Our Preschool Team

Ratbu Satarova (pictured right)
Ratbu has been improving her community through teaching and organizing for 30 years, partnering with many international organizations.  Her experience and the respect she has gained among her colleagues make her uniquely qualified to recruit the best participants and lead a successful training and project.

Ratbu and Sarah met in 2009 through the Peace Corps, and since then have organized 16 community projects in Toktogul. Our successful partnership with each other and with various volunteers and aid groups over many years demonstrates our ability to successfully steer this preschool project to completion and sustainability. 

Sarah Silverman (pictured left)
Sarah has a Master’s in Special Education and 14 years of teaching experience. As a Peace Corps Volunteer (Kyrgyzstan 2009-10), she taught English and was a teacher trainer, organizing many teacher trainings with Ratbu and other volunteers.  


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Dr. Gillian McNamee
Dr. Gillian Dowley McNamee has a Ph.D in Education, Reading and Language and worked as a professor and teacher education for 43 years at the Erikson Institute in Chicago, eventually becoming the director.  She is a known expert in the field of early childhood education.  In recent years, she has shared teaching techniques and curricula with preschools in China. She has also trained early childhood teachers in many communities in the US.

Julia Snyder
Julia Snyder is National Board Certified in Early Childhood Education.  She has taught kindergarten and preschool for 46 years.  She has a Master’s in Education and a Master’s in Early Childhood. She has trained teachers as an adjunct professor at the Erikson Institute.