Ezechiel Hatungimana
Co-founder of Yada
Ezechiel is a Burundian native who cofounded Yada with his wife, Nicola, in 2014. Together they have three children and live in Burundi. He has years of experience working for World Relief, as well as UInvest, his own company focused on investing in local Burundian entrepreneurs. These experiences have allowed him to lead Yada when it comes to vision casting, networking, and development coordination.
Nicola
Hatungimana
Co-founder of Yada
Nicola is a native of Northern Ireland, but has resided in Burundi since 2012 with her husband, Ezechiel, and their three children. She has decades of experience working with equipping local churches, as well as strategy and implementation within NGO’s in the UK, South Africa, and now Burundi. Nicola is responsible for the pastoral care of our team, much of our administration, fundraising, and building relational bridges between Burundi and the rest of the world.
Chris Desiré
Bukuru
Gihanga Project Coordinator
Chris is a native of Burundi, and lives in Bujumbura with his wife and son. He has an academic background focused on community development and communication. Through his studies and years of international work, he has learned how to engage local partners in strategic ways, as well as be responsible for administrative tasks. After spending a year interning with Yada, he spent some time working in South Africa before returning to our team in 2022 as our Gihanga Project Coordinator.
Emelyne
Kwizera
- Emelyne is our Education Program Officer. She came to Yada on a temporary basis to tutor some secondary school children, but we quickly saw that, as well as having the ability to teach, she has a very pastoral heart towards children. When the permanent teaching position with Yada became available, we didn’t hesitate to offer her the job. She is married and lives in Bujumbura.
Emery
Nininahazwe
- Emery is our accountant. He studied accountancy in university before interning at UInvest, Ezechiel’s company focused on entrepreneurs in Burundi. After observing his integrity and brilliance when it came to accounts, we invited him to join the Yada team. He lives in Bujumbura.
Carley
Serwat
Communications Director
Carley has lived on and off in Burundi since 2012 along with her husband. Years of experience in writing, photography, and story telling has led her to communications freelancing. She volunteers with Yada to ensure we are able to share our stories with our international partners with dignity and respect towards those we work with on the ground. In addition to communications, she has worked as a church planter in multiple countries, so she brings insight to our team in the areas of discipleship and evangelism.