Meet The Director of Mapalo Academy
Emil Mukuka
Emil Mukuka is a Zambian national who is the director of the Mapalo Academy and care center for orphans. Once an executive for the Zambian communication utility, Zesco, In 2003, Emil and his wife, Jane, decided to pursue a calling to ministry, and Emil entered Northrise University, where he earned a bachelor of arts in Christian ministries. Emil and Jane decided to bring their much-needed talents to Chipulukusu, one of the poorest compounds in northern Zambia, For some 20 years now they have tirelessly served a community of over 150,000 people, 10% of whom have been orphaned by the plagues of Africa. Emil is known locally as “The Mayor“ due to the impact he has had there. Over 1550 children have been rescued, restored and educated through Mapalo. Moreover,he has pastored a church, provided vocational classes and opportunities, taught English courses, and is solely responsible for changing the name of the compound from Chipulukusu, meaning “worthless”, to Mapalo, meaning “blessing.”
Meet The Board
Peter DeBaun - Founder
I’m fortunate to call both Sun Valley and Laguna Beach home, dividing my life between two of God’s loveliest creations. I’m proud to be called a “Fighting Artist”, LOL! - graduating from Laguna Beach high school in 1977. Academic focus included biology and natural resource management at Cal Poly, SLO, philosophy at Azusa Pacific, and a Masters of Divinity program at Princeton Theological Seminary. My career has been split between being a fisher of men or something else, having invested 20 years in youth ministry, then 22 more as a professional fly fishing guide in Idaho and around the world. Holding an IFFF Master Casting Instructor certification, I have guided or fished in over 40 countries. In 2003, I helped launch Northrise University, Zambia‘s first private university, and shortly thereafter was a primary architect in creating the non-profit, Give Hope For Life, caring for over 350 orphaned and needy children in northern Zambia.
George Kirk - Founder
George Kirk, principal of The Kirk Group, a real estate investment and development company in Sun Valley, is a founding Board Member and Chairman of Give Hope for Life, Inc.
Kirk earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from San Diego State University and moved to central Idaho in the late 1980s.
In 1997, he founded The Kirk Group, continuing his real estate development, investment management, property management and brokerage business. Kirk has more than 30 years of diversified experience in commercial and industrial real estate investment, development, management, and brokerage.
From 2005 through 2011, The Kirk Group managed an environmental restoration project in South Blaine County. The project restored and revitalized sections of the Big Wood River, three spring creeks and hundreds of acres of wetlands, located on 4,600 acres of land that had been depleted by decades of cattle grazing, and remains the largest project of this type in Idaho.
The Kirk Group is currently focused on private syndications of investment real estate, offering its investors outsized cash returns in minimal risk environments.
Kirk is a member of the St. Luke’s Wood River Community Hospital board of directors, the St. Likes Health Systems Audit, Risk and Compliance and External Relations Committee.
In addition to his service with Give Hope for Life and St. Luke’s, Kirk is a 20-year member, and past President of the Ketchum/Sun Valley Rotary Club; an elder in the Presbyterian Church of the Big Wood in Ketchum; and a board member of Northrise University Initiative (www.northrise.org), the fundraising arm for Northrise University (www.northriseuniversity.com), the first private university in Zambia.
Kirk is an avid fly fisherman and outdoor sportsman.
Sources: Linked In, Kirk Group website and Sun Valley Magazine.
Josette Stellers - Founder
Josette Stellers has sat on the Board of Hope for Life as the treasurer since 2004. Josette and the founder of Hope for Life, Pete DeBaun, have been friends since the early 2000’s. The journey with Hope for Life began when Pete DeBaun brought his vision of helping children in the village of Mapalo back to the Wood River Valley in Idaho and formed “Fishing for Life.” Fishing for Life then became Hope for Life a few years later. Serving as treasurer from its inception has been a rewarding and fulfilling experience that has touched her entire family. In 2010, she and her two sons travelled to Zambia to work at the Mapalo Morning Glow Academy. What was to be a mission trip to help the director, teachers, and students turned into a life changing adventure. To witness the love of Jesus the people of Mapalo feel, hang out with the children and teachers, and spend time with the director and his family was incredible. Bringing home the friendships and rewards of being with the people of Mapalo, Ndola, Zambia, was the biggest blessing of all. Josette lives in Hailey, Idaho, in the Wood River Valley and works as an accountant/property manager at The Kirk Group. In her off time, she enjoys all that the mountains have to offer - trail running, mountain biking, snowshoeing. She also loves catching time with her kids when they are back at home.
Lisa Plumb - Founder
Lisa Addeo Plumb grew up in Newport Beach California and graduated from UCLA in 2004, earning a degree in psychology, then to Pepperdine in 2007, to earn her masters in clinical psychology. Lisa worked as a licensed family therapist both in Southern California and Hawaii. Lisa was instrumental developing and overseeing the student sponsorship program for Northrise University, which eventually led her to lend her skills to help the orphans of Mapalo. Lisa, her husband, Andrew, and two young daughters split their time between San Diego and Stanley, Idaho, where they run Silver Creek Funding.
Moffat Zimba - Founder
Moffat grew up in a small village in eastern Zambia where his older brother taught him English by scratching lessons in the dirt. He would eventually graduate from high school, attend college in Australia, and finally earn his EdD at Fuller Theological Seminary un Southern California. Dr Zimba is the President of Zambia’s first private university, Northrise University in Ndola Zambia. He and his wife, Doreen, are the chief architects of one of Sub-Saharan Africa‘s most successful educational startups -www.northrise.org