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While at Whitworth, Sarah Stephens, '78, discovered an interest in examining the global problems of poverty, violence and injustice through the light of faith.
"I learned that God is on the side of the poor and that our greatest Christian responsibility is to respect, support and defend the most downtrodden and forgotten in our own society and throughout the world," Stephens says.
Stephens graduated from Whitworth with a major in political studies and is currently the chief of party for Creative Associates International, a commercial technical-assistance company in Washington, D.C. Living in Tirana, Albania, she manages a six-year $7-million USAID field program that assists Albanian civil society and local government leaders in combatting the trafficking of women and children in the country.
The best aspect of her job, Stephens says, is "working with local partners to envision new solutions to stop human trafficking, and to deepen commitment and cooperation among Albanians to make their country a place that protects the most vulnerable members of their society."
At Whitworth, Stephens gained many skills that aid her career today: cultivating an attitude of lifelong learning, thinking about problems through a multidisciplinary approach, learning to live in community, and seeking to understand others' beliefs as well as one's own.
Stephens' experiences at Whitworth also offered her international perspectives about poverty and injustice. She spent one summer working for a youth program at Bermondsey, in London, England, with a team of three Whitworth Diakonia volunteers. She also participated in a semester-long study program in France and the former Soviet Union. These experiences exposed her to the problems of global poverty and helped her demystify the world behind what was then known as the "Iron Curtain."
"I gained an understanding that all human societies have strengths and weaknesses, including my own, and that most people love their countries and cultures regardless of how they feel about the government under which they live," Stephens says. "I learned that human beings have far more in common than what divides them."
After graduating from Whitworth, Stephens earned a master of divinity from San Francisco Theological Seminary in 1986. She has also worked for other social-justice organizations, including Amnesty International's USA Western Region in San Francisco, the PCUSA Committee on Social Witness Policy, the International Catholic Migration Commission, and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, where she served as an independent consultant to migrant-rights organizations.
"Whitworth gathered together remarkable people of compassion, commitment, vulnerability, playfulness and intelligence," Stephens says. "This Christian community nurtured people in the faith by pushing us to explore the unfamiliar, to critically analyze our own dogmas, and to respect differences."
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