About Our Contributors

November 12, 2009 – This Christian blog on child poverty is an intimate view of our Christian ministry throughout the world, and these are the folks who you get to travel with. The list is dynamic. People will come and go. But for now, we’d like you to meet our contributors.

• David Adhikary is the field communications specialist for Compassion Bangladesh.
• Soledad Agreda is the Tours and Visits Team Leader for Compassion Peru.
• Katy Balsis works in International Partner Development as Web and Marketing Specialist. She’s essentially the OurCompassion community manager. She likes stories and loooves the children of East Africa.
• Adele Berg is the field communications specialist for Compassion Peru.
• Ruth Besigye is the field communications specialist for Compassion Rwanda.
• Kees Boer designs websites for a living. And in his personal time, he serves as an area coordinator for the Advocates Network in North Central Florida.
• Consodyne Buzabo is the field communications specialist for Compassion Uganda.
• Brandy Campbell is a feature writer for Compassion. Those newsletters you occasionally receive with your child letters? She writes them. And she works really hard on them, so you should read them!
• Orfa Cerrato is the field communications specialist for Compassion Nicaragua.
• Brittany Clarke resides in northwestern Virginia. She is a wife and a stay-at-home mom of three girls (ages six and under). In her spare time, she helps her husband operate Uncorrupted Hosting.
• David Dahlin is responsible for developing and supervising all aspects of Compassion’s operations and managing our Global Executive Leadership Committee. He is our executive vice president.
• Russ Debenport is Director of International Projects. That means he spends his time working with our international partners.
• Lauren Di Cecio spends her time figuring out how Compassion functions and works on ways to improve our processes.
• Meredith Dunn works for the Sponsor and Donor Relations team. She assists with the production of stewardship reports and is helping to implement a new Internet marketing campaign code named “The Twinkie Project.”
• Ian Durias works with the Advocates Network in Compassion’s Northwest Region. He and his wife, Mindy, have four kids — Makaena, Aidan, Paige, and Joshua. Tippy, the Durias cat, used to be an indoor cat. He’s not anymore.
• Provashish Dutta is the field communications specialist for Compassion East India.
• Tom Emmons serves as Compassion’s Internet Marketing Program Manager. His goal is to get you to sponsor a child.
• Edwin Estioko is the field communications specialist for Compassion Philippines.
• Yuri Fortin is the field communications specialist for Compassion Honduras.
• Becky Giovagnoni works on the International Communications team. Her job is to be the communication link between our field countries (where the kids live) and the partner countries (where sponsors live) when a crisis occurs.
• Chris Giovagnoni is the Internet Sponsor and Donor Engagement Manager. He keeps this blog humming. All the mistakes are his fault.
• Tigist Gizachew is the field communications specialist for Compassion Ethiopia.
• Tim Glenn is the Compassion U.S. Advocacy Director. His job is to educate the Church in the U.S. about the biblical mandate to care for children and the poor.
• Catherine Hilger serves as the global internal communication specialist at our Global Ministry Center in Colorado Springs.
• Mark Hollingsworth heads up our Radio Marketing Department.
• Regina Hopewell is the ministry director for our Complementary Interventions program.
• Juli Jarvis is an area coordinator for advocates in Wyoming, Montana and Western South Dakota.
• Paul Henri Kabore is the field communications specialist for Compassion Burkina Faso.
• Briton Kamugisha is the field communications specialist for Compassion Rwanda.
• Irene Kao is a digital marketing specialist in the Compassion Australia office.
• Elizabeth Karanja is the field communications specialist for Compassion Kenya.
• Marsalina Lekan is the field communications specialist for Compassion East Indonesia.
• Ephraim Lindor is the field communications supervisor for Compassion Haiti. His daily work includes interviewing Compassion beneficiaries and writing stories about their success. He has worked for Compassion for 22 years.
• Samuel Llanes is the field communications specialist for Compassion Guatemala.
• Cesiah Magaña is the field communications specialist for Compassion Mexico.
• Adones Martinez is the field communications specialist for Compassion Dominican Republic.
• Edwin Mendivelso is the field communications specialist for Compassion Colombia.
• Vera Mensah-Bediako is the field communications specialist for Compassion Ghana.
• Amy Metzger is our senior international health program specialist. She works in Colorado Springs and has a passion for working for those affected by HIV and AIDS.
• Lisa Miles sponsors two kids in Ethiopia and publishes Child Sponsor Chat, a blog written from the perspective that one-on-one, family-to-family relationships built through child sponsorship are building blocks toward making our world a more friendly and loving place.
• Brianne Mullins works on the Web and Interactive team as the Internet Communications Specialist. Her main task is publishing sponsor-focused content on compassion.com.
• Charles Ngowi is the field communications specialist for Compassion Tanzania.
• Anthony Njoroge grew up in Kawangware, a Kenyan slum known for drug abuse, prostitution, crime and high levels of poverty. He was enrolled in Compassion’s sponsorship program at age six and graduated from the Leadership Development Program in 2008.
• Galia Oropeza is the field communications specialist for Compassion Bolivia.
• Arada Polawat is the field communications specialist for Compassion Thailand.
• Nestor Reynoza is the field communications specialist for Compassion El Salvador.
• Emily Rogers works in Global Internal Communications at the Global Ministry Center in Colorado Springs. She spends her free time rescuing kittens stuck in trees.
• Vicki Small is not a Compassion employee, but – with her husband – she sponsors five children and a leadership development student. She serves as the Advocates Network Area Coordinator in Southern Arizona.
• Spence Smith is an artist relations manager working with musicians and bands who advocate for Compassion and children in poverty.
• Robyn Spencer writes marketing pieces to encourage more people to help release children from poverty in Jesus’ name.
• Wess Stafford is our President and Chief Executive Officer.
• Ricot St. Paulin is the field communications specialist for Compassion Haiti.
• Amy Tumpes is the Southwest Regional Advocates Manager for the Advocates Network.
• Tonny Tunya is the field communications specialist for Compassion Indonesia.
• Amber Van Schooneveld (Skoo-nuh-veld) works as a Field Assignments Program Manager; she’s the editorial manager for all the great stories and articles that we receive from our country staff.
• Dave Wells is an advocate volunteer for children living in poverty. He serves as an area coordinator for a small team of like-minded Christians in the New Jersey and New York City area.
• Doug West is the Advocates Relation Manager for the Southeast, which is a fancy way of saying he speaks up for children in poverty and helps others do the same.
• Gayle White serves as Compassion’s Child Survival Program Marketing Director. Her desire is to see thousands more people understanding and supporting this critical program for babies and mothers (or caregivers if mom isn’t around).
• Steve Wilson is our National Director of Business Relations.
• Karen Wright serves as our National Director of Foundation Relations, working with private and family foundations that support Compassion’s ministry.
• Cecilia Yepez is the field communications specialist for Compassion Ecuador.

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