ARGENTINA
Melina Klurfan | Argentina Manager
Melina joined Travellers in 2011 and is based in Buenos Aires. She is very enthusiastic
about working with people all around the world, is a Biology graduate and currently
studying a Masters degree in education. She loves running, tennis, films, music
and, very importantly, Argentinean steak and ice-cream! But above all she loves
cultural exchange and travelling.
"Working with Travellers is like rediscovering Argentina through our volunteers'
eyes. I love the commitment of TW helping disadvantaged communities through volunteer
programs. We are here to receive you all year around, take you out and show you
our culture! We have much more than Messi and Tango! Vení a Argentina!!!!"
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Christina Isenrath | Mendoza Volunteer
Liaison
Cristina was born in Buenos Aires and studied at University of Córdoba. She started
her career as a German/French/Spanish teacher and translator at the Cuyo University
in Mendoza. In 1994 she set up an innovative Centre for cultural exchange, communication
and language teaching. Her sense of social responsibility for her local community
led her to start organizing volunteering internships in Western Argentina with Travellers.
She is well known for her friendliness and generosity, and always makes people feel
very welcome in her hometown.
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AUSTRALIA
Annette Bilic | Country Manager
Annette has been managing Travellers programmes in Australia for many years. She
holds a Bachelor of Business and has also trained as a Morthercraft Nurse. Her love
of travelling has taken her to south and central Africa, Asia, around Australia
a few times, New Zealand, USA, UK and many countries in Europe. Now settled in Perth,
Annette still manages to travel albeit quite differently with her three young daughters
and husband in tow! Favourite things to do include attending festivals and community
events in and around Perth and she is also a big foodie.
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BRAZIL
Karen Herring | Brazil Manager
Karen joined Travellers in 2006 after she had completed a project with Travellers
in Malaysia working with the Orang Utans at Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre.
Prior to moving to Brazil to take on the role of Travellers Brazil Manager, (and
meeting and marrying her Brazilian husband), Karen was our India Manager for many
years.
India misses her ... but Brazil loves her!
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Ana Castilha | Administrator and Volunteer
Liaison, Florianopolis
Anna joined Travellers 'officially' in January 2006, but before that she has assisted
her brother, Fabio, in running our Brazil programmes. Before joining Travellers,
Ana was an English teacher and also used to give Portuguese courses to our volunteers.
She went to Law School in 2000 and graduated in 2004, moving immediately into working
with Travellers. Ana's hobbies include dancing (especially samba), reading, travelling
(when possible). Ana has since had two children and you've never seen a happier
or more excited mother!
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Romulo Linhares de Almeida Catao | Volunteer
Liaison, Rio de Janeiro
Romulo is a true Carioca with a passion for life! He is very friendly and always
has a big grin. He has travelled extensively in South America where he perfected
his Spanish. He has also spent some time in Scandanavia. He is proud to work for
Travellers and loves meeting people from all around the world and invites everyone
to come to Rio de Janeiro to experience the rich and vibrant culture. It's impoissible
to not enjoy Rio when you're around Romulo!
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CHINA
Tim Ji | Yangzhou Organiser
Tim graduated from Beijing Jiaotong University with BA in English Studies in 2003.
After that he went to England to study for his MA in Human Resource Development
& Consulting at Lancaster University. Upon graduation in 2004, he travelled within
Britain for about 3 months, and has also been to Greece and Maldives. He wants to
visit Australia and Thailand in a couple of years. Hobbies include travelling, music,
reading, and KTV!
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Jack Liu | Yantai Organiser
Jack has worked with Travellers since 2002. He used to work as a teacher of English
in the vocational school, an interpreter in the state-owned overseas construction
company in China, the sales manager in the Chinese-German leather garments company
and also served ON the peace-keeping mission in East Timor. He has a BA in English
Literature, is a professional interpreter and is a qualified TCFL (Teaching Chinese
as a foreign language). He enjoys reading, swimming, playing badminton and pingpong,
hiking and fishing, and his favourite food is Jiaozi (dumplings).
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ECUADOR
Nicole Roodenburg | Ecuador Projects Manager
Nicole is originally from Holland, but has lived in Ecuador for the past twelve
years. Originally she came for an internship, but ended up in love with Ecuador
and an Ecuadorian and decided to move back some years later. Travels and study took
her through Europe, the Middle East and other countries in South America. She lives
in Quito with her boyfriend and their 1 year old daughter and is the director of
the school.
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Vanessa Monteros | Volunteer Organiser
Vanessa Monteros works with Nicole Roodenburg to look after our volunteers in Ecuador.
