Our Founder
David & Essy Peterka
David - I founded the non-profit organization "When the Saints" in November 2011. My passion is to see an end to sexual exploitation, and to invite Christ’s bride into the role we can all play.
More than that, my desire is to bring glory to the name of Jesus. Although I’m in his late 30’s, I have extensive "hands on" experience and have been advocating for poverty and justice issues for two decades.
In the fall of 2011 I graduated from St. Louis Christian College with a Christian Ministries degree emphasizing Intercultural and Urban Missions. I love traveling and watching documentaries or movies with a strong lead actress.
Essy - Hi there! I’m your friendly Operations Manager here at WtS. My job has to do with keeping our amazing 80+ staff members happy. I make sure everything is running smoothly so they can do their best work.
David and I have been married since 2017 and we have two awesome kids, Taji and Nuru, who keep life exciting (and slightly chaotic). I’m the third of four kids in my family, which means I’ve got a lot of practice helping things run smoothly.
Originally from Kenya, my heart is still there with my parents and siblings, though I now call Malawi home. I’m a statistician by education, so numbers are my thing! Above all, I’m a believer, and I totally love my role with the ministry — it’s not just a job, it’s what God created me for.
Our Board
Darrel Clark - President
Darrell is married with four children, ages 17 to 40. He joined the board of When the Saints in 2016 and became Board President in 2019. During his tenure, he has witnessed God grow the ministry to serve children victimized by sexual abuse and help men find healing from sexual brokenness.
He holds a Bachelor's degree in Psychology, a Paralegal certificate, and a Biblical Counseling certificate. With over 25 years in child welfare, he worked with probation youth affected by abuse and gang culture and later served as a Court Dependency Investigator, advocating for abused children. He also co-founded Kids for Kids, a program for at-risk youth. Now retired, he facilitates groups for Firstlight and mentors students through YMCA Youth and Government.
Jeremy Krueger - Board Member
Jeremy is married to Sarah Krueger and they have one daughter, Genesis, who was born in 2024! He works as a sales engineer for FH Sales and has been active with WTS since he first met David back in 2014. He has been to Malawi twice with When the Saints, once in 2015 and again in 2020.
His role is managing the monthly donor database and assisting with the men's ministry in Malawi. He has a passion for evangelism and apologetics, you may see him out street preaching in STL with his church, Christ Fellowship Bible Church. He loves connecting with people and sharing how the Lord Jesus is working in Malawi to redeem lost sinners to Himself!
Carter Daniels - Board Member
Carter joined the When the Saints Finance Committee as an inexperienced yet eager recruit in November of 2021. Since then, he has graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Liberty University Online and soon after earned a master’s in the same respect. He joined the WTS board at the end of 2024 with great excitement for what the Lord has in store for the ministry.
With seven siblings and eight nieces/nephews (so far!), Carter has been around all sorts of ages for much of his life. He thus has compassion for both “the oppressor and the oppressed” as in the WTS slogan. He plans to grow his faith by serving the Malawians as we all look forward to being a part of this freedom-focused journey!
Cathy Hartke - Secretary
Cathy Hartke has had the honor of working with When the Saints for over a decade. Her passion for helping the mistreated and abused, especially the children, is what got her interested in this ministry and what continues to inspire her.
Cathy is a retired public school teacher and now spends her time baking cookies, crafting and being involved with her church.
Marilyn Slavich - Vice President
Marilyn Slavich is a wife and mother of two boys, both graduates from Lincoln Christian University. She is a CPA and has an MBA in Finance from Indiana University. She has a Certificate in Bible and Theology from the Merold Institute of Ministry.
Marilyn is the Vice President and currently acting Treasurer. She is also active in the ministry of Harvest Initiative, a Not-for-Profit providing education and clean water, in remote areas in Nicaragua. Marilyn has been an adjunct professor at St. Louis Christian College, Lincoln Christian University and Central Christian College of the Bible, where she also currently serves on the Board. Along with the above, she occupies her days with her three grandchildren and working as a consultant to a large private equity firm.
Kayla Hatcher — Board Member
Kayla Hatcher previously studied semi-arid agriculture for small-scale farmers at ECHO inc. in Southwest Florida, and is thrilled to be working in conjunction with When the Saints.
