Save the date to welcome the new HFB cohort. The evening of June 18. Details coming soon.

When: Starting at 7 pm Thursday June 15, 2023

Where: Roosevelt High School Library

Spread the word, alumni are invited, bring people from your year to join us.

We thought you might be interested in what this year’s class at Roosevelt HS is reading and watching in their HFB class.

Novels, memoirs, plays, histories:

• From I Never Thought of it That Way, by Mónica Guzmán
• From Born a Crime, Trevor Noah
• Mother to Mother, Sindiwe Magona
• Beyond Guilt Trips: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World, by Anu Taranath
• Lakota Woman, by Mary Crow Dog
• From Bernie Whitebear, by Lawney Reyes
• From Native Seattle, by Coll Thrush
• From Yakama Rising, by Michelle Jacob
• A Small Place, by Jamaica Kincaid

Poetry:

• Citizen, by Claudia Rankine
• Seven Hands, Seven Hearts, by Elizabeth Woody
• Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, by Joy Harjo
• In Mad Love and War, by Joy Harjo
• How We Become Human, by Joy Harjo

Documentaries:

• Long Night’s Journey into Day
• My So-Called Enemy

When: Starting at 6:30 pm Wednesday June 1, 2022

Where: Roosevelt High School Commons

Spread the word, alumni are invited, bring people from your year to join us.

2008 Kara and Doug at Oakgrove

Fifteen years ago in 2007, so the story goes, John Harkin at Oakgrove Integrated College in Derry/Londonderry, received an email from Douglas Holwerda in Seattle requesting permission to visit, and since that time, an unbreakable bond was formed. Apparently, Mr. Harkin didn’t realize initially what this meant – a group of American students and teachers coming to stay and needing host families. But, as ever resourceful and energetic, Mr. Harkin came through and fifteen years later several of us educators in Seattle and over 100 young people call Oakgrove our second home.

As we sit in Seattle in February of 2022 and look back over the years, we get a little bit of “something in our eyes” thinking about the amazing experiences gifted to us in Northern Ireland by Mr. John Harkin and Oakgrove College. This is, after all, the time of year for HFB travel! Every year, driving over the hill to view the Foyle River and the historic walls, we know we are home. It is difficult to select only a few of the many memories to share, but we will try to do our best.

2010 Cathedral Youth Club music with R Arbuckle

Dramatic theatre ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­has played a big role in our learning and teaching in our Northern Ireland visits over the years. And we learned early on in our visits that the need to address the mental health of our young learners is universal. From drama class enactments at Oakgrove to professional productions on the stage of the Derry Playhouse and the Lyric Theatre in Belfast, we were confronted with social issues of paramount significance to youth in the US and Northern Ireland. The connection to Foyle Search and Rescue, the volunteer organization that patrols the Foyle River, saving lives and bringing closure to families, grew out of drama productions on youth suicide, and led to a classroom visitation to Roosevelt in Seattle by Patricia Byrne, Artistic Director of Sole Purpose Productions in Derry and author of “Blinkered.” We came full circle when our young travelers participated in the formation of the RHS Student Suicide Prevention Team. Thus, a clear demonstration that the dramatic arts are crucial to changing lives for the better.

2010 Retreat at Corrymeela

What a joy it was in 2014 to see Roosevelt Hands for a Bridge students serving ethnic food alongside their Oakgrove buddies at the massive Multicultural Evening, at The Venue during the City of Culture celebration of the Walled City! At Corrymeela, a center for Peace and Reconciliation, we held retreats around a cozy peat fire in the big room, singing, journaling and baring our souls in order to form closer bonds. Nothing clears the cobwebs from the mind like a cold, clear stroll on a freezing beach on the Antrim Coast with views of Rathlin Island.

The power of the personal story is integral to our visits to Oakgrove since 2007. In an historically divided society, listening with open hearts and minds to multiple stories from diverse perspectives helped us see the humanity in each other. We took lessons from the stories told by Richard Moore – blinded as a child by a British soldier, by Kathleen Gillespie  – whose husband was forced by the IRA to drive a van loaded with explosives into a British Army checkpoint, by members of the Apprentice Boys historical marching society, by the founders of the Museum of Free Derry – all these stories reminded us that we need to conduct this same practice at home. Whose stories are we not hearing at Roosevelt, Seattle, in our own country?

We, the Seattle educators, who traveled to Oakgrove and stayed in our “wee” flat on Pump Street, wish to celebrate our love of this city and of the people who made us feel welcome. Over almost a dozen visits we’ve played with primary school students, chatted with middle schoolers, danced with high schoolers and become better humans because of those we’ve met.

2015 Walking on the Derry Walls with Mr. J Harkin

2016 Tour with D Mules

2019 Bloody Sunday Memorial

HFB will periodically spotlight one of our alumni. If you are interested in being highlighted please contact Miriam Doyle at info@handsforabridge.org

Name: Danielle Hansen

Year(s) in Hands for a Bridge: 2004-2005

School Affiliation: Roosevelt High School (RHS)

Reflection:

International relations and travel had always held great intrigue for me from a young age. I looked for every opportunity to experience new countries, cultures, and languages. However, as someone who is naturally reserved and struggled with confidence, it was difficult to find the courage to take on new challenges, even when they presented as amazing opportunities. I first gained exposure to Hands for a Bridge (HFB) during my language arts class when students from Isilimela visited and was so taken with their openness, optimism and strength despite obvious challenges in their home country, past and present. I knew immediately that I wanted to be a part of this program.

