School boys in Africa
View the photos full screen or see the Flickr set to get a closer look at Char and Skiff's work in Africa. Photos by Charlie Beck.

These guys show you

The Power of a Mocha

Just the Facts

What: The Mocha Club Experience (three months, eight countries, at least 16 flights, lots of webisodes)

Where: Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Ghana

When: November 1, 2009, to February 1, 2010

Why: Good things are happening in Africa, and people deserve to know about it!

When you start to list the problems in Africa, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Most of us can’t imagine drought, but then add genocide, hunger, AIDS, corrupt leaders, child soldiers, and other heartbreaking realities. We want to help, but what can we really do? And, will it even make a difference?

Two SPU alums are living in Africa for three months to document both the hope and tragedy. Meet Charlie Beck ’08, professional photographer, and Daniel Skiffington ’08, former news writer for KOMO 4 News in Seattle. (That’s Char and Skiff to most people.) They will travel to at least seven countries, filming the stories of Africans.

They will be working for the Mocha Club, a nonprofit that asks people to donate $7 a month — or the price of two mochas — to its work in Africa. The organization focuses on five major issues facing Africa: health care, women at risk, clean water, education, and orphans and vulnerable children.

“We want to show people that Africa’s not a crap shoot, and that $7 a month really does have an impact,” Skiffington says.

Follow Char and Skiff’s webisodes at mochaclub.org/the_mochaclub_experience.



By Julia Siemens, Photos By Charlie Beck

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