Meet the Helping Children Worldwide team
Melody CurtissExecutive Director
Melody Curtiss has over thirty years of experience in organizational management. Before coming to Helping Children Worldwide, she worked as administrative counsel, legislative liaison and legal advisor in Olympia, Washington and Topeka, Kansas for two different government agencies. She has 20+ years experience working in program development, outreach and development for nonprofits, as well as 20 years as executive director, organizational manager, and project lead for government, nonprofits, and business.
Melody obtained her Bachelors Degree, teaching qualifications and Juris Doctorate from Washburn University in Kansas and a post-doctoral certificate in nonprofit financial governance from Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government. Melody lives in Manassas, VA., with five members of her extended family. She is an active volunteer in her community in the greater Washington, D.C. area, serving as a trustee for her home congregation Ner Sholom (which translates to "light of peace"), a member of the American Armed Services Arts Partnership Comedy Bootcamp Alumni, the Unities Against Hate collaboratives, and a published author “always working on the next book." She enjoys learning something new daily, listening to “every kind of music" and visiting with her large, diverse family. |
Dr. Laura Horvath
Director of Programs and Global Engagement
Prior to joining the Helping Children Worldwide staff in November 2014, Laura was an active volunteer with Helping Children Worldwide for more than ten years, serving on and leading the Education Committee, serving as the Vice Chair and then Chairperson of the Child Rescue Center Program Team, and leading multiple Volunteers in Mission teams to Sierra Leone. Prior to officially joining the HCW team, she taught in the graduate schools of education at George Mason and George Washington Universities. Laura holds a masters degree in English Education, and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction, and brings to her role an in-depth knowledge of education, and a deep passion for global child welfare, the care of orphans and vulnerable children, public health, ethical missions, and sustainable community-led development programs. In addition to her work co-developing workshop curriculum, SOPs and other resources with her CRC colleagues, she's a co-host on HCW's Optimistic Voices podcast, and loves to write articles and speak on the topics of child welfare, transitioning the model of care for orphans and vulnerable children, and sustainable development practices. Laura and her husband, David, are members of Floris United Methodist Church and have three children.
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Emmanuel M. Nabieu (“Nabs")Director of Mission Advancement and Partnership
Emmanuel Mohamed Nabieu (“Nabs”) was one of the first children that were rescued by the Child Rescue Centre (CRC) after the Sierra Leone civil war. The CRC sponsored him through University. Upon graduation, he served the CRC in Sierra Leone for five years, first as the Sponsor A Child Coordinator, and later as the Program Director. Under his leadership, the CRC successfully transitioned from orphanage care to family-based care through meaningful collaboration with both local and international stakeholders and partners. As a result of the transition, the CRC's name has now changed to the Child Reintegration Centre. Nabs is passionate about keeping families together due to his experience of being separated from his loved ones. He is focused on creating a holistic future where vulnerable children and their families can thrive with dignity, rather than being separated and dependent on external assistance. Nabs is a global child advocate for orphaned and vulnerable children and their families. He is a motivational speaker, a member of the USAID Care Leader Council, and a Master Life Coaching Practitioner. His background is in Applied Organizational Psychology and Leadership, Positive Psychology, and has a wide range of experiences in International Development and Child Welfare. In addition to undertaking many keynote speaking engagements and podcast discussions for many organizations, he has been featured at TEDx and in a variety of articles including The Post and Courier, Fairfax County Times, UM News Service, and Christianity Today.
Grab a copy of Nab's absorbing and deeply moving Memoir |
Yasmine Vaughan |
Daoud Sarbaz |
Munda Kamara |
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Technical Advisor for Global Health & Missions
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Deputy Financial Officer
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Mission Advance Support Specialist
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Yasmine's godparents were missionaries who traveled the world and inspired a passion in her for medical missions. She has a Masters of Public Health from George Washington University, where she studied Global Health Program Design, Monitoring, and Evaluation. Yasmine interned with HCW for 9 months before joining the staff to coordinate Monitoring and Evaluation, Missions Deployment, Global Public Health, and the Village Partnership. She has studied abroad in Ghana, the Dominican Republic, and Belize and is currently studying for her Certified Associate in Project Management. She loves playing with her cat, River, baking, photography, embroidery, and listening to podcasts.
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Daoud Sarbaz joined HCW in March 2022 as our Accounting Specialist. He lives with his family in Arlington, Virginia.
Prior to joining our team, Daoud worked with the World Bank Group as a Financial Consultant in Washington, D.C. and previously served as Senior Finance Officer with the Asia Foundation in Kabul, Afghanistan for more than a decade where he developed expertise in grant administration and financial records oversight in the face-paced world of international nonprofits. Daoud received his Master's Degree in finance from Noida International University (NIU) Uttar Pradesh, India, and Bachelor’s Degree from Kabul University, Kabul Afghanistan. |
Munda immigrated to the US from Sierra Leone over seven years ago. He and his family are members of Floris United Methodist Church. Munda has a background in NGO operations in Sierra Leone, and experience measuring success of programs. Working with NGOs in Freetown, he supported agency work in the child welfare and human services sector, mapping the service needs for child protection, conducting annual surveys, monitoring micro-loan program operations and overseeing community improvement projects. He graduated from Njala University, in Bo, Sierra Leone in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in Education, and a major in English Literature, and holds certificates in computer hardware engineering and data processing, and project development.
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Scheduling, Logistics, Media and Communications Development Specialist
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Customer Relations / Donations Database Manager, Admin Support Specialist
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Marwa has her bachelor’s degree in journalism and Mass Communications from Kabul, Afghanistan. Marwa has worked in some national and international media organizations in Afghanistan. She has worked in
journalism and communications with multiple organizations in other countries. She has a passion for making the world a better place, and started that work early in her life. Like most of our headquarter’s staff, her education and work experience is only one of the things that connects her to the work we do here at Helping Children Worldwide. Her personal journey demonstrates a lot about Marwa’s character and the strengths she brings to her role on the team. When the situation in Afghanistan became personally dangerous and hostile to her career activities, she moved to Europe, where she worked as a Communications Supporter with Novo Nordisk in Denmark. After moving to the United States she worked for a nonprofit organization, until she eventually joined the international headquarters staff of Helping Children Worldwide in 2023 where she supports marketing, communications, mission deployment and event logistics. Like all HCW staff, takes her responsibility to use her role to help children in need worldwide seriously and operates as a part of the team in discussing best practices to accomplish that.. Marwa was a member of Afghan National Cycling Team in Afghanistan, and she was advocating for Afghan women’s right. She loves to write, travel and learn new things. |
Interested in joining our team?
In addition to a qualified professional staff, the Helping Children Worldwide team always includes select qualified interns enrolled in post-graduate studies at universities throughout the United States, as well as volunteers in mission, short-term, long-term, and international, subject matter experts and project consultants. We would love to consider you for one of these unpaid positions, or use your expertise on a specific assignment.
From time-to-time, we also have openings in our paid staff positions.
From time-to-time, we also have openings in our paid staff positions.
