Vincent is a practising landscape architect with over 20 years in the field, working in the UK, USA, and Colombia. He has design and project management skills that have enabled him to carry out and deliver projects from inception all the way to implementation, including many community and public realm improvements. He’s traveled widely and is happily married with four children. He's a keen musician and song-writer and has volunteered and managed volunteers through his work. His interest in Susila Dharma is in engaging young people and becoming more active together to raise the profile of humanitarian projects around the world. He is keen to encourage people in their creative and courageous efforts. Vincent has also served as chair of Susila Dharma Britain.
Danica moved to Ecuador in 1997 and lives in the Tumbaco Valley, near Quito with her husband and three children. Originally from Scotland, she worked in Wales as an Outdoor Pursuits Instructor for Personal and Management Development courses, furthering her interest with a B.A (Hons.) degree in Recreation Management and then a post-graduate certificate in Primary Education.Her developing interest in ‘alternative’ education took her to Ecuador where she later accompanied her three children in a Pestalozzi Foundation ‘Centre for Autonomous Activities’ for 11 years and helped to create further alternative learning initiatives with non-directive adult accompaniment and prepared learning environments.
Danica is the vice-president of Logichem Solutions which designs and produces healthy water, and non-toxic biodegradable cleaning and disinfectant products. She has been the representative of SD Ecuador since November 2018, supporting affiliated Susila Dharma members and other social projects.
- Rifka’s early career focused on research-based curriculum development for early child education and elementary grades. In this capacity, she was a Mentor Teacher for the State of California and established an experimental program for children in grades 1 – 5. She has also worked as property manager for two California projects in the Sierra Mountains: Sequoia Resort and Seven Circles Retreat Center.
Most recently, Rifka supported a community college foundation, securing program grants and scholarships from community organizations and businesses. Her work also encompassed the Faculty and Classified Employee Organizations, and college professional development programs. In Subud, Rifka has been continuously involved in Susila Dharma USA for decades, currently as the office manager. She has served Subud USA as an executive member and national helper.
Rifka lives in Bay Point, California in the San Francisco Bay Area, with her grandchildren nearby and frequent visitors.
- After obtaining a Master's degree in Biology from the Wageningen University of Rural Studies, Mariallah started her professional career in project management. She worked as an independent consultant, trainer, and project manager, mainly for government organisations.
In 2008, she started to work for GreenWish, an organisation supporting grassroots initiatives in The Netherlands that is run by Dutch citizens all over the world. Corian helped many initiatives to draw up plans, find funding, get their organisations up and running, and, if necessary, counseled project leaders when they felt it all became a bit much. She also ran several government grant programs supporting grassroots initiatives with small amounts of seed money. After taking early retirement,she now serves as treasurer on the GreenWish board of trustees.
In 2022, Mariallah took up the role of Susila Dharma chair in the Netherlands. She immediately became involved in the Ukraine support team. Working together with Susila Dharma (and other Subud) sisters and brothers all over the world was a great experience. She is very happy to be able to continue applying her skills and experience as a member of the SDIA Board of Directors.
- Osanna holds a Masters degree in Physiotherapy from the University of Western Sydney and has worked across both private and public health sectors as a registered physiotherapist in her home country, Australia.
She has been involved with SDIA for over 12 years leading the coordination and facilitation of the Human Force Program which brings together youth to take action in sustainable development. She has traveled extensively and worked with many SDIA member projects that the program has been hosted by over the years across South America, Asia and the United States.
Her interest in Susila Dharma is to continue to create opportunities to empower more young people to harness their skills and talents to be positive change makers in the world.
- Mary is a retired professor of teacher credentialing for secondary school teachers. She developed several innovative programs including one which taught future teachers how to teach their academic subjects while addressing the needs of multicultural, multilingual students. The aim was to provide students with a safe learning environment and to give all students an equal opportunity to learn.
She believes that teachers’ professional development is the key to developing compassionate students who are able to successfully contribute to a larger community. Mary has had two Fulbright-Hays Scholarships: one to Uganda and one to live with the Hmong in Southern China.
Mary is an accomplished pianist and has truly enjoyed composing music since she was four years old. Mary and her husband live in California. Together they have six children and six grandchildren.
- Purnama has an architectural background and has worked in the international engineering consultant field for 25 years in the project management area. He has experience handling many industrial food and beverage factory design and construction projects in Indonesia and some educational buildings.
He also spends his time as a volunteer working in the social sector for health, education, and community empowerment at Susila Dharma Indonesia for 4 years and at Yayasan Usaha Mulia (YUM) from 2015 until now.
After retiring from consulting work, he is now interested in starting businesses in the property sector, distributing frozen food, and with his wife working on waste processing to become organic fertilizer. Another thing that is also of concern to him is developing a social enterprise to fund social programs at YUM.
