Meet the Fellows!
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Documents and downloads for Fellows.Octaciano (Chano) Benegas Galeas
Octaciano (Chano) Benegas Galeas, is 20 and lives in Tocoa. Chano has a high school degree in Business Administration and is currently studying Management and Social Development at the local university on weekends. In high school, Chano was a member of a student environmental group organized by International Municipal Environmentalists. He has also been involved in numerous social projects in Tocoa, such as designing and implementing a housing program for the elderly and working with Medicos del Mundo. Chano has creative ideas of how to apply the knowledge and skills he will gain in GoJoven, such as organizing youth gatherings with music, dance, and movies around SRH themes.
Dayana Sarahi Mondragón Hernandez
Dayana Sarahi Mondragón Hernandez, 18, is a member of the political youth group “Jovenes Nacionalistas de Trujillo.” She has organized sports tournaments for over 500 adolescents as an alternative to using drugs and violence, and would like to integrate sex education into the group’s portfolio. Dayana is an extremely dynamic and visionary young woman, experienced in mobilizing and inspiring large numbers of youth to seek healthy options, and committed to peer education and youth leadership. She hopes to begin medical school in 2010 and to continue her work with the most marginalized populations in and around Trujillo. Ultimately, Dayana dreams of joining international medical brigades such as Doctors without Borders.
Bessy Lorena Merino Duarte
Bessy Lorena Merino Duarte, 26, is a middle school teacher and also has experience participating in and leading outdoor educational leadership trainings. Recently she graduated as a Facilitator of Outdoor Activities with a focus on leadership, group work, environmental education, risk management, and extreme sports from the Asociación Nacional de Exbecarios para el Desarrollo de Honduras. She graduated Cum Laude with a BA in Education in 2005 from a university in Tegucipalpa and then returned home to educate adolescents and contribute to her community’s development. Bessy hopes to strengthen her leadership skills and knowledge around sexual and reproductive health. Ultimately, she aims to get a Master’s Degree in Ecological Research and run youth leadership camps and outdoor expeditions.
Ivonne Elena Miranda Card
Ivonne Elena Miranda Card, a 25 year old Garifuna woman, graduated with a BA in Psychology at the Universidad Católica de Honduras Nuestra Señora Reina de la Paz in La Ceiba, Honduras in 2007. Upon graduation, Ivonne returned to her community, where she is now one of few practicing psychologists. She works at a hospital in Trujillo, where she provides individual mental health counseling to adolescents at the hospital’s new Comprehensive Youth Health Center. Ivonne aims to increase her knowledge and skills in sexual and reproductive health so that she can work to integrate SRH education and services into the Center’s work, as well as in her own counseling.
Edwin Dolmo
Edwin Dolmo is a 27 year old Garifuna community leader who works as an HIV/AIDS educator, and who also has extensive experience working in HIV/AIDS, SRH, and human rights through youth theatre and training. He currently works as a news reporter for local television and radio programs. Edwin has a degree in primary school education and is committed to educating and developing youth voices and opinions. In the near future, Edwin plans to continue his university studies, focusing on project development, as well as to publish news on the Garifuna on-line TV site, www.garitv.com. Edwin’s dreams include becoming more active in public policy and starting his own business to help develop his community.
Gabriela Maria Guzman Fajardo
Gabriela Maria Guzman Fajardo, selected at age 26, is the founder and Director of Proyecto Jóven de Puerto Cortes, a youth center that works to prevent HIV and AIDS. Gaby supervises four employees and over 25 volunteers working to prevent HIV among at-risk youth in the region’s rural and urban areas. Gaby is currently completing a BA in Pedagogy. Her dream is to turn Proyecto Jóven into a larger center that provides sexuality education, a virtual library and sports and education entertainment programs for youth. She also hopes to expand the humanitarian aid work that she does in Honduras’ remote Mosquitia.
Wilson Paz Colindres
Wilson Paz Colindres, selected at age 27, is the sole teacher in a primary school in the mountain village of La Jolla. He has a technical degree in elementary. For several years, he has volunteered as an environmental educator with the Conservation Corps of Omoa, an ecological organization that works to protect the Mesoamerican Reef, conserve mangroves and sustain the region’s marine biodiversity. He is involved with his local health committee and is a Red Cross volunteer. Wilson is pursuing a BA in Pedagogy through a distance learning program, and plans to obtain an MA in Education.
Omar Guerrero Maximo
Omar Guerrero Maximo , selected at age 26, is Garifuna leader from Puerto Cortes. He is the director of a Garifuna adolescent theatre group that develops and presents shows on HIV prevention for youth and adults in the various Garifuna communities throughout the area. He was an actor in a Garifuna sexual and reproductive health radio program and is also a music composer, writing songs in Garifuna and Spanish on HIV and violence prevention. Although he had to interrupt his high school studies due to financial obligations, he hopes to continue studying in the future.
Norma Orellana Aguilar
Norma Orellana Aguilar was 29 years old when she was selected to participate in GOJoven and is an educator and facilitator in the EDUCETODOS Program of the Honduran public education system. She teaches 50 students, ages 4-15, in the first through third grades in a single classroom in the rural town of Bermejo. Norma is passionate about teaching her students about sexuality in order to improve their lives and reduce the likelihood of early and unwanted pregnancies, STIs and HIV. She helps the local village council to do outreach activities with youth and has also worked as a health promoter for local rural health centers.
MilenaMilena Joselin Cacho Martinez
Milena Joselin Cacho Martinez, selected at age 22, is a leader of the Garifuna town of Masca. She has worked for two years as an HIV/AIDS prevention counselor for the U.S. Christian organization, Samaritan’s Purse. In this position, she provides youth with information on sexuality and gender, sexual abuse, self-esteem and the prevention of HIV/AIDS through abstinence. Milena has been involved in Garifuna theater and radio programs for many years. She plans to study psychology through a distance learning program and hopes to eventually work as a health professional providing services to people living with HIV and others.
GOJoven's Mission
GOJoven promotes and supports young leaders to act as catalysts for social change in Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health. Read more here
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