AGENDA FOR August 2017 MMN CONFERENCE (updated 6/8/17) - subject to change

Keynote Speaker Rev. Dr. Levi N. Nyondo –

General Secretary, Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP)

Synod of Livingstonia

Rev. Dr. Levi N. Nyondo holds a Master’s degree in Practical Theology from Aberdeen University, Scotland, and PhD in Theology from Malawi University.

Before becoming a minister, Rev. Nyondo was trained as a primary school teacher. He was ordained as a minister for the CCAP Synod of Livingstonia in 1988 after obtaining a Licentiate in Theology from Zomba Theological College.

Levi served in four congregations in the Synod of Livingstonia [Bandawe, Mabiri, Euthini and St. Andrews in Mzuzu, but also served as a minister for Pitlochry Parish, Scotland from 2000-2001, as part of the Faithshare Program of the Church of Scotland. In 2009 Levi initiated a partnership between Livingstonia Synod and the Hungarian Reformed Church, in cooperation with First Presbyterian Church, Jefferson City MO.

From 2004-2008 Levi served as Livingstonia Synod Moderator. In 2008 he was elected General Secretary. In 2012 and again in 2016, he was reelected. In his role as General Secretary, Levi is responsible for all administrative duties including external contacts with government and partners.

Levi is married to Ruth Annezia Nyondo, who will accompany him at the Malawi Mission Network Conference. The Nyondos have five children and three grandchildren.

   Mary Phiri -
                                    Representative from SAFE

Mary has worked in collaboration with Government and UNICEF to train District Social Welfare Officers and project officers from NGOs that are implementing EDC/OVC programs in the country. She has also been involved in building the capacity of parents and volunteers that are caring for orphans and other vulnerable children n Community-Based Child Care Centers (CBCCS), through ECD training workshops organized at both district and national levels. She has also participated in the development of key ECD documents and other teaching and learning materials, like the ECD Policy, Basic Training Manual, CBCC Profile, and Caregivers Guide.

Betty Day lived in Lilongwe, Malawi for five years with her husband, Dick Day Jr. and family. During that time, she fell in love with the people and the country of Malawi. Just as she and her family moved back to the United States in 1990, her in-laws, Dick Sr. and Charlotte Day, moved to "the Warm Heart of Africa" to begin teaching at the University of Malawi.

Betty is the Assistant Director of the Gogo Grandmothers chapter at Burke Community Church in Virginia. She helped to launch the group in 2013 and, since, then, she has been the speaker at various Gogo events and has provided leadership in fund raising efforts for the ministry in Malawi. She also serves on the U.S. board for SAFE ministries.

Betty has a Masters of Education and has been a primary school teacher for many years. She returned to Malawi in 2004 to lead several teachers’ workshops in Blantyre and Zomba. Since then, she traveled to Malawi several times, including in 2015 to help produce some short films documenting the work of SAFE.

Betty and her husband Dick live in the New York City metro area. They are the proud parents of four adult children and have six delightful grandchildren.

Leslie Lewis is the U.S. Coordinator for Gogo Grandmothers, a non-profit ministry that assists the work of SAFE(Sub-Saharan Africa Family Enrichment) in Malawi Africa.

Since 2005 Leslie has led Gogo Grandmothers - training U.S. leaders of Gogo Groups, raising up Gogo sponsors, connecting them to villages and projects in Malawi, and providing monthly communication for news and prayer in her E-newsletter, Kernels From the Maize Bag.

Leslie oversees the development of materials for SAFE’s 22 sponsored Community Based Childcare Centers, SAFE-Life Youth clubs and village Gogo groups and prepares teams to do the training. She also coordinates funds to train Malawian teachers in SAFE’s Why Wait? Life skills curriculum.

Debbie Braaksma 
                                   Presbyterian World Mission,
                                   Africa Area Coordinator

As Africa Area Coordinator Debbie is responsible for facilitating and resourcing PCUSA partnerships in Africa.  She supports Regional Liaisons in their work with 34 African partners and 40 mission personnel serving in Africa and is a member of the World Mission Leadership Team.  Debbie grew up in the First Presbyterian Church in Cambria Wisconsin.  Her call to cross-cultural service began as she served as a literacy teacher in Mexican migrant worker camps in the congregation’s Operation Friendship program throughout her high school years.

She is an ordained minister and served as a Reformed Church in America (RCA)   Mission Worker in an evangelism and community development ministry with semi-nomadic Muslim pastoralists near the Kenya/Somalia border for 11 years and as the RCA Africa Supervisor for 7 years.

Debbie served as a PCUSA/RCA mission worker engaged in peacebuilding and trauma healing in Sudan from 2005 until 2010. She served as the Principal of the RECONCILE Peace Institute and also led community-based trainings in areas of South Sudan experiencing high levels of inter-ethnic conflict. She co-authored “Bringing Healing to Traumatized Children” and has been involved in the Sudanese peace building, outreach and children’s ministries of Beechmont Presbyterian Church in Louisville, where she serves as a parish associate.  Debbie received a Master of Theology degree from the University of Edinburgh and a BS in Social work from the University of Minnesota. She is married to Del Braaksma and is the mother of four children and has seven grandchildren.

   Nancy Collins

Nancy Collins was appointed regional liaison for East Africa in June 2009. Previously, she served in Cairo, Egypt, from January 1998 until January 2009.

In her new role, Nancy facilitates PC(USA) relationships with partner churches and institutions in Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia. She also provides support for PC(USA) mission personnel and is a resource for U.S. congregations who are in a relationship with one of our partners in the region. Nancy’s special focus is on the evangelism, leadership development and church-growth work of PC(USA) partners in those countries.