Meet the trip leaders

2009 Tanzania C Leaders: Freeman White and Joanna Opot

JOANNA OPOT: Middlebury College, B.A., Political Science and French. Jo was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and at fifteen years became the youngest member of the Kenya national field hockey team. At sixteen years, Jo joined the National Students Council for Peace and coordinated counseling services for teenage refugees who had been affected by tribal conflicts in Kenya, Sudan, and Somalia. She then went on to complete high school in India, at the Mahindra United World College. While in India, Jo taught English and carried out an earthquake relief program in Gujarat. She spent her summer between eleventh and twelfth grade, teaching English in the Himalayan region of Nepal. These experiences led Jo to work for the United Nations in Kenya, Russia, and the U.S. during her college summers, where she designed environmental programs and planned youth conferences. At Middlebury College, Jo was also a Special Olympics soccer coach, a varsity field hockey goalie, a club rugby player, and a dance troupe member. She is currently the Executive Director of StartingBloc, a global organization that educates, empowers, and connects emerging leaders (18-32 years) to drive positive social change across sectors. Her work directly supports 1,100 emerging leaders in forty countries. This will be Jo’s first summer with Putney and it will be followed by a six month trip, together with her husband (Jo and Freeman will be married in June), to Kenya, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Jo is fluent in Kiswahili and proficient in French.

FREEMAN WHITE: Middlebury College, B.A., Theater, Minor in Biology. Freeman attended high school at the Putney School, where he got a great education while milking cows and living in a cabin heated with wood that he chopped himself. While at Middlebury, Freeman acted in and/or directed plays every semester, sang in a Tanzanian running choir, played on the Ultimate Frisbee team, started a small recycled products business, and mentored students in local schools. After graduation, Freeman taught theater, ecology, biology, and chemistry for two years at the Bement School in Massachusetts. After teaching, he joined the urban education reform movement and has built and managed online technology systems for three years at New Leaders for New Schools in New York City. His travels to date have led him through England, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands. After leading this program to Tanzania, Freeman looks forward to a wedding celebration in Nairobi with Jo’s family from Kenya and Uganda. In addition to travel, he loves running, reading, and recycling. Freeman is proficient in Kiswahili.