Written by Bevin Adams, a VSFS Intern with the U.S. Department of State. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Global Studies and Sociology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
After completing his International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), Daniar Amanaliev knew he needed to address a pressing issue in Kyrgyzstan: the lack of exposure young girls have to careers in the STEM field. Within the country, there are few opportunities for girls to involve themselves in the realm of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In response, Daniar recruited a team of industry professionals to put together the “Akylzhan Women Creative Lab Girls STEM Camp,” an Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF) project empowering the next generation of female leaders. Through three successful camps, the project gave young girls resources and connections they could utilize in their home communities, spreading knowledge to even more girls who otherwise would not have access to such opportunities.
Daniar was nominated for IVLP alongside nine other businesspeople by the U.S. Embassy in Kyrgyzstan in 2018. He traveled across the United States for three weeks, visiting entrepreneurial hubs in cities like New York and Los Angeles to learn about the creation and implementation of Makerspaces. A makerspace is a collaborative work space for making, learning, exploring and sharing with the community. Reflecting on his IVLP experience, Daniar called the program “smooth and professional...The content even better.” Coming back to Kyrgyzstan with new knowledge, he knew he could replicate that kind of experience for other groups within his home country.
The STEM camps, which ran three successful sessions in Bishkek and Osh, recruited girls ages 14-18 with an interest in science and art. “When you work with girls, you need to start early for more opportunities in (their) life. It can change their (life) trajectory when they’re young,” Daniar says of why they focused on that age group. By the end of the camp, participants were motivated to pursue STEM-related careers.
Daniar used his connections as the CEO of the ololo Group of companies, the largest creative hubs chain in Central Asia, to find speakers for the camps. He wanted to make sure that the girls felt like the camps were a safe place. He knew that he could rely on his colleagues as their values aligned with both the camps’ and his own business’ mission to encourage innovation and representation. As a result, the majority of the speaker’s were female. “There was a sisterhood atmosphere,” Daniar said. The girls previously had little exposure to women who were successful in STEM, so they were inspired by the stories of women who were progressing in their careers. One of these people was Aisalykyn Talasbekova.
Daniar tapped Aisalykyn, who goes by Aisa, to help develop and run the STEM camps. She leveraged her experience in the business landscape of Kyrgyzstan to work as the account manager for the camp. Through this role, she was able to develop strong relationships with the participants, fostering a supportive and encouraging environment.
Aisa is also an alumna of a U.S. government-funded exchange program. In 2024, Aisa came to Chicago, Illinois as a TechWomen participant. TechWomen is a U.S. Department of State initiative to empower and support the next generation of women STEM leaders across Africa, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East. Much like the participants she worked with at the STEM Camps, Aisa is now meeting with industry professionals and learning how to take the knowledge and experience she gained back to Kyrgyzstan.
Reflecting on her own journey, Aisa offers words of encouragement to those looking to make a difference in their communities. “It may be cliche,” she said, “but the sky's the limit. Anyone can do anything if they have the courage to do it.”
From the girls who participated in the STEM Camps to Aisa herself, these programs are available to anyone who is brave enough to submit their application. “Nothing is impossible,” she added. The skills that these young women are learning inSTEMwill help them and their communities continue to find opportunities that they once thought were unimaginable. Already, the participants are developing projects in their own communities. These new programs are funded by the U.S. Embassy in Kyrgyzstan, with the participants utilizing connections they made throughout the STEM camps and even inviting their mentors to attend.
“These are life changing experiences,” Daniar said. From the connections made to the hands-on learning they accomplished, the participants left with a wider range of knowledge ofSTEM fields. They will go on to inspire their peers and create an environment in Kyrgyzstan where women can get the same amount of exposure to this career path as men. But until then, Daniar has some advice for those interested in participating in programs like the STEM camps as well as those interested in U.S. government-sponsored exchange programs: “Relax, trust the process, try to learn, and open your ears and minds.”
Written by Office of Alumni Affairs Intern Rebecca Heath
This summer, two ExchangeAlumni set out to empower youth of semi-nomadic tribes through photography and astronomy in the mountainous regions of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Their Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund (CDAF) initiative, Son-Kol Cosmos Photo Camp, aimed to cultivate photography skills in rural, underserved communities with limited access to education. 15 students participated in the four-day, interactive program, which connected cosmos science and storytelling underneath the sky of Son-Kol Lake.