Up until 2013 she was living in California (USA) but is now studying in Ecuador
to get her degree in tourism and her license as tour guide. She loves to travel
and share cultures, especially about art. The best part of her job, she says, is
“working supporting social and animal projects”.
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GHANA
Aloysius Agbavattor | Ghana Manager
Aloysius has been our Ghana Manager since 2004. Prior to that, he worked with a
Non-Governmental organization which was into youth activities as well as a micro-finance
institution based in Tema. Before that he did his national service in Ho in the
Volta region. He has a BSc (Tourism) decree and has had some very interesting articles
published. He loves reading books and achieving goals which he continually sets
for himself! His ambitions are "To be a great achiever and doing my masters degree
sometime in the future".
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INDIA
Anitha Lakshmanan | India Manager
Anitha has been with Travellers for many years, starting off as a host family and
looking after our volunteers. She had a natural and deep-seated inclination to ensure
that everything was perfect for her volunteers, including the placement itself.
Over time she took on more and more responsibilties for Travellers India Programme
and is now our India Manager. She is married with 2 children and her husband is
a chef by profession. As she still hosts some volunteers in her home, we gets lots
of feedback about how good the food is !!
"Apart from the work that I do for Travellers, I like engaging myself in social
work, going to the temple, reading books and watching movies. I love my job, which
is interacting with the volunteers. I enjoy getting to know new people, their culture
and way of life."
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MALAYSIA
Albert Aseh | Malaysia Director
Albert joined Travellers in April 2002 after being a full-time lecturer. He has
a degree in Hospitality and Leisure management, so you can rest assured you are
in the best hands! Albert is very sociable, loves dogs and enjoys looking after
our volunteers on a day-to-day basis. His hobbies include reading, painting and
travelling and he loves a good cider to relax with after a long day’s work. Albert’s
ambition is to excel in tourism related business to the benefit of Borneo, which
he loves.
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Ronn (Sharon) Majawin | Volunteer Co-ordinator
Ronn has a Diploma in Multimedia Application at the Institute of Technology & Multimedia
in Kuala Lumpur and has mainly worked in travel and tourism, as well as hospitality.
She joined Travellers in 2010 as our Volunteer Co-ordinator, assisting in running
our Malaysia Programme.
Ronn has a great sense of humour and is always smiling! When not working she enjoys
martial arts (Taekwondo), reading science fiction and horror books, playing keyboard
and drums, outdoor sports and she loves driving.
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Danny Mohd Haidar Bin Ahmad | Operations
Executive
After studying and achieving his Diploma in Business Studies, Danny joined Travellers
in May 2006 to assist Albert in the operations of Travellers Malaysia Programme.
His favourite pastimes are fishing and singing and his greatest ambition is to own
his own business someday. Outside of Borneo and Malaysia, he has travelled in Brunei,
Thailand and Singapore.
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Jeffry Severinus | Administrator
Before joining Travellers in April 2006, Jeff was a Human Resources Executive and
holds a Diploma in Hospitality and Business Management. He assists in the day-to-day
administration for our Malaysia Programme and has great ambitions to one day own
an Arts & Crafts shop. Jeff’s favourite dish is sweet and sour fish and he really
loves Thailand. His hobbies include travelling, fishing and singing.
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NEW
ZEALAND
Annette Orchard | New Zealand Manager
Annette is a 5th generation "Kiwi". Her husband came to NZ from England for a 2
year work contract… that was over 30 years ago. NZ has that effect on people! Annette
has a son and a daughter and she loves travelling. She has been to the UK, Southern
Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada, USA and Rarotonga. She is involved in Athletics
administration and competes in Orienteering. She thinks New Zealand is a great place
to live and she loves showing it off! All our volunteers rave about her Kiwi hospitality
and friendliness.
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PERU
Quinn Meyer | Peru Project Manager
Quinn has been working in the Peruvian Amazon for over 8 years. A graduate anthropologist
with a love for the outdoors, his goal is to ensure the planet is inherited by his
children in a better state than he found it. Quinn heads up his own NGO in Peru
and loves working with volunteers in striving to meet the conservation objectives
in the Amazon. He rolls up his sleeves and gets involved with the local communities,
and he's always optimistic that he's going to see a jaguar today!
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SOUTH AFRICA
Sharon Dreyer | South Africa Manager
Sharon has been with Travellers since 2008 and is a true 'South African' - in other
words, she thinks her country is the best in the world! She loves Knysna and cannot
sing its praises enough and thinks the whole Garden Route area is definitely one
of the most beautiful spots in South Africa. She’s also a crazy cat lady who will
jump at the chance to walk with lions or get up close with any form of wildlife!
