Christina Barruel
Head of Peace Education
(School Programmes)
Head of Peace Education, Christina Barruel has trained thousands of student peer mediators and teachers during her 24 year association with Cool Schools both as a School Programme Coordinator and in her present position as Head of Peace Education for The Peace Foundation. In this role she leads a team of 10 other programme facilitators who work in schools throughout New Zealand empowering students and staff with life-long conflict management skills for both personal and professional use. Christina has also introduced the programme to schools in Fiji, Hong Kong, Iceland, Los Angeles and Japan. Christina comes from a primary teaching background. She has had over 25 years teaching experience in both primary and secondary schools. Her contribution to The Peace Foundation has been invaluable. She has worked at developing world-class peaceful conflict resolution and peer mediation programmes for schools. During 2013, Christina was recognized for her contribution to peace education in New Zealand and was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship. This enabled her to spend time with an organization in Seattle, Washington State, USA, who also provide successful peer mediation programmes for schools nationwide. “This amazing experience equipped me with lots of ideas and strategies. These have really helped to enhance our own Cool Schools and Leadership through Peer Mediation (LtPM) programmes for New Zealand schools.” During 2018, Christina developed and facilitated a four week practical conflict resolution module for a Level 4 paper at AUT. Components of this module were also taught to Japanese students over two days at Hirosaki University in northern Japan. Christina continues to remain passionate about her work. She considers it a privilege to work in education institutions teaching peaceful conflict resolution and peer mediation skills ... what she loves most. Furthermore, she says, "I have the opportunity every day to remind myself... I must practise what I preach!" Christina enjoys cycling, running, dancing and yoga to keep in good shape. Her regular social activities with family and friends always bring great joy and happiness.
John brings stability and focus to The Peace Foundation based on his extensive experience in the management of small to mid-sized companies. Before coming to the Peace Foundation in 2017, John’s work experience was mostly in for profit businesses. He is happy to now contribute to a more peaceful world through his work with The Peace Foundation. "It's my job to create a platform that puts our team in the best possible position to deliver our educational programmes. Providing a solid financial foundation is at the core of creating organisation stability and enabling the entity to pursue opportunities as they arise." Originally from the United States, John now lives in New Zealand with his three kids and enjoys sharing the beauty and simplicity of the Kiwi lifestyle.
Alessandra Kuribara is The Peace Foundation's Web Developer. She is originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and has pursued a career in Information Technology (IT) after graduating from Centro Universitario da Fundacao de Ciencias Aplicadas with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. In her drive to acquire deeper knowledge and skills in this sector, she enrolled at the University of California, Irvine, in 2008 to obtain a certification in Oracle Database Administration. She has also worked as a DBA intern with EMPOWERTRAIN in California. In the course of her IT career, Alessandra has held various positions in Sao Paulo including as a Programmer with Telefonica, a Systems Analyst with ABN AMRO Bank and a Senior Systems Analyst with Consist Software. In Sao Paulo, she ran her own business, FEAST CATERING. Since arriving in Auckland in May 2015, Alessandra has completed a course at Cornell Institute of Business and Technology, graduating with a Diploma in Software Development. She joined The Peace Foundation in October 2015, initially as an IT intern. Alessandra enjoys travelling and baking in her spare time.
Alyn Ware is the International Representative of the Peace Foundation. He is also the International Co-ordinator for the Parliamentary Network for Nuclear Disarmament, and Consultant for the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms.
Lisa is a qualified teacher, devoted mother of two teenagers, coordinator and trainer of the Peaceful Family Communication Programme. Born in Samoa, Lisa grew up in NZ in a blended, cross-cultural family.
Sophia joined The Peace Foundation Team at the beginning of 2019. Before coming to the Foundation, she was a Representative with The Glenn Family Foundation in India and Nepal, working with local child protection and development agencies. Through this experience her passion for education as a tool for successful development work grew. Her focus while she was overseas was predominantly on women’s education and self-employment programme. Now she is excited to be contributing to The Peace Foundation’s mission to provide necessary skills around conflict resolution, emotional management and healthy relationships. Sophia loves to spend time in the outdoors and to travel. She is happy to be home in New Zealand with her friends and family.
Tamkeen Saeid is currently a third year Law and Arts (History and Sociology) student at the University of Auckland. Born in Afghanistan and raised in Auckland, she has been involved in refugee matters and advocacy throughout her life. She is extremely passionate about representation and inclusion in decision making. In her role as Youth Programmes Coordinator, she hopes to inspire many young people across the country to engage in global peace issues and become more aware of peace politics. Before joining the team, she volunteered with a number of non-governmental organisations and is excited to bring the same energy and drive to this role.
Johnny has been volunteering at The Peace Foundation since 2018. He is a great help maintaining the database of members and supporters as well as the schools' database at times. He assists with mass mail-outs and makes sure that the recipients are happy. He has a background in psychology and administration. One of Johnny's dreams is to see the world in unity, which has also been a personal goal for 30 years.
