31/12/2025
Eighteen years ago today, after meeting a young guy named Alick in Nkhata Bay, Malawi, the seeds of an idea were planted.
That idea became a small charity called Rehope, focused on microfinance loans. Over time, it evolved into a community bank and it still operates today, completely self sufficient, without our support.
Our tagline back then was “Rehope – Our Experience = Your Opportunity.” We thought it was pretty clever, a play on the Reho tagline at the time.
And in truth, it reflected a belief that we probably knew best.
A few years in, several of the Reho team visited Nkhata Bay. Everywhere we went, locals would say:
“Rehope, restoring hope, thank you.”
That moment shifted everything.
We thought we were helping grow businesses. What we hadn’t fully understood was that, at a more basic level, we were helping restore hope, hope in people simply trying to survive.
The new tagline became Rehope - Restoring Hope
The lesson we carried home from Malawi has stayed with us ever since:
You have to walk a while in other people’s shoes. You have to meet people at their level of need.
And maybe most importantly, real change doesn’t come from forcing solutions onto people who are just trying to get through today. It starts with listening, understanding, and respecting where they are.
Grateful for the lessons. Grateful for Alick. Grateful for Nkhata Bay.
