Several years ago, the Shanta Board of Directors began exploring the possibility of launching our Village Partnership Model (VPM) on a different continent. From our inception in 2006, all of Shanta’s groundbreaking work on poverty reduction has been done in SE Asia. Would our innovative model work in a different culture? On a different continent? [...]
In May, Fort Lewis College's Village Aid Project (VAP) partnered with community members in Siyowi and Nachili to build two water systems and two bridges. Now, five months after project completion, the responsibility to ensure sustainability and maintain the system has shifted to the community. Walking through these villages, the sense of ownership and pride [...]
Zambia gained its independence on October 24, 1964, after years of British colonial rule. Before independence, the country was known as Northern Rhodesia and was economically valuable to the British due to its rich copper reserves. However, the local population was largely excluded from political leadership and economic benefits. Initially, Zambians demanded greater African representation [...]
You might wonder why Shanta’s village partnerships take six whole years. (we get this question a lot!) Yes—it’s a big commitment! But every part of the process is intentional, with everyone in the village fully involved. We focus on things like leadership skills (a time-consuming educational process), economic development through projects and community banking, empowering [...]
A gaggle of girls on a dried-up soccer field in the late afternoon laughing and dancing might look like a group of kids just being kids, but these groups can serve a greater purpose than fun just for the sake of it. The girls grab each other’s hands and step backward, all the while joyously [...]
For the first time, Shanta offered two Insight Trips in 2024. Interest for next year is also at an all-time high. Maybe you've thought about attending one yourself. If so, here is what you can expect… The trip begins with a few days in Victoria Falls. Just Google Victoria Falls and you will get a [...]
What interested you and for how long have you been involved with Shanta? Our Executive Director, Wade Griffith, is a close friend and was my Pastor in Birmingham, AL, before taking his current role at Shanta. I remember how excited Wade was about Shanta’s Development Model, passionately explaining why it was so different, and how [...]
Stella Potemkin, Shanta’s first Women’s Empowerment intern, shared a recent experience she had while working with the Fort Lewis College engineering department’s Village Aid Project in our partner villages in Zambia. You can read about the project HERE. She gathered with female People's Action Forum (our implementing partner on the ground in Zambia) staff, a [...]
A chance meeting between a Burmese tour guide and two Americans backpacking through Southeast Asia forever changed the destiny of so many villagers in rural Myanmar. When founders Tricia & Mike Karpfen and their guide, Thar Nge, first visited the remote, mountainous villages of the Pa-O ethnic tribes in 2004, they found gracious communities of [...]
Hey everyone! My name is Stella Potemkin, and I just wanted to take a second to introduce myself as the newest member of the Shanta Team. I was born and raised in Durango and then went off to get a double major in Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Science and Social Policy Analysis at Rice University. [...]
Several years ago, the Shanta Board of Directors began exploring the possibility of launching our Village Partnership Model (VPM) on a different continent. From our inception in 2006, all of Shanta’s groundbreaking work on poverty reduction has been done in SE Asia. Would our innovative model work in a different culture? On a different continent? [...] 
In May, Fort Lewis College's Village Aid Project (VAP) partnered with community members in Siyowi and Nachili to build two water systems and two bridges. Now, five months after project completion, the responsibility to ensure sustainability and maintain the system has shifted to the community. Walking through these villages, the sense of ownership and pride [...] 
Zambia gained its independence on October 24, 1964, after years of British colonial rule. Before independence, the country was known as Northern Rhodesia and was economically valuable to the British due to its rich copper reserves. However, the local population was largely excluded from political leadership and economic benefits. Initially, Zambians demanded greater African representation [...] 
You might wonder why Shanta’s village partnerships take six whole years. (we get this question a lot!) Yes—it’s a big commitment! But every part of the process is intentional, with everyone in the village fully involved. We focus on things like leadership skills (a time-consuming educational process), economic development through projects and community banking, empowering [...] 
A gaggle of girls on a dried-up soccer field in the late afternoon laughing and dancing might look like a group of kids just being kids, but these groups can serve a greater purpose than fun just for the sake of it. The girls grab each other’s hands and step backward, all the while joyously [...] 
For the first time, Shanta offered two Insight Trips in 2024. Interest for next year is also at an all-time high. Maybe you've thought about attending one yourself. If so, here is what you can expect… The trip begins with a few days in Victoria Falls. Just Google Victoria Falls and you will get a [...] 
What interested you and for how long have you been involved with Shanta? Our Executive Director, Wade Griffith, is a close friend and was my Pastor in Birmingham, AL, before taking his current role at Shanta. I remember how excited Wade was about Shanta’s Development Model, passionately explaining why it was so different, and how [...] 
Stella Potemkin, Shanta’s first Women’s Empowerment intern, shared a recent experience she had while working with the Fort Lewis College engineering department’s Village Aid Project in our partner villages in Zambia. You can read about the project HERE. She gathered with female People's Action Forum (our implementing partner on the ground in Zambia) staff, a [...] 
A chance meeting between a Burmese tour guide and two Americans backpacking through Southeast Asia forever changed the destiny of so many villagers in rural Myanmar. When founders Tricia & Mike Karpfen and their guide, Thar Nge, first visited the remote, mountainous villages of the Pa-O ethnic tribes in 2004, they found gracious communities of [...] 
Hey everyone! My name is Stella Potemkin, and I just wanted to take a second to introduce myself as the newest member of the Shanta Team. I was born and raised in Durango and then went off to get a double major in Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Science and Social Policy Analysis at Rice University. [...]