WHO WE ARE | World Link Partners

"Providing hope beyond the slums, opportunity for life beyond poverty"

Who we are

We are a small charity making a big difference. We serve the most isolated and least served whether those considered “untouchables” in the inner-city slums of Nepal, or in the isolated Mayan villages in Guatemala.

We provide opportunity, promote self-sufficiency, preserve self-dignity and have people be part of the solution.
We don't do for others what they can do for themselves.
We don't tell people what they need or try to instill our values.
We don't equate happiness with wealth or unhappiness with poverty.
We don't think we have all the answers. Our goal is to provide the opportunity for people to have a choice.

World Link partners background

Established as a not-for-profit organization in 1997, World Link Partners has operated for more than 15 years in Guatemala and 4 years in Nepal. We work on behalf of non-profit organizations to unite people, resources and funds to alleviate suffering, poverty, illiteracy and substandard health in remote, underserved villages and the inner-city slums. Sponsorship was initiated late in 2018 in both Nepal and Guatemala.

Lauren Foulger,

Executive Director of WLP and Director of the Naru Project (Guatemala)

Lauren Foulger has a Bachelor of Science in Sociology and International Development and a Masters of Public Health from Brigham Young University. For the past 10 years she has been heavily involved with domestic and international projects that target under-served populations.

Lauren became the executive director in 2011 and is WLP director of projects in Guatemala. She is the Founder and Director of the Humble Village Project and is the U.S. Director and primary fundraiser for the Naru Nutrition Project.

She has worked in various capacities in Guatemala, the United States, Africa, Thailand, Laos, Venezuela and other countries working on projects to provide opportunity to those in need. Lauren spent several months living and working in the Alta Verapaz region of Guatemala conducting research for the World Health Organization in the areas of maternal and child health. Also, Lauren is the Founder and Director of the Humble Hilo marketing division.

Beth Dearden,

Founder and Managing Director and Director of our work in Nepal

Beth has a Master’s Degree in Cross-Cultural Training from the School for International Training, Brattleboro, Vermont.

Beth and Marlin are the Founders of World Link Partners. Beth is currently the Managing Director and primarily directs their work in Nepal. Beth also developed a center for street children in Mongolia for which she was awarded the Order of the Polar Star, the highest award given for service by the Mongol nation.

Marlin Dearden,

Co-founder and consultant

Marlin has an MPH and Doctorate in Public Health from Yale University School of Medicine.

For over 28 years he served on the faculty, including service as Dean of Health Services Administration at Quinnipiac University where he established and conducted student travel and semester abroad trips throughout the world focusing on health systems in developing countries.

YVONNE SINCLAIR

Founder/Project Director,

NARU: GUATEMALA

Yvonne was in the fast-moving, competitive world of communications in the U.K. when she took a vacation to Guatemala. That was in 2003... she never left. Seeing the poverty in Alta Verapaz changed her life.

Yvonne has devoted her life and much of her personal financial resources to helping the people in Alta Verapaz. She has overcome the challenges of dealing with government bureaucracy, hitchhiking alone to isolated villages, avoiding robbers, witnessing preventable deaths of innocent children, and the loss of friends working in the field. Still she perserveres and remains extremely committed to promoting health, and preventing malnutrition and needless deaths.

In the Alta Verapaz area of Guatemala, Yvonne and her team reach the most remote, isolated and underserved where the majority of the Maya live in extreme poverty. Parents helplessly watch their children die due to conditions relating to malnutrition and preventable diseases.

Currently, Naru employs several local staff members who are on the ground and oversee the projects on a daily basis. Naru’s staff members are from the local area, are trusted and respected by the villagers, and are aware of the villagers’ current needs. They work year-round to make sure the projects we are implementing are culturally accepted and are creating long term differences in the lives of the women and families we serve.

NARU Guatemalan staff, Yvonne and Lauren

DR. USHA MAHARJAN WALL

Founder/Project Director

ETERNAL HOPE INTERNATIONAL

RANDAL WALL

Co-Director,

ETERNAL HOPE INTERNATIONAL

Eternal Hope International was established in 2013 by Usha and a dedicated group of health volunteers who simply saw a need. Usha is Nepali and has witnessed first-hand the effects of the caste system, discrimination, and poverty in her country.

Usha received her medical training in India and served 18 months as a missionary in the U.K. In April 2016, she left her high-level position as administrator of standard operating procedures at Chitwan Medical College in order to establish Eternal Hope International. Their goal is to provide hope beyond the slums. Usha moved to the U.S. (Utah) became married to Husband Randall, and together they work to promote EHI. Thanks to technology, Usha continues to daily direct and manage the in-country, on-site work.

Randall is the Executive Director of Equity Real Estate, who is the corporate sponsor and major financial supporter of Eternal Hope International.