- Dianteza lives in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, where he has combined a background in biology and public health with a deep commitment to community development. He studied Biology at the Université Pédagogique Nationale in Kinshasa and later pursued Economics and Development studies at the Université Catholique du Congo.
His professional career began in the health sector, first as a biologist and later as head of the blood bank service at Kintambo General Hospital, where he also contributed to shaping national transfusion policies and training community blood donor groups with the Red Cross. Since 2009, he has devoted his work to Susila Dharma Congo, first as Chair and now as Coordinator, strengthening the organization’s leadership and partnerships.
Through collaborations with Susila Dharma Canada and Germany, Dianteza has overseen the establishment of community health centers, learning centers, and maternal-child hospital projects, as well as education initiatives such as supporting school sports programs across Kinshasa and Kongo Central. He continues to guide SD Congo in expanding access to healthcare, education, and community empowerment.
- Howard lives in the UK with his wife, and together they have four adult children and four grandchildren. He was opened in Subud in Canterbury in 1970 and has since served in many roles, including National Chair of Subud Britain (1998–2001), Trustee, Kejiwaan and Committee Councillor, and most recently as an International Helper for Area 2 (2018–2024). In this role, he visited Subud communities in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, witnessing first-hand the impressive charitable work supported by SDIA.
Professionally, Howard dedicated his career to education. He began teaching geography before moving into residential Outdoor and Environmental Education in South Wales, where he introduced students—often from disadvantaged urban backgrounds—to activities such as climbing, canoeing, and mountain walking. He later taught biogeography, ecology, and earth sciences through experiential fieldwork and became Education Manager of his institution, overseeing teaching, fundraising, health and safety, and organizational development.
Since retiring in 2003, Howard has continued to nurture his love of nature. He worked as a field ornithologist for the British Trust for Ornithology, carrying out breeding bird surveys in the Scottish Highlands, and remains committed to supporting both environmental and community-based initiatives within Subud and beyond.
- Nurul lives in France, where she has been deeply engaged in participatory and innovative social and educational practices for over 20 years. Originally from Indonesia, she holds degrees in ethnology and Japanese studies, including a DEA from Paris X Nanterre, with research focused on the transmission of artistic knowledge in Japan.
Her career has spanned diverse contexts, from coordinating micro-credit programs for women’s groups in Borneo and leading a Forest Activities Centre for children, to teaching in international and French public schools. She has introduced Montessori methods and forest school practices into public education in Paris and currently serves as headmaster of a forest school in the South of France.
Since 2018, Nurul has been Chair of Susila Dharma France, where she supports partnerships, community learning, and innovative educational initiatives. She continues to promote collective intelligence, nature-connected education, and community development in both local and international networks.
-
Leadership Team – SDIA Office
Virginia was appointed Executive Director of SDIA in January 2007. She is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at McGill University and has more than 20 years of experience as a senior researcher and programme evaluator. She has worked for numerous international organizations including UNICEF, UNHCR, UNOCHA on issues of child protection and gender equality in development and humanitarian settings. Her joy and commitment are to helping people, through developing their organizations, to bring their skills and abilities to influencing public policy and governance and improving lives and sustainable livelihoods.
Isabel’s working experience is focused on the administrative and accounting areas with more than 15 years’ experience. She is now working part-time as an Accounting and Financial Clerk at McGill University in Montréal Canada. Isabel has also worked with the committees of the two Subud groups where she has been a member - Pereira in Colombia and Montréal in Canada.
Margarita holds a bachelor's degree in Industrial Design with a postgraduate degree in Commercial Management and Marketing Management. She has extensive experience in the field of communications and publishing, thanks to her work as Editor-in-Chief and Marketing Manager in two important magazines in Latin America. As a designer, she has had the opportunity to collaborate in different projects for organizations such as SICA International, The Muhammad Subuh Foundation, The Guerrand-Hèrmes Foundation for Peace, among others. Margarita believes in and supports the values and principles upheld by SDIA - empathy, compassion, humility, kindness, gratitude, child protection and sustainability – as fundamental pillars for the development of a better society.
Isidro was born in Armenia - Colombia, in 1998. After graduating from l’Alliance Française with a diploma in French language studies, Isidro moved to Ecuador, where he joined RET, an international organization dedicated to helping people in need. As a volunteer, he formed a youth group that carried out activities aimed at helping immigrants and minorities to adapt and develop livelihood skills for a better quality of life. He was then appointed RET’s Youth Ambassador for Ecuador, which allowed him to participate in several training courses, including the first youth ambassador training in Mardin, Turkey. Later, he applied for a government program to teach foreign languages to low-income children. After finishing the program, he became a volunteer with BFIF (Kalimantan, Indonesia), where he worked for a year and a half as a Fundraiser and Media Coordinator. Isidro then spent a year as an SDIA Board Member before joining the staff in a Communications & Networking role.
