Our Moon is a UK-based grassroots charity on a mission to boost social mobility in Zambia. We’re registered with the Charity Commission in the UK and the Ministry of Community Development in Zambia.
Co-founded by Helen Leale-Green and Justin Mushitu in 2016, Our Moon started as a conversation between a teacher and a student. After a discussion one evening, Justin — a student at the time — came to Helen with a proposition: to make an impact in Zambia using Helen’s skills, knowledge and contacts and Justin’s lived experience of poverty.
A year later, Helen was on a plane to Zambia, organising workshops for teachers and students with Justin — and from those humble beginnings, Our Moon was born.
Since then, Our Moon has gone from strength to strength. We’ve gone from simply supporting students at a government boarding school to building a programme outside of traditional curriculums. Not only do our programmes develop dialogue, critical thinking, self-exploration and presentation skills, but we give our students the exposure they need outside of their home communities before going to university.
Starting with our Young Leaders programme, we now boast five programmes aimed at developing young people at different stages of their academic and working lives.
Our Moon doesn’t just support the next generation of future leaders. We’re one of the largest employers in the area, hiring members of the local community to carry out building maintenance, construction work, garden landscaping and more.
We’ve also introduced a volunteering programme that gives unemployable individuals of working age the valuable skills and experience they need to generate capital in their communities.
ZAMBIA CORE TEAM
Justin Mushitu
Justin has studied in the UK (where he met Helen) and Canada. On returning to Zambia, he started working for Our Moon. Justin is passionate about education and giving opportunities to the less advantaged. He is responsible for managing our work and programmes in Zambia.
Ntasuwila Nambao
Ntasuwila has a degree in Agronomy from a Chinese university. She is a fluent Mandarin speaker, loves working on the land and reading good literature. She has worked as a private tutor “I thought impact was mainly about numbers but now I realise that by impacting a few in a positive and life-changing way, the ripple effect can be enormous”.
Malama Mushitu
Malama is responsible for taking photos and videos of the students and various onsite activities at the NGO. Passionate about capturing details, he skillfully edits the footage to ensure high-quality visual content. His dedication to storytelling through visuals helps to highlight the NGO’s impact and bring its projects to life.
Jacqueline Kajoba
Jacqueline has previously worked for an NGO. She is our administrative coordinator, worker supervisor and receptionist, organising our data collection and entry..
OUR UK TEAM AND TRUSTEES
HELEN LEALE-GREEN - FOUNDER, CEO AND TRUSTEE
Helen worked for PwC before becoming a trustee and volunteer for an international development charity. She founded Our Moon with the help of her former student, Justin. Helen sits on Exco of HALI Access Network and has an MA in Education and International Development from UCL.
RICHARD BOWEN - CHAIR OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES
ALAN LEALE-GREEN - TRUSTEE
Alan has over 40 years of experience in the securities and futures industries. Running his own compliance consultancy business, he gained a wealth of experience in financial, risk and corporate governance matters. Alan also volunteers for the Citizens Advice Bureau.
CHARLES COLDMAN - TRUSTEE
Charles is CEO and founder of African Promise, a charity which supports primary schools in rural Kenya. He has worked as a specialist trusts and major gifts fundraiser for The Sick Children’s Trust and as a grants writer for Save the Children UK.
JOHN KIRKLAND - TRUSTEE
Dr John Kirkland, O.B.E has over thirty years experience at the interface between higher education, development and governance, embracing roles as Deputy-General at the Association of Commonwealth Universities, Executive Secretary of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission and Head of Research Services at Brunel University. “Our Moon’s approach really does change lives and can have a huge impact on the communities from which their students come.”
VANESSA STRAUSS - TRUSTEE
Vanessa runs Bright Fox Lettings in Tunbridge Wells. From South Africa, she is passionate about giving opportunities to disadvantaged young Africans
CHANDA SINGOYI - TRUSTEE
OUR SUPPORTERS & VOLUNTEERS
We would like to thank all our supporters for their generous support of Our Moon, including our friends and companies, both local and far, who have donated to our auction and raffle prizes.
With special thanks to:
The Headmen of Chipansha Village and Chief Liteta of the Lenje people of Chibombo District for their support of our project.
The Ministry of Community Development and the Department for Social Welfare in Chibombo.
Hotel Latitude 15° for hosting the March 2023 charity art exhibition, and the artists who donated 10% of sales to Our Moon.
Mulenga J Mulenga and Aubrey Chali for helping Our Moon students create a mural.
Malama Mushitu for her outstanding photography, and for allowing us to use her pictures on our website.
The UK Zambia High Commission and Her Excellency, Macenje Mazoka for providing space for charity functions.
The Sarda family for donating a small stipend to our students studying at Ashoka University in India.
Bob Vale of Coding Tank for hosting our website and ensuring its smooth working.
The HALI Access Network for all the support they offer Our Moon.
The Small International Development Charities Network, which provides invaluable resources to all small international development charities operating overseas from the UK.
Vic Hancock Fell of Fair Collective, for allowing us to attend her Small Charity Leaders Course free of charge.
Ally Buck, Fungai Munyeza, Nina Sims and Chipala McCalla for offering students and alumni psychotherapy and counselling pro bono.
Keith Browne and teachers Philip Wingate, Melanie Church, Toby Reid, from Ecolint (International School of Geneva) in Switzerland for tutoring our students through research essays, and for their generous donation of Chromebooks for our programmes.
Thomas Lifuti, alumnus and IT manager, for giving so much of his time to furthering our IT development.
Patrick Glass for educational materials and help with marking selection essays.
Dhruv Sarda for reading our longlisted applicants and for interviewing our shortlisted students, and for providing corporate connections in Zambia.
Will Sullivan for his input to our strategic review.
Lute Chongo (alumna) and Rachel Cameron-Potter for their work on the website.
The following trusts and foundations for their recent generous donations:
- Alan Goodwin and Aimee Reynolds Charitable Trust
- The Chalk Cliff TrustThe Coles-Medlock Foundation
- Didymus CIO
- Gilchrist Educational Trust
- John Collings Charitable Trust
- Mageni Trust
- The Souter Charitable Trust
- SMOAT
- SREI
All volunteers, friends and family for their time, input, support and enthusiasm.