Biography

Noël Bonam currently runs a major social services program for the State of Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services. As the Director for the Office of Multicultural Affairs he is responsible for working with and supporting all multicultural communities in the State of Maine by creating partnerships and by developing a comprehensive plan with these community and organizational partners and with members of the State Advisory Council that he chairs. (Since April 2006)

He managed the HIV/STD Program for the Public Health Division, Health and Human Services Department, City of Portland, Maine. He supervised a multi-disciplinary staff and managed a comprehensive program that included Counseling, Testing and Referrals services (CTR) to individuals at very high risk for HIV, Hepatitis C and sexually transmitted diseases, education and training services, STD treatment & disease surveillance services and needle exchange services. He was actively involved with various planning groups such as – Maine HIV Community Planning Group, the Viral Hepatitis Collaborative and the Southern Maine HIV, STD and Viral Hepatitis collaborative. He has also initiated new projects such as the Latino HIV/STD Health Access Project and the International Communities Health access Project. (2002 – 2006)

Bonam has been working as a consultant in the area of “cultural awareness, education and understanding” for the past thirteen years. His primary focus has been in the area of “exploring differences and developing understanding” across and within constituent communities, especially organizational and multi-cultural communities. He has offered technical assistance to a variety of organizations such as the Befrienders International, UK, Befrienders India, India, Suraksha Trust, India, Catholic Mission of India, Maine State Center for Disease Control and Prevention (formerly known as the Bureau of Health), Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Family Practice Residency Programs across Maine, the Maine General Hospital, the City of Portland, the University of Southern Maine, the Central Maine Medical Center, the Portland Arts and Cultural Alliance, the Center for Cultural Exchange, etc. He has been actively developing a curriculum that offers a platform to explore relationships in a multi-cultural world, and understand the changing dynamics and demographics in such communities. (since 1992)

He directed the Multicultural Youth Programs at the Center for Cultural Exchange, Portland, Maine. His responsibilities included developing projects that involved cultural education and awareness for Youth in the State of Maine, through creative goals in collaboration with Master artists and artistry. He had worked closely with the several schools in Maine on school residencies and after-school programs. He had worked with several different ethnic and immigrant communities and supervised programs that were culturally comprehensive. He was instrumental in developing several programs including the summer camp "Culture Camp" and the year round cultural education program for children and their parents ~ ‘KinderCulture.’ (2000 - 2002)

He has worked as a consultant for Blunt Youth Radio at the Long Creek Youth Development Center (a State of Maine Juvenile Corrections Center) developing projects that used Radio as a medium for incarcerated youth to express their views and to redirect their creative energy by helping the residents in projects such as radio documentaries and radio theater. A few of these radio documentaries were national award winners (2002 - 2004)

Bonam taught a course “Language through drama" during the summer for Upward Bound at the University of Southern Maine (the Department of Education and Human Development) using drama and cultural history as a tool to teach "Hindi" (2000 - 2003)

He had worked actively in the field of Suicide Prevention and Befriending in India. He was closely involved with the Befriender’s International, U.K. (a non-profit suicide prevention organization that has several hundreds of branches across the world). He began his association with the movement as a volunteer and later as a trainer at Sahaya (1992-1995) and then co-founded “Roshni” (a suicide prevention center) and worked as the Deputy Director and Volunteer Training Coordinator. Roshni still operates in his hometown Hyderabad. (1995-1998).

Bonam has been a trainer for Counseling and Befriending and a consultant for Cross Cultural Organizational Development, Cultural Competency and "Dialogue within differences." He has been training for several years in different parts of the world.

Travel

Bonams believes that he has learnt all his lessons from his travels" -

Bonam has traveled extensively around the world either for work or for pleasure. He says he never gives up an opportunity to travel! His favourite place to visit is little known Briantspuddle, Dorchester (Dorset) in the South of England.

Few of the countries he has traveled to so far: Canada, England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.