My name is Gareth Bentley, founder and executive director of Mission Geeks. I’m Zambian and have lived in Africa all my life; I come from from a family of pioneer missionaries who arrived in what is now North Western Zambia in the 1890s and have been here ever since. As a result my life has very much been formed by my Christian faith and the service and example of the people that were part of my life growing up. I’ve been a full-time photographer since 2006 and I’ve enjoyed exploring many remote areas of Africa during this time.

I was often inspired by the many unique people I met while traveling, people who had given up so much to serve the communities they lived in. Doctors, teachers, missionaries, mechanics, pilots, builders… all committed to improving the lives of the people they served. I’d often come home thinking about what I could do support them and their work.

I noticed that these people were skilled at what they did but often they struggled with one or more areas where they could use some help, usually something technical. Perhaps it was help with a website, or social media, networking or communication – or even someone to fix the wiring in the operating theatre, or a person who could assist in setting up accounting systems, or somebody who could advise on solar equipment to keep the lights on at night… All these things become insurmountable challenges out in these remote areas, but for the person with the right expertise, training and experience it would mean only a day or 2 of work. I imagined how solving just a few of these challenges could make a dramatic difference to their work and therefore their impact. Eventually I was slowly able to help out a few organisations with photography, websites and design work but it quickly became clear that this wasn’t sustainable on my own.

As the years passed and I continued to travel around Africa and photograph people but I’d begun to shoot more business, industry and emerging technology work and as a result I met many experts in their fields – people some might refer to as ‘geeks’, but geeks in the best sense of the term! Someone who is passionate about what they do, someone who rings every ounce of joy out of their work, someone who constantly researches new methodologies, develops new techniques and finds new, better ways to do what they do. These were the geeks I kept meeting as I traveled, and not only were they inspiring, they were people with a passion for Africa.

On one trip back I had the realisation that perhaps I could somehow connect the first group, the people serving in remote rural areas, with this other group, the people who have the skills, drive and passion for our continent who could fill in the gaps that would have the most impact! There is this Bible verse that I love – my wife Gwyn had it on our wall for ages, it’s Micah 8 vs 6:

And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

I love that there is no ‘religion’ in this, no rules or steps to follow. Just walk with God and love people. This was something I aspired to do and this was the beginning of the idea for Mission Geeks.