Group 29: November 2008 to February 2009

 

CANADA

Susan Palmai (62)

Susan is very happily married to Robert and has four children, two step-children, and two grandchildren. She has been a life-long member of the United Church of Canada.  Late in life, Susan completed a Graduate Program in Conflict Resolution at Carleton University in Ottawa and works as a Consultant doing mediation, coaching and training in Conflict Management. ‘Accompaniment’ resonates with Susan as a means for people to express their feelings in the hope that someone will listen and tell their story to others. She feels that she has been blessed with the gift of a rich and peaceful life, and now in some small way, wishes to share the gifts she has been given with the people living under stressful conditions in the West Bank. 

Susan has been placed in Tulkarem.

 

FINLAND

Pauliina Mäkinen (29)

Pauliina lives in Turku, in the southwest of Finland. She graduated as a cultural producer and is continuing her studies of cultural heritage. Pauliina has been working with the Turku 2011 Foundation, which is organising the Turku year as a European Capital of Culture.  She has been active in different volunteer organisations, such as the Guides and Scouts of Finland and the Red Cross, since she was 8 years old.  Pauliina has always wanted to do humanitarian work abroad. This is one of the main reasons why she is taking part in this programme. 

Pauliina has been placed in Tulkarem.

  

GERMANY

Kerstin Gollembiewski (37)

When she finished high school, Kerstin completed vocational training as a shipping agent and worked for two and a half years in this field. Afterwards she studied interior architecture for two years and worked for several years in retail trade, most of the time in the operational sector. In the spring of 2005 she went to Rwanda to work for a partnership between Rhineland-Palatinate and Rwanda. Her responsibilities included the school partnerships, the pupil sponsorships and the logistics.

She now wants to specialise in Civil Peace Service and is planning to undertake a course in February 2009 to qualify as a peace consultant. She joined EAPPI in order to gather some further experience in a conflict region.

Kerstin has been placed in Jayyous.

 

IRELAND

Ingrid Colvin (37)

Ingrid is from Skerries in North County Dublin. She has just completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Alternative Conflict and Dispute Resolution Studies in Trinity College, Dublin. She has a keen interest in Restorative Justice and comes to EAPPI with a strong commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to principles of social justice.

Ingrid has been placed in Jayyous.

 

NORWAY

Bente Bertheussen (54)

Bente’s main achievement by being here as an Ecumenical Accompanier is to meet people  who are directly affected by the occupation. To see, hear and learn. Bente works with refugees in Norway and has been doing that for 20 years at different levels. She hopes that by being here to witness, hear and feel what creates a refugee will give her the spirit to go on working with an open heart.

Bente has been placed in Jerusalem.

 

Silja Nordahl (32)

Silja is from Oslo, Norway. Having obtained a Master of Arts in journalism, she used to work for a Norwegian human rights organisation as information officer and media liaison before she signed up for the EAPPI. Having spent a few years doing mainly theoretical advocacy work, she felt distanced to the field and decided to go to the West Bank to get personally acquainted with everyday life in conflict areas.

Silja has been placed in Hebron.

 

Trond Pedersen (52)

Trond lives in Årnes in the eastern part of Norway and has been working as a school teacher and counsellor since 1980.  He has always had a keen interest for international matters and has done field work in Eastern and Southern Africa.  He was an EA in Jayyous three years ago and has had a steady contact with this village and Palestine since then. Trond is active in his local Lutheran church at home.  He is eager to make people in his local community aware of the consequences of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Trond has been placed in Bethlehem.

 

POLAND

Gosia Juszczak (27)

Gosia holds a Master’s Degree in Biotechnology and Postgraduate Studies in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language. She has been working as a freelance translator/interpreter. After spending a year in Mexico she decided to make a step forward in experiencing a different cultural environment. She is seeking to bring her strong concern for humanitarian issues into life by performing “field work” and hopes to continue contributing to the respect for human rights professionally in the future.

Gosia has been placed in Hebron.

 

SOUTH AFRICA

Fofo Lerefolo (26)

Fofo “Fofolicious” Lerefolo was born and bred in the North West of South Africa. She is a curious, self confident and determined young woman, who cares for the needs of young people. Fofo is a journalist and a very dynamic member of the Methodist Church. She also plays a big role in her nation as Deputy Chairperson of South African Council of Churches Youth Forum and likes to sing revolutionary songs, for peace and freedom.

Fofo has been placed in Jerusalem.

 

Folathela Botipe (30)

Folathela currently lives in the Sedibeng region, Gauteng province, South Africa, where in 1960 during the anti-pass protest the apartheid police shot and killed 69 un-armed people. He studied Development Studies and Municipal Governance at the University of Johannesburg, and currently works as a Planning Co-ordinator at a local municipality. He previously went to Northern Ireland during the conflict and is passionate about  human rights issues.  He is actively involved in the politics in his home country and serves in the national youth ecumenical movement. This is Folathela's second term in the programme.  

Folathela has been placed in Jayyous.

 

SWEDEN

Carina Åstrand (43)

Carina has a degree in theology from the university in Uppsala. She was first ordained as a deacon in 1990 and as a priest in the Church of Sweden in the year 2000. She is working in a small parish in the south of Sweden. She has for a long time taken an interest in questions concerning the occupation. 

