Lina Kalfayan, who grew up in wartime Lebanon, possesses unparalleled strength. Currently completing a doctorate in immunology and microbiology at McGill University, she is a true ambassador of humanitarian aid. Affectionately nicknamed “Mother Teresa” by her peers, this citizen of the world has seen her excellent university career honoured by numerous scholarships and awards, in particular from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec (FRSQ). Among her numerous social actions, Lina has done volunteer work for the Red Cross and the Maison Marguerite, a shelter for women in distress. In 2005, upon witnessing the ravages caused by the tsunami in India, she actively took part in the country’s reconstruction while conducting a fund-raising campaign in Montréal. During her second visit there, she set up a rural development program. As a lecturer with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), she also heightens awareness of international development among youngsters. Lina has now decided to tackle the diseases that decimate the world population, further proof of her unfailing determination!
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Inês Nascimento Lopes, who is successfully pursuing a doctorate degree in educational psychology at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), is a student for whom nothing seems impossible. Highly aware of the problems relating to education, she wrote her thesis on heightening awareness of current social, humanitarian and environmental issues among youngsters. Her pedagogical program CAUSE, which focuses on these three concepts, is already a promising success. Following two years implementing and thus perfecting the program, it will now be distributed to teachers who will integrate it into their teaching methods. In her steadfast commitment to education, the young student also created a Web site in order to offer other educational resources for the teaching profession. In addition to an excellent academic career, Inês has carried out numerous social endeavours which have all met with success. The instigator of Cinéma Politica-UQAM, a politically-committed film society, she also does volunteer work for a number of organizations such as the Centre de services psychologiques at UQAM and the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Marked by a dozen scholarships, Inês’s dazzling career path reflects the intellectual and emotional intensity she devotes, day after day, to each and every one of her actions.
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Although medicine appealed to him, Nicolas Lejosne finally turned to one of most prestigious engineering schools in Europe. This does not mean, however, that the young man of French origin relinquished his humanitarian values. Currently completing a doctorate degree in administration in Montréal, Nicolas has long taken a keen interest in the industrial development of the countries of the south. In Africa, a country he loves and is particularly well acquainted with, he has carried out professional missions of major importance, such as the construction of an anti-salinity barrage in Senegal to boost the local economy. However, it was the two years spent in Benin as a volunteer and technical assistant that have had the greatest impact on his life. While conducting a study on product marketing support for small- and medium-sized agri-food processing industries, he noticed, among other things, that industrial development is very often curbed by geopolitical, social and even religious factors. Today, to an already long list of social actions, Nicolas has now added projects in international and humanitarian cooperation. The skills and experience of this man of passion will, without a doubt, be highly beneficial to all communities.
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