Kiera Phyo (Team Leader)
Nicknames: KP, Nuts, Key-ra, Pew, Boss, Gaffer
Special Powers: Fast talking, mobile phone juggling
Likes: Drinking tea (sometimes coffee), talking, mess
Dislikes: Baked beans, swedes (the vegetables that is!)
Blurb: Kiera’s da boss and foolishly asked us, her Team, to write her biog cos she’s such a busy lady! Her ‘qualities’ include being half-Irish, very messy and a great boss (awww). She’s married to Trevor, although none of us have ever met him, so we can’t guarantee he exists........Oh, and by the way, it's not "Fi-Yo", it's pronounced "Pew", thank you very much!
James Yelland (Team Administrator)
Nicknames: Jim, Jimbo, Jimbob, Jimmy, Jam (NOT Jamie!)
Special Powers: Insatiable thirst for comedy, drinking more Lucozade than any human should, creepily encyclopaedic knowledge of all Simpsons & Friends episodes ever!
Likes: Films, football, cricket, being funny, sleeping
Dislikes: Generalisations (because they're always wrong...)
Blurb: Like a master criminal, James goes under many names, nearly all of which he answers to. Unlike most master criminals, by day Jim is the Administrator for the Team which means he does all the bits and pieces that help all the other guys in the Team do their jobs so well! Jimbo loves his football and cricket, watching thousands of films and making people laugh on a frequent basis. Jimbob longs one day to see justice come in the form of finally being able to get a Sky+ box in his flat and believes this can be backed up Biblically IF you read carefully enough.
Zoe Hayes (England Youth & Students Coordinator)
Nicknames: Zo-Bo, Isaac, Peahead
Special Powers: Navigating England, humouring her desk buddy Jay
Likes: Snowboarding, films, laughing
Dislikes: Spiders, all health 'foods' such as muesli and dried fruit
Blurb: Zoe is quite simply passionate…passionate about 24 and a good rogan josh. The only thing that could possibly top that is watching Jack, whilst eating a curry and bombing down a mountain on a board. She’s also up for a laugh with mates, got a thing for justice and has started eating more fruit in 2008, not a fan of bananas though. She loves travelling around England and Wales meeting new people so send her an invite!!
Tara Devlin (Scotland Youth & Students Coordinator)
Nicknames: Ta-Ra, T
Special Powers: Uncanny ability to illustrate any talk with a clip from the West Wing or Friends, or a rugby analogy/story.
Likes: Chocolate, sunshine, books, charity shops and being an auntie
Dislikes: Mushrooms, being late.
Blurb: Tara is based in the office in Glasgow but is happy to travel around the bonny land to wherever you may be! (Especially if there are good charity shops nearby!) She loves cheesy pop, the West Wing and is a passionate supporter of the Irish rugby team. She's also been in the Team for more years than she cares to remember!
Louise Mitchell (Ireland Youth & Students Coordinator)
Nicknames: Lou, Lulu
Special Powers: Battling the forces of darkness with her silver saxophone
Likes: Chocolate, body-boarding, hot chocolate, pink things, things made of chocolate, things that look like chocolate…
Dislikes: Instant coffee, fish (taste, smell, appearance – everything), not hearing about the High School Musical auditions
Blurb: Louise is based in the Belfast office. When not there she spends her time hanging out on the beautiful north coast (of Ireland), munching anything fair-trade (especially chocolate, not the footballs) and humouring her husband’s plans to take over the world. She loves seeing people get stuck in to justice and making a difference.
Jo Taylor (London Youth & Students Coordinator)
Nicknames: El Pregnatorio (but not all the time – that’d be weird)
Special Powers: Thinking outside the box (but people often wish she’d get back in) and getting really excited about everything.
Likes: The West Wing, old school detective shows (Monk, Diagnosis Murder, Columbo), baking, London, going fast down hills (on a snowboard or longboard)
Dislikes: Sweetcorn, scary detective shows, breaking bones and teeth while going fast down hills.
Blurb: Jo loves hanging out with her man, Steve and her boy, Hudson (who’s one). Her favourite place to do this is either on a mountain or at a demonstration. Jo loves living in London and listens out for Big Ben to tell her the time as she lies awake thinking outside the box. She is passionate about using her voice for the voiceless and wants to play her part in seeing every future generation fighting injustice with their whole lives.
Matt Valler (National Youthwork Coordinator)
Nicknames: Man of Valour/Matt of Valour, Matty, Vallerie
Special Powers: Memory of an elephant, capacity to work insanely long hours, an ability to get over excited about theology and make it sound interesting!
Likes: Education (he's not as sad as he sounds), games, food, films, his family
Dislikes: Not eating, not sleeping, bad geography
Blurb: Being the only one with kids, Matt is the Daddy of the team. He is married to the lovely Rach, with a son called Joe and a daughter called Ena. In his spare time he has written an unpublished commentary on the entire Old Testament! And his loo reading includes books on ancient philosophers! But we still like him...
Jo Herbert (National Youthwork Assistant)
Nicknames: Joey, Jo-Jo, Jo-Bo, Herbie, Herbalicious, 'Erbert
Special Powers: Super amazing (but a little scary) clicking hair!!
Likes: Tea, the countryside, different cultures, Friends (the TV show, but also my real friends too!)
Dislikes: Teddy bears (what's the point?!), spicy food, injustice, rain
Blurb: Jo is passionate about seeing God’s justice rule in this world, so Tearfund is the perfect place for her, go on, ask her something, she’ll talk for hours!
Jay Butcher (Youth & Students Campaigns Coordinator)
Nicknames: JayBu, Ginge, Beeker
Special Powers: Being a website geek, looking like Beeker from the Muppets, teasing Zoe mercilessly
Likes: Tea, curry, fairly traded stem ginger biscuits
Dislikes: Ants, brussel sprouts and cotton wool
Blurb: Jay is our token ginger and rightly proud of the fact. He's also a passionate fellow, passionate about justice, photography and music, but he can’t stand apathy, Snickers and Bonjela. He looks up to Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and Shane Claiborne, but is mildly concerned that this sounds like a speed dating application.
Sarah Cavan (Students Coordinator half the time, Soul Action Project Manager the rest!)
Nicknames: The Cav, Caravan, Sair
Special Powers: Umm…they are secret
Likes: Good coffee, good conversation, good music, good books, flip flops, 80’s t-shirts and Haribo
Dislikes: Porridge, fish and negativity
Blurb: Sarah divides her time between working for Tearfund with students and also working with Soul Survivor on the Soul Action partnership. She originally hails from the emerald isle and has been living in Watford since the start of 2008.
Emily Vesey (Soul Action Network Coordinator)
Nicknames: Vesoir, Ems, Emelina, Vesey, Delta 1
Special Powers: Chatting!
Likes: Co-ordinating socks with her outfit, causing trouble, having fun and drinking tea
Dislikes: Moaning and long meetings!!!
Blurb: Emily works part time for Soul Action, based in the Soul Survivor offices in Watford, and loves having cups of tea with people and chatting to them about God and His heart for the last, the least and the lost.