Carina has been placed in Yanoun.

 

Helena Koumi (30)

Helena lives in Stockholm where she works with disarmament issues for a non-governmental organisation called SweFOR. She holds a Master’s degree in peace and conflict resolution from Uppsala University, Sweden, and has lived several years abroad in different countries. Helena visited Palestine/Israel last year and was then inspired to become an Ecumenical Accompanier.

Helena has been placed in Jerusalem.

 

Johanna Bogren (33)

Johanna has vacation from her ordinary work as chief of the stables at the mounted police unit in Stockholm. Johanna has studied some different subjects, such as equine studies, education, economics and law. This is Johanna’s second term with the programme.

Johanna has been placed in Hebron.

 

Kaisa Huuva (35)

 

Pehr-Albin Edén (29)

Pehr-Albin is 29 years old and comes from Sweden, where he lives in Stockholm. Pehr-Albin is a theologian and was ordained in the Lutheran Church of Sweden in January 2008.

Pehr-Albin has been placed in Jayyous.

 

Tore Persson (63)

Tore is from Stockholm in Sweden. He has a background as a journalist but has mainly worked within Swedish non-formal or liberal adult education. Since a year ago he is a freelance writer. Tore has been married to an Israeli woman and has therefore been many times in Israel. Today he is living with a Chinese woman, but has kept his interest for and engagement with Israel-Palestine. His daughter, Sara, was an Ecumenical Accompanier three years ago.

Tore has been placed in Yanoun.

 

SWITZERLAND

Frida Roser (54)

Frida lives in Kloten, Switzerland, and studied psychology, education and theology. She is working in the Protestant Church in Kloten. She teaches and accompanies young people in their way into life. Frida is also in charge of concept work in the religion education of children between the ages of 8-15 in the community.

Frida has been placed in Yanoun.

 

Karin Luedi (32)

Karin Luedi holds a Masters in Literature and Music from Bern University, Switzerland, and she has worked as a teacher and a translator. Her interest in and her affinity for the Middle East has brought her to Israel/Palestine where she hopes to contribute with something to protect and restore human dignity.  

Karin has been placed in Hebron.

 

Milena Aviram (27)

Milena studied sociology, science of religion and philosophy in Fribourg. During her studies she was working with teenagers having serious difficulties integrating into society. During an exchange year in Tel Aviv, she got to know more about the situation in the Middle East and the urge awoke to actually see what is happening in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Her presence here expresses her solidarity with the people suffering under the current situation and her support of everyone struggling for a just peace.

Milena has been placed in Tulkarem.

 

Urs Rybi (30)

Urs holds a Master degree in Political Science from the University of Zurich. He is particularly interested in Human Rights, Non-Violence and Political Extremism. After working with Greenpeace, Amnesty International and other NGOs in Switzerland he would like to specialise in the field of International Conflict Resolution and Peace-building. Beside his studies he built for seven years individual bicycles in his own small business. And so travelling by bicycle is one of his favourite activities.

Urs has been placed in Bethlehem.

 

UK

Anna Seifert (71)

Anna is a retired Counselling Psychologist. She is originally from Germany and has lived in Britain since the early 70s. Anna is a Quaker and actively committed to pursuing peace with justice in Palestine and Israel. She first served as an EA in 2004 in Sawahreh-Abu Dis and has since returned for study tours with ICAHD UK and with ZAYTOUN, a group which promotes the sale of Palestinian olive oil.

Anna has been placed in Tulkarem.

 

Enid Gordon (61)

Enid is a Methodist Minister currently serving in the South West Tyneside Circuit in the North East of England, caring for four churches, three in the borough of Gateshead and one in County Durham.  Enid first came to Israel and the Israeli occupied West Bank in 1968 and has been concerned about the suffering of the Palestinian people caused by the occupation ever since. She first heard about EAPPI in 2003 but had to wait for her three months sabbatical before she could apply to be an accompanier. 

Enid is married to Roger and has three daughters, two granddaughters and three stepsons. Before becoming a Methodist Minister, Enid was a secondary teacher in Middlesex and Birmingham and then a primary teacher in Walsall and Birmingham. 

Enid has been placed in Bethlehem.

 

Hilary Browne (68)

Hilary is a Quaker and committed to working for peace and social justice. She has two children and two grandchildren and she lives in West Yorkshire. She graduated in Biochemistry and later completed a research degree focussing on anxiety in older learners. After teaching for ten years she worked for a further ten in Teacher Education. Then followed ten years as a School Adviser (Inspector) and finally, before retirement, she lived and worked in Pakistan for a further ten years as Director of a UK Teacher Education programme.

Hilary has been placed in Yanoun.

 

Liz Burroughs (64)

Liz lives in Cornwall, in the south west corner of the UK. She is a retired General Medical Practitioner, who now works part-time in a hospice. A lifelong Methodist, she is currently studying to become a Local Preacher. She also enjoys singing and is a member of three choirs. In the summer of 2006, she was an Ecumenical Accompanier in the Bethlehem Team of Group 18.

Liz has been placed in Jerusalem.