Honorary Consul for the Republic of Mali in Canada

"Ambassador for the Province of New Brunswick" in West Africa

KEN KEIRSTEAD BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Keirstead is of South African origin and a graduate of the Pathology Institute in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He also graduated from two United States advanced education institutions in executive management (College of William and Mary, and Columbia University). After more than three decades of senior research and management positions with multinational companies, he specialized in public health care policy, followed by human resource development in Africa. He is widely travelled and a frequent speaker and lecturer on human infrastructure building in the developing world. His work now focuses on West Africa (Mali, Guinea, and Liberia) where he plays a key role in the development of rural human infrastructure development, and administration of programs in health care and education.

He is a board member of the Canadian Council on Africa, and serves on task forces and the boards of international pharmaceutical development companies. He is widely published, mentors graduate and doctoral students with interest or origins in Africa, and is a confirmed believer in self-help for the development of African people.

He can be contacted at kkeirstead@lyceumresearch.com

FATOUMATA DABO BIOGRAPHY

Fatoumata Dabo is located in Conakry, Guinea as the Country Director for (LGL) Le Groupe Lyceum, from where she also covers activities in Mali and other West African countries.She joined the group in November 2003 to manage the Twinning Project between the Loos Islands in Guinea and the island of Grand Manan in New Brunswick, Canada. Since then she has progressively advanced to work on corporate responsibility projects, interfacing with International Financial Institutions (IFIs) in Guinea, and managing field operations and staff training.

She completed her undergraduate studies at the West Africa Computer Sciences Institute (WACS) in Accra, Ghana and is currently taking graduate studies in business administration (IT Management) to advance her development. She actively participated in eLearning Africa 2007 in Nairobi, and is a founding member of FEWA (Forum for Education in West Africa).

Fatoumata is an effective communicator and facilitator, with particular skill in rural social surveys and the organization of Community Development Organizations (CDOs) to build consensus. She is fluent in French and English, and several local languages of West Africa.

She can be contacted at fatmadabo@lyceumresearch.com

NATALIE LONGAPHY BIOGRAPHY

Natalie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, a Master of Arts in Criminology, and is currently a Doctorate candidate in Sociology at the University of New Brunswick. She has assisted with a number of research projects, including the Tantramar Family Violence Health Service Initiative, the Masterplan for Courthouses in the Halifax Regional Municipality, the Memory for Murder Study with Dalhousie University, the IWK Mental Health Assessment Project, and with proposals for the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Family Violence Center for Family Violence in Fredericton. Natalie has volunteered with a number of organizations, including Halifax Probation, Nova Scotia Community Justice Society, Coverdale, Elizabeth Fry Society, and the Nova Scotia Mental Health Hospital. Research of her own has looked at such issues as the static and dynamic factors associated with sexual assault, empathy and sympathy in accident scenes, family violence, human rights, and third world feminism.

More recent interests have included issues related to women and children in Africa such as the role of women in development, effects of stigma, perceptions, gender marginalization, and sexual and reproductive rights. In the past year she has embraced the bettering of African women and children's lives by providing empowerment. She has presented at the Canadian Psychological Association Conference, the annual UNB Graduate Conference, the 'Contribution of African Botanica to Humanity' conference held in Guinea during October 2006, and will speak at the upcoming 24th Canadian International Qualitative and Ethnographic Research Conference. She is currently working on two publications, and preparing for a course titled "Violence and Society" which she will teach in 2007 at the University of New Brunswick.

She can be contacted at v644y@unb.ca

DAVID DRYSDALE BIOGRAPHY

David Drysdale is the owner and founder of Vision Networking and Computer Support. He, along with his knowledgeable staff, support a wide variety of Business Networks and related services. One of the areas that sets David and Vision Networking apart from others is the ability to support Microsoft and Linux-based systems equally. They have implemented a business model that allows them to support companies anywhere in the world.

Vision Networking is currently working with the East Indian company, Aditya Birla group to help modernize information technology in their mills throughout New Brunswick. David's experience with designing infrastructure that is reliable, requires minimal maintenance, and can be managed on a global scale has given his company an edge in the technology field.

David has always taken an interest in helping people leverage technology that will help them achieve their goals. He looks forward to contributing his knowledge and expertise to the work of The Lyceum Group in West Africa, contributing to the Forum for Education in West Africa (FEWA), and the work being done to prepare for eLearning Africa 2008 in Accra, Ghana.