“This camp was a way to bring in or inject some energy into storytelling and our own environments,” said ExchangeAlumni Sophie Dia Pegrum.Sophie, a cinematographer who previously participated in the Fulbright National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellowship, teamed up with National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) ExchangeAlumni Eleanor Pugh to launch the photo camp.
During the program, students gained access to professional camera equipment. Afterwards, they had the opportunity to bring it to their yurts for a night to document and share their own stories with the world.
“I was amazed at what these youngsters did,” Sophie said.“We couldn't believe how excited they were, they got to look at the moon through telescopes as well. And we really involved, not just the children themselves, but the whole community.”
Throughout her career as a documentary filmmaker, Sophie said her work has largely centered around communities, stretching from remote regions in Nepal to Kyrgyzstan. She aims to extend beyond the notion of simply amplifying stories, and stresses that the exchange of stories empowers both filmmakers and their subjects.
Prior to leading the photo camp this summer, Sophie focused on documenting the stories of women in the Kyrgyz Space Program as a National Geographic Fellow. There, she initially learned about the unique concept of photo camps from fellow National Geographic explorers.
In her CDAF with the photo camp students, Sophie strove to evoke the same sense of wonder that has always driven her and her projects.“I certainly remember the first time I looked up at the sky when I was a kid,” Sophie said. “It was a sort of inspiring moment and also a moment of terror, kind of, in the sense of you're everything and nothing all at once. I feel like we get lost in this world with…so many distractions, and the sky itself can be a sort of reminder of who we are without borders.”
At the culmination of the program, each student created a photo book, which was recently exhibited in a cultural center in Bishkek, has been spotlighted on the project’s Instagram account, and will soon be showcased in the U.S. Sophie also plans to create an online exhibit to increase visibility of the students’ achievements on a broader scale.
Sophie described the camp as a “pilot” program that she hopes to launch in other regions following the “remarkable success” of its first iteration, and she hopes the students’ experiences has empowered them to share their own stories and even become role models in their communities.
“Storytelling itself is an incredible way to make a difference,” Sophie said. “As I say, it's world making in its own way.”
Munmun Dhalaria, award-winning documentary filmmaker, National Geographic Storytelling Explorer, and Youth Exchange and Study Program (YES) Exchange Alumni, joined MentorTalks in September on Instagram Live to discuss her career in filmmaking, her interest in the intersection of wildlife conservation, sex, and science communications, and lessons learned from her international exchange that she brought home with her to India.
Munmun shared about the role of film to drive climate action and awareness, plus tips for pursuing a career path in filmmaking – including how to get past challenges of starting out in the field, how to find funding, and how to succeed in an attention economy.
“I learned a lot by doing,” she said. “One small thing led to something else.”
Tune in now to hear Munmun’s career tips, and to find out how you can follow both your head and your heart when it comes to making a career decision.
Speaker Bio:
Munmun Dhalaria is the Director of Moon Peak Films in India and has been a National Geographic Storytelling Explorer since 2017. Over the past 12 years, she has independently produced over 20 short award-winning documentaries on the topics of human rights, climate change, sex equity and wildlife conservation. She has a rare ability of understanding how to balance the ethics of respecting characters and their personal narratives while creatively crafting stories in an exciting way for global audiences.
She directs, does camerawork, scripts and edits documentaries, in high pressure, demanding situations for broadcasters like Disney Hotstar. From Ladakh to the Shetland Island, she has worked in some of the remotest places on the planet, while delivering high quality documentaries for broadcast.
In 2019, she worked on a wildlife conservation TV show titled ‘On the Brink’ Season 2 as an Assistant Director and Cinematographer. The episodes showcase diverse endangered species and habitats in India, and were published on into Disney+. This series has won two National Awards in India so far.
Dhalaria has also been an independent Producer/ Director for online channels like Vice News and Al Jazeera. She has recently filmed topical stories ranging from climate change in the upper Himalayas to the Opioid crisis in north India. In 2022, she worked as an Assistant Producer at Wildstar Films in the UK, working extensively in Development and on 3 ongoing Disney productions, 2 of which have already won Emmy Awards. She's currently producing a short film about perinatal mental health in Rajasthan, India.
Paralympians and Sports Envoy ExchangeAlumni Josh George and Lacey Henderson have a long list of accomplishments. But while they no longer compete globally in the Games, both athletes have continued to leave a lasting impact on their communities.
