Ahala.org - Who We Are

AHALA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with its office and directors located in Roanoke, Virginia. AHALA partners with the street outreach staff and dedicated volunteers of CODENI to serve street children in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Street Outreach Staff

Jorge Lamas Mendez (Educator)

Jorge spent his childhood in the disadvantaged neighborhoods of Guadalajara and began supporting himself at age 14 by playing music on city buses. He has been working with street children for three years in various organizations. He received his Diplomado in Children’s Rights from ITESO. Jorge sees himself as an example of how street children can overcome the poverty into which they are born and believes that programs like CODENI, focused on educating impoverished children and preventing them from abandoning school and their families for the streets, are the key to a brighter future for all.

María del Rosario Barragán Rodríguez (Social Worker)

Rosario has a degree in Social Work from the Universidad de Guadalajara.

She spent a semester at the Universidad de Valparaíso, in Chile as part of a student exchange program in college. There she worked in the field of group intervention with parents through the national education program JUNAEB.

She fulfilled her social service requirement in the Hospital Civil Antiguo de Guadalajara, helping with Intensive Therapy and Pediatrics. She completed her professional practices in CODENI, where she has been working with street children and their families since May of 2007.

Myriam Guadalupe Godínez Ortiz (Psychologist)

Myriam has a degree in psychology from the Universidad del Valle de Atemajac. She collaborated for one year in Puente de los Niños A.C. as a street educator in charge of contacting and diagnosing the situations of child laborers and other street children.

She also gives classes at the Instituto Zondiano de Psicología.

She has knowledge and experience in the fields of addictions, models of attention for family violence and behavioral problems.

Ivette Yadira Mora Rojas (Educator)

Ivette has a degree in Psychology from the Universidad del Valle de Atemajac (UNIVA).

She completed her social service requirement for college working in the Youth Observation Center of the State of Jalisco (TUTELAR), interviewing and providing psychological assessment to incarcerated youth and their families, as well as support in crisis intervention.

In CODENI, Ivette works with children and families graduated from the street outreach program. She also directs educational workshops for children and adolescents in the program.

Kathya Franco (Educator)

Kathya Franco has a degree in psychology from the ITESO. She has participated in various seminars on Psychoanalysis in Mexico and abroad. She has coordinated and participated in support and development projects with adolescents since 2003 through schools as well as independently.

From 2004 to 2007, she headed the department of Psycho-pedagogy for middle and high school at Educare. She has also worked with Centros de Integración Juvenil in the residential treatment clinic for youth addicts. She currently teaches at UNITEC and gives individual psychotherapy sessions to adolescents and adults.

Administrative Staff

Rebecca Danielle Strickland (Director)

Rebecca, originally from Roanoke, Virginia, has been working with the child street laborers of Guadalajara for five years. She received her B.A., cum laude, in International Studies from Kenyon College; her Masters Degree in International Education from Framingham State University; and a Diplomado in Children’s Rights from ITESO. She has written two theses on Projects of Education for Latin American street children and hopes to combine her social work with doctoral studies and field research of street children.

María Paloma Sotelo Márquez (Development Coordinator, Mexico)

Paloma has a degree in International Studies from the University of Guadalajara. Her thesis studies are related to the social responsibilities of businesses. She fulfilled her university social service requirement with the State Human Rights Commission of Jalisco. She worked as Development Director for Estancia Infantil Pequeño Bambú, a daycare center for single, working mothers in Guadalajara. Paloma has been a member of the CODENI collective since 2004, working in Organizational Development and Fundraising.

Sarah Hummel (Development Coordinator, International)

Sarah, a Philadelphia native, has been working with marginalized youth throughout Latin America and the U.S. since 2000. She is dedicated to providing alternative educational programs and offering children the opportunity to receive a quality education in limiting academic environments. She received her B.A. from Temple University in Philadelphia and her M.A. in International Service from Roehampton University in London. Sarah seeks to create a bridge between Latin America and the U.S. by supporting a global effort to eradicate injustices and develop a world of opportunity and equality.