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Loaves and Fishes | Books | Films | Other products | Catalogue | Rewarding the sales force |
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Books Author Biography ::::::: November 2004
When she was 7, Naomi's parents separated and she moved with her mother and sister and brothers to the Philippines, where she would spend the next 10 years, living in the cities of Manila, Davao, and Cebu, with occasional summers visiting relatives in Canada. At 15, Naomi began showing signs of a strong inner desire to serve, asking to be driven to the mental institution, for example, so she could visit the patients. In daily contact with both the grinding poverty that is part of life in the developing world, and her mother's circle of friends and colleagues-who were either development professionals, missionaries, or social entrepreneurs-Naomi was exposed to many ideas and became determined to make a difference where she could. In 2002, at 16, she began experimenting with alternative media by publishing a monthly periodical, Standing Naked, which she conceptualized, designed, and launched as an independent campus paper at her Manila high school (an American School with 90% of the students children of Christian missionaries from various parts of the Anglo world). In the first issue, Naomi wrote a highly descriptive piece on Philippine mental institutions and the horrific conditions the patients endure. Standing Naked was initially banned at the school for being too provocative, with the mental institution article bearing the brunt of the criticism. The publication was later taken under the wing of a favorite teacher, who fought for the students' voice, and was eventually sanctioned as a school publication. Its aim was to raise awareness of hard issues, such as oppression and blind following. At 17 Naomi and a friend produced extremely effective fundraising videos for two organizations. She co-wrote, narrated, and organized the production of the films Living Stones, which tells the story of the life of homeless children in the city of Davao through interviews with Filipino street kids, police officers, missionaries, and NGOs to highlight the growing issue in Asian cities; and Imagina, a short film that looks at an urban slum-upgrading project in a Davao City squatter community, where most residents subsist on daily earnings of between $1 and $2. Her next holiday from school she elected to spend her time off volunteering at one of those organizations, feeding malnourished kids, teaching pre-school, and visiting the sick at an impoverished government hospital.. At barely 18 Naomi came to Canada alone to complete her final year of high school and lived with an aunt in Kanata. She was stunned at the lack of awareness of global issues among her peers and began working to bring them to light. With her like-minded friend Jon Dickenson (fellow activist and now a student at Ottawa University), she launched Blurt, an alternative monthly journal that was registered as a business and sold in fair trade shops and alternative bookstores in Ottawa. Blurt articles focused on raising awareness of social and political issues such as fair trade, mindless consumerism, media monopolies, environmental sustainability, and advertising myths. Also in 2003, with the encouragement of a new favorite teacher in Ottawa, Naomi initiated and headed a fundraising project (auctions, food and clothing drives) for Marigot, a small village in Haiti working in collaboration with the Haitian embassy. Other voluntary activities in recent years have included regular visits to at the Mandaluyong Correctional Institute for Women in Manila, for which she also raised funds to provide prisoners with toiletries and other dignities. She also tried to link prisoners to legal assistance by recording and presenting their cases where appropriate and is still in touch by mail with two foreign prisoners, incarcerated in a country that is not their own (one from Ghana and another from Viet Nam). Lest she sound like a saint, Naomi is quick to point out that she has done her share of regular jobs too, from waitress to camp counselor, swimsuit sales rep, supermarket cashier and file clerk, to cleaner and cook. She is a sailor, roller blader, certified scuba diver, and loves to read. Her mother and siblings repatriated from the Philippines in June this year, joining her in Ottawa. Currently a first year student at Carleton University, studying Sociology and Human Rights, Naomi works part-time for Public Outreach selling Greenpeace memberships, and on weekends cooking breakfast at the Wild Oat fair trade café in Ottawa's popular and socially conscious Glebe area (Ed Broadbent's constituency). She wrote STOP! Don't Eat Me as a 12th Grade creative writing assignment, and hoped to use it to teach her young cousins about fair trade. Naomi finds the fact that she is now a published author "a little weird" but hopes the book's message will help people young and old think about what they buy, where it comes from, and especially about the lives behind the hands that made it. |
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Naomi
was born in Athens, Greece Sept. 5, 1985. Her mother Penny Poole, a
Canadian journalist, and father Rafael Guzman, a Venezuelan metal artist,
brought her to Ontario, Canada in 1987, where she attended preschool
at a Montessori in London, followed by Catholic elementary school in
Lucan, when the family lived in the village of Granton. During this
time, her three siblings, Zoë, Daniel, and Adam, were born within a
five and a half year spread.