My Team

I have been given permission to post a picture of my teammates and tell you a little bit about each of them. So here they are--the people that I live and work with every day!

This is eleven of the twelve of us. Christian, who is from El Savador, wasn't here yet when this photo was taken. He worked as a journalist in El Savador, and I think he's having fun working on his English here. The accent here certainly adds to the challenge.

Starting from the left, we have...

Hanna...is from Sweden and is one of the youngest volunteers. Someday she will make us Swedish meatballs, which are very yummy. Hanna is quite athletic and enjoys taking long walks.

Helen...is from Belfast here in Northern Ireland. She, like me, studied psychology at university. Poor Helen gets picked on by one of the cooks for being from Belfast, but I don't care what he says--I like Helen.

Janete...is also from El Savador. She worked for a non-profit back home, and is considering going back to that when she goes home. She has been here since January, and will sadly be leaving us in a couple weeks! Janete is quite outgoing and loves to dance!

Niki...is one of our two volunteers from Canada. And don't call Canada the 51st state in the U.S. She has worked at camps before, and just finished a 3-year degree in Canada before coming to Corrymeela.

Ochanya...is the volunteer formerly known as Jane. She hails from Nigeria, and is my roommate! When she first arrived, she went by her English name, Jane, but then decided she would prefer to be called by her tribal name, Ochanya. She also loves to dance.

ME!

Alan...is also from Belfast, but a different part than Helen. He is also known as Big Al, as he is quite tall. Alan is another one of the babies, and is interested in getting involved in youth work. He's no stranger to Corrymeela, as he's been coming here as a participant and a volunteer for a couple years now.

Rina...is also known as Katharina. But no one can pronouce it the way a true German does, so she goes by Rina. In case you didn't guess, she is from Germany. She's fights the title of being our artistic one. We are all creative, as she likes to say. Her creative work just looks better than ours. Rina is also a huge Audrey Hepburn fan.

Daniel...is our third Northern Irish volunteer. He's no big city boy, though. Daniel is the most talented Mafia player I have ever encountered. He has worked in France teaching English and went to university for computer studies.

Robbie...is squatting in the photo, and is from England, although he was born in Northern Ireland. He, like Janete, has been here since January and will be leaving us in December. However, we won't be saying good-bye for long. Robbie plans on staying in Belfast to go to university for youth work, so I'm sure we'll be seeing him again.

Jason...is the second volunteer from Canada and is Niki's husband. He is the quieter half of the Canadian couple. Jason has also worked at camps before, enjoys the outdoors, and is a very talented photographer. And he, like me, naturally walks faster than the average Joe.

The photo was taken on a little island on the far side of a rope bridge on the northern coast. This is one of the attractions on the Antrim coast, which was recently voted the 5th most beautiful place in the world! Not too shabby.