Ms. Josephine de Freitas has a BSc in Mining Engineering (Imperial College, London,1974) She spent 25 years in international development starting with a war widows cooperative in Zimbabwe in 1978. In 1994 she volunteered at the BC Children’s Hospital to create their International Health Programs and initiated projects in South Africa and Guyana. In 1996 she assisted UBC to develop the Centre for International Health and organized “Bridging the Pacific” APEC conference on distance education. In 2004 she managed the CIDA funded project in Guyana “Strengthening Public Health in Guyana” a $5 million CIDA funded project on HIV/AIDS and TB. She is a member of the board of Rose Charities Canada.Josephine is one of the the most pivotal person in Rose Charities. After she joined forces with the, then small, organization in 2004, numerous initiatives, programs and linkages evolved which has increased its scope and size many times. In addition she has organized several major fundraisers both in Canada and the USA. She was one of the founder members of Rose Charities USA in New York in 2004. Josephine is the mother of three daughters with her first husband, one of whom is Noot Seear (see this site)
