How We Got Started

I have been involved with international relief and development work in one way or another for most of my adult life. Much of my work was carried out under the umbrella of large and complex organizations involving a mix of government and private funding. While much good and needed work occurs within these structures they are encumbered by large bureaucracies and the politics of foreign assistance. Over the years, while thus engaged, I would often stumble upon small, grassroots efforts in communities around the world, struggling at great odds, to meet the needs of their own people. For various reasons these efforts would fall beneath the radar of the foreign aid machinery. This always struck me as unfortunate as often these courageous, local individuals where much more efficient and better targeted in their efforts than the high visibility aid organizations staffed by expensive, expatriate staff.

An example of this was an initiative I stumbled upon in Zambia in 2007 in a squatter's village called Grippis Farm located outside of Lusaka, Zambia. This village had no school, no health post, no source of potable water and certainly no modern amenities such as electricity and phone service. Its residents were destitute with little hope of improvement. Despite this, several individuals in a nearby neighborhood had the vision to start teaching children in the village how to read and write. With no means of support, they started assembling a rag-tag group of children outdoors under a mango tree and began instruction. I and my wife were touched by the courage and vision of these under-resourced, but determined Zambian heroes. We decided to do what we could to help. Out of this desire Grassroots Heroes International was formed. It was initially a small group of volunteers from the United States who banded together to raise support for what has become the Mango Grove Community School. Three years later over 250 children attend a rustic but vibrant community school. Its success far outstripped the initial vision of those humble Zambian neighbors who wanted to make a small contribution to their own people-- it is truly a monument to the faithfulness and persistence of home grown heroes.

But there are many challenges facing the children and their families in the Grippis Farm community in addition to education. There are serious health problems, there is a lack of economic opportunity-- not to mention the scourge of the HIV/AIDs pandemic. These challenges are worth taking on and GHI is committed to doing so with its growing band of grassroots volunteers from countries like the United States supporting the grassroots heroes on the ground in Zambia.

Leland Brenneman, President