About | Mozambique Initiative

About

At the Mozambique Initiative, our goal is to walk slow, listen, and create equitable partnerships that meet the greatest needs of partner communities. 

While all of the Mozambique Initiative projects are defined by the needs of each community, most projects fall into one of three main categories.

The impact of these community-centered projects often reaches far beyond the initial defined need.

Delivery of clean water to Mozambican homes can reduce sickness in a community. Access to adequate medical care means that kids miss less school. When you support one of these goals, you truly transform a community.

Community Development

The Mozambique Initiative works in local communities to build schools, provide scholarships, support those in need and catalyze income generating projects.

  • Improving Schools
  • Scholarship Programs
  • Library Projects
  • Revenue-Producing Projects
  • Social Services at Hanhane Women’s Shelter, CB Orphanage
  • Disaster Relief
  • Social Justice Work

Health & Wellness

The Mozambique initiative supports hospitals, clinics, and wellness programs to provide immunizations, obstetric care, viral treatment and more.

  • Chicuque Hospital
  • Mobile Clinics
  • Center of Hope Rural Health Deployment
  • Safe Water
  • Shared Meals
  • Public Health Initiatives
  • Shared Meals

Church Empowerment

The Mozambique Initiative supports spiritual and leadership growth across Mozambique.

  • Salary Grants for Pastors
  • Leadership Development
  • Pastor Training
  • Congregational Resources (Bibles, hymnals, etc)
  • Parsonage and Chapel Buildings
  • New Church Starts
  • Spiritual Renewal through Cultural Exchange

Staff

Ezequiel Nhantumbo

MI Representative Mozambique

Ezequiel began working with MI in 2002. He oversees all projects across the three Conferences in Mozambique.

Ezequiel had the privilege of growing up in several different towns in Mozambique before attending Africa University in Zimbabwe. He majored in agriculture and developed expertise in sustainable development projects. Since joining MI, Ezequiel has overseen the implementation of all projects, developed comprehensive reporting strategies, and worked tirelessly to connect people with opportunities both in the United States and Mozambique. 

Lucas Endicott

MI Representative US

Since 2015, Lucas has helped implement projects in several countries, primarily in Latin America and the Caribbean.

A native of Missouri, Lucas holds master’s degrees from Regent College in Vancouver, Canada and Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey. Lucas completed his doctorate in education with a focus on underserved communities at the University of Texas at El Paso. Lucas is an ordained elder and has worked at the Missouri Annual Conference Office since 2015 in an effort to connect individuals and groups in Missouri to sustainable projects in the developing world.

History of the Mozambique Initiative

Methodism began in Mozambique in 1890.

The church subsists in all ten provinces of Mozambique and is growing so rapidly that it divided into three annual conferences.   The Missouri Annual Conference began a relationship with the Mozambican Annual Conferences of the UMC in 1986. In 1998, the relationship expanded with the creation of partnerships between US and Mozambican congregations.

July 1, 1988

1988

“Church-to-church” covenant partnerships begin with Bishop W.T. Handy. Covenant contributions between US and Mozambican churches total $43,600.

July 1, 1988
June 1, 1999

1999

U.S.-based Mozambique coordinator is announced at Annual Conferences.

June 1, 1999
July 1, 2000

2000

Partnerships grow stronger during floods across 1/3 of Mozambique; Bishop Sherer’s leadership in response to the flooding helps raise more than $3,000,000 through UMCOR giving.

July 1, 2000
July 1, 2002

2002

9 teams (about 100 people) travel from Missouri to Maputo, Mozambique to celebrate and strategize on shared work.  A Mozambique Initiative Representative in Mozambique is hired.

July 1, 2002
July 1, 2004

2004

A student scholarship model begins under the leadership of Bishop Machado in Mozambique.

July 1, 2004
December 31, 2006

2006

Giving for safe water increases to $135,000.

December 31, 2006
July 1, 2008

2008

MI participates in the UMC “Nothing But Nets” campaign, raising funds and assisting in pilot distributions for the UN.

July 1, 2008
July 1, 2010

2010

MI begins to focus on supporting income generating projects with the aim of self-sufficiency.

July 1, 2010
July 1, 2013

2013

MI commits to three areas of transformation: the body, the community, and the heart and mind.

July 1, 2013
December 31, 2017

2017

Giving through MI hits a record $972,883.

December 31, 2017