Who runs Project Victoria?

In Quetzaltenango, a Board of Directors representing the community oversees Project Victoria and coordinates with volunteers in Guatemala and the United States.

Brenda Carolina de León, President

Brenda started as Project Victoria's accountant and was relected to replace Marielos Hernández as President at the end of Marielos's term in July 2008. Brenda has extensive experience managing nonprofit organizations in Guatemala has has expanded Project Victoria's reproductive health programming together with Vice President Juana Sohom.

Juana Sohom, Vice President

Juana is a trained health educator and a graduate of Teresa Martin College for Women in Quetzaltenango. Juana is responsible for an ongoing series of workshops on reproductive health, which she carries out in both Spanish and her native language, K'iché. One of Juana's goals is to overcome taboos in the Mayan culture against speaking about sexuality; she does this by meeting with groups of women in small villages and leading culturally appropriate and frank discussions about how people can protect themselves against sexually transmitted infections.

Marielos Hernández, Board member

Marielos is a Guatemalan of Mayan heritage who is pursuing a graduate degree in Counseling Psychology and Mental Health. She has administered scholarship programs in the past and has also benefited from having received full scholarships to finance her own education. Click to read a letter from Marielos to Project Victoria supporters.

Alma Ochoa Escobar, Board member

"In my opinion, education is very important for the progress and development of a society and a country. We have now been working on this project for some time, and I have been a witness to the fact that the students are studying hard to pass their exams. I live in a rural area very close to many of the scholarship students, and I see the daily efforts they undertake to move forward..."

Click to read more of Alma's letter in English or click here to read it in Spanish.

Gloria Estrada, Secretary of the Board of Directors

"Hello, my name is Gloria Estrada and I was born in Guatemala City. I now live in Quetzatltenango and I’m studying Information Technology and Administration of tourism-related businesses at the Universidad Galileo Galilei/Francisco Marroquin. I’ve been interested in information technolgy for a long time because I think it makes communication easier. I also studied Law because I think that people’s rights should be respected I’ve always fought for that..."Click to read more of Gloria's letter in English or click here to read it in Spanish.

Ciomara Chávez, Treasurer of the Board of Directors"One important part of this Project is that they should be heroes—and that we should have confidence in their ability to achieve whatever they propose for themselves in this life. And not just to do good things for this country, but for a better world, because in this project each of us gives the best of ourselves."

Click to read more of Ciomara's letter in English or click here to read it in Spanish. Ciomara's website is www.xelapages.com/tropicalatina

Roland Elf, International Coordinator and member of the Board of Directors.

Roland is a native of Sweden who lives in Quetzaltenango. His statement is coming soon.

After spending 2003-2004 working as coordinator of a language school in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, Christopher Curran helped to establish Project Victoria with the members of the current board of directors. A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he graduated from Macalester College in 2003 and now works as an immigration legal assistant in San Francisco, California. Read his statement.

Donna Goodnow volunteered as an International Liaison with Project Victoria after spending January, 2005, doing solidarity work in Guatemala. Donna organized a benefit concert by Ray Blue for Project Victoria in May 2005. Read her statement.

Olga Kozusznikova of the Czech Republic managed Casa Victoria during the first half of 2005. She continues to support Project Victoria as an international liaison.

Continue on for information on the history of Project Victoria in the context of events in Guatemala.

 Tax-deductible contributions to Project Victoria may be made to:

Project Victoria Fund
Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation
200 1st St. SW
Cedar Rapids IA 52404
319-366-2862