Leaders
Robert Manda, Founder
“I graduated from African Bible College in 2007 and served at UrbanPromise in Camden from 2007 to 2008. Two years before I completed my college degree, I worked as a chaplain for Korean Church Missions in Kanengo. This church has a hospital for the poor local people. While working with these missionaries, I developed a desire to create programs that would help young people facing HIV/Aids and to address the crisis of school dropout among girls (due to poverty as well as lack of parental support and teen pregnancy). I have developed an organization called “ChristCares Ministries,” in order to transform the lives of youth, the future leaders of our nation.
My passion for youth ministry has grown because I have seen the need for preserving and equipping young people for leadership. I would like to use my college education as well as the leadership skills I have acquired here in U.S. with UrbanPromise Ministries to launch youth programs in the community of Kanengo. This area is at great risk because most schools are overcrowded and the government doesn’t have enough teachers to balance the ratio between teachers and students. Schools do not have enough resources for educational activities.
The city is overcrowded due to the massive amount of people who seek job opportunities at the Kanengo Tobacco Company (the only industry in the entire city), and the percentage of people already living with HIV/Aids is tremendously high. ChristCares Ministry will compliment the effort of the Korean Church Mission as we work hand in hand to establish programs for HIV/Aids awareness, extracurricular programs for the youth, and to provide educational opportunities for young women.
My vision upon initiating this youth ministry is to make a difference among youth, orphans, and vulnerable children by equipping them academically, spiritually, and socially to become better leaders.”
John Jimu and Peter Gamula served as UrbanPromise International Fellows in 2008-2009. They decided to return to support the efforts of ChristCares Ministries and to expand their work in Kanengo.
John Jimu comes from a family of nine. He grew up in the very under-resourced countryside. To pay his way through high school, John collected honey from bee hives in the forest. He now holds a B.A. in Biblical Studies with a minor in Christian Education. John is determined to work with children and youth in response to his passion.
“As I grew up, I faced lots of indescribable pain in my life since I was a child. There was the pain of poverty, threats of deaths, hunger, abuse and rejection, but by grace I worked hard, persevered and survived.” Now John believes it is high time to transform that pain into service to better other people’s lives, to retrieve and build up children who will in turn build up strong productive and better nation in Malawi and to make a difference for generations to come.
Peter Gamula- ” I grew up in the remotest area in Malawi and walked long distances to get education. I happened to be the first person in my village to attend college. I completed fours years of College and I hold BA in Biblical Studies and a Minor in Christian education. These experiences inspired ambitions in me to seek to better other’s lives. Having seen how God has graciously carried me through the difficuties of Poverty, I started to believe that hard work could help to change my situation and help others do the same. My dream has always been to help change communities in Malawi and bring a sense of hope to the hopeless. I believe that by influencing the children and youth today, they will be able to make better future. I am absolutely sure that although the need is wide spread in our nation, I am going to start small and hope that what I’m doing now will make lasting impact throughout generations.”