Dr Todd Nachowitz, PhD, is the Founder and Executive Director of EarthDiverse. Todd is a Hamilton-based lecturer, anthropologist, environmentalist and diversity educator. He previously taught in Religious Studies at the University of Waikato, teaching courses on Comparative Religion and Religious Fundamentalism & Extremism. Todd holds a Masters Degree in Development Anthropology from Syracuse University in upstate New York (1991) and a PhD from the University of Waikato (2015) in Political Science and Public Policy where he completed his thesis on diversity governance and the Indian diaspora in New Zealand. Prior to settling in New Zealand in 1995, Todd lived and worked in the United States, India, Pakistan and Nepal. He spent 11 years in South Asia as the Academic Director for university study-abroad programmes in Varanasi, India (for the University of Wisconsin-Madison); Lahore, Pakistan (for the University of California-Berkeley); and Kathmandu, Nepal (for School for International Training, based in Brattleboro, Vermont, USA) focusing on language, culture and religion. Todd speaks Hindi and Urdu, and is a specialist in comparative world religions and the history, religions, languages and cultures of South Asia. He also currently teaches our Hindi and Urdu language courses and the Religious Diversity courses at EarthDiverse.
Our Team
EARTHDIVERSE STAFF:
Executive Director:
Director of Educational Programmes:
Nona Morris, MA, is a researcher and diversity educator for EarthDiverse. She has undergraduate degrees in Human Biology and Anthropology, and post-graduate degrees (MA) in Anthropology and Education. She has worked in the field of education for the last 30 years, working across all sectors from early childhood through university and adult mentoring, and has taught in a variety of fields including biology, ecology, social science, research methodology, and learning and assessment practice. She also teaches in the early childhood and primary school sectors. Prior to moving to New Zealand, Nona has lived, studied and worked in Kenya, Tanzania, Liberia, Pakistan, Nepal and the USA. She has experience in cross-cultural communication, facilitation, experiential education, service-based learning, and curriculum design and implementation. Her passion for social and environmental justice and for working with youth has led to her involvement with various local community groups, including NZ Scouts, school parent groups, Playcentre, ethnic and arts groups, and ecological restoration projects. Nona comes from and lives in a multicultural family, is married, and is a mum to two talented Wellington-based university-aged sons. Nona currently runs our Teacher Training Professional Development programme in tandem with Amondi Ouko-Mowbray, and is a key member of our management team.
Administrative Assistant:
Michael Burton-Smith, BA (Hons), works with EarthDiverse as both an administrative assistant and as a lecturer for our history courses. After four years living in Aotearoa’s windy capital city, Michael returned to his hometown for some much needed rest and recuperation before hopefully heading to the United Kingdom for his MA in 2025. Between now and then, you’ll likely find Michael in the EarthDiverse offices helping to keep EarthDiverse running in any small way he can, and if you come into class in person you may even see him frantically running between rooms to sort out our technology before classes begin! Though his undergraduate work featured a smattering of political science, history, international relations and art history, it was history which was Michael’s main calling and which he followed through to his honours year at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, completing a dissertation on sensory experiences of British bird-watching between 1918 and 1939. Michael has taught courses for EarthDiverse on the relationship between birds and people through history, including one course on a social history of birds and another on birds during the First World War. In 2024, Michael is excited to be introducing a new course on Lenses of History, exploring different strains of historical methodology.
Web Support Specialist:
Hezekia Chege Mungai (Heze) is a self-taught front-end web developer who works with big or small organisations to design and develop user-friendly, accessible static as well as dynamic websites. After working in the hospitality industry, Hezekia knows that communication is vital. It is crucial to deliver the right message to the correct audience. With the current tools in the technology industry, a well-developed web application can achieve this goal. Hezekia started working in Kenya, his country of birth, as a tour leader. He was in charge of planning and executing different tailor-made itineraries for clients from all over the world. He has also worked at Hilton Hotel and FontSanta Hotel, both five-star hotels in Mallorca, Spain. He was in charge of various responsibilities from reservations, customer services, online community management to daily audits, as a shift leader. Hezekia has a passion for coding, but when not coding, mountain biking, camping, outdoor activities and cooking are what he likes. He is EarthDiverse’s new Web & Technical Support Specialist.
