Speakers

See the Club Calendar

Bio:

Elijah Riley is a 5th year student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln studying Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Commutation and Entrepreneurship through the Engler Program. Elijah is a Lincoln native and graduated from Lincoln High School in 2020. While being a Nebraska native Elijah loves to travel the country and the world to learn from different cultures and ultimately to develop a deeper appreciation and understanding of how we all fit into this world. Elijah is passionate about the outdoors, connection, and bridging gaps, thus why he founded Big Gumdrop Outdoors to bridge the access gap between urban youth and the great outdoors. 

Galia Chimiak is a Fulbright Senior Scholar with the Political Science department at UNL for the 2024-25 academic year. She is a Professor in Sociology with the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences and a co-editor-in-chief of Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations. Her hitherto research and publications have focused on civil society and international development cooperation in Eastern Europe as well as in Ireland. Galia Chimiak has previously taught at a number of Polish universities and at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. At UNL Galia is teaching a course for Honors students "Helpers and Helping: Voluntary Organizations and Making a Difference in the World".

Deki provides free quality education to students in rural Northern Uganda, where 70% of children were not in school until our two primary and nursery schools opened. We currently educate over 700 children annually at a cost of less than $120 per child per year, and our students greatly outperform all other schools in the area. We're small but mighty - making a big difference in the lives of these youth and their families! I attached a brief overview of our work, and our recent Annual Report.