Meet the Mundo Exchange Team
Mundo Exchange is a partnership organisation which works alongside grassroots associations native to the host country. This allows for work deemed important by local people to be the main drive for volunteer projects whilst still maintaining an international charter of community development ideals which are globally relevant. Below are our team members and those who assist us in our efforts to increase the quality of life for people living in pockets of need.
Mundo Exchange Thailand
Dalyn Simmons
Coordinator / International Director, Mundo Exchange, Bueng Kan, Thailand & Oregon, USA
Dalyn Simmons is a firm believer that we must work together to make this world better for all. She has worked and lived in many areas of the world, frequently in areas of conflict and economic depression.
Her professional experience includes teaching in the areas of education, international studies and the arts. She has served as an ombudsman for elders and the disabled, volunteered in the Middle East, Latin America, Asia and North America. Other work experiences include curriculum design, program design, teaching, private investigation of child abuse cases, project based education and community development projects.
Dalyn works primarily with Mundo Exchange in Bueng Kan and oversees project development and coordination of volunteers.
Nalinrat Suvannavong
Laekplian Lokgatat Association, Bueng Kan, Thailand
Nalinrat comes from the Bueng Kan area in Northeast Thailand and has lived and worked throughout the country. Nalinrat has contributed immensely to the shape, scope and focus of the goals and projects of Mundo Exchange. She is eager to bring volunteers to Thailand to work together on projects including English language acquisition in the local communities.
Currently she provides assistance to Mundo Exchange in countless areas including project design, administrative tasks, and Thai language instruction for staff and volunteers. Nalinrat has backgrounds in business, education, alternative medicine and Thai massage.
Nalinrat is excited to bring attention to her home of Northeast Thailand, an economically challenged region that is rich with diverse languages, music, art, food and lifestyles. Nalinrat and her family are all part of the Thai association that partners with Mundo.
Prayoon Namprai
Laekplian Lokgatat Association, Bueng Kan and Bangkok, Thailand
Prayoon has been working with Mundo Exchange to help create a new and different type of volunteer organization in Thailand. Prayoon shares Mundo’s goal of working with volunteers to provide assistance to those in need.
Currently serving in the Thai navy, Prayoon shares his time between Mundo Exchange and his other professional commitments while acting as a full member of the Laekplian Lokgatat Association. Prayoon has also assisted Mundo Exchange in many ways through the contribution of his original ideas and has served as a teacher of English and Art at an Isan temple.
Prayoon provides computer assistance and support with writing, translation, and artwork. In exchange he has been paid for his work, given a home in which to live and work, and been granted a scholarship to pursue higher education in business. Prayoon is an accomplished artist and an active member of our Thai Association.
Kittichai Kongan
Laekplian Lokgatat Association, Bueng Kan, Thailand
Kittichai lives with his wife Oil, daughter in the Bueng Kan area of Northeast Thailand. For decades he lived as a Buddhist monk in Nong Khai province. Now Kittichai and his wife both work in the local public school system teaching.
Kittichai’s enthusiasm for developing local volunteer teaching projects is only surpassed by his eagerness to think creatively and constructively about how best to help his students, community, and family and enrich the lives of those around him.
Mundo Exchange USA
Terry Meyers
Vice President, Mundo Exchange, California, USA
Terry Meyers has worked in the field of bilingual early childhood education since 1972. Currently she is a mentor for new ESL teachers in the Public School District of Oakland, California.
Terry is bilingual in Spanish and English. Over the years she has become a well-appreciated photographer of children’s issues as well as a renowned cook. She loves animals, people and traveling to new places around the world.
Terry overseas and coordinates the development of Mundo Exchange and it’s projects from her home in Berkeley, California.
Joan Williams
Secretary & Treasurer, Mundo Exchange, Oregon, USA & Guatemala
Joan Williams has lived and worked in West Africa, Asia, Latin America, North America, and Europe. While spending years traveling and working as an international mountain climbing guide, Joan frequently observed the gross inequities that exist within communities around the globe. After leaving the world of climbing Joan immersed herself in causes that support social justice and cross-cultural understanding.
Professionally she is a developmental psychologist in Portland, Oregon and carries an expertise in violent conflict resolution within international communities. Joan has spent several years working within the Ixil Triangle of Guatemala. Working with local Mayan constituents, she continues to support community-based projects focused on enhanced educational and mental health services for all community members.
Joan provides assistance to MundoExchange’s development and financial and administrative duties.
Mundo Exchange
Mundo has been awarded non-profit status as a cross-cultural exchange organization promoting peaceful coexistence: #87-0781320/Q21.
Mundo Exchange at the moment is working in Thailand and Guatemala.
Mundo Exchange works closely with local associations.












Hey you guys, the website is really starting to look good. I told Dalyn that we have been working hard on a brochure here in the States for Mundo and have done quite a bit of editing on some of the website language. If you would like to see that, let me know…I love all the new pictures and updates on how the volunteering is going. We had some very enthusiastic students from Clark College wanting to come and talk part with Mundo in Thailand. One of them, a young man named Joey, will be writing you with interest in the internship or volunteering. He seemed to have great energy and spirit and has done lots of wonderful work in Vancouver with youth. He is really interested in business/infrastructure development. Just wnated to let you know. Take care. Joan
Nicely done guys!
Hats off to you.
Excellent post, keep up the good work. I know Chjul and the Ixil Triangle well. I was a guide/interpreter, resident in Guatemala for 9 years (1985-1994) before I moved back to El Salvador, now working in el Salvador on the ruta pazymemoria, cultural and ecotourism, restoration of villages and monuments damaged during El Salvador’s 12 year Civil War.
An article of mine on Cinquera, a village in Central America (one of
our pilot projects on Rural Ecotourism/Cultural & Historic sites here
in El Salvador) enjoy.
http://www.vivatravelguides.com/central-america/el-salvador/el-salvador-articles/welcome-to-cinquera
Thanks for the article. I have been visiting Chajul for three years now and am growing quite a heart connection to these people. Some of your statistis have help me in a report thanks. I know at least two Ixil in their thirties that have degrees from the university. thanks Michael
http://therippleeffectinc.blogspot.com/