Accountant:
Frank Carter. Photo and bio coming soon.
Video Editor:
Lily McQueen, born in Hong Kong, and raised in Germany and New Zealand, has a passion for all things art! In her free time she enjoys making brownies and directing short films about important topics youth face in today’s day and age.
Video Editor:
EARTHDIVERSE INSTRUCTORS:
EarthDiverse employs a wide-variety of course instructors from around the world with expertise in their respective fields. Meet them all here:
Prof. Adam Duker, PhD, History and Religious Studies
Professor Duker is an expert in medieval and early modern Christianity. He was won numerous research and teaching prizes. He was a Fulbright Fellow in Switzerland, where he worked at the Institute for Reformation History at the University of Geneva. He spent over a year in France conducting research at the BnF and multiple other archives as a visiting research fellow at the Sorbonne. He taught a political science course at Berkeley and undergraduate courses in History, Theology, and Medieval Studies at the University of Notre Dame. After completing his doctorate, he became a professor at the American University in Cairo – where he held the largest university endowed chair in the Arabic-speaking world and where he served as the Director of the only non-sectarian Religious Studies program in any Muslim-majority country. He then became a Professor of History, Religion, and Jewish Studies at Mount Holyoke College before moving onto Alphacrucis College in Australia. He has held a visiting research fellowship at the University of Waikato and is currently a Research Fellow at Laidlaw College in Auckland.
Ahmad Sayadi, Farsi Instructor
Ahmad Sayadi, originally from Iran, is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at Waikato University. Alongside his academic pursuits, Ahmad possesses a deep passion for teaching Farsi/Persian to those who have a genuine love for the language. Additionally, he harbors a keen interest in exploring and understanding the rich diversities that exist among various cultures and nations. Ahmad is deeply committed to teaching Persian, recognizing the power of language as a bridge that connects individuals and cultures. He is driven by the belief that language education is not just about communication, but also about fostering understanding, empathy, and appreciation for different cultures. Through his teaching, Ahmad aims to help his students develop a profound appreciation for the beauty and richness of Persian language and culture.
Ahmad’s love for studying the diversities between cultures and nations extends beyond the realm of language teaching. He actively engages in activities and research that allow him to explore the unique aspects that shape different societies. His interactions with people from diverse backgrounds inspire him to appreciate the richness and beauty found within the tapestry of global cultures.
Amy Yang, Mandarin Instructor
Amy, originally from the birthplace of Confucius and Mencius in Shandong, China, has been settled in New Zealand for over nine years. Married to a New Zealander, she is the proud mother of two teenagers and currently works as a Property Right Analyst. Amy has a passion for travel and international cuisine. During her college years, she chose to major in Tourism and Hotel Management. After graduating, she entered a five-star hotel and later opened her own bar. At the same time, she began helping people from different countries who came to China for work or tourism to learn Chinese, marking the beginning of her initial Chinese language teaching career. Becoming a mother made Amy acutely aware of the challenges and contradictions faced by children from cross-cultural families in learning English and Chinese. This realization prompted her to pursue professional studies in English education and teaching Chinese as a foreign language, earning her a degree in the field. Having worked in various private enterprises and government departments, Amy brings rich customer service awareness and extensive market sales experience to her role as a Property Right Analyst. Amy has also dedicated four years to part-time teaching as a Mandarin instructor, with students spanning different countries, industries, and proficiency levels from basic to advanced business Chinese. Amy’s teaching methods, characterized by flexibility and alignment with students’ practical needs, have garnered praise and recognition from her students. Amy enjoys cooking and hiking. During the weekends, she takes her family to nearby trails for hikes, and during holidays, she embarks on longer-distance hiking adventures. Her strong background in multilingualism, cultural understanding, and education make her a valuable asset to our team.
