Staff
 | Project Director Sheena Ashdown hitchhiked through North and West Africa as an adventurous young person and has since had a special affection for the continent. Her journey forever impressed upon her the good fortune of Canadians and the disparity between developed and developing countries around the world.
|  | Assistant Director Charleen McBeath is a fitness consultant and exercise instructor who has been committed to many social and environmental causes since her youth. She was very active in the West Coast Wilderness Committee, has created a personal permaculture garden, and has been involved in many projects, both independent and formal, to help children locally and around the world.
|  | Okaseni Village Project Liaison Tumaini Minja helped coordinate the Project's initial work in Okaseni Village. A lawyer and a peace activist, Tumaini lives in Okaseni with his mother and sister. He founded the Kilimanjaro Environmental Conservation Centre in the village while working at the University of Tumaini in Tanzania. In 2005, he was studying on a Fulbright Scholarship at the University of San Diego when he became interested in peace activism and co-founded the Professionals Peace Activism Initiative (ProPeace). He is currently working on his PhD at York University in England.
|  | Webmaster Zack Baddorf is an award-winning freelance reporter. He created the Africa Village Project website and is serving the Africa Village Project as its media release coordinator. He returned to North America in May 2007 after traveling for six years in Asia, the Middle East, the South Pacific, and Latin America. His portfolio is accessible at http://www.baddorf.com . He is currently a volunteer for the U.S. Peace Corps teaching English in Romania. |
Board of Directors
| | Sheena Ashdown is the founder of the Africa Village Project. Please see her biography above.
|  | Dale Hamilton is an artist who works in charcoal and in landscaping. He creates outstanding West Coast gardens using only indigenous plants and featuring waterfalls, pools, stone walls and rock designs, crafting idyllic mini-Edens of peace and beauty. An avid hiker, environmentalist and mountain man, he is currently working on a series of trails on the mountain behind his home in Canada. | | Charleen McBeath is a co-founder of the Africa Village Project. Please see her biography above.
| | | Valerie Neil is a librarian with many years of experience in adult and children’s information literacy projects in public and academic libraries. She is a passionate believer in the power of books and reading to transform the lives of children.
|  | Robert Trowhill is a computer expert and business consultant who has had a long and varied career in telecommunications and business development. Engaged and civic-minded, he has served on the boards of numerous profit and non-profit organizations and volunteered countless hours for various causes. Although semi-retired, he continues to give generously of his time and to help companies achieve business success. |
 | Public Relations Consultant Val Baddorf is helping the project with the development of its press kit. She teaches English as a Second Language at the University of Delaware. In her youth, she travelled widely through Latin and South American, Mexico and the Carribean, and continues travelling today through Europe and the United States. She is fluent in Spanish and French and has worked as a technical writer and editor. |  | Okaseni Village Chairman Melkizedeck (Melki) Mushi comes from the family of the Chief (Mangi), who ruled the area around the village before colonialism. A qualified primary school teacher, he has also studied management and finds his work as the village chairman takes all his time.
| | | Patricia Sackville is a friend and colleague of Project Director Sheena Ashdown. A course she took on the Internet provided contacts to possible villages in Africa.
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