Project Leaders
Volunteer Education Project for Impoverished Children in Ecuador

Dom Williams - Latin America Projects Director

After gaining a degree from the University of Northumbria, United Kingdom, Dom spent 4 years investigating, researching and travelling South America, finally settling for Guatemala where he has lived since 2000. Dom says “Central America, and Guatemala in particular is one of the last really unexplored, exploreable regions on earth”. Dom and Doreen set up their first Indigenous project in San Andrés Itzapa, Guatemala in 2003 and due to the success and advances made, they have set up further Indigenous projects in Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador and Honduras with the help of local community leaders.

Doreen Cabrera - Project Director

Doreen is born and bred Guatemaltecan, hailing from Guatemala City, where she earned a degree in Marketing and International Business from Rafael Landivar University. After a couple of years working in the capital, she decided to set up projects with Global Vision International “to help my country, people and its visitors. Guatemala has everything, and we want to share it with the world.” She has worked with the Indigenous populations since 2001 and has an in-depth knowledge of the cross-culture issues facing Guatemala today.

Benn Jordan - Project Manager Ecuador

Benn was born and raised in New Zealand, where he developed a love for the outdoors. During an 8 week vacation from his job as a project manager for a New Zealand government department, he descended upon South America and his experiences with the indigenous people in the Andes of Peru and Bolivia encouraged him to come back and volunteer with GVI in Ecuador. After 8 weeks as a volunteer the opportunity arose to be a co-ordinator and he has never looked back. 'I just love South America, the people and the culture, and I am really happy to be here as a part of GVI'.

Rob Stroud - Volunteer Co-ordinator

Rob grew up in the UK where he has been studying Social Anthropology for the past 4 years. As part of his undergraduate course he had the opportunity to volunteer with GVI in Guatemala in 2004 for two and a half months. This was followed by another four months volunteering with GVI and travel around Central America last year . "These experiences teaching within indiginous communities have been some of the most interesting and rewarding times of my life"

Rachel Shorney - Volunteer Co-ordinator

In June 2006, after completing her degree in American Studies at Brunel University, West London, Rachel visited the GVI project in Itzapa, Guatemala before spending the summer travelling to Honduras and Mexico. Rachel has also studied and travelled extensively in North America and Europe. After spending the past year working back in the UK, Rachel is now working on the project in Ecuador.

Julie Berry - Ecuador volunteer co-ordinator

Julie is originally from the United States, where she earned a degree from American University. She had traveled extensively around the world, but was intrigued by the South American culture, so after living and working in Washington, DC for a few years, Julie decided to volunteer with GVI in Ecuador for 8 weeks. While there she fell in love with the culture, the communities GVI was working with and the children in the schools. At the end of her time as a volunteer, she eagerly accepted a position to come back and work full-time on the project.