About
Organizational Objectives
Accomplishments
Our Board
Only 15 years old, and a freshman at Garfield High School in Seattle WA, Jessica Markowitz has already traveled to Rwanda three and times and has been deeply affected by the tales of genocide she has heard from children in the community. Jessica takes very seriously the need to give back and has spent countless hours working to establish her organization Richard’s Rwanda IMPUHWE to ensure Rwandan girls receive the education they deserve.
Jessica founded the organization in October 2006. Her first visit to Rwanda was in August 2007. She was so happy to meet the girls and see their smiling faces as they welcomed her to their country. Jessica heard each and every one of their stories. Most of the Rwandan girls had lost at least one parent or family member during the war or from HIV-AIDS. This experience encouraged and inspired Jessica to continue the work she was doing. The girls have connected and bonded for a life time.
Jessica also had the chance to visit the FAWE (Forum for African Women Educationalist) all girls’ boarding school in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. She formed a strong friendship with several students and subsequently the FAWE girls have decided to open their own IMPUHWE chapter. They have become mentors and started their own fundraising efforts for the rural girls in Nyamata.
Her visit in 2009 has resulted in an official partnership with the FAWE School. The IMPUHWE original members from Seattle Girls School have graduate from the 8th grade and have opened new chapters in their respective high schools. By creating chapter expansions we hope to raise enough money to establish a larger scholarship fund and build a library in Nyamata.
Organizational Objectives:
- Enable girls to finish primary school and attend 6 years of secondary school;
- Reduce the gender discrimination that prevents girls from completing primary and secondary education.
- Develop an on-going cross-cultural exchange program between high school students in Seattle, WA and primary and secondary girls in Nyamata and Kigali Rwanda.
- Support the mentorship provided by girls from Fawe Girls School in the Rwandan capital Kigali, to low income girls in the rural district of Nyamata.
- Collaborate with local NGOs in Rwanda to maintain the support for girls to complete their secondary education.
- High school students in Seattle will raise funds to support program activities through proposal writing and fund-raising activities.
- Increase community awareness and understanding of the issues surrounding the Rwandan genocide by organizing speakers, remembrance events and community outreach activities.
Accomplishments:
- Raised nearly $40,000 to support girls in Rwanda to finish their primary and secondary education;
- Approved for $25,000 matching grant from Paul Allen Foundation;
- Annual fund-raising events by Seattle students;
- Expansion from original chapter at Seattle Girls’ School to six additional high school chapters;
- Developed a partnership with a local Rwandan girls’ school FAWE (Forum African Women Educationalist Girls School) to establish their own chapter of Richard’s Rwanda IPMUHWE to provide mentoring to low-income girls in the impoverished rural area of Namata; The program has officially been incorporated as part of a community service program for the FAWE School. (See below for more details).
- June 2010 twelve founding members of RRI (from various member Seattle high schools) will travel to Rwanda to teach English literacy to impoverished high girls in the rural district of Nyamata and strengthen collaboration with their peers at FAWE.
Our Board
Liliane Kamikazi
Board Member
Liliane was born in Rwanda and she survived the Genocide in 1994. She came to the USA in 2007 to pursue her studies in Business. She recently received her AA in Business and will transfer to a four year degree program. She speaks three languages fluently and loves to be involved in the community.
Haven Ley
Board Vice Chair
Haven is a Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where she makes grants that help to alleviate the multiple constraints that women farmers face in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Previously, Haven worked for the Environmental and Social Assessment group at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) where she supported the implementation of bilateral treaties in Lesotho, Ghana, and Tanzania. Haven holds a MSC in Gender and Economic Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a degree in East Asian Studies from Cornell University.
Jessica Markowitz
Board Member
Jessica is 15 years old and a freshman at Garfield High School. Jessica founded Richard’s Rwanda-IMPUHWE when she was 11 years old in the 6th grade. Jessica is passionate about creating a more equitable and educated world and has delivered speeches nationwide. She has traveled several times to the African continent including three times to Rwanda and is returning to Rwanda with eleven Richard’s Rwanda-IMPUHWE founding members this summer.
Lori Markowitz, MPA
Board Chair
Lori is the founder and executive director of the Youth Ambassador program. The Youth Ambassador program develops young leaders through compassionate service to the community. She received her master’s degree in public administration with a focus on non-profit management from the University of Washington, Evans School of Public Affairs. Lori has eighteen years of NGO experience including designing and implementing international cross-cultural exchange programs with students from the Middle East and Africa. She has traveled numerous times to the African continent.
Stephen Markowitz, MD, PhD
Board Member
Stephen was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa and has extensive knowledge of African affairs. Stephen attended medical school at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and completed his residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. Stephen is the Medical Director of the Seattle Surgery Center.
Lincoln Miller
Board Treasurer
Lincoln is currently the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Rural Development Institute (RDI) (www.rdiland.org ), an international non-profit organization working to secure land rights for the world’s poor. Previously Lincoln was a senior executive at a number of educationally focused, international tour operators. Lincoln is married with three children, one of whom is a member of RRI. He lives with his family in Seattle.
Emily Neilson
Board Secretary
Emily has visited Africa several times to learn about the work of different non-profit organizations. She was a teacher in schools in Chicago and New York and has her master’s degree in education from the University of Washington. She is an active community volunteer in Seattle, having served on the boards of several organizations. She is also the parent of two RRI members.
Carl Wilkens
Board Member
Carl is the former head of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency International in Rwanda. He has worked as an educator and humanitarian for 13 years in 4 different countries in Africa. In 1994, he was the only one out of 257 Americans who chose to remain in the country after the genocide began. His choice to stay and help resulted in preventing the massacre of hundreds of children and adults over the course of the genocide. Wilkens was featured in Frontline’s “Ghosts of Rwanda” and “The Few Who Stayed: Defying Genocide,” an American Radio Works documentary which aired on National Public Radio. Wilkens’ humanitarian work has been recognized with several awards including the Dignitas Humana Award from Saint John’s School of Theology Seminary and a 2005 Medal of Valor from the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Carl and his wife Teresa founded World Outside My Shoes, a non-profit educational and professional development organization committed to inspiring and equipping people to enter the world of “The Other”. “The Other” may be under our own roof or on the other side of the globe.
