We know you’ve likely experienced a bittersweet story of someone you love leaving to take the next step in life. This month, ACE has one of those stories to share. 

Our Child Sponsorship Coordinator D’Vaun has been with ACE for eight years and has made the painful decision to move on to a new chapter of life by “semi-departing” from ACE to be a Guidance Counselor at our very first sponsored school, Jackson Primary. We have watched him grow up, get married to our former Administrator Saskia, and welcome their beautiful baby boy to the world. 

With more mouths to feed in his family, we all saw it coming. It’s hard to compete with the benefits a government job offers, so we all held our breath until that announcement came. We are all very happy for D’Vaun’s family, but it’s still sad knowing that D’Vaun won’t be around as much.

You may be wondering what we meant when we said D’Vaun is “semi-departing” from ACE. Well, so far we have seen him almost every day, as usual. He shows up frequently at our Peace House supper on Thursday nights and in the late afternoons to continue giving advice to Jewel and other members of the staff.

That’s the sweet part! D’Vaun is and will always be part of the ACE family. He’s even offered to help us with our summer teams and spring break trips when he’s available. Will you get to see D’Vaun and his family when you come down next?! The answer is always a big YES!!! His family is an official sponsored family, and their little baby Markhus has a bunch of self-appointed “kin” to babysit, love on, and train him to be on staff when he grows up. We are confident he will inherit some great leadership genes!

We hope you’ll be happy for ACE and for D’Vaun’s family. We wish them all the best that God has to offer, and we look forward to visiting D’Vaun at Jackson Primary up in the hills soon.