Mbyirukira, Mokotsi Jonas

Administrator. Born in Rwanda, he lost his mother when he was six years old. He was baptized at fifteen and ordained to the gospel ministry when he was thirty. In 1955 he served as director of the first mission station of central Africa at Masisi, now known as East Zaïre Field. In 1960 he became the furst African to serve as president of a field. In 1970 he became field secretary of the Trans-Africa Division and two years later was asked to be president of Zaïre Union Mission. He held this office until 1980.

In 1973 Solusi Adventist College awarded him an honorary degree in theology. In 1983 he was decorated as the “Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Léopard,” becoming the first Seventh-day Adventist to be honored by a civic medal in Zaïre.

Pastor Mbyimkira was a member of the Zaïre Union committee for twenty-eight years, of the Trans-Africa Division committee for eighteen years, and of the General Conference Committee for ten years.

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