Brother Freeman Portiz (British Columbia, 2009) has used his AEPi and Jewish experiences to help guide him in his professional and personal journey around the world. Having recently been selected by the U.S. Department of State to help lead an English Language Specialist project in Israel with Jerusalem Peacebuilders and Retorika for Multiculturalism. Freeman is focusing on the design of an English language bicommunal youth peace and leadership curriculum to be used in high school classrooms throughout the country.
“I was born in Toronto and grew up in Vancouver. My mom was Canadian, and my dad was American, and I went to UBC (University of British Columbia) and joined AEPi. We were small then, I think there were only eight actives, and we rushed 12 mor that year, including me. And, then, Israel came calling.”
Hearing the call of the Jewish homeland, Freeman left school and moved to Israel where he enlisted in the IDF and served from 2004-2007. “I learned Hebrew the old-fashioned way, on a kibbutz!” Following his service, he moved back to Vancouver to finish his degree and rejoined his AEPi chapter and served as Rush Chair. After graduating, he returned to Israel to work on his master’s degree at Tel Aviv University.
“I was teaching mainly English, Hebrew. mathematics and behavioral norms to at risk youth, particularly from the Ethiopian-Jewish, former Soviet Union, and also Israeli Arab sectors. I worked at the Jaffa Institute for about six months in Jaffa at one of their community centers. And then I got a job with USAID, and I started working directly with the U.S. government from Israel.”
In 2017, he left Israel to travel throughout China, Australia and Europe. “I ended up in Bolivia right as the pandemic hit and that’s where I met my girlfriend, now wife. We were together for a few years in Bolivia before I took a job funded by the U.S. Department of State to be an English language fellow in Africa. I moved to Ethiopia for a year, then Tanzania for a year. And then we returned to Bolivia as we were expecting our baby. Now we’re parents of a six-month old beautiful baby girl named Liberty.”
While living overseas, he got certified as an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher in U.S. through an online course and began setting a direction f. or his next professional act.
“All throughout my career, AEPi has been there for me. I remember visiting Indianapolis like 20 years ago for Israel Unplugged. It was like a workshop for Israel activists, and I really credit it with giving me a lot of ammunition to use during campus debates and discussions. I often credit AEPi with activating my Jewish identity.”
Living in Bolivia now, Freeman continues to look for a similar community. “There’s an active Chabad emissary which also hosts Israelis every Friday night for Shabbat. The great thing about Bolivia is its low cost of living! When you have both U.S. and Canadian citizenship, you have access to a lot of remote opportunities. I do a lot of English tutoring, preparing South Korean professionals for MBA interviews at American institutions and things like that.”
The English Language Specialist Program is the premier opportunity for leaders in the field of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) to enact meaningful and sustainable changes in the way that English is taught abroad. Through projects developed by U.S. Embassies in more than 80 countries, English Language Specialists work directly with local teacher trainers, educational leaders, and ministry of education officials to exchange knowledge, build capacity, and establish partnerships benefiting participants, institutions, and communities in the United States and overseas.
In his new role, Freeman collaborates with a prestigious group of leading educational professionals to design an English language bicommunal youth peace and leadership curriculum for the Ministry of Education.
“I’m interested in using education as a tool for conflict mitigation, conflict management, and peace building. I was paired up with a few NGOs in Israel to help connect communities in Israel including, Israeli Arabs the Druze, the Israeli Arab Christian population, and the Israeli Arab Muslim population. We’re hoping to humanize each other, by showing empathy for each other’s situations, that we can start putting the building blocks together for a better shared society inside of Israel. I’m not talking about the Israeli Palestinian conflict at this point, outside of Israel’s borders, we’re talking about particularly within the green line Israel, including Jerusalem schools that use the Ministry of Education curriculum. Because this is a program that’s supported by the Israeli Ministry of Education.”
“A lot of the things that I do in this world, come down to that feeling, that connectedness with the Jewish people, with Israel, with the world… to make the world a better place through Tikkun Olam and things like that. All of this, I learned in AEPi.”
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