Presbyterian Mission Agency

cuba - dianet martinez

Dianet de la Caridad Martínez Valdés holds a Bachelor of Art in English and French languages from the University of Las Villas in Santa Clara, Cuba.  She is a lifelong Presbyterian who says that the church nurtured in her an awareness of exclusion, discrimination, poverty and the desire to serve Christ and work for justice.  After years of involvement, she now serves as chairperson of the Student Christian Movement (SCM) of Cuba, an ecumenical organization of young people whose mission is to provide spaces for leadership training, critical reflection, and faithful service.   She is currently engaged in theological studies at the Evangelical Seminary of Theology in Matanzas. Dianet is a member of the Presbyterian Church “John G. Hall” in Cardenas, where she serves as pianist, choir director, and music teacher for children and youth.

GHANA- Gladys Lariba

Rev. Gladys Lariba Mahama comes from the Upper East Region of Ghana where she serves as minister-In-charge of the Fumbisi congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Upper Presbytery. Her ministry with women has been focused on an association for widows (Asungtaba)  and a project working for the reintegration of women identified as “witches” back into their families (the Go Home Project).  She is currently serving as the board chairperson for the Nalerigu Cooperative Credit Union and as coordinator for women’s ministry in Upper Presbytery.  She is a widow with four children.

HUNGARY - Dóra Kaniszai-Nagy

 Dóra Kanizsai-Nagy, from Budapest, Hungary, has a degree in international relations and began her career in think tanks, focusing on energy policy and democracy. Since 2008, she has served with the Reformed Church in Hungary (RCH) in various capacities – first as a project manager and later as the head of the RCH’s Refugee Ministry. In 2014 she co-founded the Kalunba Social Services Association, an NGO that now actively serves refugees in Budapest. Dóra and her team work towards helping their clientele in both the short and long term, providing services such as housing assistance, employment, schooling programs, language lessons, as well as community building opportunities. “Since the beginning, it has been vital for to me to actively search for the ways in which we can provide practical help for those turning to us. It is very important for me to show how the church can apply abstract theological values in a practical sense,” says Dóra, when describing her work. The refugee mission aims to provide concrete and practical help to the population that it serves so that their clients might lead more full, well rounded, and independent lives as productive and valuable members of society.

IRAN - SARGEZ BENYAMIN

A native of Urmia, Iran, Rev. Sargez Benyamin is executive secretary of the Synod of the Evangelical (Presbyterian) Church in Iran (ECI), a denomination that started as a product of Presbyterian mission in Persia in 1834.   Having served as executive secretary since 2007, Rev. Benyamin has represented the ECI at the World and Middle East Councils of Churches and at other ecumenical entities. He completed a bachelors in English (text) Translation in Tehran, and a masters in theological and biblical studies In Vienna.  Following ordination, he served as pastor in his home congregation for 13 years and then in Tehran until July 2015.   He is married to Annette and they have two daughters.  He is interested in researching and translating different kinds of materials to answer critical societal needs, and to date has translated and compiled 12 books in Farsi.  He enjoys fishing, watching football and gardening.

ISRAEL/palestine - Areej Murad Masoud

Areej Masoud is a native of Bethlehem, Palestine and currently works as the Communication and Administrative Officer for Kairos Palestine, where she liaisons, networks and oversees communications with churches, organizations and donors.   She has previously worked with Seeds of Hope in Jericho and as a religious studies teacher in 7-10 grades in Jerusalem.  She completed a Religious Studies and Psychology degree at Bethlehem University in 2013 and has done courses of study at Diaconal College in Denmark and in Greece through Georgetown University.  She speaks Arabic, English and a bit of French.  She has training in international human rights, international humanitarian law and conflict resolution.  She has lead workshops and been a speaker on the Kairos Document in Norway and the United States.   She is a member of the Palestinian Youth Ecumenical Movement (PYEM)

ISRAEL/PALESTINE -ARDA AGHAZARIAN

Biographical information is in the process of being added to our website.  Check back soon.

Kenya - Veronica Muchiri

Biographical information is in the process of being added to our website.  Check back soon.

NIGER - Isaaka Moussa

Issaka Moussa  serves as secretary for global partnerships of the Evangelical Church in Niger (EERN), the oldest and the largest denomination in Niger.  By profession, he is a magistrate (currently honorable justice in his country). As a lawyer, he holds a master’s degree in “citizenship, human rights and humanitarian action” obtained at the public university of Dakar (Senegal).  Before being elected by Niger civil society to hold his current position, he held the position of the high officer in charge of writing the Niger country reports on human rights implementation due to the treaty bodies – the United Nations and the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights. In the church, he held the position of national leader of the youth for ten years and elder in his local church of Boukoki II Niamey for many years. He is the chairperson of the “Prison fellowship Internal” branch of Niger since 2008.   He has a wife and three children - a son of 12 years and two girls of 10 and 8 years old.

syria - tamar wasoian

Dr. Tamar Wasoian is an Armenian educator and theologian from Syria. She began her seminary education at Near East School of Theology in Beirut, Lebanon. After completing her education she was appointed as the Youth Worker and became responsible for Sunday Schools in the Armenian Evangelical Church in Syria. As the Republic of Armenian declared its independence from the Soviet Union, the Armenian Missionary Association started its mission work in the Armenian homelands. Called to ministry in her homelands, she joined the church team and was in charge of the Christian Education ministry in the Republic of Armenia and Mountainous Garapagh. In 2001 she joined the McCormick Theological Seminary to complete her MTS degree after which she returned to teach and minister in Armenia. Tamar then pursued her Doctoral degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Religious Education and Congregational Studies. She currently lives in Chicago and teaches both at McCormick Theological Seminary and Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.  Armenian history, communal traditions, faith and identity are at the core of Tamar’s fields of interests and expertise. She is actively involved with the Armenian community and she is on the steering committee of Syria Lebanon Partnership Network of the Presbyterian Churches (USA), and the Middle East Task Force.

Tamar is a descendent of Armenian Genocide survivors. Her grandparents escaped the 1915-1918 killings of the Armenians, Greeks and Assyrian Christians in Asia Minor by Ottoman Turkey and were relocated in Aleppo. Unfortunately while Armenians are commemorating the centennial of the Genocide, the Syrian Armenian community is reliving the horrors of the pogroms all over again. Tamar will be speaking about the Armenian presence in Syria, the haunting memories of a past unacknowledged Genocide and the current survival story of her people in Syria.