Ellie graduated from the College of William and Mary, where she studied Public Policy and Africana Studies. At William and Mary, Ellie volunteered with adults with developmental disabilities at the Arc of Greater Williamsburg, and mentored recently-arrived migrant students adjusting to the local middle school.  Her experience in East Africa began when she spent a summer traveling in Uganda before college. She then returned to serve as an Education and Communications Intern for the Maendeleo Foundation, a social enterprise providing digital literacy and entrepreneurial skills training to clients in Mukono, Uganda. In this role, she produced external communications and contributed to grants-based funding applications for the Foundation.  Ellie’s undergraduate research was executed in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where she spent four months conducting ethnographic fieldwork with Maasai labor migrants. Her honors thesis explores the social networks that arise to mitigate the risks of both voluntary migration and forced displacement for pastoralist populations in Tanzania. In preparing for her research and during her time in Dar, Ellie honed her Kiswahili skills and developed her interest in the effects of national-level public health and economic policy making on marginalized communities in Tanzania.

Sanjeev graduated from Duke University with a degree in Political Science. His time at Duke was defined by his work in the field of forced migration and human rights. He conducted field research with Iraqi and Syrian refugees in Jordan, led a youth mentoring program for resettled refugees in Durham, North Carolina, and led a project to create an online platform to share data and analysis on global migration. His senior thesis focused on the origins of the Rohingya conflict in Myanmar. Sanjeev has a diverse array of experiences working internationally. He conducted research into war crime trials for the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Serbia, studied the impacts of drought on marginalized populations in rural India for UNDP, and provided legal support to the Statelessness Section at UNHCR headquarters. After graduation, Sanjeev was selected as a Hart Leadership Fellow by Duke and was placed at the Issara Institute in Bangkok, Thailand, where he provided support to a number of research projects focused on eliminating human trafficking and forced labour among migrant workers in global supply chains. He is an avid reader, a complete history nerd, a huge soccer fan and a photography enthusiast. He is looking forward to learning more about working with displaced populations through his time at IRC Tanzania.

Matilde is an International Affairs MA graduate from George Washington University, with a concentration in International Development and regional focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. Before starting her MA, Matilde volunteered in Livingstone, Zambia, assisting in the care and education of vulnerable children. Matilde has worked with a grassroot non-profit organization in the region of Mbeya, Tanzania, supporting the mobile and outreach health program. In DC, Matilde has worked with the Africa divisions at the International Foundation for Electoral System and at Counterpart International providing crucial administrative and technical support on a different of U.S. government programs on democracy and governance assistance. For her MA coursework, she traveled to Durban, South Africa, to conduct field research on language in primary education policy and practice. Matilde worked with the Center for Global Impact at the International Republican Institute on citizen-centered governance programming. Matilde is committed to explore the nexus between international development and humanitarian assistance as she perceives that the current humanitarian crises will require the work of hybrid professionals that can plan for longer-term development strategies while also knowing how to work in fragile environments. She is looking forward to growing professionally with the International Rescue Committee in Dar es Salaam and to continue learning Kiswahili!

Ornella Baganizi graduated from American University with a degree in International Studies focusing on Global Inequality and Development and a regional focus in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her family is from Rwanda, but she was born in Quebec, Canada, and speaks fluent French. As a child, Ornella spent a few years living in Bamako, Mali. She has interned for Voice of America in the Central Africa Division, where she assisted in the production of two live radio shows. She also interned for the Office of Senator Chuck Schumer. She was a 2017 Boren Scholarship recipient to study Swahili in Tanzania. She also studied abroad in Kenya and interned at a community-based radio station in the Kivuli Center for at-risk youth. Her senior year of college, Ornella organized and led an Alternative Break trip to Arusha, Tanzania, which focused on the legacy of Pan-Africanism and the rights of marginalized communities. Ornella is passionate about youth development through artistic expression. She is excited to return to Tanzania as a Princeton in Africa Fellow at Mainsprings and looks forward to be working with young women.

Alumni Update:

Victoria lives in Dar es Salaam where she is completing her dissertation on fistula mental health in partnership with CCBRT, her PiAf host organization. She provides individual and group therapy to people with cancer and their loved ones. 

