Q&A with Nike Ohonme
Nike serves as the Associate Director of Development and develops partnerships and strategic initiatives to further the impact of Samaritan’s Feet. We chatted with her for a few minutes to hear more about her role and experiences serving with the organizations!
Share a little bit about your responsibilities here at Samaritan’s Feet.
Development is the process of starting something new and seeing it to completion, problem solving, and working in a collaborative space to reach common goals. That’s a lot of what I do here with the expectation that developing strategy and working with collaboratively will provide revenue driven results.
How is developing relationships with organizations, donors, etc. important to the overall mission of Samaritan’s Feet?
I think it’s vital to the work we do here because we want to build meaningful, impactful, long-lasting relationships with other organizations, donors, and friends of the ministry. We can do bigger and better things when we lock arms with others. If we fail in this space, then we’re unsuccessful in connecting people to the vision and the mission of our work.
Why did you decide to join the team?
Since my first mission trip, I’ve been hooked. I wanted to find a job that would allow me to make a bigger impact and be connected to people who want the same.
What is your favorite part of your job here?
I think it’s hearing stories from co-workers, volunteers, and kids who have interacted with us. They have been impacted so greatly that they keep serving, keep giving, and keep partnering with us. It’s really special. I also love the encouragement and warmth of the people I work with.
You've had dozens of experiences serving, do you remember what your first one was?
My first experience was on an international mission trip to South Africa over 15 years ago!
What is tour favorite and/or most impactful experience?
My favorite trip was in 2018 when a Samaritan’s Feet team hiked Mt. Kilimanjaro and served in Tanzania (pictured below). My most impactful was a missions trip in 2009 to South Africa. We had fundraised the year prior and were able to provide uniforms to students at the school. To be able to deliver the uniforms to kids we had never met, but had fundraised for, was really unique.
