|
|
||
Stafford High School graduate teaches enrichment program in Bosnia, part of her effort to make the world a better place Date published: 9/6/2009
By CATHY DYSON By the time Ashley Belyea gets her master's degree, she will have spent a lot of time studying how people in war-torn societies rebuild lives after the conflicts end. The 25-year-old also will have seen some examples for herself. Belyea recently spent a month in Bosnia, in a region where people suffered from the horrors of ethnic cleansing during the mid-1990s. She eventually hopes to help those in similar situations by working for the government or an international agency that focuses on social change. The young woman who grew up in Stafford County has noble ideals. "She truly wants to make a difference in the world, and I have no doubt that she will," said Lisa Avery, who runs Avery Ballet and has worked with Belyea for years. Belyea has had a "giving spirit" since she was a child, but her need to change the world was clarified in a defining moment. "I was in math class, my senior year of high school when the planes hit the towers," she said. "I don't think that left any of us unchanged. "For me, it was a call that we have to commit ourselves to doing better." Belyea found a way to combine her humanitarian quest with the other love of her life: dancing. The lithe young woman who started studying ballet when she was 3 recently visited Brcko, a multiethnic district in the northwestern corner of Bosnia. She volunteered to teach dance in a community center. On her application, she mentioned her extensive background in ballet and modern dance and that she also could do West African moves. The group organizing a team of international volunteers jumped at the chance for her to teach children dances from Guinea and Senegal. Belyea boiled down the dances to four basic moves and named them accordingly: the bird, the bug, the crocodile and the monkey. On the surface, the children who lined up for classes seemed to be getting along fine, Belyea said. They were clothed, fed and sent to school daily. Their parents went to work and made the occasional trip to the coffee shop or bar. But as Belyea looked beyond the main streets of towns, she saw bombed-out buildings and signs warning of hidden land mines.
Date published: 9/6/2009
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
|
|
|||||||||||||||
