In Africa we say that it takes a village to raise a child.
Coming to the PFP program made me realize
that it takes a group of crazy people
from all over the world to implement their ideas
and to learn from each other for us to have that global change that we seek for.
I did my Professional Fellows exchange
at the University of Massachusetts, Boston
at the Institute of Community Inclusion.
The fellowship experience was visiting organizations that work in disability rights
learning from professionals and teachers who work with kids with disabilities.
So it was an experience that was unlike any other.
I am Quan Nguyen from Lam Dong, Vietnam.
I am doing an initiative named Coffee Warrior,
so we are helping the local coffee farmers in Vietnam.
We try to equip them with better mindsets
and better practices for more sustainable and ethical ways in farming.
I’m Steve Coleman and I’m the director of Washington Parks and People.
Washington Parks and People is a city-wide alliance.
Basically, the idea is to use parks as a base of community health.
All the ways that people and government can work together to use green spaces to breathe life into our neighborhoods.
Participation in the ProFellows program helped me see the diversity
of people in the United States as well as in the whole world.
The PFP Congress was absolutely amazing because I met people from sixty different countries,
and I got to see challenges that are
facing the social innovation and justice systems in Kenya,
in Indonesia, in Vietnam, in Egypt.
And I got to meet different young leaders who are doing their part to change this and I was deeply inspired.
I came up with the Coffee Warriors thanks to the experience that I had at Professional Fellows Program,
and this program has allowed me to connect with my friends all across Asia
and because Coffee Warrior is about exchanging coffee experiences
and coffee practices so we need to have a real connection
and Professional Fellows Program has allowed me to have those networks.
Over the years, Parks and People has hosted four ProFellows
from Egypt and Morocco and we’ve interacted with Fellows from many other countries.
It’s a way for us to connect with rising leaders around the world,
to learn from them and for them to learn, embedded with us,
from the things that we’re doing on the ground
that parallel many of the kinds of challenges, and ideas, and experiences that people have
in other countries everywhere.
Professional Fellows Program
has allowed me to connect with people world-wide,
but also has brought me three beautiful and amazing families.
The host family in Seattle, the workplace Seattle University,
and the network of incredible fellows from around the world
and they are full of love, full of support, and full of information.
The best part of the Professional Fellows experience for me was
interacting with different Fellows
from different countries in the PFP program.
It was such an energized and electric experience
that I will forever remember.
I went over to Cairo to share our experience with
community and with partnerships
it's the kinds of things that we do on the ground.
I figured, well I’m an expert, I’ve got a lot to offer there.
I got to Cairo and I was blown away
by how much I had to learn. I was blown away by the depth of community there.
It was people doing the same kind of work that we’re trying to do,
and showing me how universal
both the challenges and the ideas and the possibilities are of the kind of work that we’re trying to do.