Mission Letter 2022-23
I hope this letter finds you well! I’m excited to share that I recently graduated from the University of Chicago (B.A. in Sociology with honors). As I reflect on the last four years, I’m struck by God’s faithfulness through a time that’s been full of blessings but also many challenges. I’m writing to you because you yourself have been a blessing to me—whether as a friend or mentor—I’m grateful for you, and I want to invite you to continue walking with me as I pursue God’s will in this next stage of my life!
The Mission
From August 2022 to July 2023, I will be working as a volunteer teacher at a school called Union Academique de Kitindi (UAK). This school is located in Kitindi, a village in the South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and is run by International Berean Ministries (IBM), a missions organization that my grandfather helped found in 1996. IBM’s work consists of evangelism; adult vocational training; and K-12 education.
Every high school graduate in the DRC must take the national exam, a ticket to college and to better working opportunities post high school. Currently, students from UAK perform above average on the national exam but below average on the exam’s English section. In order to contribute to my family’s ministry and to help improve English exam scores, I and my good friend Henry Zhao will spend a year teaching English at UAK. English classes start in 7th grade, and each grade has about 25 students. Henry and I will be able to impact about 150 students between the two of us, each spending 15 hours per week in the classroom and an additional 5 to 10 hours preparing lessons, discipling, grading, and performing other administrative duties for the school.
Financial Need
I will be an unpaid volunteer at UAK and would benefit greatly from the financial support of friends and partners like you! Currently, it is expected that my year in Kitindi will cost about $20,000, including costs ranging from travel to insurance to room and board. Henry and I will be the first foreign teachers to work at the school, so these costs are estimates based on past travel experiences and expected cost of living.
Any support you could provide, from a monetary gift to regular prayer, would be greatly appreciated. I am very excited to honor God and to contribute to my family’s legacy of faith-based service and education in the Congo by teaching at UAK. I hope you, too, are encouraged by this work and would like to take part in it!
You can give online or by addressing a check to International Berean Ministries and including my name on the memo line
International Berean Ministries
PO Box 88311
Kentwood, MI 49518-0311
Kwabene L. Kalumbula
