Dr. Seymour (center) at the PHARP Training Centre in Kenya.
Dr. Jim Seymour, a key figure in Microboard’s mission to empower communities in East Africa, is on-site at the PHARP Training Centre in Malindi, Kenya. PHARP, which stands for the Peace, Healing, and Reconciliation Program, was founded by Felicien Nemeyimana following the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Today, PHARP’s mission is to foster peace and strengthen communities across East Africa, with a focus on Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.
PHARP emphasizes helping widows and single mothers achieve economic stability and overcome cultural challenges. The organization conducts regular training workshops and seminars at the newly constructed center, located half an hour from Malindi. These sessions equip regional leaders, pastors, teachers, social workers, and indigenous missionaries to promote peaceful solutions and implement reconciliation programs in areas facing conflict and economic hardship. During his time at the Training Centre, Dr. Seymour will work with over 130 local leaders who have gathered for this special week, known in Kalifi County as a ‘wiki ya ajabu’ (Swahili for a wonderful week).
Dr. Seymour’s commitment to education, counseling, and humanitarian work spans more than four decades. He served 12 years as a university teacher and lecturer in Africa, where he had the privilege of teaching Pelagie Tuyisenge Gichange, the daughter of PHARP’s founder, Felicien Nemeyimana. In the United States, Dr. Seymour served as the senior pastor of Raleigh’s North Haven Church and chaired the Religion and Philosophy Department at St. Augustine’s University for 14 years, an institution founded in 1867 to educate freed slaves.
In 2019, Dr. Seymour, along with his friend Joe Farrell, founded the People Care International non-profit group, which has become a vital conduit for Microboard’s humanitarian giving. In his advisory role as our “missions pastor,” Dr. Seymour has been instrumental in connecting us with many of the people and programs we are privileged to support, including PHARP’s Pelagie Tuyisenge Gichanga.