Fellows Serving in Africa

From everywhere to everywhere

SOUTH AFRICA

Asumani, Abdallah
Serving at: Cape Town Hope of Africa
From: DRCongo, Africa

Abdallah served as a development officer with the Hope of Africa Foundation, which was established in 1997 for the purposes of empowering African communities economically, socially, and spiritually. Based in Cape Town, the organization engages in a broad range of social services, including food programs; drug rehabilitation; and counseling for families, children, and youth.

Kelsey L. Gatza
Serving At: Sowers of the Word Church
Home Country: USA

Kelsey served as a program and community development officer at Sowers of the Word Church in Cape Town, South Africa. Sowers of the Word is a non-denominational church with multiple sites in South Africa and Madagascar. In Cape Town, its community development ministry includes an area known as Cape Flats, with a focus on Lavender Hill, an area of 32,598 people with an extremely low average monthly household income and a high unemployment rate. Under apartheid, Cape Flats was a Coloured area.

Emmanuel Sann, Jr.
Place of Assignment: Cape Town Bold Empowerment Partnership
Home Country: Liberia, Africa

Emmanuel served in the area of community development at the Cape Town Bold Empowerment Partnership in Cape Town, South Africa. The partnership is a faith-based nonprofit organization set up in 2011 to promote the empowerment of poor and marginalized people, particularly for youth, women, and the unemployed. Emmanuel worked primarily with high school and community-based youth programs. This involves the use of social media and preparation for more advanced technical training.

KENYA

Shandirai B. Bwawa
Place of Assignment: Pan Africa Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA)
Home Country: Zimbabwe, Africa

Dorcas S. Ewoodzie
Place of Assignment: Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA)
Home Country: Ghana, Africa

Shandirai and Dorcas served as a climate change program officer with the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) based in Nairobi, Kenya. The alliance is composed of more than a thousand organizations and networks—many of them faith-based—in 45 African countries. The goal is a coordinated African response to the social and economic challenges brought by climate change. Founded in 2008, PACJA represents the justice-related issues around climate change identified within Africa. It holds observed status with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

MALAWI

Gerald Chandakabata
Place of Assignment: Malawi Provisional Annual Conference
Home Country: Zimbabwe, Africa

Gerald served as a community health worker in the Malawi Provisional Annual Conference in Africa. The conference headquarters are in Blantyre, but its health program is both rural and urban. The Malawi health program engages in direct services, poverty alleviation, leadership development, and capacity building. Gerald worked with clinics, anti-malaria efforts, community-based health services and nutrition education, and helps to coordinate the ministries of volunteers in mission.

ZAMBIA

Gloria Kalokhe
Place of Assignment: The Pilgrim Wesleyan Church
Home Country: India

Gloria served as an assistant with the Hope for Children ministry at Pilgrim Wesleyan Church in Lusaka, Zambia. Responsibilities include organizing activities for children, visiting schools, and setting up services for children and their guardians. The ministry covers Lusaka and surrounding areas. Pilgrim Wesleyan Church is a congregation of the Wesleyan Church.

TOGO

Yves Kinangwa
Place of Assignment: Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in West Africa
Home Country: DRCongo, Africa

Yves served as a food and climate change advocacy officer with the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in West Africa, based in Lomé, Togo. The fellowship was established in 1994 and represents denominations and ecumenical organizations in 13 West African countries. It facilitates dialogue, collaboration, and joint action among the members. Yves was part of a staff team engaged in framing advocacy initiatives.

COTE D’IVOIRE

Didier Monga wa Shakapanga
Place of Assignment: United Methodist Church of Côte d’Ivoire
Home Country: DRCongo, Africa

Didier served as a community advisor in the HIV/AIDS ministry of the United Methodist Church of Côte d’Ivoire United Methodist Church in Abidjan. HIV/AIDS is one of multiple challenges—such as poverty, gender inequality, and human rights violations—in Côte d’Ivoire as the country continues to recover from years of civil war and still faces regional tensions. The church is called to bring hope through prevention of HIV/AIDS in the community, and to take care of people living with the disease, including orphans and pregnant women.

LIBERIA

Alick N. Mvula
Place of Assignment: Imani House
Home Country: Zambia, Africa

Alick served as a research and support assistant at Imani House, Inc. in Monrovia, Liberia. The mission of Imani is to assist marginalized youth and families and to help community members become the decision-makers about the future of their communities. It reaches 17,000 women and children a year through its clinic and another 3,000 people through adult education and youth programs. As a non-sectarian and not-for-profit organization, Imani House serves all without distinction of ethnicity, culture, gender, or economic status.

Mozambique

John Yambasu
Place of Assignment: Sierra Leone Annual Conference
Home Country: Sierra Leone, Africa

John served as a training and research coordinator at JustaPaz Center of Study and Conflict in Maputo, Mozambique. The center promotes a society of peace, justice, democracy, and good government. It seeks to reduce political and religious conflicts and violence in a country that has known its share of polarization, but has had a relative stable political environment for 20 years. Mozambique is a multiracial country that observes religious liberty and tolerance.

ZIMBABWE

Jonathan T. Rose, II
Place of Assignment: Simukai Child Protection Center
Home Country: Liberia, Africa

Jonathan served at Simukai Child Protection Center in Mutare, Zimbabwe. The center is a registered child welfare agency serving homeless and at-risk children and youth under age 18 in Manicaland (a region of Zimbabwe) and beyond. It provides temporary shelter to survivors of abuse, advocates for children’s rights, offers rehabilitation for those who have been living on the streets, and provides vocational training.