Kufarimai, Precious Tatenda
Precious Tatenda Kufarimai is a Global Mission Fellow (US-2) with the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, engaged in a two-year term of service. She is part of the 2021-2023 Global Mission Fellow cohort.
The Global Mission Fellows program takes young adults ages 20-30 out of their home environments and places them in new contexts for mission experience and service. The program has a strong emphasis on faith and justice. Global Mission Fellows become active parts of their new local communities. They connect the church in mission across cultural and geographical boundaries. They grow in personal and social holiness and become strong young leaders working to build just communities in a peaceful world.
Born in Mutare, Zimbabwe, Precious has lived throughout the southeastern United States and currently resides in Madison, Alabama. She is a member of St. Paul United Methodist Church, Triana, North Alabama Annual Conference. She has participated in church choirs and praise teams and helped to start praise-dance ministries. She is a delegate to General Conference.
Precious holds a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology with a minor in African American studies from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
“I grew up going to church and being very involved,” Precious said. “Being a preacher’s kid, I did not have much of a choice. I just knew church was something that my family and I did, and it was expected of me to be at everything.”
With age came questions about “why we do what we do,” she said. She did not want to believe that church was something she did because she had to do it.
“Hearing other people’s testimonies about their relationship with God made me sit back and think about mine,” Precious said. “My parents never forced anything on me, so I was given a fresh slate to define who God was in my life. My spiritual journey has really tested how I view myself, how I view those around me, and my understanding of how God works through the situations that I go through.”
She has witnessed God at work in every milestone in her life. “I can see where God literally had his hand on me,” Precious said. She realized that God calls us to help those whom society sometimes deems “unworthy.”
“That is what we are called to do as Christians,” Precious added. “Not just when it’s a trend, not just when major catastrophic events happen, but at all times.”
As a child and youth, Precious thought missional outreach always happened in undeveloped countries. Now she understands that “mission work is wherever the people are and wherever the need is,” she said. “It is not for self-gratification, but rather for the uplifting of the kingdom.”
God calls us “to tend to the garden,” Precious continued. “Although the garden does not look like what was intended, we still must tend to what is around us. Not just be the voice for the voiceless, but aid them in speaking for themselves.
“As I have gotten older, I constantly think of what can I do to help others help themselves. I have had the privilege of living a life that I did not have to worry about much. Everyone deserves that same security.”