Advisory Board
Cheryl Jennings ABC 7/KGO TV San Francisco
Emmy Award winner Cheryl Jennings is weekday co-anchor of ABC7 News at 11:00 a.m. and anchor of ABC7 News at 5:00 p.m. Cheryl also files special assignment news reports and is the host of the Emmy Award winning community affairs program, Beyond the Headlines.
Maggie Chartier, PsyD, MPH
Maggie is a Postdoctoral Psychology Fellow at the San Francisco VA Hospital in California. She is both a researcher and supervised psychotherapist working with patients living with HIV/AIDS. She has worked internationally as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Ivory Coast and as a researcher in Senegal.
Dr. David Ndaye Kalombo
David is the current HIV&AIDS Specialist at UNICEF SACO. He was the first Director and Project Manager of the Comprehensive HIV&AIDS Care, Management and Treatment Plan in South Africa (ARV program) in the National Department of Health from July 2004 to May 2009. Through his leadership this program was and still is the largest ARV program in the world.
Marianne Bruins - Sexual Offenses Legal Advisor
Marianne is an attorney with considerable experience assisting survivors of sexual abuse. She is currently a member of a law firm working on various human rights issues in The Netherlands.
Licia Karp With a Masters Degree in Clinical Social Work and vast experience working in mental health and psychiatry throughout her career, Licia is a valued member of the Fertile Ground Advisory Group and is routinely consulted on behavioural challenges that manifest in children. Licia has lectured at the University of Cape Town and the University of the Western Cape for a decade. Her work in the Consultation Liaison Unit at the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry with medically ill children and adolescents in the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital re-ignited her interest in working with CBT (Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy) in pain and trauma. She is excited by utilizing a range of techniques with chronically ill children to improve their quality of life. She is currently doing a PhD at the National University of Ireland, Galway in the Pain Research Centre with the Department of Psychology. |  
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Volunteers
William Hirtle William is a multimedia producer with 10 years of experience in various media. He has worked in both the Federal and Provincial Government in Canada broadcasting the Senate committee meetings and the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. After relocating to Cape Town, South Africa to put a more international focus on his career, he began volunteering with Fertile Ground to revamp the webpage and increase our social media presence. William splits his volunteer time between Fertile Ground and the Child Health Unit at the University of Cape Town where he is working to produce medical educational training videos with the E-Learning Committee. In the coming year William will take part in his first Fertile Ground Camp where he will be sharing his multimedia skills through mentoring Camp Youth while taking photos and video to document camp life for our website. Ashley Newell “The biggest thing in the world, bigger than the ocean and the sky, is your heart.” Do Hyun Choe Ashley recently graduated with a BA in Psychology from the University of California Santa Cruz. Her education focused on issues impacting children affected by war and complex emergencies, as well as orphaned and vulnerable children worldwide. She also has experience in inclusive special education. Having fallen in love with South Africa on a trip in 2009 wherein she participated in a community development project in the Eastern Cape, she returned to Cape Town in 2010 to gain further work experience in the areas of Social Work and Public Health. Ashley volunteers with our hospital outreach program at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital where she facilitates developmentally stimulating games and activities for the children in the outpatient clinics in order to alleviate anxiety and encourage parent-child interaction. Ashley’s educational background, facilitation experience and bright personality have helped her to make a wonderful impact on each Fertile Ground camp. Jenna Janiga “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Gandhi Jenna is a third year student at Loyola University in Chicago, IL. she came to Cape Town for three months during her summer break to serve as a volunteer for the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s hospital and as a counselor for Fertile Ground. Majoring in both biology and environmental science, Jenna is working toward entering medical school and then on to a career in international medicine. Volunteering with Fertile Ground helped Jenna to affirm her desire to serve those affected by poverty and to open her mind to new ways of thinking of poverty, healthcare and disease. Working at the Fertile Ground camps with the founders and youth directors showed her that HIV/AIDS, Cancer and other health issues are diseases deeply rooted in social, economic, and cultural instability that are both the cause and effect of this prevalent pandemic.
As a camp counselor, Jenna helped combat stigma and social inequality through the provision of love and confidence and worked to change the lives of the campers by providing a safe, caring community that allowed them a reprieve from their afflictions. Malik Jasson BSc. BCom. "For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others." Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Malik works as a performance analyst at a multi-national, oil & energy concern, and has previously held investment analyst and business consulting roles. He is currently part of the operations team in the organisation’s finance department. Malik joined Fertile Ground in 2010, through a chance meeting with Jawaya Shea. He now conducts tutoring classes, in mathematics and science, for children from disadvantaged communities. He is involved in Fertile Ground’s fund raising initiatives, assists on ad hoc projects and has a keen vision and strategy for growing and ensuring the sustainability of Fertile Ground.
As a student, Malik worked for SHAWCO where he participated in similar tutoring programmes that focused on teaching life skills. He was a member of the residence treasury committee and assisted on the fund raising portfolio where the funds raised were allocated as a bursary to a financially and academically eligible student. He has also worked for Home Fundraising - an organisation that raises funds for various charities, in the UK.
With his wonderful sense of humour, lust for life, travel and adventure Malik is a hit with children and is always up for a laugh.
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Volunteer with Fertile Ground
If you wish to be trained as a camp counselor you must be at least 16 years old and be enrolled in highschool or a post secondary school institution. Counselors must commit to undergoing training, spending the entire week at the residential camp and participate in day outings once a month. Most importantly, you must enjoy working with children and be open to being exposed to the hardships surrounding poverty, illness and stigma. You must be able to focus on the spirit of the camp and engage children, youth, families and communities in ways that help to empower their lives.
Please contact us if you're interested.
