“You can never win a war against terror as long as there are conditions in the world that make people desperate –poverty, disease, ignorance, et cetera.”
-Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

When I stumbled upon Nuru International I could not believe that no one had thought of this concept before. I mean, it seems so logical and straightforward. It makes sense. We should have been doing this for years! Nuru’s goal is to end extreme poverty. It’s a goal shared by many, a fantastic goal, but a lofty one to say the least. They are different from many other organizations in their approach, and this is what I so love about them…they aren’t trying to recreate the wheel or start something new, rather to act as a “general contractor” of other existing NPO’s to tackle the big five with the best of the best. The big five of course being agriculture, education, health, water, and community economic development. The best of the best being the One Acre Fund, Teach a Man to Fish, Living Water International, and CAWST to name a few. The holistic, comprehensive approach means that the main hindrances of economic independence will be cast down, liberating the individuals so that they may now have the opportunity to make their own decisions and construct a healthy lifestyle. That is the other driving force here…the idea that the reason such things as terrorism exist is because of the lack of choice and the absolute, unending desperation that people are faced with. The big picture is that Nuru wants to eradicate extreme poverty so that we can see the end of terrorism. They are committed to ending extreme poverty through integrated, sustainable, and scalable community empowerment initiatives led by local leaders.

Maybe this idea of poverty and terrorism being linked is not something you have pondered before. Maybe you have. Regardless, I think the story behind the development of Nuru, is terribly fascinating and engaging. Terrorism caused by poverty is not something I had ever thought about or heard of until hearing Jake Harriman’s story. Jake is the mastermind behind this brilliant plan. He is the one who received the call from God to drop everything to pursue this. Jake served in the Marine Corp for 7 years, until October of 2005, when he connected the dots between poverty and terrorism and realized that his life needed to be used to attack this massive problem. It was an extremely difficult decision to make, for Jake to leave his guys, but he knew it was the right thing to do. He tells his story and the events leading up to this decision much better than I can, so please watch the short video below to hear it from him. All I can say is that the Lord often has very different plans for our lives than we might have ever guessed…and that is a beautiful thing.

Two years ago Nuru kicked off their first partnership in the Kuria district of western Kenya. They began working with a handful of farmers there and currently assist around 7,000 people spread out amongst over 1,400 families! Nuru’s model begins with a four step thinking plan in which they go in and first develop empathy through listening and getting to know the community and their needs from their own mouths. Then they begin generating ideas through brainstorming sessions with the local leaders who are desiring to serve their community through servant leadership. They take the best ideas, test them out, and find the ones that work. Between this and their partnerships with excellent NPO’s in the five weak areas most needing development, Nuru is able to train and equip leaders in such a way that they can replicate the model again and again to mobilize neighboring communities after they’ve moved out of the area. The program will last a solid 5 years in order to create a self-sustaining, income-generating community that thrives without assistance and can scale out to eventually reach the entire nation. At that time, Nuru will start again in a different country, in a post-conflict, remote area of extreme poverty. The need is great. The workers are few. This is your opportunity to be the light, be the hope, be Nuru.

Learn more about the awesome things they do and check out the variety of ways you can help out at nuruinternational.org.