Our Team in the United States

 

The founder of “Journey with an Afghan School is Julia Bolz.  Julia has dedicated herself to making the world a better and safer place.  In 1998, she traded a successful career as a partner in one of Seattle’s respected law firms to serve as a full-time advocate and grassroots activist in some of the most desperate and inhospitable places on earth. 

Julia works to empower the disenfranchised by helping them build sustainable businesses, schools and healthcare facilities, and negotiate political challenges.  As a “free lance volunteer,” she has worked with several dozen non-profits across six continents as a business and legal advisor, as well as a fundraiser and networked.

Since the terrorist attacks in 2001, she has focused on educating women and girls in Afghanistan, which puts her at one of the world epicenters of political and social injustice.  Among other successes, Julia has been instrumental in building or reconstructing most of our schools in Afghanistan.  She also facilitates cultural exchanges between Afghans and Americans.

Closer to home, Julia is committed to serving as a “voice of the voiceless” and building bridges and breaking down barriers between America and the developing world.  She regularly speaks around the country to students and communities, writes about her experiences, and meets with political decision-makers in Washington, D.C.  She wants to help generate the political will to end the worst aspects of hunger and poverty, especially ensuring that 90 million, poor and vulnerable children in the developing world have an opportunity to receive a free primary education. 

Julia has become a role model for others seeking to pursue humanitarian passions.  In 2004, she was the recipient of the Thomas C. Wales Foundation award for courageous civic engagement, leadership, and passionate citizenship.  In February 2006, she received a medal of distinction from her alma mater Smith College in Massachusetts.  And, in July 2007, Julia was a presenter at the Aspen Institute’s Ideas Festival in Aspen.