Who We Are

Driven by belief Powered by people

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.

Our Story

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.

Read about our work

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.

🌱

Young Leaders Programme

🤝

Value Added Volunteering

🎭

Identity & Expression Programme

🎓

Graduate Programme

🌟

Alumni Programme

View our programmes

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.

What we believe

Our Values

As a grassroots charity, community is at the core of everything we do.

🦁

Courageous

Being bold in thoughts and actions

💡

Curious

Creating curious, independent, critical thinkers

🤝

Community

Empowering socially-conscious youth

👥

Collaborative

Valuing both the individual and the team in universal systems

🎯

Commitment

Developing responsibilty and accountability for our actions

Our Team

The people behind the mission in Zambia

Justin Mushitu

Country Director

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

Programme Manager

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

Student Welfare Officer

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.

UK Leadership

Our leadership team in the UK

Helen Leale-Green

Founder, CEO and Trustee

Helen worked for PwC before becoming a trustee and volunteer for an international development charity. She co-founded Our Moon in 2016 with her former student, Justin. Helen sits on Exco of HALI Access Network and has an MA in Education and International Development from UCL.

Trustees

Our board of trustees

Richard Bowen

Chair of Board of Trustees

Rich works in Risk Assurance for PwC, where he specialises in technology, risk and governance. He studied Economics and Politics at Cardiff University and has been supporting Our Moon since 2019. Rich is passionate about economic development and believes education is a key factor for stimulating growth.

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.

Funmi Akinluyi

Trustee

Funmi is an experienced sustainable infrastructure and capital markets professional with over 20 years of expertise in sustainable investing and sustainable finance. She specialises in climate transition and sustainable infrastructure financing across emerging and developed markets. Passionate about Africa, she is also dedicated to teaching children and young adults about financial literacy.

Dhruv Sarda

Trustee

Dhruv is a Managing Director at Alvarez & Marsal. He spent over 17 years living in Zambia and has been supporting Our Moon since 2021. Dhruv is a graduate of the University of Cambridge and King's College London.

Chanda Singoyi

Trustee

Chanda Singoyi is a Financial Specialist at Bloomberg L.P. in London. He holds master's degrees from the University of Oxford and University of Leeds, and a bachelor's degree from Bucknell University. Before joining Bloomberg, Chanda worked with the World Bank Group, focusing on Public-Private Partnerships in infrastructure projects in some of the world's poorest countries. He is passionate about education reform and reducing poverty through human capital development.

Vanessa Strauss

Trustee

Vanessa runs Bright Fox Lettings in Tunbridge Wells. From South Africa, she is passionate about giving opportunities to disadvantaged young Africans.

Krishan Tailor

Trustee

Krishan was born and raised in Ndola, Zambia, where he completed his secondary education. He pursued a degree in Agricultural Business Economics in the UK and US. Krishan is dedicated to giving back to his community and country of birth, and is passionate about education as key to self-fulfilment and national progress.

Our Supporters & Volunteers

Thank you to everyone who supports Our Moon

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.
Mulenga J Mulenga and Aubrey Chali for helping Our Moon students create a mural.
Malama Mushitu for his outstanding photography that is showcased on our website.
The UK Zambia High Commission and Her Excellency, Macenje Mazoka, for providing space for charity functions.

Institutional & Network Support

The Sarda family for donating a small stipend to our students studying at Ashoka University in India.
Pestalozzi International for their support of our programmes.
The HALI Access Network for all the support they offer Our Moon.
The Small International Development Charities Network, which provides invaluable resources to small international development charities operating overseas from the UK.
Ally Buck, Fungai Munyeza 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) for tutoring our students, and Mark Grace and his IT team for donating Chromebooks.

Individuals & Trusts

Thomas Lifuti, alumnus and IT manager, for giving so much of his time to furthering our IT development.
Dhruv Sarda for reading our longlisted applicants, interviewing shortlisted students, and 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.
Generous donations from The Chalk Cliff Trust, The Coles-Medlock Foundation, Didymus CIO, Gilchrist Educational Trust, John Collings Charitable Trust, Mageni Trust, The Souter Charitable Trust and SMOAT.

We would also like to thank all family and friends for their continued donations and support and all the companies that provide internship opportunities for our students and alumni.

Want to support us?

Whether you want to donate, volunteer, or partner with us — we'd love to hear from you.

Donate Get in touch