Sasha Chanoff

Sasha Chanoff
Born 1975 (age 40–41)
Citizenship Finland, United States
Education Wesleyan University
Occupation Refugee relief organizer
Years active 15+
Organization RefugePoint
Home town Somerville, Massachusetts
Awards Charles Bronfman Prize, 2010[1]
Gleitsman Award, 2013[2]

Sasha Chanoff is an American aid organizer and humanitarian based in Somerville, Massachusetts[1] who is notable for rescuing thousands of refugees in Africa.[3][4]

Chanoff founded a humanitarian assistance organization for refugees, called RefugePoint,[5] which identifies endangered people,[4] often children, generally in Africa, and provides assistance to them.[6] Generally this involves coordinating their resettlement,[6] by providing logistics including food and money, and working with immigration authorities in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, and elsewhere.[4] He enlists the help of the mass media to encourage donations as well as increase public awareness of the numerous problems facing refugees.[4] For example, he was instrumental in getting RefugePoint featured prominently on the American TV news documentary program 60 Minutes in 2013.[4]

Chanoff believes resettlement is a vastly superior alternative to refugee camps, since re-settled refugees can support themselves and "get on with their own lives".[6] He views his role as a humanitarian relief organizer to "attempt to help everyone in need."[7] His organization helps refugees in other ways, such as finding out whether the refugee's relatives are alive and where they are located, and passing along this information to the refugee.[8] In 2014, he was instrumental in helping to rescue 3500 boys from Sudan and 89 girls,[9][10] and he met with United States president Barack Obama with these rescued children.[11]

In 2006, he founded the organization called Mapendo, which was renamed RefugePoint in 2011, to aid at-risk and obscure African refugee groups.[12] Mapendo helped to evacuate more than 10,000 refugees from Sudan, Kenya, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.[3] He explained:

Oftentimes, ethnic minorities, girls and widows are not safe in the refugee camps. Rape is fairly common, so a lot of women and their families flee the camps out of fear and end up homeless in urban centers with no access to services. Mapendo seeks to find these refugees and help them get the protection and services they need. The organization is named after Rose Mapendo, a Tutsi woman who spent 16 months in a Rwandan death camp with her husband and seven children, and whose experience we wanted to honor. Rose lost her husband in the camps but now lives in Arizona with her children. Mapendo is a Swahili word that means "great love."
— Chanoff, 2004, in interview on PBS[12]

Early life

Chanoff was born in Finland.[1] His great grandparents escaped from pogroms in Russia.[1] Many of his relatives died in the Holocaust half a century later.[3] He explained:

Refugees are on their own, but not by choice. And a lot of people, Jews in particular, have faced this for centuries.
— Chanoff in the Boston Globe[3]

He moved to the United States and graduated from Wesleyan University.[1] Chanoff received a bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University,[4] and a masters degree in Humanitarian Assistance through a joint degree program at the Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.[1] Chanoff is a dual United States and Finnish citizen and speaks Finnish, German, French, and Swahili.

Awards and honors

Chanoff was awarded the Charles Bronfman Prize for his humanitarian efforts in 2010. [1] In 2013, he was awarded the Gleitsman International Activist Award, given to an activist who has "improved the quality of life for others."[2] It is an award given to a leader who works to challenge "injustices around the world and inspires others to do the same."[1] Past recipients of this award have included Ralph Nader and Nelson Mandela.[2] In addition, he received fellowships from Ashoka,[1][13] the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation,[1][14] and Echoing Green.[1][15] In 2006, he was named a Waldzell Institute "Architect of the Future."[16] He serves on the Steering Committee of New England International Donors.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 2010, The Charles Bronfman Prize, Sasha Chanoff: Rescuing and Resettling At-Risk and Forgotten Refugees, Accessed July 6, 2014, "...Sasha Chanoff is the Founder and Executive Director of RefugePoint, a humanitarian organization..."
  2. 1 2 3 DAVID J. KURLANDER, CONTRIBUTING WRITER, November 6, 2013, The Harvard Crimson, Sasha Chanoff Receives Gleitsman International Activist Award, Accessed July 6, 2014, "...Sasha Chanoff, co-founder and executive director of the refugee resettlement organization RefugePoint, received the 2013 Gleitsman International Activist Award..."
  3. 1 2 3 4 Inspired by relatives, he’s doing a world of good for refugees, Accessed July 6, 2014, "...Sasha Chanoff spent the past decade rescuing recent victims of the world’s deadliest persecutions.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cynthia Rockwell, April 1, 2013, Wesleyan University, Chanoff ’94 Garners National Attention for Sudanese Refugees, Accessed July 6, 2014, "...Sasha Chanoff ’94 and the organization he founded, RefugePoint,..."
  5. ↑ December 24, 2013, Doug Moore, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Daughter reunited with family in St. Louis after nearly a decade, Accessed July 6, 2014, "...On the train, Sasha Chanoff, founder and executive director of RefugePoint, ..."
  6. 1 2 3 LARISA EPATKO, June 20, 2014, PBS Newshour, Meet ‘Claude,’ one of many displaced children seeking refuge in cities, Accessed July 6, 2014
  7. ↑ Ashoka, Forbes Magazine, 'The Moth' Teaches A Thing Or Two About Storytelling: Setting Up The Stakes, Accessed July 6, 2014, "...For example, Sasha Chanoff of RefugePoint ... recognized that his duty ... to help everyone in need..."
  8. ↑ June 22, 2014, Perla Trevizo, Arizona Star, For Lost Boy, finding life's pieces was half the journey, Accessed July 6, 2014, "..just knowing their mother or father is alive has been one of the most important parts of their lives.."
  9. ↑ Editor, May 3, 2014, KCUR News, 89.3 FM, Taking The Plight Of Refugees To The White House, Accessed July 6, 2014, "...Sasha Chanoff, founder and executive director of RefugePoint, and Yar Ayuel, one of 89 girls who came to the U.S. with the 3,500 Lost Boys of Sudan, will meet with President Obama and the First Lady tomorrow. (Jesse Costa/Here & Now)..."
  10. ↑ From Africa to America: The Journey of a Lost Boy of Sudan, Joseph Akol Makeer, 2007, Tate Publishing, , Accessed July 6, 2014, (see page 85) "...Sasha Chanoff, a thirty-year old white man from Boston..."
  11. ↑ Friday, May 2, 2014, 90.9 WBUR (Boston's NPR station), Taking The Plight Of Refugees To The White House, Accessed July 6, 2014, "...Sasha Chanoff, founder and executive director of RefugePoint, and Yar Ayuel, one of 89 girls who came to the U.S. with the 3,500 Lost Boys of Sudan, will meet with President Obama and the First Lady tomorrow. (Jesse Costa/Here & Now)..."
  12. 1 2 September 28, 2004, PBS, Interviews: In Search of a Durable Solution, Accessed July 6, 2014, "...June 2007 UPDATE: Sasha Chanoff founded Mapendo International..."
  13. ↑ Ashoka
  14. ↑ Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation
  15. ↑ Echoing Green.
  16. ↑ Waldzell Organization
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