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| ABOUT US |
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VISION
Bringing the HOPE of Jesus Christ to every community-member of the Debe Nek region, through intentional discipleship.
MISSION
In partnership with the local church and others, bringing hope through programmes in educational enrichment, food production and microenterprise development.
VALUES
The Bible: God's Handbook for Life Our Statement of Faith: Adopted from Cape Town Commitment Our Standards of Stewardship: Adapted from the ECFA's Seven Standards of Responsible Stewardship™ |
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A Problem to be solved |
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It starts with a journey of hope. Rural people migrate to the cities hoping to escape the poverty experienced in
villages. Having left their children behind in the care of the elderly, migrants search for jobs. Unfortunately, a lack of skills (language,
education, trade, etc.), limits their opportunities to manual or domestic labour; and low paying jobs further limit housing options, forcing the rural migrant into informal settlements. Their meagre salaries are barely enough to sustain themselves and what funds they manage to send back home are inadequate for the care and education of their children. Instead, the most unfortunate and desperate of migrants become ensnared in
the world of drugs, prostitution and worse, driven there by despair and hopelessness.
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A CHOICE
In South Africa, rural people are more able to sustain themselves long-term by cultivating communal land and producing their own food, than as unskilled workers in city settings. Nevertheless, many will choose to migrate. Both options require that individuals work hard and exercise faith, believing that God can sustain them through their diligence. Whether people choose to remain in the village or migrate to the city, it is clear that they can’t do it alone.
A SOLUTION
We believe that every person is designed for a purpose, adding value to society. Each person contributes to society in different ways. Some express their contribution through the heart (music, oratory, literature); others, through their hands (art, sports, farming); and, still others, through their heads (academics, science, engineering). We aim to empower and equip the surrounding rural communities by helping people —one at a time—to identify their God-given gifts, abilities, and passions. Thus enabling them to impact their own families and communities. |
| Our Approach |
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Offering academic enrichment opportunities to primary and secondary learners;
teaching no-capital, high-yield, foodproduction techniques to those who are able; and
facilitating sustainable micro-enterprise development for the skilled.
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QUINTIN NDIBONGO
Quintin was born in Washington, D.C. to a Xhosa exile (then, international student) and a Swedish-American mother. When he was 2 years old, his mother took him to Zaire, where he met his father for the first time. He lived in Zaire, Liberia, and Lesotho before settling in Butterworth at the age of nine. In 1987, Quintin’s mixed-origin and the lack of academic opportunities in a then white-ruled Apartheid South Africa led him to the United States to study.
TERESITA NDIBONGO
Teresita was born in a rural, mountain village in northern Mexico. When she was seven years old, her family immigrated to the USA illegally. She grew up in Albuquerque, NM and as the eldest of five children took on much responsibility becoming the family’s translator from age nine, essentially learning to live in two worlds. Through a combination of her God-given abilities and direction from her teachers, she rose to the top academically. |
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These two lives first crossed and then merged at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where both Quintin and Teresita completed their studies. The last fifteen years have been a time of equipping and growth—including the birth of two children (Linnea and Daniel) and adoption of four children (Asenathi, Unam, Zinzi and Adam).
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Quintin currently serves as a senior manager for the Office of the Premiere in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. As a member of the senior management corps in the public service one of Quintin’ s passions is realizing true transformation in the hearts and minds of public servants. “Transformation begins when political and public service leadership awaken to the reality that they were appointed to serve others, and not themselves,” says Quintin.
Prior to returning to South Africa in 2007, Quintin developed leadership skills by leading a community-based outreach to university-level international students in the state of New Mexico, USA, with the global NGO, International Students, Inc. (ISI). Working with ISI, Quintin’s specific emphasis and passion was the cultivation of a servant-leadership paradigm within the hearts of African international students while in the diaspora. After twenty years away from South Africa, Quintin is realizing the dream of serving back in his home-country and continues to serve as a foreign Ministry Representative of International Students Inc.
“Teresita is so passionate about math she even dreams it!” says her husband. She left a career in the software industry to teach high school mathematics, where she used a variety of techniques, including discovery laboratories, demonstrations, simulations and model building to pass on her passion for every-day problem solving. In addition to challenging her students, she directed student recruitment and enrollment for the school and administered the development of school policies. She also planned, organized, and executed training courses for high school math teachers from around the city and the state. Other experience includes her tenure as trustee for their church in Colorado, US and service on a number of boards.
She has homeschooled her children since 2009. Developing a broadly knowledgeable mind, leadership skills and speaking/writing abilities is just the beginning. Her real job is to help implant a life purpose, self-confidence, self-motivation, resourcefulness, perseverance, curiosity, desire for responsibility, honesty, and a servant spirit into their lives. |
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In South Africa, she has filled various roles with their church’s residential youth-mentorship program including being a guest lecturer and teaching mathematics to students who wish to retake their matric exam.
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But a passion for education is not new. In 1996 she wrote:
“My university professor discouraged me from becoming a teacher, saying that it would only be a waste of my brain. He thinks I should become a professor. . . He does not understand that I am not ready to sacrifice seven more years of my life to the academic gods; that there is a place and time for academics, and a place and time for action. Our children are our future. Our choices are to invest in them or to become a nation without skilled workers, a region unable to compete in a global economy, a people whose progress is hampered by social inequity. I have almost reached my fill of books and papers, grades and classes. Soon it will be time for me to do something—time to concentrate on correcting the problems and injustices that exist in the world right now.” The family’s move to Fort White in 2013 signaled the start of their involvement with the Debe Nek community. Quintin and Teresita desire to live among the people in order to build relationships—and in so doing to access what God is doing among them, to provide interventions in food security, to offer educational opportunities and finally to bring spiritual reconciliation. |
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How can you help? BECOME A VOLUNTEER OR MAKE A CONTRIBUTION We aim to empower and equip the surrounding rural communities by helping people --- one at a time --- to identify their God-given gifts, abilities and passions. Thus enabling them to impact their own families and communities. |
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Copyright © Deon Lieberum |
