Speakers

Rotary members will gather for a service project: a Gotcha Covered pack assembly for The Bridge for Youth. Packs will be filled with clothing items for youth in need.

Michelle Ness, MSW, LISW

Michelle Ness is the Executive Director of PRISM, a nonprofit social service agency located in Golden Valley, MN. The mission of PRISM is to provide social services and connections that empower people in our community to build healthy, stable lives. Michelle received her Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Minnesota in 2005 and her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Western Michigan University in 1997. She has held leadership roles over the past two decades with Tubman and Neighborhood House, volunteered on several boards, and consulted in her own practice. Michelle has led PRISM to greater community impact with a profitable social enterprise, Shop for Change, as well as enhanced services for the basic needs of food and clothing. Michelle enjoys leading efforts with local nonprofits, individuals, and businesses to collaborate and find mutually beneficial partnerships. PRISM has worked alongside Jewish Family & Children’s Service (JFCS) of Minneapolis for several years, and recently moved into a newly renovated building with JFCS. This new location and uniquely exceptional partnership increases access to social services for local suburban community where poverty has seen exponential growth. Michelle lives in Brooklyn Park and enjoys gardening and laughing with her three sons.

Pingping Yu will provide a brief review of the traditional Chinese culture and what makes it unique and the challenges facing the Chinese traditional culture in the Communist era. She will introduce "Shen Yun" and what the show is doing to help revive the traditional Chinese culture. www.ShenYun.com

Yvette Munyerenkana Cubaka (Secretary General), Carlos Barahame Ntagengwa (Director of Training Centers) and Ciza Baderhe Anuarite (carpentry training program graduate and entrepreneur) are visiting Minnesota as ambassadors of the organization Let Africa Live. They will be presenting with partners from Mwendo Congo, a Minnesota based non-profit working for health, education, and peace in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Yvette Cubaka is a lawyer and long-time human rights advocate from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with extensive professional experience in sexual gender-based violence and child protection.  She began her work at LAV in 2011 and previously held the positions of gender based violence and child protection officer, gender based violence coordinator and program manager.  She now serves as the organization’s secretary general (executive director).

She is a respected leader in global efforts to protect the rights of children.  She is DRC contact person for the Global Network of Religions for Children, an interfaith network of faith-based organizations and people of faith who work together for the rights and well being of children around the world.  She also serves as Supervisor-Advisor of the African Youth and Children Network for Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Cubaka was born into a Christian family whose father was a pastor.

Carlos Ntagengwa is director of LAV’s training centers and has been on LAV staff for twelve years.  Prior to becoming director, he served as a trainer in LAV’s welding program.  He also taught at Technical Official School in Kibuye, Rwanda and worked for a time as an engineer at Twangiza mining factory. 

He holds a diploma in entrepreneurship and project management and a degree diploma in industrial electricity.  He has received additional training in management and welding at Kayonza in Rwanda, and participated in psychosocial support training of trainers on entrepreneurial education.  He has technical skills in motor facilities, generators, alternators in factories, photovoltaic facilities, and electrical maintenance in factories.  Ntagengwa is a Congolese, married to Faida Ziyiruka Wivine with 5 children, a girl and 4 sons.

Ciza Anuarite is a 2014 graduate of Let Africa Live’s carpentry program.  Since completing her training, she has established her own business, a successful carpentry workshop in the city of Bukavu in eastern DRC.  She has in turn hired and mentored three subsequent graduates of LAV’s carpentry program.

Born in eastern DRC, Anuarite was orphaned at two years of age when her mother died.  At age 15 (2008) she was the victim of sexual violence perpetrated by a rebel group, became pregnant and gave birth to a baby girl.  As a single mother, she is making a life for herself and her daughter and is serving her community with high quality carpentry services.