Annu Singh, MA, Hindi Instructor
Annu Singh, a proud native of Jaipur, has been immersed in the world of Hindi language and culture from a young age. Growing up in Varanasi, she inherited a deep appreciation for her native tongue from her father and guru Mr. Virendra Singh, an internationally revered Hindi teacher and pioneer in teaching Hindi as a foreign language. Inspired by his teachings and fueled by her own passion, Annu pursued her academic journey, earning a Bachelor’s degree (BA) in vocal Music and her Master’s degree (MA) in Hindi from Kashi Hindu University in Varanasi. With over two decades of experience, Annu has taught Hindi to students of all levels, from beginners to advanced, honing her skills and expertise along the way. She has also worked as a research assistant and translator to many scholars. Alongside her dedication to her craft, Annu is also a devoted wife and mother to her 18-year-old daughter who is also an language enthusiast and a science student.
In Annu’s classes, learning is all about joining a vibrant community where warmth, laughter, and genuine connections thrive. Through her engaging teaching style, she creates a welcoming space where students feel empowered to explore the language at their own pace. With a focus on conversation, she encourages her students to embrace the language organically, fostering not only linguistic proficiency but also a sense of community and friendship. Her approach is practical and she tailors lessons based on students’ needs.
Beyond the classroom, Annu is deeply committed to promoting Hindi language and culture. Whether she’s organizing cultural events or sharing her knowledge with others, she works to preserve and celebrate the richness of Hindi heritage. With her enthusiasm and dedication, Annu inspires all learners and helps them delve into the beauty of the Hindi language. She strongly believes that language is the bridge to connecting cultures and guides us on our path to understand the food, culture, and lifestyles India.
Ariana Stewart, Te Reo Māori Instructor
Kia ora! My name is Ariana, and I am a descendant of Ngāti Hauā, Raukawa and Te Arawa iwi. While I cherish both Wellington and Tokoroa as my homes, I currently call Hamilton my base. I have a diploma in Te Reo Māori and work as a tutor for the full immersion Reo Māori course (Te Tohu Paetahi) at Waikato University. Additionally, I recently completed a term teaching at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.
I love creating fun and comprehensive learning experiences. I also believe that through learning Te Reo Māori, we also immerse ourselves in Te Ao Māori, the Māori world—a beautiful aspect of holistic learning. With an interactive teaching style, I foster wānanga (conversations, discussions) to cultivate a safe learning space. My passion for Te Reo Māori is continually expanding, propelling me to seek new knowledge, embrace fresh experiences, and cultivate a deeper connection with Te Ao Māori.
Benjamin Tobias, LLB, LLM
Benny teaches EarthDiverse’s Hebrew courses. He was born in Israel and was raised as a fluent Hebrew speaker at Kibbutz Kinneret, located near the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret) in the Jordan Valley. He also served as a Captain in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). Benny moved to New Zealand in 1982, becoming a New Zealand citizen in 1984. He graduated from the University of Waikato with an LLB degree in 1994 and an LLM in 2007. For many years he worked for the New Zealand Transport Agency, both in planning and in a legal capacity. Benny is now partly retired, keeping himself busy with Ellys Physio and teaching Hebrew in his spare time. He is married and has 3 children and 3 grandchildren, who reside in New Zealand, Israel and Italy.
Dr Dennis Green, PhD
Dennis holds a PhD from the University of Waikato, and is a graduate of the Oxford Center for Postgraduate Hebrew and Jewish Studies. He lectured for 16 years for the University of Waikato’s Religious Studies Department. He has special interests in the Archaeology and Anthropology of the southern Levant, Iron Age Israelite history and the Second Temple Period of Jewish history. Apart from ongoing research, he is employed doing archaeological excavations in the greater Waikato area.
Grace Aislabie, Junior Lecturer
Grace is a student at the University of Canterbury, in Christchurch, working towards a double degree in Law and Arts, majoring in Spanish and Linguistics. Grace has studied Spanish all through High School, travelled to Argentina in 2019 and has continued her fascination with Latin America through her university studies in Spanish Language and Culture as well as through her Spanish conversation group. Grace is looking towards getting back to South America, hopefully to be able to give to the community through volunteering or teaching, to put her Spanish into use and to experience more of the culture. Additionally, she plans to develop a career in international law, in the areas of environmental and social justice. In her spare time, Grace enjoys cross-stitch, reading novels, baking, and her part-time work at a gelato shop.
