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Sara Jewett Nieuwoudt was a 2000-01 Hart Fellow working in the Ethiopian
Field Office of the Save the Children Alliance. She focused on issues surrounding
psychosocial support for orphans, and the situation of separated children, including
child-headed households, street children, and children in institutions. Sara
co-facilitated a group for HIV-positive orphans, collecting their drawings and
stories (including stories from the perspective of their caregivers), and
photographing and videotaping their activities.
Sara graduated from Duke in 2000 with a major in Comparative Area Studies. In the
summer of 1998, Sara worked in San Ramon, Nicaragua where she divided her time
between developing cultural exchange programs for Nicaraguan and American children
and working with a women's group that focused on health and nutrition issues. In
Nicaragua, Sara became interested in the social and economic justice issues that
lead children to live on the street. Her research project was entitled, "Seeking
the Child in the Issue of 'Street Children.'" Her investigation focused on the
failure of the term "street child" to address the unique needs of these children.
After her Hart Fellowship, she stayed in Ethiopia to work with Hope for Children,
an Ethiopian NGO working with children affected by HIV/AIDS. Sara moved to Durham
in August 2002 to begin work as Program Coordinator for the Service Opportunities
in Leadership (SOL) Program and in 2003, married Tielman Nieuwoudt. Before Sara
began her graduate studies in public health in 2004, she studied French and
traveled throughout western Europe and southeast Asia.
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