Josh George, considered to be one of the best wheelchair athletes in the world, is a six-time world champion Paralympic racer. He won the gold and silver medals in the 800 and 100 meter races in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, and he’s also competed in countless marathons, winning three Chicago marathon titles and the London marathon in 2015.
Josh lost use of his lower body at age four when he fell out of a 12-story window. He didn’t let this deter him, though, and he pursued a love for sports – first through basketball, and then wheelchair racing – competing for the United States in 2004 at the Athens Olympic Games.
In the midst of setting world records in Chicago and London, Josh was selected as a Sports Envoy for the U.S. Department of State. In 2014, Josh traveled to Brazil, where he and fellow Paralympian ExchangeAlumni Allyson Felix connected with more than 500 at-risk youth, many of whom were disabled, around overcoming adversity and the value of discipline.
Since his athletic career, Josh has set out to encourage others to “maximize their potential,” drawing on his own Paralympic journey to inspire those disabled and from minority backgrounds to embrace the talents they have and realize their potential.
“I’ve had a lot of limitations in my career as a racer. But it’s forced me to think more creatively and devise a strategy to succeed within my limitations,” he says.
From a Family Affair to Advocating for Others
Track and field star Lacey Henderson has lived with a disability since she was nine years old, when she had to have her right leg amputated just above the knee due to a rare soft-tissue cancer. After her father, an elite pole-vaulting athlete himself, challenged her to a bet that she couldn’t pole vault more than a few feet (she did!) Lacey discovered her passion in track and field. She would go on to become an American record holder, competing in the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
Lacey now works as a disability advocate, using her platform to fight for equality and access for people with disabilities. Her time as a Sports Envoy brought her to Peru and to Mexico, where she engaged with countless youth around topics of resilience and determination.
Lacey’s work has expanded into policy-making, too. In Colorado, she was instrumental in helping to pass legislation in 2023 that would require insurance companies to cover the cost of prosthetics for recreation, arguing that “movement is medicine.”
Outside of their work in youth engagement and disability advocacy, Josh and Lacey have also created space to pursue personal interests.
Josh’s most recent chapter has included chasing his love for food and opening a barbecue joint in San Diego with his brother, Smokin’ J’s. Lacey’s podcast, Picked Last in Gym Class, has given her a platform to reach thousands of listeners as she delves into topics of inclusion and accessibility. Most recently, Lacey was also selected to host the upcoming 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris with NBC as the first Paralympian in-country host.
From their athletic careers to advocacy work and youth engagement, Josh and Lacey are incredible examples of athletes who have drawn on their experiences and platforms to drive meaningful change, share the power of resilience, and elevate the voices of those with disabilities in sports and beyond.
Written by Office of Alumni Affairs Intern Mohammad Samhouri
Errachid Montassir grew up on a Moroccan farm, never forgetting his roots as he developed a passion for community development..
Errachid who is an ExchangeAlumni of the Community Engagement Exchange (CEE) Program, together with Alena Klimas, a Peace Corps ExchangeAlumni, channeled this passion in their 2023 Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund (CDAF) grant application, ultimately winning a grant for their project, Seeds of Life.
Initially pitched as an environmental project to promote arboriculture and empower youth in Errachid’s home village in Morocco’s Rhamna province, Seeds of Life is much more than it seems from the outside. Alena and Errachid came to realize that the project actually went much further.
“I realized it touches on many priorities of the community: economic growth, environment and climate, and agriculture,” Errachid, said. “Seeds of Life really touches on all these pillars of the community.”
The grant was used to build a greenhouse at the school Errachid attended as a child, promoting the benefits of arboriculture by planting organic fruit trees. The project not only promoted the types of acts that will help curb climate change and desertification in the region but also economic development through an income for local farmers, as well as empowered women in the community by giving them the opportunity to design and manage the project.
Alena and Errachid say the project is not so much theirs but the community’s; since Seeds of Life’s inception, they have actively worked to ensure its success and preservation, though Alena and Errachid have leaned into overcoming barriers to get the project off the ground, and have sought out other opportunities to expand it, seeing it as a model for development that can benefit all of Morocco, not just the Rhamna province.
Growing Partnerships
Alena met Errachid during her time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco, working with him in his capacity at the High Atlas Foundation, a Moroccan non-profit centered on community development. They would continue to work together in Morocco through USAID’s Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program, which Errachid was managing at the time.
