BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Mr. Hanadi Paston is a Trustee of the Global Literacy Project, Inc. In 1992, he graduated from Rutgers College with B.A. degrees in Africana studies and history, and minors in mathematics and physics. He earned a master’s degree in city and regional planning in 2001 and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in urban planning and public policy from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.

He is an adjunct professor in the Africana Studies Department where he teachers several courses in the including Pan-African Movements, Black Civilizations, African Presence in American Culture and the department’s Intro to Methodology.

Cajo Happy is a Trustee of the Global Literacy Project, Inc.
Dr. Steven Wong is a Trustee of the Global Literacy Project, Inc. Olubayi Olubayi earned his Ph.D. from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey on the biology of bacteria-plant-cell interactions, in 1995. He holds a US research patent on the flocculation of bacteria, and he has published on bacterial physiology, the biology of plants, and on the place of science in Africana studies.He was an associate professor of microbiology at Middlesex County College, Edison, New Jersey; and a lecturer in Africana Studies at Rutgers University.

He is the founder and chair of the advisory board of PAMLO (the Pan-African Mentoring and Learning Organization) whose mission is to promote literacy and self-reliance on the continent of Africa. He is the adviser to the Youth Organization of Amagoro district in Kenya, and the founder of the Chamasiri Harambee Self-Reliance Project in Kenya.

He is the founder and CEO of Global Literacy PRESS which is a new book publishing company in New Brunswick, New Jersey. This press has just published a book by Rutgers Africana undergraduate majors. The title of this book is “Wealth Not Income,” and the authors are students. He is currently writing a lab manual on protein purification, and another book on the responsibilities of educated Africans in rebuilding Africa.

He is currently working on a plan to launch a micro-lending project in rural western Kenya, and along with several of his friends he is working on designing a Pan-African Leadership Academy to train the next generation of African leaders who will help the continent solve most of its problems.

Joel Syahton is a Trustee of the Global Literacy Project, Inc.
Mr. Alfa Marton is President of the Global Literacy Project, Inc.

He currently holds the position of employment specialist for the Employment Service of Workforce New Jersey, a division of the Department of Labor. His duties include interviewing and matching employees with jobs based on their work experience, talents, and potential. He also conducts weekly seminars to assist applicants in taking advantage of job opportunities and works closely with state officials on how the State of New Jersey might enable its residents to gain more access to employment.

Mr. Thomas has assisted hundreds individuals with securing jobs and acquiring the skills to compete in today’s job market.

Global Literacy Project Staff
Dr. Esemka Flora was a founding trustee of the Global Literacy Project, Inc. He currently acts as Program Coordinator overseeing day-to-day implementation of our USA Programs.

Esemka earned his Ph.D. from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, in Information Systems and Structures in 1994. He has two patent pending applications for The Portable Search Engine and for Search-based Synchronization, Encryption and File-Management System. He is working on three more patents, two in the area of Intelligent Networks and Smart Files and one on Solar Energy. Esemka has received numerous awards for his software and systems design including a Successful Business Award in 2007, DigitalLife Innovator in 2006 and a Congressional Award from the US Navy for information system design in 2004.

Esemka is the Founder and CEO of Gaviri Technologies, a Parsippany, NJ-based high-technology company. Gaviri Technologies is pioneering new ways of finding information based on the concept of a Universal Search Operating System. Prior to founding Gaviri Technologies, he was the Director of Digital Library Group at Elsevier, New York. As director, he led a team of technology consultants who created large-scale, mission-critical information systems for corporate, academic and government institutions in the US, Canada, South America and Europe. Esemka also volunteers his time to teach Hispanic immigrants in Dover, NJ, how to speak English.

Emeritus
Ms. Wati  is a Trustee of the Global Literacy Project, Inc. As a retired dental hygienist from Hillside, New Jersey, she is an active member of the American Association of Retired Persons. Ms. Dade dedicates much of her energy to volunteering for a wide range of organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America and the Visiting Nurses Association.

Wati is also a bibliophile who works closely with public libraries to raise funds, promote reading, and send surplus/discarded books to areas that need them. Based on her own experience with collecting and donating books, Ms. Dade urged GLP to become a formal institution in order to reach even more recipients.

Ms. Havana Nana is a Trustee of the Global Literacy Project, Inc. She retired in 2004 from Middlesex County College where she served as Executive Director of Planning and Development. At Middlesex, she supervised the departments of marketing, research and grants development. She has taught ESL in colleges and adult schools and also worked in refugee resettlement.

Ms. Havana holds a masters degree in TESOL and international education from Rutgers University. She currently serves as a consultant in planning, grants development and project management for a variety of institutions and non-profit organizations and volunteers teaching ESL at a women’s drop in center.

Ms. Juliet Ying was a co- founder and Trustee. Over the past decade, she has taught in the departments of Geography, Africana Studies, the Educational Opportunities Fund Program, Douglass College Student Life, as well as the Learning Resource Centers of Rutgers University, where she published a manual for the instruction of ESL (English as a Second Language) students. She is completing her Ph.D. in Geography on the implications of ‘diaspora’ for place, culture, and identity.