Post-Show Discussions and Speaker Series
Lola Ibitoye – Friday, April 18 & Saturday, May 3rd
Lola Ibitoye has been volunteering with Amnesty International USA as a volunteer leader for over 5 years. She is currently the Stop Violence Against Women Coordinator for the Atlanta area and works part time at Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta. Lola began her work with AI as a student activist both as an undergraduate and graduate student in political science.
Martha Carey – Sunday, April 20th Martha Carey is a doctoral student in Emory's Institute of Liberal Arts and an MPH student at Rollins School of Public Health through the Center for Health, Culture and Society's cross-training program. From 1993 to 2002, Carey worked with the international emergency humanitarian organization, Médecins sans Frontières, in conflict situations around the world, including Sudan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Somalia, Bosnia. Specializing in implementing humanitarian projects in conflict zones, she has worked in a number of volatile contexts (including Somalia, Bosnia-I-Herzegovina, Timor, etc.) with specific expertise in the Southern Sudanese and Sierra Leonean/Liberian conflicts.
Keisha Hoerrner Ph.D – Friday, April 25th
Dr. Hoerrner is an Associate Professor of Communication and Asst. Dept. Chair in the Dept. of University Studies at Kennesaw State University. She's an avid researcher of Holocaust and genocide issues. In 2004, she and Dr. Catherine Lewis organized KSU's first study abroad program focused on the Holocaust entitled "Following in Anne Frank's Footsteps." She founded and serves as the faculty advisor for the KSU chapter of STAND, a student anti-genocide coalition. During her tenure at KSU, she's served as a faculty fellow with the Siegel Institute for Leadership, Ethics and Character. Dr. Hoerrner is also the Chair of the Darfur Urgent Action Coalition of Ga.
Mark Bixler – Sunday, April 27th
Mark Bixler is a journalist in Atlanta, Georgia, and author of The Lost Boys of Sudan: An American Story of the Refugee Experience. Prior to joining CNN, Mark was an editor at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and was among a team of reporters and editors who were named as finalists in breaking news for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize. He also has been honored by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the North Carolina Press Association and the Georgia Associated Press Association.
The Lost Boys of Sudan chronicles four war refugees from southern Sudan for their first few years in the United States. It has received positive reviews from The Washington Post and The New York Review of Books. Former President Jimmy Carter calls the story “heartbreaking and inspiring.” In conjunction with the book’s publication, Bixler founded a charitable fund that has raised about $20,000 to help Sudanese refugees pay for an education.
Laura Baum – May 1st
Laura Baum is the Coordinator of the Atlanta chapter of Amnesty International. She joined as a member of the organization in high school, led the chapter at Agnes Scott College and now coordinates activities for AI in the community.
Laura Moye – May 2nd
Laura Moye is the Deputy Director, Southern Region for Amnesty International USA. For the past 10 years, Laura's focus at Amnesty has been to build the human rights activist base in the South. She organizes conferences and trainings and provides support to AI chapters and volunteer leaders who work on a variety of human rights issues. She has represented the organization with Georgia's Darfur Urgent Action Coalition, which has organized annual city-wide rallies and other activities.
Diamond and Selena Coleman – May 4th
Diamond is a 5th grader at D.H. Stanton Elementary School in Atlanta. After learning of the genocide in Darfur, Diamond founded the Save Darfur Club at her school. She also wrote a short play about the crisis in Darfur. Selena Coleman is the Communities in Schools of Atlanta Coordinator at D.H. Stanton Elementary who sponsors the Save Darfur Club.
Special thanks to the University of West Georgia Theatre Company for assistance with the Explore Darfur Display. |
