GFI Founder’s Update — July 2021

Dear Friend,

Forty years ago, I entered law school in Washington, DC. My politics was most assuredly to the “left” and I had not given it a second thought that most people attending law school were not doing so to serve the poor or represent working people. That was my objective.

Thankfully, one day I was sitting next to a woman whose life experience read like a novel of “who’s who” in the anti-war and pro-civil rights movement. Her parents’ friends included Woody Guthrie and Howard Zinn, and Barbara stood side-by-side with Jane Fonda in her anti-war advocacy. Her mother, Shirley was a founding member of the Women’s Strike for Peace and her father, George used his advertising genius to create, pro bono, ads for organizations to help them in their fight against racism, poverty, and war. One of George’s ads against police violence inspired the documentary, “A Few Nagging Questions” by her brother, film maker, Paul Sapin.

Meeting Barbara meant I could be me; and, from that moment, I knew I would have a life-long friend and someone with whom I could share my vision for a more inclusive society.

I am happy to say 40+ years later we remain close friends — but that is not the purpose of this newsletter. Barbara, following her mother Shirley’s death, established a fellowship at GFI in her name — the Sapin Fellowship — to recognize her life-long advocacy for peace, social justice, and fairness. For the last decade, the Sapin Fellowship has provided an opportunity for college and post-graduates to spend a semester working with GFI on issues and programs at the heart of economic access for the global working poor.

In 2011, GFI’s first Sapin Fellow was a young South African man, Andile who was studying at the University of Cape Town. Andile, had interned for GFI in 2010 for three months when he was in the U.S. He was a great intern and we suggested he apply for the Sapin fellowship. Barbara met Andile, shared lunch at the start of his fellowship program, and as she often does, said goodbye at the end of his fellowship. But that is not the end of the story because GFI seems to have a unique way of bringing the world closer together.

In 2012 Andile met Leah, who was working in South Africa, at a friend’s dinner party in Cape Town. Just to note there are over 58 million people in South Africa — yet Andile and Leah, who did not know each other, find themselves at a friend’s dinner party in Cape Town?

Following their chance meeting, the two dated for about 4 months.
Neither realized for several weeks they had a special connection — you see, Leah was Shirley Sapin’s granddaughter! It is fair to say the “revelation” was overwhelming. Andile and Leah stayed connected — but their dating came to an end.

Not until January 2020, 8 years later, when Leah was living in New York and Andile was on a brief visit to the U.S., did she and Andile reconnect. In March 2020, Leah traveled to South Africa planning to stay for with Andile for a month but had to extend her stay until August 2020 due to COVID 19 and border closings. The rest is history, as they say.

They are now in Lisbon — a city they both love. Andile is pursuing an advanced degree, Masters of Science in Political Economy at ISCTE, Lisbon University. Leah is continuing her work in human rights including working for Human Rights Watch from Portugal.

In a world where we far too often hear about family tragedy and the toll disease, starvation, war, and repression have taken on millions of families, I am happy to write about two young people who are helping to change the world in so many positive ways. For our part, GFI is taking some credit for their “chance” initial encounter!

This beautiful union between GFI’s inaugural Sapin fellow and the granddaughter of a woman who dedicated her life to social justice would not have happen without Barbara’s vision to create the Sapin Fellowship .

I am proud of the great work GFI has done to improve the lives of the working poor and grateful that we have supporters like Barbara, her brother, Paul and sister, Linda who have provided enriching opportunities for many Sapin Fellows. We will be opening applications for Sapin Fellows this fall, if you would like to apply (or find true love), please do so by clicking here and if you would like to support the Sapin Fellowship program please donate here.

Sincerely,

Karen Tramontano
President and Founder