The speaker for our January 4, 2018 meeting is Julie Marner, Executive Director of Burundi Friends International (BFI), which was founded in 2007 as a three-pronged program to fight poverty by enhancing education, healthcare, and economic resources. Burundi that lies east of the Democratic Republic of Congo and just south of Rwanda, is one of the economically challenged nations in the world.
Ms. Marner has a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Practical Theology from University of Colorado and University of San Diego, respectively. She has a long history working with volunteer organizations that focus on homelessness, the prison population, and the mentally ill. Ms. Marner first visited Burundi in 2010 and returned in 2011 to teach English Communication at Light University (as the majority of business in Africa is conducted in English, proficiency in this language is a key to increased economic success). She has since expanded her initial educational efforts to address economic empowerment and healthcare issues.