Ann Marie Thomson, Ph.D.

Co-founder Ann Marie Thomson was born and raised in Congo where she made life-long friendships with those around her. When she came to America, her memories of her life in DRC never left her.

“I spent hours as often as I could in the village with my Congolese friends... cooking, sitting and talking, climbing trees, playing, dancing, singing. Kagu was my closest friend; we connected at a heart level that is rare to find.”

Ann Marie and her husband Jim left America to visit Kagu and her family. Her son, Mindo, had dreams of becoming a doctor but those dreams were dashed because of the catastrophic DRC civil war between 1997-2003. Even so, Mindo somehow managed to make it to Kinshasa to study (900 miles south of where Ann Marie and Kagu grew up). Tragically, before he could reach his dream, he passed away of tuberculosis—a treatable disease.

“When Mindo died, I was devastated. There seemed no way to redeem this situation... one that need not have ever happened, but for the devastation of the healthcare system in DR Congo as a result of the years of civil war and unrest.”

It was then that Ann Marie and Jim decided that investment in the education of young people in the DR Congo became an imperative manifest in the birth of Giving Back to Africa. Adaptation to a constantly changing environment demands flexibility and insight and as Giving Back to Africa grew, so did its leadership team. In 2020, Giving Back to Africa became Malembe Rise, a change that champions the mission of this organization even as Malembe Rise continues to grow with each new education initiative.

“Investing in the education of Congolese young people, we felt, was the best way to give back to all those Congolese who had invested so much in my own education, moral and life-giving.”