“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
1 Peter 4:10
Our Team
Simone Batchadji Njei
Simone Batchadji Njei is the founder of Manjo Children’s Home and Fruit De L'Amour De Christ (FAC). She was born in Cameroon to a broken family. Abandoned by her birth mother at the age of three, she was a victim of abuse and injustice. These experiences left her with a silent, wounded heart and led her to seek love and security in all the wrong places. Not until her adult years would Simone come to know Jesus as her Savior and for the first time feel loved.
She was then able to break the silence of her struggles without fear of rejection. Knowing her identity in Christ gave her a purpose in life and led her to this mission: “Share His love with others." With her purpose in mind, she is eager to provide a place where children in need can grow up knowing they are safe and loved through a personal relationship with GOD.
Samuel Deffo
Samuel serves full-time as the local administrator and manager of Manjo Children’s Home since July 2021, after having served part-time the previous year.
He compares his journey in joining MCH to Abraham, not knowing where he was going, but following none the less where God led him. His wife, Arlette, had met Simone, who was in great need of help at MCH just days before returning to the US. And though their meeting, changed the Deffo’s plans considerably, both feeling God calling them to this work. And, like Abraham, they obeyed His voice.
Samuel is passionate about education. Mostly self-educated, he wasn’t given the best educational opportunities when he was younger. He loves to help the children of MCH with their education and to make sure they have the opportunities he didn’t. He’s a great role-model as well, as he doesn’t shy away from any work, be it grounds maintenance, cleaning, driving, or whatever else needs to be done. He and Arlette are the house parents in House Love for the younger girls.
Samuel is the father of three children, Wisdom, Noe, and Victory.
Arlette Deffo
Arlette serves as the younger girls’ house mother in House Love. She is greatly involved with their education, thanks to her gifts and training.
In 2020, few days before Simone’s biannual trip to MCH was about to come to an end, Arlette was taking her to the school she worked at as secretary, to show Simone how to enroll the children there. Simone was in dire need of house parents for MCH as the previous couple was about to leave. She talked with Arlette about MCH and felt led to challenge her to consider the position, even though Arlette had just started her new job at the school. While Simone prayed and trusted for God’s provision, the night before she had to fly back to the US, Samuel and Arlette showed up to meet her and told her of their conviction that God had called them to join MCH.
Arlette is also the mother of three children, Wisdom, Noe, and Victory.
Marie Nidone
Marie joined our staff in 2019 as our cook. However, she is so much more to us. While being in charge of the nutrition and health of the children, she also works hard in the garden, helping to care for the children, assisting them with their school work and reading. She also serves as the house mother for the older girls in House Joy.
Bertrand Ngoh Ngoh
Bertrand is responsible for the yard cleaning and maintenance, which involves a lot of mowing. He used to do this with a machete, then with a trimmer, and now finally his dream for a mower has come true. As the work is very extensive, he gets help at times form hired seasonal laborers.
Barbara Takungi
Barbara joined us in 2021. She helps with the supervision of the children as well as with cleaning. She is also a house mother to the girls in House Joy. She does not live on the compound, but lives with her husband in a nearby town, unless there is a need to give other staff a break.
Elve Tchamko
Elve is our driver. He is mainly responsible for transporting the children to and from school. Recently he was also put in charge of other services like keeping the front entrance in good shape, and to be our guard at the gate when not otherwise occupied. He helps out in other areas, too, if needed.
Wilfrid Kpitime
Wilfrid is the head of our agricultural department. He started his work at MCH in November 2020. He came to us from the Songhai Center at Benin, where he learned all his skills in farming.
He and the whole farming team work together to restore the soil that has been depleted and damaged by years of coffee farming. He uses all he has learned to better our crops, while also passing on his knowledge of different farming skills to our children, in the hope that these will help them in their future, as well as helping them to learn about healthy nutrition.
The agricultural team keeps changing and at times we hire additional seasonal laborers.
Joseph and Carolyn Ajima
Joseph and Carolyn came to us in a very unexpected way. Joseph’s father died when Jospeh was 10 years old. He then was mainly under the care of his uncle. He ended up in the wrong crowd, going down the wrong path. His mother never gave up praying for him. One day, he got shot by thieves. He says that through losing his eyesight, he saw clearly the things that mattered and turned his life over to God. He believes in hard work and sustained himself and his family by diving for sand for the building industry (there is actually a documentary on him) and then by splitting wood. Both jobs carry a lot of risk for a blind man. Joseph was also involved in his local church and helped out people in need, even though his own income was meager. On her visit to Cameroon, Simone heard clearly from God that Joseph was to be the additional house parent, that she had been praying for; and that God wanted to show his love to Joseph and to reveal His glory through him in MCH. Joseph and Carolyn also received confirmation from God and the approval of their church after prayer and consideration; so did some staff of MCH as well as Jospeh’s mother. Joseph and Carolyn have four children, who came with them to the home: Victory Success, Precious Love, Princesse Joy, and Prince Samuel. Jospeh and Carolyn are the house parent of House Peace. While Joseph helps with washing clothes, splitting wood, and the spiritual education of the children, Carolyn helps to keep the house clean, cares for the boys in House Peace, and helps with after school care for the Kindergarten and first grade children.