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ISA’s Ongoing Partnership with East African Care

October 12, 2018/in All School

Many people around the world today don’t have any access to water; according to WaterAid, a global non-profit, which estimates that as many as 1 in 9 people don’t have any clean water close to their home. To help to tackle this global problem, ISA has been supporting East African Care (EAC), a charity which […]

Alumni Spotlight: Juha Virtanen ’04

October 11, 2018/in Alumni

Juha Virtanen attended ISA from 1998 to 2004. After leaving ISA, he obtained his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree from the University of Kent where he is now a Lecturer in Contemporary Literature at the School of English. Juha, originally from Finland, started attending ISA after his family moved to Amsterdam for his father’s job. […]

ISA’s Ongoing Partnership with East African Care

October 12, 2018/in All School

Alumni Spotlight: Juha Virtanen ’04

October 11, 2018/in Alumni

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ISA’s Ongoing Partnership with East African Care

October 12, 2018/in All School

EAC is a small organisation based in the Netherlands that has been active in the Kwale district of Kenya since 2004. Since they began, with the support of donations from ISA they have built more than 60 wells and latrines for schools and rural communities in an effort to improve access to water and basic sanitation.

EAC’s local coordinator, Suleiman Mwakoja, came to talk to Upper School students at the ISA Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) Fair this past September to underscore the impact that ISA students have and will continue to have, on the lives of local people in Kenya.

Having access to clean water has a “knock-on effect which positively impacts every aspect of people’s lives” noted Mwakoja. As well as improving health and sanitation in rural communities, the time saved by women not having to travel to collect water gives them greater access to education, which will improve their financial prospects and will, in turn, benefit Kenya economically.

East African Care plans to continue their life-saving work in Kenya, with the help and support of the ISA Community.

Alumni Spotlight: Juha Virtanen ’04

October 11, 2018/in Alumni

Juha, originally from Finland, started attending ISA after his family moved to Amsterdam for his father’s job. Originally only meaning to stay in the Netherlands for two years, Juha considers himself lucky that he was able to stay for six years:

“The six years I spent at ISA were definitely an influential period for me. All of the teachers I had for English […] were great at feeding and further encouraging my interest in literature, which obviously played a big role in my decision to study the subject at university.”

At the University of Kent, Juha primarily specialises in innovative British and Irish poetry, but he has also designed and taught modules on materials such as graphic novels. In addition, he is currently serving as the School of English’s Deputy Director of Education, as well as the programme director for Kent’s Master’s degree in The Contemporary, which is an interdisciplinary programme taught jointly by the University and the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.

Juha is a published poet; his first collection Back Channel Apraxia was published by Contraband Books in 2014, and his chapbook –LAND was published through Oystercatcher Press in 2016. His most recent book, Poetry and Performance During the British Poetry Revival 1960-1980: Event and Effect was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2017 and examines intersections of poetry and performance during the British Poetry Revival. In 2018, his work was included in the international anthology Wretched Strangers: Borders, Movement, Homes. He is currently researching women poets published in British little magazines, and is writing a new series of poems called Doom Engines.

Rather than setting out to directly follow a particular career path, Juha believes that his line of work allows him to pursue some of his deep-rooted interests in a unique way.

After obtaining his bachelor’s degree, Juha felt as though he wasn’t done with studying, so he went on to obtain his master’s, and after gaining his doctorate, he was lucky enough to be hired as a lecturer. He considers each step along this path to have been shaped by meeting individual goals rather than following a defined life path.

His proudest moments have included receiving his doctorate, being hired as a lecturer, and seeing his work published. More importantly, he is always moved when he sees his students thrive with their own idiosyncratic interests. He is also very proud of DATABLEED, an open-access poetry journal which he co-edits with his partner, Eleanor Perry. In autumn 2018, they are launching DATABLEEDER, a series of poetry and performance events based in Canterbury, Kent.

While Juha attributes all of his English teachers with furthering his passion for literature, it was his theatre classes that proved to be a life-changing experience. It was during these classes that he first encountered Bertolt Brecht, a German playwright and poet, who remains an influential figure for Juha’s views on literature and art. Even to this day, whenever Juha has to deliver a lecture, present a paper at a conference, or do a poetry reading he utilises the concentration and breathing techniques that he was taught during his ISA play rehearsals.

When asked to offer advice or insights to current ISA students, Juha notes, “I think it’s entirely in keeping with the spirit of what I learned during my time at ISA that I take this opportunity – especially right now – to emphasise the importance of bridges instead of walls.”

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

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ISA’s Ongoing Partnership with East African Care

Alumni Spotlight: Juha Virtanen ’04

ISA’s Ongoing Partnership with East African Care

Alumni Spotlight: Juha Virtanen ’04

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

ISA’s Ongoing Partnership with East African Care

Alumni Spotlight: Juha Virtanen ’04

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