Nibbles & Bytes: Cuisine & Conversation on Sustainable Development

Vanessa and Alexandra will talk about their work with Global Affairs Canada in Zambia in 2016, During high school Vanessa was a Rotary Youth Exchange student. 

Vanessa has travelled and volunteered across much of the world from a young age which encouraged her to begin critically thinking early on about social and economic inequities. Vanessa studied Social Justice at UVIC for two years before completing her Bachelor of Health Sciences in Medicine at Foothills Hospital, University of Calgary. During research for her thesis, she lived and worked in partnership with a Maasai community in a UNESCO conservation park in Tanzania on issues of water, sanitation, and hygiene, and recently returned from a contract focussed on gender-based violence under Global Affairs Canada and VIDEA in Zambia. This recent experience working abroad has strengthened her skills in cross-cultural competency, and highlighted the need for humility and patience when working within and across cultures. A common thread throughout Vanessa’s academic, volunteer, and employment has been a focus on health promotion, particularly sexual health, with youth and young adults. Vanessa is now studying Indigenous Health part-time, and working as a drug-withdrawal counsellor for high-risk youth on Vancouver Island.

Alexandra is an avid human rights believer with special interested in children's rights, refugee rights, and poverty abatement. Alexandra has a Masters Degree in Human Rights and Democratization from the European Inter-University for Human Rights and Democratisation