About Us
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When I, (Victor) was in my mid-teens, I made wild decisions that landed me into cycles of addiction, depression, poverty, rejection, and homelessness. In short, I was wasted and lost. My fellow street teenagers and I longed for a way out of this mess but there was none. One Sunday morning, as I walked the streets in search of food, I heard the sound of church music and followed it. That church stop changed my life. It connected me to people that became my new family. And I mean FAMILY! Several months after rehabilitation, I was challenged to return to school. This was a moment of self-examination for me. I accepted the challenge, returned to school, and excelled. My weekends were dedicated to mentoring at-risk youths and young adults at a local church. It was here that my conviction to journey with these young people through counseling, rehabilitation, and education grew stronger. When I met my wife Sajel in 2012, we shared our convictions, solidified our vision, and agreed to carry this vision forward. The door opened for us to move to Detroit to pursue studies in medicine and theological training. This relocation resulted in new relationships that we have utilized to build annual mission teams to Uganda. These mission trips gave us a platform to share our vision and invite likeminded individuals into student sponsorship processes. Sajel and I continued to mentor these students from afar and collaborated with Ugandan local leaders to provide a safe environment for them to thrive. Today, Twende has become a home for skilling and discipling dozens of next generation leaders with marketable skills necessary to thrive in a fast-paced economy. Our plan is to establish a vocational institute where our graduates can give back to other at-risk students. Here, they can receive training as well as mentorship and career guidance in their journey to become innovative and transformational leaders in their communities. In early 2025, we plan to move to Uganda to continue the work of Twende. In the meantime, I finished my MA in Ministry Leadership at Moody Theological Seminary and am a pastor at a local church in Detroit while Sajel is practicing family medicine and has special interest in women’s health and medical education.