About Us
AMANZI - Water to Schools grew from our founder’s previous work with multimillion Rand Rotary International projects. Learn more here.
Julia Heemstra, Founder
Julia Heemstra is an American who grew up in South Africa. She is a citizen of both countries and has worked on both continents in social service, education, public health and humanitarian capacities.
After graduating from high school in 1991, Julia founded a preschool for Zulu children in KwaZulu, Natal. Later, she received undergraduate academic credit from her university for volunteering in the township outside of her childhood home of Makhanda. Upon graduation, Julia became the first white person to work full-time in Extension Seven - under the previous apartheid regime, it was illegal for Julia to even enter this area.
In 2017, Julia recommitted to humanitarian work in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. She began by implementing water filters in areas that did not have access to clean water and then connected the Rotary Club of Jackson Hole with the Rotary Club of Grahamstown to work on multi-million Rand water projects with 13 different schools. Close to 10,000 students and adults have been impacted by Julia’s water work.
Julia graduated with a self-designed major in "Social Inequalities: Gender, Race and Class" from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and completed a master's degree with distinction in humanitarian action with UNITAR and Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom.
Email Julia: julia@amanzi2schools.org
Connie Kemmerer, Board Member
Connie Kemmerer has a long-time love of learning, meditation, sports, and adventure. She holds post graduate degrees in art, art history, and design and has completed a PhD in anthropology. As a young woman, Connie lived and worked in Africa. Upon her return to the United States, Connie taught at the University of Denver, instructed childbirth and fitness classes, started a crisis hotline and founded a wellness institute.
Today, she is active as the co-owner of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and the C.M. Ranch, one of the oldest continually operating guest ranches in the United States. Her service work is vast - Connie has played a fundamental role in the establishment and growth of many organizations and boards. A supporter of humanitarian efforts in Africa for most of her life, Connie is enthusiastic to serve as a board member for AMANZI: Water to Schools.
Nicci Hayes, Board Member
Nicci Hayes is passionate about the transformative power of education. Between high school and University she volunteered as an adult literacy teacher at a time when apartheid had denied many South Africans access to education. While studying at University, she tutored grade 11 and 12 Math and taught Math to Grade 7s at the Pupil Enrichment Programme - a Saturday school for learners from township schools. Over the next 30 years, Nicci taught and lectured at a broad range of institutions in Makhanda, a community widely recognized for the quality of its educational institutions.
In 2015, Nicci accepted the principal position at Nombulelo Secondary School, one of Makhanda’s largest no-fee schools. During her four year tenure at Nombulelo, matric and bachelor pass rates rose dramatically. From there, Nicci shifted her focus to educational initiatives in the community, becoming the acting-director of the Centre for Social Development at Rhodes University and serving as the founding coordinator of the Makhanda Circle of Unity Educational Cluster from 2020-2022.
Throughout her career, Nicci has received significant professional recognition including being a recipient of a Microsoft Innovative Teachers Award in the Community Engagement category and being selected for a PhD Fellowship with Queens College Dublin through the University Staff Doctoral Programme. She is currently back in the classroom teaching Grade 7s at Holy Cross School while she completes her PhD in Education which focuses on the concept of flourishing.
Nosipho Nkwinti, Board Member
Nosi Nkwinti has a B. Social Science (UFH) Honours in Psychology obtained from the University of Fort Hare. She currently manages and facilitates the formation, and development of mutually beneficial partnerships between students and staff at Rhodes University and community based organizations in Makhanda and the Eastern Cape. Her responsibilities include community partner training and development programs with community based organizations who have signed MOU documents with Rhodes University Community Engagement. Nosi is also part of the Joza Youth Hub committee, serving as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors.
Nosi brings her extensive background in all aspects of community engagement to the AMANZI Board. She is recognized for her stellar interpersonal skills combined with sound problem analysis capacity; her strengths include empowering youth, victim support and finding innovative ways to improve the quality of marginalised communities in South Africa.
Ann Down, Founding Board Member
Ann Down was raised in La Jolla, CA and graduated from the University of California Los Angeles with a degree in Business. She currently lives in Sun Valley, Idaho (USA) where she has served as the founder and director of the Good Works Institute, a private foundation, for the past 23 years. In this capacity, Ann has made multiple trips to Tibet, India and Nepal where the Good Works Institute has supported childhood nutrition, maternal health, girls’ education and general healthcare initiatives. In Africa, Ann has been involved in efforts to promote childhood nutrition, agricultural education and reduce female circumcision; in Central America, she has assisted in providing primary children’s education and solar ovens. Further afield, Ann has provided support and guidance to the Iraqi Children’s Foundation as they deliver education and healthcare to street children. At home in Sun Valley, Ann has provided start-up guidance and ongoing support to local conservation, food security, social service and educational organizations.
Ann served on the Board of AMANZI: Water to Schools in 2022, during the organization’s critical start-up year.