Hein Laaper, Dutch & German
Ifat Vayner-Itzkovitch, Puppeteer Extraordinaire!
Shalom! שלום ! My name is Ifat Vayner-Itzkovitch, and I have been living in New Zealand for the past few years. I’m a Puppeteer and a Hebrew teacher, a mother of two amazing kids: Hadas and Tal and a wife to Gilad. Born and raised in Israel, I completed my B.A. in the Department of Theatre and Literature at Tel-Aviv University and graduated from the “Holon Puppet Theatre School” as a master puppeteer and also completed the training program ‘Puppet Theater as a Therapeutic Tool’. I worked as a puppeteer at the “Holon Puppetry Center”, gave tours of the Puppet Theater Museum of Art and taught adult puppetry courses at the Puppet Theater Art School. I taught puppet theater at Alona Elementary School in Amikam for four years for ages 7-12 and also taught groups and individuals, children, and adults, in various activities through puppet theater in informal or therapeutic settings.
For the past two years I have been teaching Hebrew on-line with IVRIE-LI Language School and meeting people from all over the world that are interested in keeping Hebrew alive. I really like to teach and share my knowledge, travel the world, and play with puppets to create communication, touch emotions, and create humor and laughter together with my students. My favourite word in Hebrew is אהבה (love). Let’s find out what your favourite word is!
Jeroen (Jay) van der Most, MA, Dutch
Jeroen (Jay) van der Most holds a Masters degree in Sovietology from the University of Amsterdam. He has worked for many years in Human Resources and Recruitment in his home country The Netherlands, UK and here in New Zealand. He currently works as Employment Consultant for a not-for-profit organisation to help people with a wide range of barriers into meaningful work. With a great interest in languages and culture, Jay has filled his spare time with, among many other things, writing a column about dealing with the Dutch for a Dutch expat magazine, tutoring English as a Second Language and volunteering in the tourism industry. Jay currently teaches EarthDiverse’s Dutch language courses.
Jillene Bydder
Jillene Bydder’s long-term interest is in spy thrillers and what they can tell us about ourselves. An academic research librarian, she has read many thrillers unavailable in New Zealand during study periods spent at the British Library in London. She has walked the line marking the path of the Berlin Wall, crossed the Bridge of Spies, and visited Russia multiple times. She has been to Siberia and seen the bullet holes in the building used as the headquarters of the White Army during the Russian Revolution and to Stalin’s birthplace in Georgia. She has visited the island in the Baltic Sea from which British agents were infiltrated into the Soviet Union. She has presented many papers to international conferences and spends much time in second-hand bookshops here and overseas adding to her own collection of thrillers.
Kalai Krishnan, Tamil
I was born and raised in Teluk Intan, Perak, Malaysía until I was 17. I studied my early education in an all girls Convent School (Malay & English Medium). I moved to NZ in 1989 to further my studies, and migrated for good in 2004 with my family. I’m now a single parent of 2 super handsome sons and 2 super gorgeous girls.
I studied Tamil as an extra curricular activity in school, POL (People’s Own Language), from the age of 9 till 17. I instantly fell in love with the
language so much that I decided to take up Tamil Language and Tamil Literature as two of my extra subjects for my Form 3 and Form 5 Government
Examinations. To help prepare for these, I took up Tamil tuition for 3 consecutive years, 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. With guidance from my teachers, I passed with Merit.
I’m very happy and grateful for having been given an opportunity to be part of the EarthDiverse Team. I believe that learning is a lifetime process and I am as eager too, to share and extend my knowledge together with my online students.
Kikey Mendoza, Spanish
Kikey Mendoza is a well-being worker. She comes from Mexico and is passionate about the Spanish language. She’s very involved with communities and likes to support all initiatives that aim at sharing cultural knowledge and promoting diversity. She works at ALAC, Aotearoa Latin American Community.
