Future Participants

Gunnel Kronberg - Sweden 

Gunnel (from Stockholm, Sweden) will be interning with Northwest Counseling Center in Upper Arlington from 1 August to 31 October, 2010. 

Hulkaroy Karimova - Uzbekistan   

Hulkaroy (from Tashkent, Uzbekistan) will be interning at Grandview Heights High School from 31 August to 31 December 2010.

Dirk Kaiser - Germany

Dirk (from Kassel, Germany) will be participating in a Social Work program for four months starting in August. 

Kirk Teape - Jamaica  

Kirk will be participating in an Art Therapy program for three weeks in July and August.

Click here to view a video clip of Kirk meeting Mayor Coleman!

Bernard Bananzi (left) and Alimardon Suyunov (right)

Bernard Bananzi - Ghana

Bernard Bananzi, from Bolgatanga, Ghana, has joined us here in Columbus for an eighteen month program.  He works as a social officer for the Department of Social Welfare in Bolgatanga, and he will be working with the Franklin County Department of Developmental Disabilities while in Columbus.  While at the Department of Developmental Disabilities, he will be providing a variety of different services for individuals with disabilities.  During his time here he hopes to gain a broader range of skills in disability management that he can implement upon his return to Ghana.  He would like to learn about rehabilitation and care giving, technical aids, and foster care services.  Bernard wanted to come here because the services Ghana is providing are not as effective as they are here.  Back home he has a wonderful wife and four children.  Some of his interests include hockey, indoor games, and reading.  His favorite aspect of the United States so far is the environment and the way people behave.  He also enjoys how well Columbus is designed.  The biggest difference he notices is that here it is well developed and in Ghana things are not well developed.  Bernard is very excited about the opportunity that he has been granted and is eager to learn more about his field of study.

Alimardon Suyonov - Uzbekistan

Alimardon Suyunov from Samarkand, Uzbekistan is working with the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities for eighteen months.  He is an English teacher back in Uzbekistan and his ambition has brought him here to the United States.  He has a degree from the Uzbek State World Languages University and has come here to improve his teaching skills.  He wants to be one of the best English teachers in his country and felt that coming to the U.S. would be the best way to advance his abilities.  He is here to learn a modern method of teaching so he can implement new methods in Uzbekistan.  He enjoys helping students who have mental disabilities to learn English.  Alimardon is interested in reading, music, cooking and fishing.  He thinks that the best part about the United States is the people and culture. The biggest surprise for him was how fast people in New York talked.  He believes that every country has its own national culture that is very different from others. One of  the biggest differences between Uzbekistan and the U.S. celebration of holidays.  He is very happy to be here learning new things he can bring back to Uzbekistan to improve its educational system.