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Foundation News
Updates from the Field | October 2025
Foundation friends, it’s a crazy time in the world. Our leaders are out there each and every day, surging on amidst incredible difficulties. It’s why we chose this leader model to begin with – we know that founders don’t quit. When the going gets tough, our leaders get tougher (while still being full of empathy and compassion, which is pretty incredible).
These past few weeks you may have read about the protests over poverty and corruption in Madagascar, where our leader Tina works to educate rural schoolteachers, and in Nepal, where our leaders Sonam and Karma work to put girls through college and uplift the rural Himalayan community through a myriad of programs. Young people are leading such protests because they demand a better future. Amid continued political tension and instability in South Sudan, Majak’s school continues to rank #1 in the country, where he’s teaching young people peace building. In South Sudan, 70% of the population is under 30. By educating young people, it’s a chance to change future outcomes. Mouaz continues critical work to build a democracy in Syria, where he helped to bring down a dictator after 50 years in power. He’s currently working to lift the final sanctions on Syria. The Ugandan women in Stephen’s savings circles have saved over $1 million U.S. dollars and started over 1,700 business – keeping all their children in school. Stephen is building a maize processing plant, because it will triple income from maize in the community. Sam is recruiting his second wave of students who will learn coding and gain contracts to earn 5X the typical salary for Madagascar. He’s actively working on an expansion to Rwanda. Courtney is building her forever campus in India, where orphaned children with disabilities will have a home for life, and she will continue schooling for the children of migrant workers. Tim’s English immersion programs in Sri Lanka are impacting over 53,000 community members this year through classes and service projects – and he is deploying a carbon credit project that is fundamentally changing the community, hitting all 17 of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Kim has reduced the number of mothers and children living on the streets in Ubud, Bali, by 80% through her safe house and assistance programs for mothers living in the mountains. And Matt was recently visited by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who lauded him for his work with young people who experience trauma – and who can now get connected to the services they need and realize their own power through music. He continues to work with the DA’s office on diversion programs for young people in the criminal justice system.
That’s a short update on each of them, but we could write pages and pages given how much they accomplish each day. Stay tuned for more updates soon and for news on our newest leaders joining the MNSF family!
