Meet Barbara Nkala


BARBARA is married to Shadreck Nkala and they have three adult children and six grand-children.

She first obtained a Diploma in Education with the University College of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), then a Bachelor of Arts in English and Communication with the University of South Africa (UNISA), and a Master of Arts in Leadership and Management with Africa Leadership and Management Academy (ALMA). She was awarded  a PhD by National University of Science and Technology for her work in Education and Literature. She taught in various secondary schools in the country before joining Longman Zimbabwe in 1981, where she rose to the position of commissioning editor for humanities subjects.


In 1991, she left Longman and worked in the family company for five years before being invited to head the International Bible Society-Zimbabwe (IBS Zimbabwe) as National Director. She was also in charge of the Chichewa Bible translation project in Malawi. She coordinated the translation and publishing of the new IBS Shona and Ndebele Bibles, as well as a Chichewa New Testament.

She left IBS Zimbabawe and founded Radiant Publishing, whose vision is to publish for transformation. Barbara is an author of fiction and non-fiction books published in both Ndebele and English languages. Earlier works  are under her maiden name Barbara Makhalisa.

She is an experienced editor, Ndebele translator,  and an elder in her church. She has sat in a number of humanitarian boards.

Since 2016, she is the Mennonite World Conference (MWC) Regional Representative for Southern Africa working with Anabaptist Churches in Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. 

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