Name: Mark “Kwaku” Nimo Mark “Kwaku” Nimo is the fifth of seven children and comes to us from Ghana in West Africa. After encountering the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement following high school, Kwaku discovered a new passion for prayer, studying the Bible, and sharing these passions with others. This transformation led Kwaku into lay missions in Uganda where he served as a member of a team ministering to those dying of AIDS and also training others in ministry. After this experience, Kwaku returned to Ghana and headed up the Know and Tell the Gospel School for Evangelization in Takoradi, Ghana, and was a representative for Anglophone Africa on the council of the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services in Rome. As a lay evangelist, worship leader, and youth minister, Kwaku continues to explore and nourish his faith and is currently enrolled at Catholic Theological Union. He is married to Mercy and they have one daughter, Elizabeth.
- 1. How were you called to your current ministry/service? I had a conversion experience after high school just before I entered university and this gave me the confidence to share my faith in a more radical and loving way. I also had a two-year experience in Uganda, East Africa as a lay missionary serving those sick with AIDS and doing youth ministry.
- Who inspires you? Pope John Paul II
- What are the biggest obstacles to peace? Inequality, injustice and pride.
- Describe for us a typical day. I wake up normally at about 5:30am and spend about an hour in personal prayer. If I do not have an early class, I go for mass in the morning. I spend time in the library doing research and also reading spiritual classics. When I get home in the evening, I tune in to CNN to catch up on news around the world. I spend about 5 minutes in prayer and sleep.
- How do you get the news? Through CNN or FOX NEWS.
- How do you nurture your faith life? Through personal prayer, bible reading and study, spiritual reading, the Eucharist and the sacrament of reconciliation.
- What advice would you give the next generation of church and civic leaders? The church does not need them only for the future; they are needed now! Civic leaders should not prevent people from exercising their civil and basic human right to worship. It is unjust to prevent people from the right to worship and express their faith.
- Tell us something about yourself that we wouldn’t know. I have a wife and a teenage daughter. I play the guitar and love making faith come alive.
- Last good book you read? The Holy Longing by Ronald Rolheiser O.M.I.
- Last good movie you saw? Hotel Rwanda.
- What were you like in high school? Very outgoing. Liked Karate and music, was part of the school’s rock band.
- If you were a teenage Peacebuilder you would… I would take advantage of every opportunity to grow in faith and discover the will of God for my life.
- What is your favorite comfort food? Chinese fried rice with shrimp.
- Share a favorite quote that inspires you. “We had the experience but missed the meaning.” T.S. Eliot.