Fellow Bio:

Victoria is from Narragansett, Rhode Island. She received her B.A. from Brown University in Political Science and Religious Studies, where she graduated magna cum laude. At Brown, she concentrated on African-American religious strategies and women’s empowerment. Victoria also served as president of Partners in Health Engage at Brown, leading the group in organizing, advocating, and fundraising for health as a human right. She has conducted research on food security and import reliance in Senegal, worked with Ghanaian women to establish a sustainable water business as a Saha Global Field Representative, and traveled to South Africa to direct the Universal Promise Women’s Empowerment and Health Education Initiatives. Victoria is passionate about community-based health care and education as tools of empowerment. She loves practicing yoga, cooking, swimming, and singing along with Beyoncé. She is eager to explore Dar es Salaam and grateful for the opportunity to promote health equity alongside CCBRT.

Hailing from a small, Midwest town, Udita graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Anthropology and Global Health Studies. Her passion in for “glocal” health has led her to have meaningful experiences both domestically and globally. She spent two summers in both Tanzania and Uganda where she had the opportunity to conduct community-based research and learn more about the health infrastructures in both countries. While at Northwestern, she co-founded and ran a community engagement organization called NU Community Health Corps, that aims to empower individuals to take ownership of their own health and wellbeing. Through NUCHC, she launched the HIRCULES Health Hub, which are health information desks focused on connecting community members to qualified health information and resources. She also served as a Partnerships Fellow at the GlobeMed Global Headquarters where she works closely to manage the 56 global partnerships between undergraduate chapters and grass-root organizations in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Udita is extremely excited to be returning to Tanzania and working Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative this upcoming year!

Alumni Update:

After his fellowship, Tim first spent time working for an agricultural start-up company in Kenya, and subsequently worked at a Princeton-based investment bank. He is now in business school at UVA/Darden and looking forward to a summer internship with Cargill.

Fellow Bio:

Tim Callahan graduated from Princeton in 2007 with a degree in sociology. At Princeton, Tim sang for the all-male a cappella group The Princeton Tigertones and played for the varsity squash team. In the year following graduation, Tim worked at The Salisbury School, an all-boys boarding school in western Connecticut, as a math teacher and tutor. Tim is very excited to work in western Tanzania for the International Rescue Committee this coming year.

Sophia studied Public Policy Analysis and Global Health at Pomona College. While at Pomona, she worked as an HIV testing counselor for a local, free clinic and served as a peer health educator on campus. During her junior year, Sophia spent a semester studying community health in Botswana. After graduating in 2013, Sophia interned with UNAIDS in Kenya, supporting the Pan-African Positive Women’s Coalition in the finalization of their strategic framework and constitution. After returning from Kenya, Sophia worked in HIV vaccine development while volunteering with Partners in Health and Amigos de las Americas. In Tanzania this year, Sophia is looking forward to improving her Swahili, eating lots of fish from Lake Victoria, and learning from inspiring coworkers and patients at BIPAI!

Alumni Update:

2014 was an eventful year! After helping Medair transition into the “new” South Sudan context following the start of a conflict in December 2013, Shelly left South Sudan to take a brief hiatus from aid work. In August she married a wonderful man named Kelly Doley and they moved to Berkeley, CA for what they plan to be a two-year stay. She is now studying theology at the Jesuit School of Theology and Kelly is working in San Francisco for an IT non-profit called Inveneo. They have been lucky to befriend several folks with international and even South Sudan specific aid experience and are enjoying the community that comes with those connections.

Fellow Bio:

Shelly is a religion major who also earned a teaching certificate in secondary mathematics from the teacher preparation program. Originally from Sugar Grove, VA, Shelly came to Princeton as a member of the varsity women’s basketball team and played for four years. In addition to basketball, she was an active member of Athletes in Action (an interdenominational Christian ministry), the Student Volunteers Council, and Colonial Club. Shelly enjoys riding horses and looks forward to learning Swahili and to playing the guitar. In the long term, she would like to work abroad (in an NGO or as a missionary) or do ministry work within the US.