Randall has been involved with humanitarian work and projects for many years and has traveled to over 60 countries. When he met Usha, their common interest in humanitarian work was an immediate bond as they are equally dedicated to providing hope for others.

With a dedicated in-country staff and the direction of Usha and Randall, Eternal Hope International is a thriving organization providing education to hundreds of students living in the slums.

Randall and Usha plan to move back to Nepal in 2023, to live and dedicate their lives to supporting those most in need.

In 2018 Usha and her sisters donated their 22-room family home in Kathmandu as a center for education, skills training, business development/training and support system for abused women, discrimination and early child marriage. Usha and Randall have a very committed in-country staff including two of Usha's sisters who are the Director of Education and the Director of the training/skills center in Nepal.

our administrative staff and board members are volunteers

Our Board

We have a very dedicated board. Of our 9 board members 8 have traveled to the projects in Nepal and/or Guatemala

Brad Dearden, Associate Professor of Geography

Brad received his PhD from the University of Utah in 2006. He teaches cultural geography and sustainable development at the University of Maine at Farmington. For the past 30 years he has worked or traveled in many parts of Central America and Asia. Brad’s primary role with WLP has been to travel to Guatemala and Nepal, meet with project directors, do the photography and provide support in technology and website development.

Jan Hemming, Public Relations Professional

Jan is a seasoned executive, strategic thinker and public relations professional spanning an impressive career working with the U.S. Government, corporations, civic and arts organizations, non-profits, universities, the U.S. Information agency, Yale-New Haven Hospital, John A Widtsoe Foundation, Nu Skin International, Brigham Young University and Intermountain Health Care. She has also been involved in many community boards.

William H. Nelson, President & CEO, Intermountain Healthcare (1999-2009)

William was president and chief executive officer of Intermountain Healthcare from 1999 to 2009. Intermountain is an integrated, non-profit healthcare system with 26 hospitals, numerous clinics, and an insurance organization that serves communities in the Intermountain region.

Bill graduated from Brigham Young University in 1967. He earned an MBA from the University of Southern California in 1971. Bill also served as national chairman of the Healthcare Financial Management Association in 1995-96. He also served on the boards of the Utah Symphony & Opera, Beneficial Life Insurance, United Way of the Greater Salt Lake Area, and the Healthcare Research and Development Institute.

Christine Nelson

Christine has a Bachelor of Arts from BYU. She received her Master's Degree from the University of Utah in Bilingual Education. She served as a missionary in Chile. Christine has also taught Spanish as a second language at the Clayton Intermediate School in Salt Lake City.

She is also a board member for Ouelessebougou Alliance and has a deep interest in helping communities in need.

Yvonne Sinclair, Founder and Director of the NARU Project

Yvonne is the Founder and Director of the NARU Project in Guatemala. NARU and WLP have worked together for 13 years. (see description above). WLP board members and volunteers work closely with Yvonne in-country.

Jessie Southwick

Jessie is the Director of EHI’s Silver Hope jewelry brand. Jessie has been involved with Eternal Hope International since 2016, helping to teach English to the Nepalese children, sponsoring children and helps with other administrative efforts. Jessie also travels to the countries to visit projects, as a WLP representative, and meets with directors and staff and evaluates projects.

Richard Tanner, Member, Shareholder of Concero Connect L3C

Shawn Tanner, Richard’s wife is also a board member.

Richard provides strategic and financial investment and management expertise to this Low Profit Limited Liability Company, bringing extremely affordable satellite internet access to the very poor and very rural communities. He was privileged to be one of the few attendees from the U.S. for a "Social Business Day" conference with representatives from 32 countries which was held in Bangladesh under the leadership of Muhammad Yunus.

From 2011-2014 Richard was the Director of the Willes Center for International Entrepreneurship at Brigham Young University in Hawaii. Richard held full-time administrative responsibilities, hosted Guest Lecture Series, and taught courses to over 2500 students, nearly half coming from over 70 countries. Richard also held numerous administrative responsibilities while at BYU Hawaii.

Dayna Boshard

Dayna has a BFA in Graphic Design from Utah Valley University. She oversees the website, branding and helps with fundraising. Dayna was introduced to Usha Wall in 2016. With an already strong interest in Nepal, the Himalayas and the culture, and in the midst of starting a new barbershop, she decided to commit 1% of all barber services to EHI. That decision sparked Dayna's passion for philanthropy and furthered her interest in Nepal. In 2022, Dayna set out to raise $30,000 to fund the building of a new job skills training center in Nepal. Her venue was an event called 29029 Everesting, which is a 36-hour event to hike the equivalent elevation as Mt. Everest. Her fundraiser and hike were a success, raising over $34,000.

World Link Partners is registered with "Network for Good"