sharing best practices and tools. I met inspiring people like a lady lawyer from Zambia, a mediator between survivors and government agencies working to prevent harassment and their subsequent silencing.

In Kenya, I had mediated cases of survivors of gender based violence and did the follow up at police stations, judiciary, or other Government offices. It was mostly a daunting task because of corruption, culture, and a patriarchal society that is not ready for change. I return home not only with new networks but also new ideas on how to work on Kenya's mediation approach on this important issue.  Read more ...

CSP 1996: George B. Brown is now the Executive Director of the Colorado African Organization (CAO) in Denver.  CAO provides services to cultivate the education, self-sufficiency, and empowerment of global refugees and immigrants. CSP 1999: Mike Carpenter is still in Oslo, working at www.dnvgl.com with low-carbon energy, providing technical advisory and verification services in connection with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).  CSP 2000: Altaf Makhiawala continues to work with UNICEF in New Delhi, managing donor communications for its largest corporate partnership with the IKEA Foundation that funds programs protecting the rights of children in India. Olivera Ivanovic is an education lecturer at a college for preschool teachers in Bujanovac, South Serbia for the last year. CSP 2003: Adéla Scotkova is on maternity leave with Hana (1¾) and sometimes also with Vaclav (4). In April she will start working part-time as a judge trainee. CSP 2009: Manini Sheker: "I'm completing a MPhil in Development Studies at the University of Oxford.  I'm also writing on global social issues for various NGOs and news outlets including The Guardian. An academic article I published last year on religion, freedom and economic development was awarded the NGO Human Welfare Prize by Green Templeton College at the University of Oxford. CSP 2012:  Johannes Langer is learning Spanish in Colombia, but not working with anything related to his field.  CSP 2013: After CSP Xeniya Mironova was an intern with Foundations for Freedom, helping mostly with the project "Healing the Past" in Simferopol, Ukraine. Now Xeniya is in Tajikistan, writing her thesis on the theme "The Analysis of Mass Media and Social Media in Central Asia." She will finish her studies on Human Rights and Democratization this June.  She is Project Manager of a 6-month project,Transforming Public Space into a Public Stage: Theatre of the Oppressed as an Aesthetic Tool for Social Changes. "I'm using contemporary art practices to develop critical communication on socially important issues among young people in Tajikistan."  Sonja Przujl visited the US in December as part of an exchange of ideas among librarians, writers and Corner Directors, who set up cultural programs in various countries. She met an author who led the One Bosnia and Herzegovina, One Book project with students and teachers throughout the country. Nate McPherson is back in Seattle working as an engineer for a Boeing supplier. He is saving money to get his Master's, starting as early as next fall. He writes: "I visited Jordan after CSP last year and fell in love with it... I'm hoping to return soon to work with Syrian refugees. Potentially I will be starting a nonprofit that will assist refugee families in the northern Jordan city of Mafraq. Families there are struggling big time to meet basic needs... and they're being overlooked by larger organizations because they're not in the camps. Starting a nonprofit has been a challenge, but through a sense of prayerful leading, some amazing people have come into my life, who are helping me carry the vision!" Mercy Shahale had the privilege of attending the Caux Initiatives for Business conference November 7-11, 2013, at Asia Plateau in Panchgani, India. "I co-founded and I am currently working on setting up an organization that works with communities to address the social development issues in human security in East Africa. The different messages that came up during this conference profoundly resonated with me and with how I intend to work with communities.  I am keen on creating social contracts based on ethical leadership, having the courage to trade off short term gains for long term value creation."

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