World Relief Jacksonville
Aug 17, 2017
Jose Vega & Pierre Uwimana
World Relief Jacksonville

Effective March 2017, Jose Vega became World Relief Jacksonville’s office director upon the retirement of “Mrs. P”, the founding director of World Relief Jacksonville.  Jose was the previous director of the Miami office, which was one of the five World Relief refugee resettlement offices in the U.S. closed as a result of the executive order banning foreign travel and restricting refugee arrivals.

Jose is from Paraguay and his wife Claudia is from Argentina. He came to the United States in 2000 to be a Resident Chaplain at Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville, Florida. After a year and a half ministering at Baptist Medical Center, he was invited to become the pastor of a Hispanic congregation at Deermeadows Baptist Church where he served with his family for 10 years. Jose’s passion for people and servant’s heart gave him the opportunity to prepare himself for what God had in store for him. He started to work at World Relief Jacksonville in September 2012 as an Orientation Specialist, and in 2013 was offered the position of Resettlement Specialist for Hispanic refugees. Jose was also manager of the CAM (Central American Minors) Program at the Jacksonville office.

Jose has a Bachelor’s degree in Theology and a Master’s in Pastoral Counseling from Liberty University.

Pierre Uwimana has been with World Relief Jacksonville since receiving asylum in the United States in 2016. Formerly of Rwanda, Pierre was Program Expert for the UN Ministry of Finance, Kigali, Rwanda (2002 – 2004); Deputy Director General for Export Promotion, Ministry of Commerce, Kigali, Rwanda (2003-2005); and Country Director, World of Concern, Port-au-Prince, Haiti (2010-2013). After coming to the Jacksonville, Pierre first volunteered and was then hired at World Relief as a Congolese refugee case worker and employment specialist. He speaks six different languages, and in March 2017 became World Relief Jacksonville’s Finance Specialist.

Pierre has a Bachelor of Commerce degree and Master of Business Administration degree.