Spotlight on the Fellows

Profiles in Action

Katrina Field (Virginia Beach, VA) 

During the conflicts in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, Katrina was a high school student who drafted letters and petitions appealing to the White House and United Nations to take action. Later, as an adult college student in 2005, she discovered STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur) and established a chapter at her university. From 2007-2009, she served as STAND’s State Outreach Coordinator for Virginia, where she attended conferences and rallies, met with Members of Congress, and worked closely with people from a variety of backgrounds across Virginia who are concerned about genocide, Darfur, and South Sudan.

Katrina is using her Carl Wilkens Fellowship as an opportunity to continue to build Virginia's anti-genocide constituency. Indeed, she would like to see Virginia’s diverse interests come together to end genocide. To her mind, the issues involved in the anti-genocide movement transcend religious and political beliefs, and she wants to see Virginia’s activists work together in the spirit of their common humanity above all else. Katrina looks forward to the opportunities to engage with others who are concerned about victims of mass atrocities, and to help them to become of part of the movement to make "Never Again" a reality.

Naomi Natale (Albuquerque, NM) 

For her 2010 Carl Wilkens Fellowship Naomi Natale is continuing her work as the Founder/Director of One Million Bones (www.onemillionbones.org). The project’s mission is to increase global awareness of these atrocities while raising the critical funds needed to protect and aid displaced and vulnerable victims.

One Million Bones asks one million people to create one bone to represent one victim. In the spring of 2013, the bones will be installed on the National Mall in Washington D.C. This exhibit will symbolize a mass grave, recall the tens of millions of genocide victims, offer citizens pathways to action, and admonish our politicians for their failure to act. To raise funds, One Million Bones requests a sponsorship of five dollars for each bone submitted, generating $5 million to be donated to their beneficiary organizations, Genocide Intervention Network, the Enough Project, and Women for Women International. Naomi is currently preparing the official launch of the project which will take place March 14th, 2010. Through her Carl Wilkens Fellowship Naomi has been able to expand the educational outreach of the project. The Fellowship also is providing a platform for which to involve and engage the on-line genocide community – and thus far it has enabled her to network and collaborate with other organizations working in the movement.

Joshua Schreier (Bloomfield, CT) 

Josh grew up near Hartford, CT and graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2007, where he now works as an Academic Assistant. Currently applying to go to law school to focus on human rights and international law, Josh first became interested in working to prevent genocide as a teenager during the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath. In the spring of 1994, he remembers gazing at a picture in Time Magazine of a river flowing out of Rwanda into neighboring Uganda drenched red with the blood of genocide victims and overflowing with their bloated corpses. It was hard for him to comprehend how he could live so normally—going to school, shopping, eating, and playing—while thousands of people were being murdered every day on another continent.

Josh is currently the Media Relations Representative at the Connecticut Coalition to Save Darfur, a member of the Genocide Intervention Network, and an active organizer and advocate for human rights. Josh is using his Carl Wilkens Fellowship to increase the efficacy of CCSD and to make stronger and wider a nationwide network of activists experienced in advocacy and organizing and ready to act when genocide and other atrocities occur with impunity. 

Rebecca Davis (Philadelphia, PA) 

As Artistic Director of The Rebecca Davis Dance Company (http://www.rebeccadavisdance.com/) in Philadelphia, Rebecca currently is choreographing a new contemporary ballet called “Braving the New World”. It integrates the theme of totalitarianism with movement by drawing on inspiration from Huxley, Orwell and Bradbury. For Rebecca, the creative process has been fascinating as I uncover parallels to much of our contemporary society through these classic dystopian novels. The production premieres on May 7 & 8 at The Suzanne Roberts Theater in Philadelphia.

Beyond working on “Braving the New World”, Rebecca feels that the Carl Wilkens Fellowship Program has been a great addition to her work because she is able to interact with a group of inspiring individuals committed to ending genocide and mass atrocities. Over the past year, Rebecca’s dance company toured its “Darfur” ballet to six different cities. The ballet is also based on a book, “The Devil Came on Horseback” by Brian Steidle and Gretchen Steidle Wallace. In their Philadelphia studio, Rebecca and her dancers constantly speak about the situation in Sudan, the upcoming elections and the repercussions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Then, they fuse these ideas into the creation of our movement, narrative and dance performances. After rehearsal, Rebecca often finds herself going online or picking up the phone to speak with a Fellow about their efforts and advocacy campaigns, thereby building a network of activism that links multiple voices of concern using a multitude of media.

Download bios of all 2010 Carl Wilkens Fellows here.