Janet and Jim reside in Canada and visited South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Botswana for the first time in 2009.

Moved by the people, cultures, and challenges in Africa, they returned in 2010 and started mentoring African youth. They now spend much of each year in South Africa.

Local youth identified the shortage of male role models in their lives, and how that had negatively impacted their communities. This motivated the establishment of Iizidima in 2011 with the purpose of empowering disadvantaged male youth aged 13 to 21 in their pursuit of further education and ongoing development as responsible role models.