Born to a single mother and in a poor household in Tanzania, Kelvin’s story is one of resilience. Kelvin is passionate about savings groups and bringing true change and development through them. He says that one day “people who think they are poor will use their own local resources to change their lives”. 

At the age of one Kelvin got ulcers and this caused his family to separate. His mother was strong and she taught him and his brother to know God. She also influenced him to start saving as she used to give him a small amount of money to either use it or save it for later. Today, he has helped his mom get a house and she is doing well as a business woman. Kelvin himself is married and is a father of two. 

At age 6, Compassion International took him and he was able to receive medical treatment which healed him. He also learned Biblical principles through their programs and this allowed him to join the worship team and prayer groups in his church later on. Compassion paved the way for his career as they offered him a job because he was already involved in savings groups in his community. They saw his passion and wanted him to be a part of what they do. He directly saw the impact of savings groups at Compassion. He recalls a fishing community that would not save because they thought that the lake was right next to them so they did not need to. He told them that they could stay out of poverty if they began saving. They took up what he said and saved for close to two years. After this, they were able to purchase land and build houses of their own.

Kelvin now works as a training coordinator for Hope International where they partner with churches so they can form church-based savings groups. They provide church facilitators with guides that they can use to train the members of the groups. They have seven groups in Tanzania and through this the members are transformed from spiritual, social and economic poverty. Kelvin believes that savings groups are one of the best tools to help people become economically self-sufficient. He has seen many of their lives positively impacted by saving and there is even more reward when they come to know Christ.

With leadership, he is grateful that at Hope, he is able to work with friendly and supportive staff who model servant leadership. He especially wants to grow in the area of servant leadership because it will help him support more people. He says that a servant leader sacrifices himself for the people he serves and is concerned about their interests over his own. A mission of his is for others to see what God wants him to do in their lives. ALI will help him accomplish his leadership goals through teaching him how to continue to minister to others through Biblical values.