Growing up as a child, through being a teacher, Lecturer to a development practitioner, serving God has been at the heart of Joe Lambongang. He has always believed and understood that to serve God is to serve others. Being called by God, therefore, should not be left to Pastors, Missionaries, and Imams. Whoever we are, wherever we are, we can all do something that makes a difference in the lives of others and hence glorify God.
Drawing inspiration from Matthew 22: 37-40, 25: 35-40, he took a firm decision to serve God by serving the poor and marginalized people in our society. In 2002, he founded GrowthAid as a vehicle to achieve this purpose. Given his background, the initial focus was on poverty alleviation, but this was fine-tuned in 2016 to focus more clearly on the provision of safe water, improved sanitation and hygiene and the prevention and management of Neglected Tropical Diseases in poor and vulnerable communities.
GrowthAid started with a core team of students and Teaching Assistants from the University of Science and Technology and has grown to where it is now. Despite its Christian foundations, GrowthAid is a non-Governmental Organization that is open to and encourages all faiths. Poverty and disease are blind to religion, race, culture, so at GrowthAid we believe that diversity strengthens us to serve better.
