Volunteers Offer Their Time and
Talents to Assist the WANGO Secretariat
In December 2005, WANGO initiated a volunteer program, under the
coordination of Ms. Rachel Alexander, to assist with various aspects of
the WANGO Secretariat’s operations. The volunteers came from various
backgrounds, assisting in a temporary office or virtually from their own
personal computers on special database and research projects.
The Secretariat greatly appreciates these individuals and wishes to
recognize them for their significant efforts and contributions made to help
advance and expand the work of WANGO.
Michael
Gosling
is a database and research project volunteer since late January.
Michael is
married, with one daughter, eight-years-old. He lives in
Plainfield,
IL, which is about 35 miles southwest of Chicago. He works fulltime in sales for BNA, Inc., a legal publisher based in
Washington
D.C.
He sells strictly to attorneys, as well as officials in local,
county and state government throughout much of
Illinois
and northwest Indiana. “I first worked as a newspaper reporter when I graduated college too many
years ago.” He has an MBA degree in general management from
Dominican University,
River Forest,
IL.
Kate
Confrensco is
a database and research project volunteer since late January/early February.
Raised in a small town in
Connecticut
by a family of artists, Kate has recently moved to
Brooklyn
for a change of pace. She graduated
from
Smith
College
in 1997 with a degree in Liberal Arts. Kate
continually searches to find ways to improve the lives of others through her
volunteer work. She has been
involved with non-profits for over 15 years.
Her most memorable experience to-date was a trip to
Ghana with Global Volunteers where she taught English to a group of women who had
been rescued from a life on the streets.
Kate’s other interests include: traveling,
foreign films and cooking vegetarian meals.
Tandi Tuakli
recently joined WANGO’s volunteer team. Tandi
is originally from Maryland. As a young child she accompanied her father on NGO work in southern
Africa, which sparked an interest in world affairs. Her other interests
include travel, economics, art, fashion and learning new languages. Although
varied, her diverse interests lead her to study International Fashion
Merchandising Management at the Fashion Institute of Technology. This
summer she will be traveling to Indonesia
to learn Bahasa Indonesian and research the techniques used to create various
types of traditional Indonesian textiles. In the future, she hopes to work
strengthen the business relationship between textile cooperatives in developing
countries and fashion businesses.
Danielle Gondre
recently joined WANGO’s volunteer team. Danielle’s
ultimate goal is to promote international awareness and help fight against the
injustices that is plaguing our world. She
was born and raised in
Brooklyn
,
New York
, and later moved to Bellmore, NY, a small suburban in Nassau Country,
Long Island. She is an alumnus of
St. John’s
University, where she majored in Communication Arts. At
the present, she is preparing to attend graduate school in international
affairs. With a Master’s degree in
International Affairs, she believes she will fulfill her ultimate goal of being
a director of an international program dedicated to enhancing the public’s
knowledge, especially the youth, about the world.
In her spare time, she is a
devoted yogi, enjoys reading, and learning languages.
Corey
Silverstein
is database and research project volunteer since late January/early February.
Corey was born in Red Bank,
New Jersey. Raised in
West Long Branch
by her parents Linda and Steve, she also has an older brother Greg, and two
cats, Tilly and Romeo. She graduated from
Shore
Regional
High school
in the class of 2005. Currently attending New York
University as a freshman, she plans to study International Relations. She also hopes to
study abroad next spring in either Paris
or Florence. Passionate about studying and experiencing different languages and cultures,
as well as helping to achieve humanitarian goals, she is eager to help and
excited to be involved with an organization like WANGO.
Mariam
Shah is a
database and publications department volunteer since late February. Mariam was
born in Hong Kong and raised in the East and West, and has had the opportunity
to travel extensively in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and
North America
. This exposure enabled her to
understand the tremendous cultural dynamics of different societies, and the
stresses and strains of development and progress or the lack of it.
Her interests in world issues further developed through her undergraduate
studies in Hong Kong in Public and Social Administration, and her graduate
studies in International Relations in the U.K.
Her current pursuit for a degree in
Law provides another perspective to her understanding of world events.
She is delighted that her interests match with the objectives of WANGO
which deals with [civil society] “beyond boundaries,” and she looks forward
to opportunities to contribute to the cause of WANGO.
On the side, she is interested in aromatherapy and holistic medicine, an
interest which again relates largely to her experience in
multicultural societies and their yearnings for natural medicine. She also
enjoys sports such as tennis, skiing, bicycling, yoga and pilates.
Anthony
DeMieri is a
database and research project volunteer since March. Anthony was born and raised
in Brooklyn and currently lives in Manhattan, NY. He knew instinctively from an early age that he wanted to enter into a
humanitarian and intellectual field. He has a bachelor's degree in Philosophy
and a Master's degree in English Education. He will be working on a second
Master's degree in Social Work this upcoming September. He greatly enjoys
having the eclectic roles of working as a teacher, editorial assistant, and
social justice advocate. He also enjoys screenwriting, watching classic
films, having conversations about world politics. Above all else, he
cherishes the time he spends with his girlfriend, family and friends.