“Errachid was the point person for many American volunteers and farming experts in Morocco that went there to work with cooperatives,” Alena said. “That’s really what brought us together in a deeper way, even after I finished my Peace Corps.”
It was this experience in the F2F program that would lead to their partnership, with Errachid eventually sharing his idea for Seeds of Life with Alena. While the initial concept was much larger, Alena and Errachid settled on a small pilot project in Errachid’s home village in Morocco’s Rhamna province — and identified CDAF as a funding source.
“I kept feeling like this was a project that would be perfect for CDAF,” Alena said. “Errachid and I had both done [multiple] exchanges, and I think both of us really represent citizen diplomacy, action, and community development.” Alena began studying Arabic in Jordan after receiving a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship in 2015, eventually studying in Morocco through the Critical Language Scholarship before she volunteered with the Peace Corps. Errachid was part of the first iteration of the Community Engagement Exchange (CEE), where worked on community development initiatives and urban agriculture in Chicago.
Overcoming Challenges
Implementing the project in the village didn’t come without challenges. A main barrier was access to the community, as trust was essential to starting the project.
“You have to rebuild trust and everything, people will think you’re from the government, people will think it’s an election thing,” Errachid said. “All these barriers, of course, are fine, but having a project in a school in Morocco, that’s a double barrier.”
Getting permission to have their project on the school grounds took almost a month, according to Alena. Morocco is very serious about its education, with strict scrutiny surrounding outside projects and funding. Alena had faced something similar during her time in the Peace Corps as well. But utilizing the network they had built, they were able to bring numerous parties, including the Ministry of Education and other elected officials, together and get the project approved and off the ground.
Most importantly, they were able to rally the community behind Seeds of Life, helping many in the community and the larger Rhamna Province realize that they all shared the same goals.
“We brought them together to really express what they need and the priorities of this area,” Errachid said. “It turns out the priorities were shared, it was a common goal that they never expressed to each other. That’s been a very successful story in itself.”
Seeds of Life’s Evolution
When a devastating earthquake struck Morocco in September 2023, the project had to shift. Many of those working on the project were impacted by the earthquake, even though the project itself was unharmed. Errachid himself was a first responder. So with many villages having collapsed, the project team decided that some of the trees from their project would go to heavily impacted communities first, securing a source of income for those villages and serving as a symbol of the rebuilding effort.
Since then, the project has expanded. Errachid was invited to pitch Seeds of Life to the United Nations in Italy, and he successfully secured a second year of funding. This effort also paved an opportunity for it to spread even further as Errachid founded Eco-Linko, an eco-tourism company with a tree-planting initiative similar to Seeds of Life.
"Seeds of Life is continuing to grow in ways that we didn’t even know were possible,” Alena said. “The small pilot was a success with the school, we’re going to see more and more trees being given out to individual families and other schools.”
While they wait on partnership news, Alena and Errachid gave some words of advice for ExchangeAlumni considering applying for a CDAF grant.
“If you’re an alumni considering a proposal, I would lean into someone who has expertise in that community, who really can identify gaps to come up with a project that’s innovative and really suits the community,” Alena said.
Errachid agreed on the community focus, and added that sometimes getting a project off the ground is about “making noise.”
“Sometimes I feel like making noise in a good way really does help,” he said.
Those interested in the progress of Seeds of Life and more on the story can read Alena’s blogs about the projects on Medium.
How can travel bind us closer to one another?
On June 4, 2024, CEO and Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) ExchangeAlumni Yasmine El Baggari joined MentorTalks on Instagram Live to discuss founding her platform, Voyaj; how meeting President Barack Obama and then Vice President Joe Biden was a turning point in her life; and the advice she has for others who want to make a difference in their fields.
Go on an inner journey first,” Yasmin says. “Get to know yourself. Developing a sense of empathy and compassion is so necessary for this type of work.”
After taking a Greyhound bus around the country following her international exchange, the entrepreneur was inspired to turn connecting people into a career. In this episode, find out how this experience changed the course of her life, and how her journey since has taught her that everyone has a role to play in working toward greater cultural understanding.
https://bit.ly/MentorTalks-TechConnect
Speaker Biography:
Yasmine El Baggari, a native of Morocco and San Francisco based, is the founder and CEO of Voyaj.com, a global platform that connects people from around the globe for one-on-one meaningful exchanges to foster global understanding and peace. After traveling alone to over 40+ countries, all 50 U.S. States and a guest in more than 200 homes, the hospitality and open-mindedness of the people around the world impacted her greatly and inspired her to bring her own experiences to the world.
