Empowering families to create healthy communities
Our aim is to partner with families in identifying the desires and dreams of the community and finding solutions to create sustainable change while always pointing to Jesus, who alone offers hope and abundant life. We are not interested in simply offering aid, but rather, beginning with and centered on continual friendship, empowering the community to lead the way while encouraging the prioritization of the spiritual, physical, and emotional care of each person. Click below to learn about each community.
Our Approach
We always have long-term sustainability in mind so we do not create an unhealthy dependency within the communities we serve. To do this successfully, we adhere to a three-stage development model.
Stage 1: Relief
War, injustice, and natural disasters have threatened the basic survival needs, such as food, health, and shelter, of our communities. They are not able to solve greater problems, such as job security and education, because it is a fight to make it to the end of every day alive. Our partners have gone through unimaginable trauma, so it is at this stage that Yada assesses and provides much needed relief. This might look like food distribution, constructing safer and more secure housing, or providing medical care. Such measures are always temporary, not long-term solutions.
Stage 2: Rehabilitation
Now that the community’s basic needs are met, they are able to focus on recovering what previously belonged to them, such as houses or land. In this stage, we develop strategies to rehabilitate intentionally. This might look like hiring lawyers to handle land cases in court or replanting crops that were destroyed. It is usually at this stage that forgiveness becomes central. These communities have been treated unfairly and unjustly by others, and while we work together for their rights to be restored, we also fight for internal and spiritual freedom.
Stage 3: Development
With their rights and assets restored, we need to ensure the community will not be stuck in a cycle of poverty by expecting handouts. At this stage, we focus on creating programs and trainings which aim to empower the community. We listen to their ideas and dreams, rather than giving our own solutions, and we work together to give them the tools necessary to accomplish their goals. This might look like small business training, classes on money management, animal husbandry or micro-finance projects. In the end, the community becomes sustainable!
“I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew (יָדַע) the anguish of my soul.”
Psalm 31:7
Why “YADA”
“It all began with the name,” Nicola, the co-founder of Yada recounts. Ezechiel, her husband and fellow co-founder, had been listening to a speaker describing the beautiful way that God knows us and the security that comes from being deeply known by God, as illustrated in the story of the woman who anoints Jesus in Luke 7. The speaker used the word “yada” (יָדַע), meaning “to know or to be known” to describe the intimate “knowing” that occurs between us and God. It is far from a casual knowledge, where you might know facts about someone or recognize their faces. Rather, it is indicative of an intimate, warm, and passionate knowledge that stems from the heart, where we are secure in Christ because we know he sees us, understands us, and is with us. This “knowing” allows us to trust God profoundly and perceive what he is doing in and around us. It is two-directional. We know God, and he knows us. All our confidence and assurance as believers is an overflow of “yada.”
This is the telos of who we are as Yada. We desperately want those we work with to believe they are known by a good and holy God who sees their brokenness, remembers them, and fights on their behalf to lift them out of spiritual and physical darkness and into his marvelous light. These communities must be shown that they are not forgotten, but are immensely valuable and known as children of a just and kind King.
Newsletters are written by Nicola
Check out our latest news!
2026: Going Deeper
As we step into 2026, we’re full of gratitude and expectation for what God is doing in Burundi. We’re excited—and ready—to face the challenges ahead as the Gihanga community continues moving toward greater thriving. We’re focused this year on going deeper relationally while we continue towards the development success of this community. Here’s a look…
Food and Water ☑️
Once again we come to you with stories of exciting victories and breakthroughs in the community of Gihanga. We’ve waited and prayed for so long, and now we’re finally seeing some beautiful and life-changing results! The work is far from over, but we must celebrate these successes as they come! Buckle up while we break…
Big Changes!
We used to drive the one-hour journey back to Bujumbura from Gihanga in silence, with the exception of a few sighs and weepy sniffs. Our hearts were broken over the swollen bellies and dripping noses of hungry and sick children. It was devastating to walk by the sticks-and-rubbish huts falling over in the rain. We…
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