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Alfredo Mora Rojas
Regional Director of Viva Latin America
Alfredo is responsible for co-ordinating Viva's efforts for children in Latin America. He has an MBA and an MSc in Political Science, and has helped to develop several children at risk programmes for both the UN and UNICEF. He has been a consultant in Organisational Development and Strategic Planning for several organisations in Latin America, and has taught for over 18 years in different prestigious universities in the area. Alfredo also represents Viva before international committees such as World Evangelical Fellowship (WEF), Fraternidad Interdenominacional de Evangelicos (FIDE), and the Global Christian Forum. Alfredo lives in Costa Rica with his wife and their adopted daughter, and he also has three other adult children.
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Nitin Thakor
Regional Director of Viva India
Born to parents who served at a Mission Hospital in a small village near Mumbai, India, Nitin has had a personal interaction with the Lord Jesus Christ in 1983. Since then, he has been serving God and his people. He has a professional Degree in Finance and began his professional career at Unit Trust of India (Financial Institution) and it was during this period that he also started volunteering at Church for Social causes. He and his wife, Shilpa, opened their house to start a de-addiction program for men who were addicted to drugs.
Since then, Nitin and Shilpa have worked as House Parents for De-addiction Program for Drug Addicts, at Sahaara Charitable Society, and later, for Oasis India’s Rescue and Rehabilitation home for girls rescued from situations of trafficking and forced prostitution. He has also worked for Oasis India as Project Coordinator for Street Children. One of the most successful assignments for Nitin has been as Chief of Investigations at International Justice Mission (IJM), where he went into brothels posing as a customer to detect the presence of minors and many girls were rescued during this period.
Nitin and Shilpa are blessed with a Son – Nathanael and a daughter – Beracah, and together as a family, they believe in having an open home.
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Ian de Villiers
Regional Co-ordinator of Viva Asia
Ian graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Biological Sciences, after which he went on to complete a Masters in Social Work at Birmingham University. Ian spent many years working with children at risk in South India before moving to Kuala Lumpur to head up Viva Asia. His role involves supporting and training local churches and networks to do the best possible work for the children at risk in their communities, and he now manages that task remotely as he and his family currently live in the UK.
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Isobel Booth-Clibborn
Regional Co-ordinator of Viva Africa
Isobel has been living in Kampala with her Ugandan daughter for six years now, using her natural networking skills to grow and connect strong teams of people to help build solid partnerships and programmes across the continent. Isobel is a secondary school teacher with a degree in Geography and African Studies from the University of Birmingham. Although she has taught in schools across the UK, Isobel has lived much of her life in Africa: teaching, serving the church, and now working with the Christian community to support Africa’s vulnerable children.
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Paul Kennel
Executive Director of Viva North America
Paul served as the President of World Concern USA for over 10 years, leading 900 staff and representing issues of child poverty to major donors, businesses, and international agencies. He also worked with World Concern in Thailand, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, and with World Relief in Vietnam. Paul has an MBA, an MIA, and a BSc in Sociology and Anthropology. His most recent role was as the President of the DIME Foundation, providing opportunities for links between major donors and community development organisations. Paul currently lives in Seattle with his wife, and he has two adult children.
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