She loves meeting all the great volunteers from all over the world that come to
SA and finds it very rewarding to see the positive impact they have on the lives
of the children living in the more disadvantaged communities. Her heart is huge
and she affects all our volunteers - through her, they take away with them an even
stronger desire desire to help those less fortunate and the confidence that they
themselves can make a difference and change the world ... well done, Sharon!
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Eleanor Kilduff | Volunteer Co-Ordinator
and Projects Developer, Cape Town
Eleanor has lived in South Africa all her life and looks after all our volunteers
in Cape Town. She is married to Maurice, who is Irish and who came to spend a year
in South Africa and stayed for 40 years! They live in a rambling old house in Rondebosch,
near to many of the placement schools. Eleanor, Maurice and their daughter, Sharon
(a teacher at one of the Travellers placements), are all involved with working with
adults or children with special needs.
"It's so thrilling to see the children surrounding a volunteer and all trying
to get close enough to hug and cling to him or her. Another favourite moment is
seeing how Travellers volunteers have grown in maturity and confidence during their
time at the placements and knowing they will carry the experience into whatever
they do back at home."
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Pretty Sokupa | Volunteer House Supervisor
Pretty is our 'home executive', or better known as the housekeeper and 'mother'
to many of our volunteers. She really is the unsung hero of our volunteer houses
in Knysna. She willingly, energetically and happily keeps order and never complains.
In fact, we think she doesn't know how to complain! Pretty lives in the ‘Nekkies’
township, just outside Knysna, with her husband and is a true star!
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SRI LANKA
Roshan Perera | Sri Lanka Director
Roshan has been our country Director for Sri Lanka since Travellers first set up
this Destination nearly 20 years ago. He has a wealth of experience and a constant
smile on his face. Roshan is very active in the community, with a great love for
animals and particularly for people who need extra love and care, such as the elderly
and the vulnerable.
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Nirangela Adikari | Assistant Manager
Niranjala joined Travellers in 2004 to assist Roshan in taking care of our volunteers.
She is also the house mother for our Volunteer House in Yakkala and an integral
part of the Sri Lanka programme. She is a very chatty and extremely friendly lady
who always makes extreme efforts to ensure that our volunteers are safe, comfortable
and enjoying their placements.
Her interests include shopping (lots), chatting, cricket (she has a mean cover drive!)
and more chatting!
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Ravi Corea | President Chief Executive
of our Wasgamuwa Partner Organisation
Ravi Corea is a driving force for change and can normally be found at the Sri Lanka
Head Office in Colombo, where he spends the majority of his time working tirelessly
to increase public awareness, both in Sri Lanka and internationally, on the importance
& role of conservation work in today’s society and everyday life. He frequently
goes up to the Wasgamuwa Elephant Project to inspect the projects and check that
volunteers and staff are achieving what they set out to ... and to indulge his passion
for nature.
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Chinthaka Weerasinghe ! Project Manager,
Wasgamuwa
Chinthaka is the Field Operations Manager for Wasgamuwa and your main contact for
projects based in Wasgamuwa. He’ll be there to welcome you on your arrival and will
be responsible for you for the duration of your project. Chinthaka loves nature,
and be warned, there’s nothing he likes more than a long transect (walk/hike) into
the surrounding countryside – he’ll have you clambering through scrub and bush before
you’ve unpacked your bags! Make sure you ask to see the observation posts, built
into the canopy of the tree, for some welcome respite, the views are stunning!
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THAILAND
Glenn Angus | Bangkok Representative
Glenn is our Travellers Bangkok Representative and has been working with us for
a number of years. He will be the first person you meet up with on arrival. He is
extremely welcoming and friendly. All our volunteers, without fail, take the time
to let us know that the positive impact that Glenn's welcome had on them contributed
hugely to their placement.
Glenn is originally from the Philippines and his wife is Malaysian. They have lived
in Bangkok for many years. He has two lovely young children who were both born in
Thailand.
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ZAMBIA
Lameck Mponda | Zambia Manager
Lameck joined Travellers in 2006 when he retired as a school Head Teacher after
30 years. He qualified from the University of Zambia in 1975 with a degree in Education
and English Literature. He also studied French Language and Literature at the National
University of the Congo (Zaire).
Lameck looks after our volunteers from their arrival into the country until the end
of their project in Zambia and provides full support and back up to our volunteers
for the duration of their stay. Lameck is very highly regarded and well respected
in the Livingstone community.
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