wfn.org | Singapore native receives second minority fellowship in

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

communications

May 4, 1999 News media contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-33-71BP{248}

NOTE:  A head-and-shoulders photograph of Eunice Dharmaratnam is available
with this story.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - A student from Singapore who hopes eventually to
inspire more freedom of expression worldwide has been named the second
recipient of United Methodist Communication's Racial Ethnic Minority (REM)
Fellowship,

Eunice Dharmaratnam, a 24-year-old graduate student at Oklahoma City
University, will begin a year-long REM internship in the Indiana Area Office
of Communications beginning July 1. She will receive a salary of $30,000
plus benefits, moving expenses and travel, and will work with Lynne
DeMichele, the area's director of communications. 

"I feel honored and privileged to be given an opportunity to work for the
United Methodist Church," Dharmaratnam said. "I am confident that with the
guidance my REM mentor will provide I can contribute considerably and
effectively to the church. Thank you very much for choosing me."

United Methodist Communications (UMCom) launched the REM program in 1998 as
a way to provide mentoring and direct experience in annual conference
communications throughout the church. The annual fellowship aims to correct
the under-representation of ethnic minorities serving as communicators in
the church's annual (regional) conferences. Only two of the 66 conferences
in the United States have ethnic minority communicators.

Larry R. Hygh Jr., the first REM fellow, will become the new director of
communications for the Mississippi Annual Conference, effective June 1. He
worked for a year in the denomination's New England Annual Conference. His
internship ends May 30.

Growing up in the Methodist Church in the Republic of Singapore,
Dharmaratnam left home at age 19 to attend Oklahoma City University. She
earned bachelor's and master's degrees in liberal arts, with concentrations
in print and broadcast journalism. She will receive a master's degree in
communications, with honors, this month.
While Dharmaratnam has skills in a variety of software programs, it was her
concern about journalistic freedom that placed her in front of the other
candidates, according to the Rev. Steve Horswill-Johnston, head of UMCom's
Conference Resourcing Team. The Conference Resourcing Team is responsible
for matching people and resources with conference needs for an effective
communications ministry.

In a personal statement to the REM search committee, Dharmaratnam said she's
always wanted to work in America. Even though she's been in the country for
six years, she never ceases to marvel at the bold editorials and
journalistic freedom Americans enjoy, she said.

"The First Amendment is indeed a blessing no other country has had the
privilege to enjoy," she wrote. She also described Singapore's restrictions
on journalists and how reporters hesitate to write truthfully for fear of
offending the government. Because of the government's discouragement of
dissemination of religion to citizens, "I am ashamed to say that there have
been occasions when I was afraid of sharing the Christian faith with my
friends," she stated.

Dharmaratnam hopes that journalism experiences in America will assist her in
inspiring reform, not only in Singapore but also in other countries. 

"I want to travel to countries hardest hit with religious and political
restrictions, to lecture on how to write the truth confidently," she wrote.
She would like to conduct worldwide seminars on religious communications
techniques, to help people confidently and effectively speak about their
faith. "I am confident that one day soon, everyone will be granted the
privilege of knowing Jesus and delight in sharing the faith with others. I
hope to play a part in this reform."

Dharmaratnam was chosen as the REM fellow in part because of her broad
understanding of print, broadcast, Web and crisis communications,
Horswill-Johnston said. "She had a bunch of tools in her tool chest, and she
had experience." She could also effectively connect her Christian faith with
what it means to be a communicator, he said, adding that she will be a good
match with DeMichele.

The Indiana Conference communications commission and the connection are
honored to have been chosen for mentoring this year's REM fellow, DeMichele
said.   

"I'm especially excited by the REM program," DeMichele said. "Eunice
Dharmaratnam brings a personal and professional profile especially
well-matched with Indiana Area's broad communications portfolio. We're
looking forward to working with this engaging young woman, and to all of the
possibilities of learning from each other in the coming year. The upcoming
General and Jurisdictional conferences are particularly rich opportunities
for Eunice to spread her wings as a communicator, with all the new tools
mass-media technology offers." 

DeMichele will receive a $5,000 stipend from UMCom for serving as a mentor.

"To be able to continue the REM program and give voice to those who have not
had a voice in communications within the connection continues to be an
extremely important program of UMCom," Horswill-Johnston said.

"We are hoping the program will continue to bring balance to not only ethnic
minorities but to those who may not have opportunity because of their
minority status." 

The goal of the REM fellowship is to give each recipient:
*	enhanced communications skills;
*	exposure to a variety of communications tools and media; and
*	interaction with people throughout the United Methodist connection.

After the fellowship is completed, UMCom is an advocate for each recipient
seeking a permanent job as an annual conference communicator.

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