How it all Began
In 2013, founders, Nunu and Amanda Macarrao, were working with a small family style orphanage. Amanda had been shocked to find out that children living in the orphanage had parents, who were still alive! She and Nunu took a liking to one family in particular; the mom’s name was Cifa. It was through this relationship that Amanda found herself asking the question, “Who is going to help them?!” The unexpected answer came from God: “You!”
When Amanda shared this with Nunu, he reminded her of the neighbor from his childhood that had a huge impact on his life. While she struggled to make ends meet, she gave from what she had and encouraged Nunu. Amanda and Nunu knew one day they would do more for women, but they continued their work with the orphanage and began thinking of ways to help Cifa.
In August 2013, Nunu and Amanda attended The Global Leadership Summit. While at the conference they watched a video about a micro lending program in an African country aimed at women. As they exited the room in silence, they turned to each other and said, “It’s time to start a new ministry.”
Amanda Macarrao
Amanda often describes her childhood as your “typical suburban church upbringing.” She first traveled to Mozambique in 2011, to volunteer at a family style orphanage. She graduated from Judson University with a degree in Architecture. Amanda’s faith began at a young age, but didn’t become her own until her senior year at Judson. She enjoys any moment she can get to herself to sew or do anything crafty.
Nunu Macarrao
When Nunu was nine, his mother passed away and he was sent to live in an orphanage. It was there that Nunu first felt the call to ministry. At the end of 2010, Nunu traveled across the country to work in a family style orphanage. He graduated from Universidade Catholica Mocambique with a degree in Law and is currently working on a Master of Arts in New Testament from Northern Seminary. Nunu can often be found visiting neighbors in their village or reading books on theology and faith.
Nunu and Amanda were married on May 13, 2012 and have been serving together in Mozambique since. They have two children, Tegan and Tristan. For fun the family enjoys time at the beach and dance parties in their living room.
What happened to The Widow’s Might?
In 2018, we went to register our ministry in Mozambique and finally had to come to terms, The Widow’s Might didn’t translate well into either Portuguese (national language) or Emakewa (local tribal language). We had also run into a few issues over the years in the US, apparently there are quite a few groups with similar names (A Widow’s Might, The Widows Mite etc.) and this caused some of our supports confusion.
We decided that we wanted a unique name that would empower our village and make them comfortable. Kihavo (key-hav-O) is an Emakewa word meaning, “Hi, how are you?” Since the Macarrao’s arrived in Muxara in 2014, Nunu was known for the zest in which he responded to this question, earning him the nickname, Mohavo (moe-hav-O; meaning I’m well). We love the simplicity of this word, knowing it’s in our villages mother tongue and seeing people’s faces light up when they hear…