LIVING, LOVING AND LEAVING A LEGACY

We were privileged to have Barbara Nkala speak to us this past Sunday. Barbara is the (volunteer) Mennonite World Conference Regional Representative for southern Africa, connecting with six different national member churches in the region. She also is a frequent public speaker, and an Elder and Sunday school teacher in her Brethren in Christ congregation in Harare, Zimbabwe. She has sat on a number of humanitarian boards.

Barbara is married to Shadreck Nkala and they have three adult children and five grand-children. She first obtained a Diploma in Education with the University College of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), then a Bachelor of Arts in English and Communication with the University of South Africa, and a Master of Arts in Leadership and Management with Africa Leadership and Management Academy. She taught in various secondary schools in the country before joining publisher Longman Zimbabwe in 1981, where she rose to commissioning editor for humanities texts.

In 1991, she left Longman and worked with her husband in the family company for five years before being invited to head International Bible Society Zimbabwe (IBS Zimbabwe) as National Director, in Zimbabwe and Malawi. She coordinated the translation and publishing of the new IBS Shona and Ndebele Bibles; as well as a Chichewa New Testament.

She left IBS Zimbabwe in 2005, and is the founder and Managing Editor of Radiant Publishing, whose vision is to publish for transformation. Barbara is an author of fiction and non-fiction titles, published in both Ndebele and English.

In 2015 she received an honorary degree from the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo.

Arli Klassen, Chief Development Officer and Coordinator of MWC Regional Representatives of Mennonite World Conference, introduced Barbara Nkala.

We began by watching this video of Mennonite World Conference 2017 Year in Review.