selections from my ghana profile:

2005 Youth Delegation to Ghana
Bergen Action Network

Team Member Profile

Name: Demetrius Marcoulides

Age: 21

School: Ramapo College of New Jersey

Year: Senior

Major: Political Science

Grade Point Average (optional): 3.1

Employment: Unemployed

Out of school activities: Bergen Action Network (BAN)

In School activities: Ramapo Community Organizing for Radical Empowerment (RCORE), Alternative Spring Break, Fast for Hunger & Homelessness.

Activist and/or volunteer experience: For the past three years I have worked with the Bergen Action Network, a multi-issue non-hierarchal consensus based organization that works to highlight the effects of global problems on local youth. I have also worked with United Students for Fair Trade to help craft their mission statement, values, and accountability structure. For a week in Spring 2004 I volunteered with Mountain Housing Opportunities, based in Asheville, NC, through Ramapo College.

Why do you want to be a member of Bergen Action Network's 2005 Youth Delegation? To develop a relationship with the people of Ghana that is based on mutual exchange and friendship. And to help support the Fair Trade farmers of Kuapa Kokoo and to expose myself to what mysteries Ghana has to offer.

What experiences have you had with Fair Trade and development issues? In Spring 2004 I was one of the main organizers behind the successful campaign to convert Ramapo College’s coffee to Fair Trade certified. In August 2004, I spent 10 days in Nicaragua meeting with various Fair Trade Co-ops and farmers. And currently I am studying development in the Indian state of Karnataka.

Do you have experience volunteering abroad? Yes, I spent ten days in Nicaragua working with Fair Trade Co-op farmers. I am currently living on a farm in southern India and working on sustainability projects.

Of the stated aims of the 2005 Delegation, which do you feel is most important?
Physically and immediately is the AIDS/HIV education but building a relationship with Kuapa Kokoo farmers is what will help us to break the trap of maldevelopment.

What experiences have you had dealing with HIV or AIDS? I have no direct personal experience.

What do you expect to gain from participating in the 2005 Ghana delegation? Knowledge, experience, a renewed passion, friendships, questions and the tempered pleasure that comes from making solid strides towards a more equitable world.

What do you feel is currently the most pressing global problem and how do you feel this delegation will address it? Aside from aggressive nation states playing at empire and a system of economic organization that seems to delight in exploitation. The AIDS/HIV pandemic, with the UN now predicting an additional 90 million people to be infected by 2025, decisive action must be taken now.

What unique qualities do you feel you will bring to the 2005 Delegation Team? Aside from development work experience in India and Nicaragua, I have additional travel experience in the developing nations of South Africa and China. Conviviality, genuine gregariousness and a strong work ethic mingled with a critical yet constructive eye towards myself, the activities I engage in and others around me.

What career plans do you have for the future? Street performer, professor, writer, adventurer, development worker, lawyer, restauranter. Mayhaps an organic farmer or professional rabble rouser.