I was ecstatic to learn that HFB was considering expanding to include a Northern Ireland branch and felt that this was where I fit in to the program. Participating with HFB was truly integral in building my confidence as a student leader and global citizen. HFB helped ‘bring me out of my shell’, but more importantly, learning of the history and events surrounding apartheid in South Africa and the Troubles in Northern Ireland left a lasting impression which I feel influences my thoughts, feelings, and actions still today.

In 2005, I participated in the first RHS trip to Belfast, Northern Ireland which was positively influential for several reasons. It was not only a strong lesson in leadership, responsibility, and hard work, but also allowed me to make connections with students who came from different religious backgrounds and who were touched by The Troubles in (at times) very personal ways. The lessons presented within the HFB curriculum and first-hand experiences it affords students put a face to social injustice and made the struggles relatable. The experience was invaluable. I believe that participating in this program helped shape the way I choose to relate to strangers in my everyday life. I am thankful for the education, understanding, and activism that HFB continues to foster and am eager to see what future of the program brings.

Post-secondary school education and/or work, and future plans:

After graduating from Roosevelt High School in Seattle, Washington, I attended the University of Washington where I received a BS in Environmental Health. In 2010 I moved to Houston, Texas to attend the University of Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health where I studied environmental and occupational health sciences, graduating with a Master of Public Health in Industrial Hygiene in 2012.

I took a position as an industrial hygiene consultant with Bureau Veritas North America (BVNA) in 2012 in their Houston office before transferring and holding positions in both the San Francisco Bay Area and back home in Seattle. November 2018 found me moving back to Houston for a promotion to the Industrial Hygiene consulting operations manager position. BVNA’s Health, Safety, and Environmental (HSE) division was acquired by Apex Companies, LLC in July 2019 where I’ve transitioned and continue to hold the same role.

Industrial hygiene is essentially the “health” portion of health and safety in the work place. My responsibilities include helping clients ensure that workers do not experience adverse health effects from either acute or chronic exposure to workplace stressors like chemicals and noise. I also focus on education, training, and empowering workers so that they have the skills to take ownership of their own health and safety.

Please join us to bid farewell to the HFB Class of 2019 and to welcome the HFB Class of 2020. The HFB Year End Celebration includes student performances, song, dance, tasty desserts, and the opportunity to engage with HFB past, present, and future. We hope you can join us!

Thank you for all who helped with another successful auction. This is the time of year when current Hands for a Bridge students from Seattle, Northern Ireland and South Africa connect face-to-face, by traveling across the world to develop a global dialog about peace and justice.

Name: Rebecca West

Year(s) in Hands for a Bridge: 2006-2007

School Affiliation: Roosevelt High School, Seattle, WA

Post-secondary school education and/or work, and future plans: 

I completed a BS in Public Health at the University of Washington in 2012. In 2016 I graduated from Columbia University with a Master of Public Health with specializations in Population & Family Health and Global Health. During my masters degree I was an intern at ICAP at Columbia University, a non-profit arm of Columbia that conducts global health research and program implementation. I spent six months in Malawi working on a national bio-behavioral survey that measured HIV incidence and prevalence (new cases and overall burden of disease). During graduate school I also served as a board member for the Sexual Health Action Group and co-authored a paper reviewing resources for girls going through puberty in low-income communities in the U.S. After completing my masters I continued working for ICAP and managed a portfolio of HIV service programs in Zambia, Kenya, Lesotho, and Swaziland. I moved to Acornhoek, South Africa in September 2017 after taking a job as a Project Manager for the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California, San Francisco. I currently manage four studies related to HIV testing, treatment and retention in care. I’m currently preparing for an upcoming trip to Amsterdam to present some of my work at the International AIDS Conference, and am working on doctoral applications for the coming fall!

Reflection:

Hands for a Bridge helped me find my voice at a time in life when I was starting to seriously think about what I wanted to do and what kind of person I wanted to be. I have no doubt that my experiences with HFB were an enormous catalyst in setting me on the path I’m on today. My time in South Africa with HFB piqued my interest in learning Sub-Saharan Africa, and I keep coming back – as an undergraduate student in Zambia, a volunteer HIV educator in Tanzania, and now I’ve turned it into my career. The interdisciplinary nature of HFB’s curriculum also opened my mind to the field of public health, which integrates the health sciences, statistics, sociology, and anthropology. My experience with HFB has also really come full circle in my current job. One of the main trials I am in charge of is measuring the impact of community engagement and education on HIV outcomes. It is so much fun to be part of a project that is focused on using the arts to promote discourse and community cohesion around such a critical health challenge. As I move ahead with my career I find that I am able to draw on the skills I developed as an HFB student – facilitating dialogue, fostering creativity, and creating inclusive spaces to learn and grow – to be a more compassionate public health researcher.