Intern Lunch

HELP is really good at making everyone feel important.  Whether you are a volunteer, intern or employed staff, you know you are truly appreciated.  Last Friday, HELP took their interns and office staff out to lunch to Guru's.  YUM!  If you haven't had their sweet potato fries, you seriously are missing out!!

Thanks HELP for a great lunch and internship!

Yours Truly, HELP Headquarters

Monday Meetings

2012 Country Directors ~ India

Modesta Putla

Modesta worked with a variety of International organizations including UNFPA, Department for International Development (DFID) UK, British High Commission, Kinder not Hilfe e.V (KNH) Germany and CARE, and other non-profits. She did her Master Degree in Foods, Nutrition and Community Development in India and Social Development program in Canada. As part of her work, she travelled extensively rural and urban parts of various countries and gained in depth knowledge and experience of the developing world and passion for community development specially promoting girl child education. She visited various countries including Sri Lanka, Germany, London, Thailand and Singapore attending International conferences, providing consultancies, promoting child and youth development, addressing gender and health issues. Modesta has provided consultancies as Trainer and Facilitator and has facilitated various training courses for national, state, district/county staff. Working with UNFPA for the National Reproductive health program as a Technical Advisor, she carried a qualitative research analysis in 5 Indian districts as a pilot project that lead in institutionalizing the national level training program to increase the participation of men in health programs.   For the State school Health project of DFID she developed a case study on a girl child in Andhra Pradesh, India that helped government officials, civil society and the private sector to identify policy statements on gender into actions. Modesta represented UNFPA in International Conference in London on ‘Poverty, Inequality and Health’ and had an opportunity to present in small group discussions about the need based project development process in addressing the poverty.
Working in CARE (US based international non-profit organization) , Modesta managed the State health project including training State Officials and CARE staff on educating rural mothers in addressing the maternal and child mortality issues and developed need based health communication material.
As the Director of nonprofits in US, Modesta took lead role in policy development processes for refugees, and new immigrants, working with State/National Leaders and National Non Profit Congress.
She enjoys spicy food, like to read books, and speaks 3 Indian languages. She was a parachute jumper and was awarded several medals and certificates in the fields of education and sports! She lives in Texas with her husband and a three year old Golden Retriever. Her only son is studying final year of pre-medicine.
                                                                        

Brook Dorff

Having been born in Hawaii, living in Japan, and eventually setting in California, Brook has always been predisposed to loving warm weather, traveling, and all things relating to the ocean. She graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Public Health Education from Brigham Young University, which led her to do an internship in the Dominican Republic for several months. The internship changed the path of her career and was what instilled in her a passion for international development, public health, and women’s reproductive health. After graduating in 2008, she accepted a job immediately with the American Lung Association in Utah and the Utah Department of Health where she gained an understanding in non-profit work and a firm grasp on working for the government. Brook has since worked for the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, has traveled to Vietnam, Ecuador, and several other countries, and has collaborated with countless non-profits through her coalition work and advocacy. She currently resides in Scottsdale, Arizona and is pursuing her Masters of Art in Social Justice and Human Rights. Besides always planning her next three trips, you can find Brook with her nose stuck in a book; she also loves to: eat/cook ethnic foods, watch documentaries and visit museums, discover and play new music, participate outside in some sort of sport she’s not good at, make friends in random places, and you can bet she’ll be documenting all of that real-time through facebook/blogging/twitter.
Yours Truly, HELP Headquarters

Monday Meetings

Peru Country Directors 2012

Ibada Wadud

Ibada is an interdisciplinary sustainability professional from Washington, D.C. She began her career in development in 2005 at a women's prison in Quito, Ecuador. Following this experience, she received her BA in Global Justice and Human Rights with minors in Spanish and Hispanic Cultures and Biology. She went on to work as a cultural ambassador and language assistant with the Ministry of Education and Science in Spain. She received her MA in 2008 in Human Rights and International Development from Universidad Pablo de Olavide, graduating summa cum laude. Ibada was pre-admitted to the joint PhD program, but after one year of working on her dissertation decided to begin laying the foundation for a social enterprise focused on fashion as a tool for inclusive, sustainable development. Since then, she has redirected her interests in order to pursue a more creative path, exploring the relationships between biodiversity, poverty and design. In 2011, after working with Leaders for Social Change at Yale, she was awarded a grant from Fondazione Zegna to conduct research in sustainable development and social innovation in the fashion industry at The University of Ideas (UNIDEE) in Italy. When she is not working she is traveling, knitting, watching TED videos, reading the latest issue of Entrepreneur  and/or Marie Claire (sometimes simultaneously!), collaborating with other aspiring changemakers, and studying sustainable design at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Iba is also known as The Ethical Fashion Missionary, her ardent blogging personality.

Jared Baird

Jared Baird was born in Up-state New York and raised in western North Carolina.  He is currently studying public health at Brigham Young University with plans to eventually have a career in global epidemiology.  His interest in international development and humanitarian aid began with his 2 year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Mexico City, and exploded with his experience last year as a volunteer for HELP in El Salvador.  While he is currently studying public health, he is very interested in all aspects of development including micro-finance and home development/construction, as well as all health projects.  In his free time, Jared loves to be outdoors no matter what the activity. From snowboarding, hiking, climbing or soccer, anything outside is worth pursuing.  

Yours Truly, HELP Headquarters

HELPers

Ever wonder just how HELP International does everything they do?  Well, for one thing, they can't do it all on their own.  HELP has several organizations that have partnered up to join forces to alleviate poverty throughout the world.  Not only are these organizations in the U.S., but there are groups in every country HELP travels too that has joined the cause of "fighting poverty, empowering people." 

HELP wants everyone to know about these wonderful partners.  By clicking on this link, you can read all about each and every partner.  As for now, this post will focus on Sainterre.  Sainterre is focusing on better sanitation in underprivileged countries.  It is a U.S. based organization but they have already started projects in  Ghana, Belize, Peru and Mali.  Their solution to better sanitation is a "soilet."

               "The Soilet is a simple, innovative and sustainable sanitation solution built in the developing world for   the developing world. The Soilet digests human waste in a more natural mini ecosystem. Proprietary technologies inside the Soilet separate solid from liquid waste, composting the two elements into clean and nutrient enriched dirt over the course of just a few weeks. The Soilet does not smell and can be made in any country from locally available materials and can be installed in one day by two semi-skilled workers. Because it is a composting system, the Soilet does require certain moderate environmental conditions—those typical in much of the developing world. It’s a simple, better, cheaper solution."

To learn more, visit sainterre.org. 

HELP volunteers will help out with various projects like these to educate the people of their designated countries on proper health and more.  Who's ready for service this summer???

Yours Truly, HELP Headquarters