Dr Leen Al-Hadban, PhD
Leen is originally from Iraq, and her mother tongue is Arabic. She came to New Zealand to do her PhD in English Literature and ended up staying in beautiful Aotearoa. Leen is passionate about women’s rights, education and comparative literature, she enjoys working with learners and assisting them in their learning. She also works with Arab refugees and migrants as an interpreter/translator. She considers language diversity a significant bridge connecting people from different ethnicities and views literature and education as important tools in the fight against racism, and the progression of women’s rights. Leen teaches our Arabic Literature course for EarthDiverse and has been teaching our Conversational Arabic 300 courses since 2021 Term 3. When Leen is not interpreting for the Arab community in Hamilton or administrating and teach for EarthDiverse, there is a good chance that she is hiding somewhere with a book, or getting her hands dirty doing pottery!
Lisa Marie Haasbroek, MA student, Classical Archaeology
Lisa Marie is a graduate student working towards an MA in Classical Archaeology with Unitelma Sapienza/La Sapienza of Rome, and a Graduate Diploma in Greek Language and Literature with Victoria University in New Zealand. When not studying ancient Greeks and Romans, she dabbles in viticulture and wine making, tends her family’s little food forest, and does endurance walking events around New Zealand’s beautiful landscape.
Marwa Khallaf, Arabic Instructor
Marwa is our newest Arabic instructor. She was born and raised in Egypt and Arabic is her mother tongue. She moved to New Zealand a few years ago and is currently married and has children. She has a passion for science, cooking, traveling, and learning new languages. She welcomes you to study Arabic with her!
Matt Ferri, Japanese Instructor
Born to a Kiwi father and a Samoan mother, Matt Ferri is something of a cookies-and-cream milkshake. It explains why his childhood was divided between two rather distinctly-sized islands, and, more importantly, why cookies and cream is his favourite flavour. At some stage he grew up, got a degree, and moved to a third island, Japan, where he spent five years teaching English and studying Japanese. His BA in English has a ‘First Class Honours’ suffix, which may have helped him get there; and his Diploma in Creative Writing has also proven invaluable – as filler content for his CV. Back in Hamilton now, Matt tutors NCEA English and proofreads university reports. And now and then he ponders, as he reflects on those three islands, how the phrase ‘home is where the heart is’ applies if your heart feels split.
Michael Burton-Smith, Lecturer
Mônica Salerno, PhD, Portuguese & Italian
Dr Norman Franke, PhD
Norman is a Hamilton-based poet, scholar, artist and film maker (MA, Hamburg University; Ph.D. Humboldt University, Berlin). He has published widely about 18th century literature, German-speaking exile literature (Albert Einstein, Ernst H. Kantorowicz, Else Lasker-Schüler, Karl Wolfskehl) eco-poetics and at the intersection of religion and poetry. Norman’s poetry has been broadcast on radio and published in anthologies in Austria, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, the UK, and the USA. He was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Waikato for 22 years before his department was disestablished. He is currently a Conjoint Senior Lecturer & Research Fellow in the School of Humanities and Social Science at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. He also teaches the “Grand Narratives and Mythologies in the Western Traditions” and the “Introduction to European Art and Architecture” courses and convenes our new Philosophy discussion group ʻThe Big Questions” for EarthDiverse. Norman also teaches our German language programme from time to time/
Pam Chiles
Pam is EarthDiverse’s mindfulness meditation instructor. She has studied in the Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition and has spent many years living and studying in India and Nepal.
