Every day I wake up, thankful that I was born in Africa, I just wish that everyone else born in Africa could have the same opportunity that I have been given to thrive. It was August 30, 2013 when I met Daniel Soope, a Maasai pastor of Amboseli Chapel. He had told us about a remote village that Amboseli Chapel was trying desperately to help. The next day he took us to the community of Risa and int
roduced us to Pastor Simon and his church. The community currently has to walk 6 kilometers to access clean water. The rest is all mud huts that the Maasai call “manyattas”. The plight of the people of Risa is severe but their spirit is rich. We enjoyed several hours worshipping with them and they were thrilled to have Americans visiting them for the very first time! They had a traditional Maasai guest ceremony for us and showered us with gifts and even gave us Maasai names. The name I was given is Saruni, meaning the one who brings help. There was part of me that was hoping that we wouldn’t really make a connection with anybody on that trip so that I could get back to my comfortable life in California and keep Africa as a distant memory. God had a different plan. And this is how it all started. A year later, we took a group of 24 people from the U.S. back to Risa to conduct a geological survey of the land to see if drilling a well is possible. The well IS possible and we have already secured the necessary permits to start drilling. While we were there, we also hosted a church planting seminar at Amboseli Chapel. This is something that Daniel had been asking for ever since we first met. On this trip the vision for Africa Thriving became clear. We will be the hands and feet of Christ by serving the needs of the poor and equipping local leaders to plant churches in their communities to help them thrive physically and spiritually. The mission is simple. Our mission is to serve the most basic human needs of resource challenged communities in Africa by bringing clean water, food and spiritual nourishment to equip and empower them to thrive and help others. Africa Thriving is a registered Non-Profit Corporation in the state of California. We have hired an attorney group that is in the process of submitting our 501 C-3 application to the federal government. They have told us that there is no doubt of getting approval but it may take several months to process the application. We have five board members that are all volunteers and no payed staff for our first year of operation. Our first payed staff will likely be Kenyans, because that is where the biggest needs are. And to be completely honest, they can do the work much better than we can. Our immediate needs as a start up Non-Profit Organisation is to build a website that will be our place to mobilize the community here and in Africa. It will be a place where you can see exactly what the organization is doing in real time, or at least very close to it. Another big need is for us to travel to Kenya and meet with government officials to secure permission for Africa Thriving to operate legally in Kenya. All of the contacts have been made, they are just waiting for us to make the appointments. Our last but most important need is to start the first phase of well drilling in Risa. On AfricaThriving.org (still in development) we will give individuals the opportunity to join the Africa Thriving family by donating 50 cents a day to help bring clean water to communities that simply don’t have any. The World Health Organization published a study that estimated that for every ONE dollar invested in clean water projects in Africa, the local economy would yield $8. That works out to almost $1,500 in a year going to the local economy from a simple investment of 50 cents a day. Would you please consider joining the founding family of donors for Africa Thriving? Regardless of the amount, you will always be recognized as a founding member of Africa Thriving. The best perk of being a member is that you can wake up every day, knowing that a small contribution is going to give others an opportunity to thrive. God bless and best wishes to you!
-Jonathan Moyer-
Africa Thriving Group, President
