TFS - Canada's International School

"It was TFS that originally influenced my way of thinking." Tina Bouffet '11 "My strongest skill is packing boxes," says Tina Bouffet '11. Tina's move to Canada at age six marked her family's fourth international move since she was born. As they settled into their fifth house in six years, her parents were tasked with the tough decision of choosing the right school for their two daughters. All native French speakers, Tina's family wanted a bilingual education up to French standards – but with an equally strong English focus. TFS was the right match for that. What Tina was most awed by at TFS? The teachers. To this day, Ms. Bouffet says she owes her writing and editing skills to the French and English departments; her capacity for research and analysis to those who taught her math and science; and her sense of perspective to history class. All of these have paid off immensely since she left school. After graduating from TFS, Tina decided to get her bachelor's degree at the University College London in social and political studies. At the end of her first year, she undertook an internship with Amnesty International in Written by Magnus F., Level V student Israel, where she worked with Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers and trafficking victims. Three years later, Tina decided to further her post-secondary studies at Sciences Po through a master's in human rights and humanitarian action. It was there, amidst the European Refugee Crisis of 2015, that she and her friends founded and crowd-funded Sciences Po Refugee Help – a student association bringing material and legal aid, as well as language classes and social activities, to asylum seekers in Paris' street camps and housing centres. Tina then moved to the Central African Republic, where she worked for the aid organization Cordaid. From there, she was recruited by the UN peacekeeping mission to coordinate assistance to alleged victims of sexual assault and exploitation at the hands of UN personnel. It was through this work that she met her current employer, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), based in Geneva, Switzerland. "It was at TFS that I first felt encouraged to connect what I studied in class with other domains and realities," she says. For Tina, these diverse experiences were the only way to gain a deeper understanding of how power dynamics were shaped and expressed across different contexts – including those characterized by conflict and violence. Understanding how people engage and communicate with each other is part of Tina's daily work at the ICRC. "Everywhere we work, we need to know which communication channels people use and trust in order to know what they need, how we can help, and what we can change or improve." This proximity with communities helps keep ICRC colleagues safe. "In my short time here, I've already had to communicate on colleagues being attacked, held hostage and executed." This doesn't deter Tina from wanting to go on mission again. Since her graduation from TFS in 2011, she has lived and worked in four different continents, cultivating open- mindedness towards the way other people view and organize their society. "There's no correct social model or blueprint for change," she says. "At the same time, we can't deny that our interactions have ripple effects and leave social footprints everywhere we go." 24 TFS ENTRE NOUS 2019

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