Frido Kinkolenge, a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries and the EmK Weltmission (United Methodist Church in Germany), is the Director of the Children’s Ministries in the UMC Liberia Annual Conference as well as the EmK Weltmission Children’s Project Manager in Liberia.

Mr. Kinkolenge’s focuses on working with the Liberia ex-combatant children’s ministry. This ministry helps former child soldiers to be reintegrated into the community and to be accepted back into their families. Children and young adults recruited as soldiers were forced to take drugs in order to cope with wreaking the havoc required of them, often inflicting their own families with abuses leading to HIV.

With intensive counseling, life-skills training and love, Frido is helping to reintegrate these young people into the community through education in drug-related and trauma healing workshops. Trainees in the programs learn skills such as soap making, tie and dye, computer literacy, typing, pastry and graphic arts. The programs are to strengthen the new post-war government’s efforts to educate its citizens for a better future.

“These children who have been soldiers, they know the things they’ve done and they worry that they will not be accepted back into society. Many of these children have not known any love. They’ve never had time to grieve. Some cannot read or write but with help they can experience healing, become productive and be convinced to move away from violence.”

Established by the 1988 General Conference, Peace with Justice Sunday supports programs that advocate peace and justice at home and around the world. Since half of the offerings collected by your annual conference is retained to fund local peace with justice programs, you can see a difference made locally. In addition, half of the offering is remitted to the General Board of Church and Society to help fund U.S. and global work in social action, public-policy education and advocacy.

To get involved, you can contact the Peace with Justice Coordinator in your annual conference. You can give online to Peace with Justice Sunday at any time.