Justice and Action Student (JAS) 2011 -2012

The student in the position as Justice and Action Student for the current academic year is Melaku Assefa. Melaku is an Ethiopian by nationality. He is a fourth year Bachelor of Management student at Dalhousie University. He was a delegate at two World Model United Nations conferences: Taipei 2010 and Singapore 2011. He has a deep passion for children and humanity and actively attends international conferences, workshops, and seminars in different parts of the world such as Europe, Asia, and North America since arriving in Canada in 2006. He has a dream to work for the United Nations after finishing a degree in International Law. His philosophy of life is to be “an outlier.” He believes that an outlier is a big thinker, a dreamer, and a doer of things.
 

Justice and Action Student (JAS) 2010 -2011

The student in the position as Justice and Action Student for the current academic year is Cate Lacroix. Cate is a student at King’s College taking a Bachelor of Arts degree. She will work on a variety of local and global concerns, particularly environmental issues and the importance of the care of the earth, etc. She will work out of her areas of interest which may change as new concerns arise. Cate has worked for a number of years at Camp Calumet in New Hampshire.
 

Justice and Action Student (JAS) 2008 -2010

The student in this position during the 2008 – 2010 academic years was Jocelyn Burr. Jocelyn was a graduate student in a master of arts degree in international development studies at Dalhousie. She had been active with the Women’s Centre at Dalhousie and Engineers Without Borders at the University of Manitoba.
 

Justice and Action Students (JAS) 2007 -2008

The students in this position during the 2007 – 2008 academic year were Asha Arabi, in a masters in international development at Dalhousie, and Matthew MacDonald, who completed a Master of Arts degree in political science at Dalhousie. Both Asha and Matthew attended the annual meeting of KAIROS at Tatamagouche and attended meetings of the Halifax Cluster of KAIROS during the terms; Matthew assisted with the planning of the KAIROS Sunday Service in March. The JAS students arranged a table promoting KAIROS and its justice initiatives in the Student Union Building in October. Asha was joined by a classmate and Lutheran student in the masters in international development program, Jocelyn Burr, in speaking at Resurrection Lutheran on the Sunday nearest World Food Day. Matthew arranged a film screening on the life of a nurse on the streets in Toronto at Uncommon Ground, a local coffee shop, and a letter writing event for Amnesty International after church.

Justice and Action Student (JAS) 2006 – 2007

In 2006 – 2007 the JAS student, Koleen Jensen, a senior student in the BSc program in nursing, participated in the KAIROS training event at Tatamagouche and attended regularly the monthly meetings of the Halifax Cluster of KAIROS. She developed a bulletin board at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection on which she focused monthly on different justice and compassion groups on campus and within Metro. She researched and prepared materials on Hope Cottage, NSPIRG, WaterCAN, Phoenix Youth House, the Dalhousie Women’s Centre, etc. She publicized volunteer opportunities on the bulletin board. With the chaplain, she helped develop an exhibit in the Student Union Building on World Day for Water, which brought together a half dozen agencies within Metro who have a focus on world water issues.

A report by Koleen Jensen on the work during the 2006 – 2007 year is available here. JAS Report 2006-2007