New Faces to the JBFC Staff

Our campus and mission are growing, and with it, comes a need for more staff! We have several new faces (and a couple familiar ones) who are joining the JBFC teams on both sides of the world.

In Tanzania:

Seraphine Lyimo – Second Campus Director
Lyimo is a lifelong educator and passionate about social change through the empowerment and
education of youth. Having worked in several different roles in various schools, as both teacher and administrator, Lyimo recently joined the JBFC team as our Second Campus Director. Currently, he is training under Chief Operating Office, Seth Diemond, on our flagship campus in Kitongo before he ultimately moves to our second campus site to oversee the development and operations of that separate campus. Lyimo has a Masters in Education Administration, Planning, and Policy Studies.

Jeff DeViller - Volunteer Coordinator

Jeff and his wife, Bethany, are our first Canadians to the JBFC team. Jeff will be working in Tanzania as our Volunteer Coordinator, helping to host our various school partners, visitors, and Experience JBFC trips. JBFC expects to have over 130 volunteers this year, so Jeff has quite the task ahead of him, but we are confident he is up the challenge as he has previously worked as the Coordinator of Volunteer Services for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, and various other non-profit organizations in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Bethany is a trained nurse and lifelong farmer and is going to be working with our Public Health Outreach program as well as help with various aspects of JBFC’s permaculture program.


Christina - Graduate Social Worker
Christina, our new Graduate Social Worker, will be living with JBFC residential girls who recently graduated from Form 4 and are awaiting their placements in post-secondary education. While living with them, Christina will be responsible for registering the girls for their short-term technology courses, helping file college applications, setting up volunteer and internship opportunities, and coordinating various training and enrichment seminars. She will also be tracking JBFC's eight 2015 graduates in their various placements, which means lots of travel, as those girls are spread out all over the country.

Christina (left) with 2016 JBFC Residential Girl Graduates, Vero, Neema, Kulwa, and Rose in their new off-campus home.

In the U.S. Office:

Travis Purser - U.S. Expansion Coordinator

Travis will be a familiar face to many of our JBFC supporters. He arrived on JBFC’s campus in Tanzania at the end of 2013 to volunteer, quickly joined the staff as our Guest Coordinator in 2014, helping coordinate volunteer itineraries and activities, and finally moved to the Campus Director position on our flagship campus in Kitongo. While in Tanzania, Travis became very familiar with JBFC’s model and all of our children, staff and community, and is now using this knowledge and passion to help in our Tulsa office as our Expansion Coordinator. Travis is responsible for improving JBFC’s monitoring and evaluation processes and helping in the expansion and growth of JBFC.


Katelyn Jackson - U.S. Development Assistant
If you came by our office last Fall, Katelyn is also a familiar face! She spent last Fall working as the
JBFC office intern while finishing up her last semester of school. She graduated this past December from Oral Roberts University with a degree in International Community Development. Katelyn will be helping to manage our supporter database, send out various communications, and help to keep the JBFC US office in good order (no easy task, if we do say so ourselves).