Every day, Yasmine is committed to creating a safe environment where the exchange of ideas and stories will result in mutual respect and our ability to embrace our differences, to empower each other to become citizens of the world committed to a healthy, peaceful planet.
For the past decade, Yasmine’s reach includes research at Harvard University, and the U.S. State Department as a Youth Moroccan Ambassador to the United States. Her work has appeared in BBC, National Geographic, NPR, Forbes, and the Huffington Post. Yasmine has also received the Royal Air Maroc Award from the African Studies Association, Glamour Women of the Year Microsoft's Made Achieving Award, Hampshire College’s $60K Award for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, two Ingenuity Awards and a number of others. Recently, she was invited to the White House as one of the 100 Most Influential Travel Bloggers, and on Forbes 30 Under 30's list as one of the most inspiring and promising entrepreneurs in Africa. She holds a Masters degree in Human Development Psychology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Written by Office of Alumni Affairs Intern Michael O’Hearn, Edited by Maria Eliades and Emily Rand
From Nepal to Montana, Hiralal Aryal and Elaine Higuera are educators from opposite sides of the globe on a joint mission – to empower students in the fight against climate change. The Nepalese elementary school principal and Study of U.S. Institutes (SUSI) ExchangeAlumni Hiralal Aryal, and Montanan elementary school teacher and Sports Envoy ExchangeAlumni E
laine Higuera joined forces to educate their students on the impacts of climate change, with the ultimate goal of reducing global waste through the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund (CDAF) project, US:
International VermiComposting.
Hiralal first met Elaine while on his international exchange program in the United States. His visit to the Target Range School in Missoula, Montana, where Elaine teaches, sparked a realization between the two educators; they shared an interest in the environment and youth education.
This realization led to the pair teaming up to apply for a CDAF grant, started a virtual exchange between the students at Target Range and Gaindakot English School in Nepal which evolved into a lasting initiative focusing on waste reduction in their communities.
When the Going Gets Green
Both schools have Go Green initiatives, inspired by a non-profit of the same name, to adopt environmentally friendly practices. These initiatives support the CDAF projects, and have led to successful efforts to reduce students’ carbon footprint. For example, The Gaindakot English School eliminated all plastic waste by repurposing and recycling materials like tires and trays into something more useful.
“We get tires from vehicles and we …use them to make office furnishings and sitting areas,” Hiralal said. “I'm looking for the areas where I can prepare my students to work on things like reducing carbon emissions for climate change.”
The Gaindakot English School’s main objective involves vermicomposting, in which earthworms and other microorganisms are unleashed into waste material, transforming it into soil. The school then sells vermicompost prototype models to the community, in turn reducing waste by nearly three tons each week.
The Target Range School has also used vermicomposting to reduce waste. In their compost, Target Range School students turn ten pounds of food waste into soil each week, then use it to fertilize their garden. The Montana-based students have also switched to LED lights, and are even hoping to move to full solar energy using solar panels.
Elaine has been including lessons on the true cost of energy, and how students can reduce not just the school’s carbon footprint, but also that of their own. The impact of these lessons and the CDAF project has been immense.
“They've learned so much and they're super excited about it [vermicomposting],” Elaine said. Our goal is to just keep this going and keep the kids generating ideas on what they can do next. They're now listening to the news and watching things that they hadn't paid attention to before on climate change.”
The same is true for the students in Nepal, who are finding passion and enjoyment in their work.
“We try to educate our children who go [in]to the community and change the mindset of people. That's why we educate our children about good practices,” said Hiralal. “They go to the community and that will bring a huge impact on combating the climate and making a better planet.”
International Connections Give Back
The connection that Elaine and Hiralal forged through their exchange programs has been invaluable to both individuals, and has fueled their continued and collaborative effort in their classrooms. Elaine is hopeful that the collaboration between her students in Montana and Hiralal’s students in Nepal will continue, and she emphasized that the cultural exchange was the most valuable part of the CDAF project. Hiralal sees his time in the United States as an inspiration for giving back to his community through his students.
“I learned so many things in the United States and I need to give back to the community now, that's my responsibility,” he said. “I have a passion that we need to educate our students to be responsible citizens. The big challenge is protecting the environment and combating climate change, that's why that is the area I focused on.”