Pepa Torre, MA, Spanish
Pepa comes from Andalucia, in the south of Spain, once the domain of Islam and referred to as Al-Andalus. She is the Chair of the Waikato Hispano Latino Cultural Trust for which she has put great effort in implementing the communication strategy to be able to reach more members and achieve their mission of connecting people on a greater scale. She holds a BA in Audiovisual Communication and an MA in Photography as well as minor titles in areas such as Business and Education. She created PTS Foto Fun back in 2008, a Photography/videography studio focused on finding the inner self of each individual, creating a comfortable environment where one could express emotions and feel unique. She won first place in a National Photography Award held by Hewlett Packard and delivered numerous art exhibitions mostly sown throughout Europe. Everything she does is meant to feed her passion and learn more about human behaviour, concentrating on the idea of “prejudice” and “what is the same and different at the same time,” stressing the positive side of diversity. Pepa has also been a Flamenco music and dance teacher and performer since 2016, the same year when she started teaching Spanish privately in a variety of contexts. Nowadays you can find her working at the Waikato Settlement Centre and you can hear her hosting a radio program on Free FM called “¿Quiénes somos?” (“Who are we?”), based on the stories of everyday people from her Hispanic and Latin communities. Pepa also currently teaches Spanish for EarthDiverse.
Peter Dornauf, MA, Dip Tchg
Peter has taught in secondary schools, Wintec and Waikato University collectively for over 25 years. He is a well known Waikato artist, art critic and a writer of poetry, fiction and non-fiction. He currently teaches course for EarthDiverse in the fields of Art & Architecture, History and Philosophy. His book Days of Our Deaths serves as the basis for his “A Cultural History of Death” course, which is also offered in Term 3 this year. Peter also teaches “The Spiritual in Modern Art” course, an “Introduction to Western Philosophy,” and his newest course, “Understanding the Classical World and its Impact on Modern Life” is offered in Term 3.
Shifra Gassner, MS Science Education
For the last five years, Shifra has been teaching a class called Earth Space Science to high school students in Iowa, USA. During this time she has honed in on what exactly a person needs in order to understand what is happening in the world right now in terms of global climate change. Many adults have asked about the subject matter she teaches. Only recently has Earth science been taught at a high school level and a person may or may not have taken an Earth science class while at University. What Shifra teaches is what a lot of people missed along the way during their formal education years. She feels strongly that with knowledge comes power and the motivation to act. She has taught many different levels and subjects over the past 20 years. She loves teaching science, especially the nature and process of science. and loves nature. She spends a lot of her time outdoors painting landscapes whenever she can.
Thais Vigantzky, Portuguese
Hello! My name is Thais, and I just moved from Brazil to New Zealand. I was born in São Paulo, the largest city in the country, where I studied Textile and Fashion. After a few years, I decided to transition my career to Marketing. I have worked in large companies and have a huge passion for Brazilian culture. I hope to share a bit with you and add some knowledge from such a different culture! Besides loving music, literature, cinema, and the arts in general, I also love traveling, getting to know new cultures, and something quite peculiar, board games!
Dr Todd Nachowitz, PhD
Todd is the Founder and Executive Director of EarthDiverse. He previously taught in Religious Studies at the University of Waikato, teaching courses on Comparative Religion and Religious Fundamentalism & Extremism. Todd holds a Masters Degree in Development Anthropology from Syracuse University in upstate New York (1991) and a PhD from the University of Waikato (2015) in Political Science and Public Policy where he completed his thesis on diversity governance and the Indian diaspora in New Zealand. Prior to settling in New Zealand in 1995, Todd lived and worked in the United States, India, Pakistan and Nepal. He spent 11 years in South Asia as the Academic Director for university study-abroad programmes in Varanasi, India (for the University of Wisconsin-Madison); Lahore, Pakistan (for the University of California-Berkeley); and Kathmandu, Nepal (for School for International Training, based in Brattleboro, Vermont, USA) focusing on language, culture and religion. Todd speaks Hindi and Urdu, and is a specialist in comparative world religions and the history, religions, languages and cultures of South Asia. He also currently teaches our Hindi and Urdu language courses and the Religious Diversity courses at EarthDiverse.
Yurika Arai, M Phil
Yurika Arai is our Japanese instructor. She was born in Japan and has been living in Hamilton for nearly 30 years. She has both an M Phil (English) and a Masters Degree in Professional Studies. She taught Japanese at the University of Waikato for 15 years and currently works as an early childhood education teacher and a freelance translator. In 2022 Term 1 Yurika will also be teaching our new course in World Cinema on Japanese Anime.