Name: Luise Druke
From: Hannover, Germany

Luise Druke has forged a long and distinguished career with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees which has allowed her to promote and advance the rights of refugees everywhere. She has settled into Bulgaria in her most recent assignment and quickly immersed herself in many aspects of the country's development.

As well travelled as Luise Druke is, she always felt Bulgaria was the one place she needed to see.

"I always said it was an area of the world I was missing," said the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. "I'm in my last post and I wanted to take something new and not just deja vu before I go back and teach."

The goal of the UNHCR is to protect the rights of refugees by helping them obtain the right to seek asylum in foreign countries if necessary, and be able to return home voluntarily, if desired. As the representative of the UNHCR's Bulgarian branch office, Luise works with the government to ensure the proper legislation and procedures are in place to accommodate the country's refugees.

She wanted the Bulgarian post because it allows her to continue the process of European integration and lets her experience the construction of Europe. She received some good advice from a friend upon her arrival in the country a year ago. "He said to go to the Archeological Museum in Varna," Luise said. "I cannot tell you how happy I was to see that right away - the rich cultural history of the country."

Her work hasn't always proven easy, and Luise has often found herself in perilous situations throughout the course of a career which has led her to Switzerland, Malaysia, Singapore, Chile, Honduras and Portugal, to name just a few. "I received death threats in Chile at home and at the office," she said. "Kazakhstan was also a high security post, and in Honduras, I had 24 hour security.

"It is a welcome time, I must say, not to live in a wartime situation. I welcome being here, and I hope Bulgaria stays an island of peace."

While in Chile, Luise had the interesting distinction of meeting Augusto Pinochet, the country's dictator at the time, at a New Year's reception in 1984. "I was standing with the Swedish ambassador and the French ambassador," she explained. "He knew about me and asked what the UNHCR was doing in Chile. I told him we were implementing the Geneva Convention which Chile had ratified. He said `very interesting.'"

Although she has yet to meet a dictator here, Luise has met many wonderful Bulgarians. "I compare them to Portuguese people," she said. "They are very soft, elegant and kind. It has a calming effect on me."

And in terms of the food, Luise couldn't be happier. She's fortunate enough to have found a great housekeeper who treats her to traditional Bulgarian cuisine on a regular basis. "I love the food," she said. "The wonderful red tomatoes and the fresh salads."

Keeping herself busy, Luise also took part in last June's parliamentary elections as an election monitor for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). "I worked together with an Austrian delegation to observe in Haskovo and Dimitrovgrad," she said. "I was very encouraged by how mature the process was. People were very educated and responsible."

Luise said she had performed a similar function for elections in Honduras and Kazakhstan, but Bulgaria was far more advanced and organized.

She was also one of the co-founders of the recently formed Harvard Club of Bulgaria, a group which is resolved to play an active role in the country's business and political life. With what little free time she has left, Luise enjoys teaching, writing and lecturing and is even working to implement a refugee studies program at the university level. "In five to 10 years, there is the possibility of refugee workers coming from an interdisciplinary point of view," she said.

As it stands now, Luise's contract runs until the end of 2004, and she has every intention of fulfilling it. "I look forward to continuing. It coincides with accession negotiations," she said.

"I'm not a Florence Nightingale, but someone who sees opportunities to make changes and contribute."

She adds that she is optimistic about the work she'll be able to achieve in Bulgaria. "I'm very encouraged here when the main person in charge, the chairman of the Agency for Refugees, comes up to me and says `How can we make this work?'"

When her time in Bulgaria is complete, Luise looks forward to returning to her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts at Harvard University, where she maintains a fellowship, and continuing working on behalf of refugees. "Once you are a fellow, you are staff for life," she said, adding she will be able to teach, conduct research, and advise students.

And Luise maintains eternal optimism for Bulgaria, and for the future of its people. "I wish that with new opportunities and hope that suffering and human conditions in Bulgaria come up to levels where there is human dignity for all, and all people feel comfortable in the country."