Her background in photography, ESL, and permaculture culminates in the beauty of the land as a space for uniting divided communities.
Katie Smith - Board Observer
Katie is married to Nathan Smith, and she has a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice and a minor in Accounting from the University of Missouri – St. Louis. She’s been involved with When the Saints since 2019 as a member of the Financial Committee and as the bookkeeper. In 2025, she also became a Board Observer.
Department Heads
Roselyn Hamisi
Roselyn Hamisi is our head trauma counselor at WtS. She joined the WtS family in December 2015 when we welcomed the first four girls into the safe home.
Being part of the WtS team in this mission to end sexual violence and helping the wounded is both nursing her passion to see girls recover and also positively transforming her own life.
With experience in counseling psychology and christian counseling, she is a vital part of our team.
Akim Banda
Akim Banda is our Men’s Ministry Facilitator. He is a gem of a man. He drops his coffee grounds straight into his cup and doesn’t even bother filtering them out!
Akim has overcome some of his own sexual integrity issues that he openly shares about. He now has a passion to help usher other men into sexual integrity as well. His vision for this is to preach the Gospel and disciple men so that they walk in sexual integrity from a place of being rooted and grounded in Christ’s love.
Akim has studied a Bachelor of Arts in Theology and his dream is to one day pastor a church.
Virginia Moyo
Virginia Moyo joined the WtS family in Malawi in 2014 as our stores clerk while the safe home was under construction. With a bachelors degree in Ministry, her hard work and commitment are also an asset to us.
She is currently working as our Secretary and doing a wonderful job. She has a welcoming heart and a big smile. We are excited to have her. She is very thankful for the amazing transformation that God is doing and bringing to the broken hearted that WtS serves. She loves being a part of bringing joy and hope to the hopeless.
Jane Zalangwa
Jane Zalangwa joined WtS in December of 2015 as a house mother. She always works with passion as she shows motherly love to the children. She is loved by the girls and is the head of house mothers and caretakers department.
The staff selected her to be one the conflict resolution leaders. She has been referred to as the “Spiritual mother of Mponela (our city)” and we are so blessed to have her as part of our team!
Macloud Gondwe
Macloud Gondwe is the head of our Social Work department. He has studied theology and has a great understanding of construction. Ge joined WtS in 2018 and Served as a Projects Officer for those two years. In addition, he was then promoted to Social Work in 2020. He helps to lead our morning staff devotions and the Monday bible study.
Macloud was elected as a member of the conflict resolution team by the staff. He has a zeal and passion to protect the girls from violence. Macloud is humbled and excited to be part of WtS and all the good work that Jesus is doing through it.
Chipiliro Roan
Chipiliro Roan is the head of our Guards Department. He does a fantastic job in helping to oversee all of our guards to ensure there is safety and security on our campuses. You can’t miss his enthusiastic salute each time he opens the gate for you at When the Saints!
Malawian Board
Bronex Kathyola
Bronex is the president of our Malawian board. He has been serving faithfully and sacrificially since 2014.
He is a husband and father of three children. On his Malawi National Examination he got a perfect score in Math which has led him to work as an accountant for a variety of major organizations.
Hastings Blessings Banda
Hastings Blessings Banda has been a Malawian committee member for WtS since 2016. He is a Supply Chain Management specialist by profession and has also been called into a Pastoral assignment.
Hastings is married to Alinafe and together they have two daughters and one son. Hastings always counts it a great privilege and an honor to be part of the team that is committed to the vision and mission for which WtS stands for.
Chola Chomba
Chola Chomba has served as a commitee member of WtS since its early days. Having a passion to see girls and women empowered to be what God has destined them to be, it has been a joy to see WtS grow.
From having the first girl come into the safe home to now having many girls. It’s so exciting to see God's plan unfold; to set girls free and lift them up to fulfill their purpose on earth. It has also be wonderful stepping into ministry with the men in order to help them walk in sexual integrity.
Emmie Ngwira
Emmie is a wife and a mother to two daughters. She is a woman in pursuit of God’s heart and an excited witness to His work amongst his people.
She enjoys visual arts (interior design, painting and quilting), gardening and spending quality time with family and friends.