He can be contacted at david.drysdale(at)vision-networking.ca

HAILU WONDAFRASH BIOGRAPHY

Hailu Wondafrash has his Bachelor of Business Administration in Management (with special emphasis on planning and project analysis) from the Addis Ababa University, and his MSc in Port Ship Administration (Maritime Studies) from the University of Wales (UK). In addition to this, he has attended a number of specialized training courses in private sector development, business management,  micro-enterprise, and micro-finance service. His professional experience has included several senior positions in the Ethiopian civil service, and being program consultant for Save the Children Norway's Ethiopia Country Program. This was a child and women focused program for urban and rural poverty alleviation.

Following this, he was the socio-economic lead consultant and the general manager of Green Bell Consultancy Service (GBCS), a subsidiary of Green Bell Private Limited Company that specialize in business management and development, microfinance, privatate sector promotion and urban and rural integrated sustainable development.

Years of wrestling with the plight of the marginalized and poor led him to initiate and establish a Specialized Financial and Promotion Institute (SFPI), a share company solely responsible to cater to the financial needs of thousands of urban and rural enterprising poor in Ethiopia. He served the company as its board chairman for several years. Today SFPI is one of the strong microfinance companies in Africa.

He can be contacted at hailuincanada@yahoo.ca

JAMES McCLARE BIOGRAPHY

James McClare is the owner and principal consultant for James McClare Consulting (JMC). He is a chemical engineer with over thirty years experience in food manufacture and the processing of natural raw materials. His experience has included oilseed crushing and edible oil refining with Canada Packers, manufacture of instant coffee and other food products with Nestle Enterprises, and a term with Farmers' Co-operative Dairy. In recent years he has provided process engineering services to the food, nutraceutical, and aquaculture industries in Atlantic Canada, working with the New Brunswick Research and Productivity Council (RPC) and for the past ten years managing JMC.

He has extensive experience with a variety of processing technologies used in the food, by-product, and nutraceutical industries. These include solvent extraction, concentration, various drying technologies, canning, and edible oil refining. Having held Quality Control Manager, and Plant Manager positions in both large and small companies, he is in a particularly strong position to understand operating problems and process issues facing clients. He is also current with regulatory issues facing processors. He qualified with HACCP and sanitary design training at the internationally respected Guelph Food Technology Center, and with GMP courses with the Canadian Biotechnology Human Resource Council.

His international experience covers projects in the Far East, and he recently travelled on a mission to Guinea in West Africa.

He can be contacted at jmcclare@nbnet.nb.ca

EDIE MULLEN BIOGRAPHY

Edith (Edie) Mullen was born in Fredericton to a military family with her father serving in the RCEME (Royal Canadian Electrical Mechanical Engineers), and her mother’s roots being Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy. Her childhood saw her growing up in Whitehorse, Yukon, CFB Shilo and Manitoba Province. She completed high school at CFB Shilo and then attended the Lydia Lawrence Fashion Institute in Vancouver for three years. On completion, she returned to New Brunswick to set up a dressmaking business.

Her husband (Dan’s) career saw the young couple moving to Mississippi for four years, Knoxville, Tennessee and finally to Dallas before returning to settle on Grand Manan. During this time, Edie learned American Sign Language and collaborated with an interior design company, coordinating custom show houses.

Edie is currently the Treasurer of the Rotary Club of Grand Manan Island, formerly the first woman President for two years, and a recipient of the prestigious Paul Harris Fellowship award for exemplary community service. She is active in fundraising, festivals and talent events where she acts as Master of Ceremonies. She describes her motivation as “Seeing a person’s potential, giving encouragement and an opportunity to see it flourish is very rewarding labor.” To accelerate this motivation, Edie acts as Chairperson of the Grand Manan/Loos Islands Twinning Program, and has joined the executive committee of The Lyceum Group/Le Groupe Lyceum in Guinea, West Africa.

In the fall of 2006, Edie traveled to Guinea for almost a month to see first hand the work of LGL there, and report back as a “monitor” to the Rotary Club. She lived in the village of Fotoba for nearly three weeks, and endeared herself to the residents, while also falling in love with Guinea and its people. Her caring personality, heightened sensitivity, communication skills, and strong connections to service clubs and church groups makes her an ideal member of the team, and an invaluable asset for its greater spread and reach.

She can be contacted at ediemm7@yahoo.ca