Philip's Question

Last fall, Nuru released a video that told the story of our CEO, Jake Harriman, a West Virginia native, and Special Operations Platoon Commander for Force Recon who had a life changing experience on the front lines of battle that got him engaged in a different fight, the fight to end extreme poverty.
Now Nuru is sharing a different story. This is the story of a man who is literally an ocean away from most of us. His name is Philip Mohochi. Philip is from a small tribe whose homeland is on the border of Kenya and Tanzania, the Kuria (It’s pronounced like the country Korea, but nowhere near it geographically.). Philip is the chairman of Nuru’s Community Development Committee (CDC) in southwestern Kenya. He found out about Nuru through his brother Sangai Mohochi, who was a professor of Kiswahili at Stanford University and one of Jake’s teachers there.
Philip’s question first came into his mind when he was a small boy. Filled with an inquisitive nature and unable to comprehend the intense poverty that he and the other people in his homeland experienced, he asked the question, “Why are we poor?”
It was a question that stirred him to his inmost being, and caused him to make a youthful commitment. It was a commitment that many probably make in varied forms during their lives, but it’s a commitment that few hold fast to as the years go coursing by. He committed himself to help his people lift themselves out of extreme poverty.
Late in his life, he left a very successful career in the city of Nairobi to return to his homeland because he wanted to be faithful to the commitment he had made in his youth. There are many people asking the same question as Philip. They are looking for answers, and they are looking for guidance in seeking solutions.
As you watch this video, and listen to Philip tell his story, may you be reminded that together, you and I have an incredible opportunity to make a life-changing difference in the lives of people we may never meet in this lifetime. Though we are oceans apart from Philip and the Kuria people, our world has become incredibly small, and stories like his can be heard now all over the world. The question that always lies before us is what will we do with what we have heard? Will you join with Nuru as we work to equip even more people with the tools they need to lift themselves out of extreme poverty? Make a donation today--$29/month can empower an entire family out of extreme poverty!