This summer, five students from the University of Winnipeg's Global College and the University of Manitoba's Human Rights Masters will be completing their practicum placements with us! These five student leaders bring with them their wealth of knowledge and experiences ready to contribute to human rights education in the province of Manitoba. In this blog post, get to know these incredible students; Talia Taras, Chelsea Bonan, Marylyn Mawuena Afenyo, Shelley Smith, and Dennis Asebi Boakye Atuahene.

Talia Taras

“Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency. Hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth's treasures and the grinding down of the poor and marginal... To hope is to give yourself to the future - and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.” Rebecca Solnit

Talia Taras is in her final year of a Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Rights at the University of Winnipeg. Talia is volunteering with MARL during the summer months as part of the Global College practicum. She was naturally drawn to MARL with its emphasis on education as a powerful tool by which rights and liberties can be promoted. Talia’s practicum will enable her to interact with and apply human rights concepts grasped in the classroom while enhancing her research portfolio.