Our first IMPACT of the year was a huge success!  Since a picture is worth a thousand words- this recap has to be worth a million:  See IMPACT for yourself!

Our Coaches help us make an incredible investment into the lives of young people in QwaQwa, and they do this in the midst of their own personal life challenges, struggles, and hardships.  They pour out so much of themselves each week- and this week we want to pour back into them. Starting today, our Coaches will be part of a 3-day workshop that will be focus on prayer, forgiveness and inner healing. Our hope is that our Coaches will connect with God in an intimate way while being restored and refreshed as they prepare for a new term of teaching our Leadership Summit classes.

Will you pray for them today?

We just launched 10 Buck Tuesday as part of our Impact South Africa fundraising campaign. Just ten bucks can help combat AIDS and train young leaders in Africa.

So help us spread the word every Tuesday. Challenge others to get involved. We can all do something to make a difference.

(Include the hashtag #10BuckTues when you Twitter about it.)

Together we can impact South Africa, 10 Bucks at a time.

Today I’m grateful that life isn’t fair. For such is the beauty of God’s scandalous grace.

Through the cross and the empty grave, God spared us from what we deserve and lavished on us what we don’t deserve.

He is risen!

And we are His!

Rejoice today in the beautiful unfairness of Easter.

$60,000 in one-time gifts by April 15
to get us up-to-date on our operating expenses

$20,000 in new monthly commitments by June 1
to continue our programs at current levels

I know this is a God-sized goal, but He’s given us a God-sized vision. I’m trusting Him to move mightily, and hope your heart is open to Him moving mightily through you.

I humbly yet boldly ask you to help us reach this goal.

Check out the new campaign website for more information on the need and how you can help.

Thank you for standing with us to impact South Africa. We can’t do it alone.

For His glory,

Alece Ronzino
Founder & President

The other day I celebrated a victory with some friends, although there were thousands of miles separating us all.

We just finished up a huge project. We’ve worked long and hard to create a new display for Thrive Africa. This will be a great promotional tool at conferences, churches, and other events where Thrive is represented.

The display looks incredible! So professional! And it’s already been christened with its inaugural run at the Vision Conference!

Designing and building this display, which includes a brand-new video, took a team of people literally around the world, with a variety of strengths and gifts. The day it was finally completed, we each paused, wherever we were, and took a moment to celebrate. It was important that we stopped long enough to acknowledge the success of our efforts.

This project was a great picture to me of the power of teamwork. I’m grateful to be part of a team that works so well together, even when we’re time zones apart! And as we each brought our individual strengths to the table, we became an unstoppable force.

What strengths do you add to your team (your company, church, family)?

Be intentional today about playing to those strengths. It will impact others more than you realize!

Thrive Africa Founder

We were honored to be featured at the 2010 Vision Conference last weekend! The event encourages students to become involved in reaching the nations for Christ.

As a ministry, we’ve been tremendously blessed by all of the young people that have served alongside us over the years. We love seeing students develop a passion for missions, so the Vision Conference was right up our alley. Needless to say, we were thrilled and honored to be part of the event!

Speaking of students and missions, we’re currently accepting applications for our 2010 summer internship, our 2010 student Thrive Trip and our 2011 year-long internship. Interested? All of the applications are available here!

Our Leadership Summit department recently hosted a luncheon for teachers and headmasters from our partnering schools. It was a privilege for us to be able to spend an afternoon pouring into the people that are so influential in the lives of the children in our area.

It was also exciting for us to get feedback from the teachers and headmasters. We love seeing how Leadership Summit affects students and, also, the teachers in real ways. One teacher said that it was “refreshing and energizing to be encouraged and appreciated” by our staff!

We’re excited to see all that God has in store for the students and the teachers in our Leadership Summit schools this year!

Have you checked out the new Thrive Africa store? If not, check it out here.

We have a brand new line of Thrive merchandise. From t-shirts to travel mugs and our very own blend of coffee—this must-have merchandise is a great way to support Thrive Africa. The proceeds from your purchases go directly to supporting our work in South Africa.

We had a great time celebrating with our Outreach Interpreters this past weekend! We celebrated the fruit of last year, and spent time relaxing and refueling for our 2010 Mission Team season.

Our interpreters serve an instrumental role in supporting and equipping our missions teams–we couldn’t do it without them! It was a blessing to share this time with all of them.