Sarah Mathys is a graduate of Georgetown University, where she majored in Anthropology and minored in Government and African Studies. Sarah has worked and studied across East Africa, and is interested in the intersections of spirituality, healing systems, and development work. She spent the spring of 2018 conducting independent qualitative research on the influence of religion on family planning decisions in eastern Uganda, and collected data which informed her honors thesis on the engagement between American FBOs and Ugandan communities. She has honed her project management and monitoring and evaluation skills through internships with The Carter Center, The Baker Trust for Transformational Learning, and now, a Monitoring & Evaluation fellowship with the Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project. In her spare time, she enjoys live music, contemporary art, and trying out new recipes.

Coming from Arcadia, California, Ryan Chavez graduated from Princeton University in 2019 majoring in History with a minor in African Studies. During undergrad, Ryan focused on East African history, spending a summer in Tanzania, learning Kiswahili, and writing his thesis on international relations within the East African Community in the early 1970’s. Outside of academics, Ryan was heavily involved on campus with Princeton International Relations Council, the Princeton Historical Review, and Princeton’s chapter of Sigma Chi. He is an avid music lover and played bass in the band, City in the Clouds. Ryan is excited to return to the continent to work with Rockies in Uganda and happily mix his professional and artistic interests.

Tesay, born and raised in the D.C. area, graduated from Stanford with a degree in International Relations and a minor in African and African American Studies. She is the proud child of Ethiopian immigrants and speaks Harari and Amharic and loves music and travel. While at Stanford, Tesay worked at the Center for African Studies as a Program Assistant where she coordinated events ranging from academic discussions to community events. While studying abroad in Cape Town, South Africa, she interned at the Iziko Social History Centre where she supported community research initiatives and forums working to shift the gaze of museums away from a colonial lens. Tesay also has experience in civil advocacy and spent a summer as a Communications Intern at the Council on American-Islamic Relations. She spent the last year working at Google coordinating candidate experience and supporting hiring efforts across Google and did significant work developing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs on her team. Tesay is extremely passionate about the intersection of digital media and social impact and hopes to pursue a master’s in International/Public Policy and/or an MBA.

Alumni Update:

Zach recently wrapped up an accelerated masters degree through the University of Chicago MAPSS program, during which he focused on cultural, moral, and evolutionary psychology and wrote a thesis reviewing psychological frameworks on global variation in nepotism. He is currently training for a two year teaching residency at a charter school in Chicago called the Great Lakes Academy. He will be teaching middle school sciences while taking coursework through the Relay School of Graduate Education, hoping to receive his teaching certification and MA in teaching within two years.

Fellow Bio:

Zach is a recent graduate of the University of Southern California where he completed his degree in Environmental Studies with a minor in Psychology in May of 2017. His time at USC was spent directing the Environmental Core student advocacy group as it worked to green USC’s campus, leading meditations as a Mindful USC Student Leader, and coordinating adventures with USC students and professors via Peaks & Professors. Zach is always hungry for interesting perspectives on complex and urgent social issues and got a glimpse of the many questions surrounding development in Africa while studying abroad at the University of Cape Town in 2016. He has combined his studies in the environment and psychology through a research position in the interdisciplinary field of conservation psychology, and believes there’s good reason to think that our ability to handle the global problems of the 21st century will start with the way we relate to our local communities. Zach is excited to fill a role in the Kasiisi Project’s conservation education programs and can’t wait to have everything he thinks he knows turned upside-down.

Alumni Update:

Since her fellowship year Vicki has gotten her master’s at LSE in Human Rights and returned to Uganda, where she worked as human rights researcher with the Ugandan NGO the Justice and Reconciliation Project in Gulu. She spent a brief period in New York working for the Polyphony Foundation on a classical music and peace-building program in Israel, and is now in Washington, DC working for the Justice, Rights and Public Safety unit of the World Bank’s Governance Global Practice..

Fellow Bio:

Vicki graduated Harvard in ’07, and was a government concentrator. She is from Tustin, CA and spent the past three years working in New York City for the Human Right Institute at Columbia Law School. While at Harvard, Vicki also pursued a secondary field in anthropology of human rights and was an avid Mode UNer. She traveled to Rwanda in the summer of 2006 where she conducted research on post-genocide reconciliation measures of youth. While in Uganda next year, she looks forward to learning and writing about the work of the International Rescue Committee, and traveling around the country.

Alumni Update:

Since her fellowship, Tisamarie has been enrolled in a joint MD-PhD program at Harvard Medical School in Boston. In 2012, Tisamarie completed her PhD in Health Policy, and in the summer of 2014 she will graduate from medical school and begin her residency training in Internal Medicine and Primary Care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston!

Fellow Bio:

Tiffany ’09 was an Anthropology and French double-major at the University of Virginia. She is a Liberian-American who lived throughout Africa during her childhood. At the University of Virginia, Tiffany was an active member of the organization of African Students and her fourth year participated in a year-long academic internship program in which she worked for a local nonprofit organization. In her free time, she enjoys playing tennis, reading, and cooking dishes from all around the world. UVA alum, Tiffany spent the past year working for two NGOs: Africare (in Washington, DC) and the American Jewish World Service (in New York City). While in Uganda, next year, Tiffany looks forward to getting acquainted with the local culture and food, and learning a lot about herself in the process.

Thomas Bohnett ‘07 is a Woodrow Wilson School major from Princeton Junction, New Jersey. During his PiAF fellowship year, Thomas will serve as the communications intern for the International Rescue Committee in Kampala, Uganda. He enjoys outdoor sports including hiking, cross-country skiing, and running. He has traveled and worked in southern Africa, India, and Nepal. At Princeton, Thomas was the president of the Princeton Justice Project and a columnist for The Daily Princetonian. He is working hard to learn Swahili.

Alumni Update:

After completing his fellowship, Stuart stayed on with STF for another year before joining UNICEF in late 2010. Stuart has worked with UNICEF since then, living and working in Madagascar, South Sudan, and now Nairobi, Kenya. Stuart works as a member of the global Innovation Unit, supporting country-level design and rollout of innovative programs and products to support the work of UNICEF and partners.

Fellow Bio:

Stuart Campo ’08 is a politics major from Barre, VT. At Princeton, Stuart volunteered with Princeton Young Achievers and was a member of the Ski & Snowboard team. Stuart spent the summer before his senior year interning in Kampala, Uganda, at Straight Talk Foundation, where he will complete his year as a PiAf Fellow. Stuart is particularly excited about learning more about post-conflict redevelopment through his work in Northern Uganda. While in Uganda, Stuart hopes to travel throughout the continent—exploring the diverse range of cultures and taking on the man adventures available.

Shivani Radhakrishnan ’07 hails from Mt. Hope, NY. Her academic interests include philosophy, classics, and religion. Outside of the classroom, she enjoys dancing with Kalaa, being a fellow in the James Madison Program, and tutoring with the Student Volunteers Council. In her free time, Shivani likes to knit, watch Jimmy Stewart movies, and read outdoors. Shivani is excited to spend her summer in Uganda learning about the role of culture in international development.