SUMMER 2009
"Greetings from Kigali, Rwanda! I have been here for over a month now, taking on challenges of all kinds, and learning a lot. Rwanda is stunningly gorgeous and full of adventures to be had. The need for good conservation practice, as well as responsible, culturally sensitive eco-tourism, is really apparent here. I would say it is even urgent, in some cases.
At the same time though, most of the 300 women with whom I am working every day have been through Hell. They have spent much of lives struggling against a beast with four foul heads: poverty, genocide, HIV, and rape. Working with them has been a privilege and also a huge challenge.
In addition to sitting in on regular group counseling sessions, I am teaching three English classes and one yoga class per week and running workshops on various health topics. The yoga is going surprisingly well, and the English is a huge hit too, though more predictably so. I will soon be turning my mind to fundraising. Warm wishes to you all."
Simone Hanchet
QLF Staff, Leadership Program Coordinator
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Earlier this summer, Larry and Tina visited Sue Staniforth near Victoria, BC. She is one of the principals' of Staniforth & Associates, Environmental Education and Research Consulting. "I felt like we barely scratched the surface of 25 years of catching up, similar values, shared interests, and shared critters!" |
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Alix Morris, who served QLF working for Candace Cochrane in Conche, Newfoundland, is a second year graduate student in International Public Health at Johns Hopkins Univ. For the next year she is working, thanks to a Clinton Foundation Fellowship, on a malaria project in Uganda. She is living in Kampala. We think you might enjoy checking out her Blog, providing a running commentary with photos of her experience there. She hopes you will comment right on her blog. |
Earlier this summer, Larry and Tina visited Wyatt Cook at his home near Seattle, Washington. Wyatt is a first officer with American Airlines. So look for him on your next overseas flight. Not surprising, Wyatt served as a pilot for QLF with Bob Bryan's Aviation and Ministry Program in the early 1980s. |
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Jen Reese, husband Jon, and son Rowan, visited Larry and Tina Morris at their home in Boxford in August. Jen worked for QLF trustee Jim Levitt on the Harvard Internet and Technology Project in 2000. While involved in a conversation on the Morris patio, Jon a bat specialist, quickly reached up and put his hands into creased folds of the umbrella. Voila!
Note from Phil Huffman from Vermont, "Been feeling out of touch with my QLF circle lately - a reflection of life continuing to be a bit of a blur up here with the expanded family, steady overload at work, etc. ... Happy to report Alden (5 1/2) and Logan (almost 8 months) are thriving."
Phil has the distinction (which he might not want us to share) of having been a young participant at the Living Rivers Program in 1975. Since then he has done just about everything at QLF serving as an intern on multiple programs and as an exchange fellow in the UK. He presently serves on the QLF Corporation.
"Seeds of a full-time future using music to teach science were planted during three summers working with QLF on the Marine Bird Conservation project (in the 1980s). Those summers on St. Mary's Island and in the lamp-warm welcoming kitchens of Harrington Harbour and Blanc Sablon offered the first lessons in the critical difference between the academic ecological theory I was learning at Queen's University, and the wonderful potential of local people to take pride in playing stewardship roles for preserving the precious natural flora and fauna of places we call home!"
Peter Lenton, living in Calgary, runs Puffin Productions, www.puffin.ca. He worked in the late 1980s for the Marine Bird Conservation Project.
Christina Armeni, writes from McGill where she is Associate Director, Donor Relations & Stewardship: "Since QLF, I completed an MA in "Informal" Science Education and am now working at McGill University. I often think back to my time at QLF and would like to say thank you to both Kath (Blanchard) and John (Hull). I am really appreciative of the mentoring I received. It has stuck with me all these years!"
Christina worked on the Marine Bird Conservation Project (Perroquet Island, Quebec) in 1997.