Pastor Louisa Evelinah Musolwa Munyai (45) was ordained as pastor of the Makhado Citadel Christian Church by Dr Ora Maswanganyi of the UDH Ministries during an event held at the local show grounds a fortnight ago.

Pastor Munyai was born at Getrudesburg in January 23, 1962. When Mbilwi Secondary School was established in 1979, Munyai was in Grade 11 at the school. After passing her matric at Mbilwi, she enrolled for a secondary teachers’ diploma course at the former Venda College of Education, commonly known as VECO.

It was at VECO where she met her late husband, AM Munyai. The two got married in 1986 and in 1987 they became the proud parents of a baby boy. Their only daughter, Abigail, was born in 1992. "During that period, we were members of Mbilwi Lutheran Church. When we moved to Shayandima, we also started to attend the sermons of the Assemblies of God Church," she said.

Pastor Munyai worked as an Afrikaans educator at Phaswana Secondary school from 1985 until late last year when she was employed as the head of department of languages at Makhado Comprehensive Secondary School.

Ten years after they had moved to Makhado, pastor Munyai said, her late husband established the Citadel Church in 2004. Her husband passed away on her birthday, January 23 last year. When her husband died, he was principal at Dimani.

Three days before the end of 2006, Munyai received a preacher certificate from UDH Ministries, which encouraged her to preach the Gospel of Christ and to perform all duties essential to the ministries of the Gospel. During her ordination, she received three certificates, namely a preacher certificate, certificates of graduation and ordination respectively.

In an interview with Mirror, Pastor Munyai described her ordination as a higher calling by God. "This is the responsibility entrusted to me by the Creator. This is the grace of God and a great thing in my life. I also feel honoured because I can see that God loves me. The church is growing; you cannot even believe that it is led by a woman," she said.

Munyai said that, as her congregation is still utilising the Public Works Hall in Makhado, they are seriously and urgently looking for their own site in town. "We are faced with a challenge of overcrowding," she said.