The LiA community's evolution has been marked by very distinct phases of development that have brought us to where we are today.

• LiA 1 (1999-2001) saw Life in Africa pioneering at the crossroads of microfinance and the Internet, with the world's first micro-loan guarantee program driven by online contributions. LifeInAfrica.com was recognized in the 2001 UNCTAD Report on Ecommerce in Lesser Developed Countries as one of the most promising ecommerce applications developed in Africa.
   
• LiA 2 (2002-2004) was a challenging period of recovery from the negative effects of 9/11 on lifeinafrica.com's online traffic base, with a new focus on Ashoka supported user-group based research into practical ways for encouraging Ugandans to use online community technologies innovatively for local community development purposes.
   
• LiA 3 (2005-2007) represented an intense period of community building at Life in Africa's 2 WE Centers serving over 400 war-affected families. An online community presence was actively developed and a strong local community identity was created through working with community members to design and refine Life in Africa's WE services and community programs.
   
• LiA 4 (2008-2010) is what the communities in Gulu and Kampala have defined it to be. In 2008, LiA will re-position to scale up Life in Africa's community-designed programs, through converting the WE Centers into semi-autonomous Community Based Organizations, registering Life in Africa Foundation as a MicroFinance Institution in Uganda, and establishing Life in Africa-USA as a non-profit fundraising and product marketing/distribution hub.

Life in Africa's WE Network leaders are all creative and dedicated individuals who have been a part of Life in Africa since the beginning.

• Founding Director Christina Jordan started LiA from her home with a series of email letters and a group of volunteers after moving to Uganda in late 1998. She is American born with experience living, traveling or working in 45 countries on 4 continents so far. Her career building Life in Africa was preceded by 10 years in international development consulting and project management in Geneva, Washington DC and Brussels. In 1999 she helped to write a business expansion plan for Uganda Microfinance Union, who went on to become one of Uganda's fastest growing microfinance institutions. Simultaneously, and in partnership with Uganda Microfinance Union, she designed the first microfinance program driven by grassroots contributions online.
  
  Christina's work at the crossroads of the Internet and microfinance got noticed. She became one of the first Ashoka Fellows in the East Africa Region in 2001 for her vision to create an online superstore of alternative and transparent grassroots impact mechanisms for Africa, and she's worked toward that vision ever since. She holds a B.A. in Linguistics from University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and a Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) from Georgetown University in Washington DC. She has 3 beautiful children and is soon to be remarried to a Ugandan. Christina is taking a 1 year travel sabbatical to destinations outside of Uganda with her family in 2008, before returning to Uganda to continue expanding Life in Africa's operations in East Africa.
   
• Life in Africa Uganda Director Grace Ayaa joined Life in Africa's microloan program as a borrower in early 2001. As LiA evolved over the years, Grace has also developed her wide range of skills to become an active Life in Africa community leader and dedicated community building champion. 
  
  After leading the recruitment of 40 producers for the Invisible Children Bracelet Campaign and 100 new LiA members from Kampala's displaced Acholi Quarter in 2005, Grace successfully led the LiA Kampala team's effort to create Life in Africa's second community center in Gulu (Northern Uganda) in 2006. Grace has a very caring heart for the communities she serves, she is an excellent trainer and communicator (they call her "Mama Blogger"), and she is well loved by Life in Africa's adult and child members alike.

  LiA Director Grace Ayaa talks about challenges of community work in Uganda. View more videos

  Before joining LiA in a management capacity, Grace worked for 10 years as a caregiver in expatriate homes, while she nursed a private dream of one day doing something meaningful to help Northern Uganda's orphans. She is a widow with 4 children of her own, and 6 additional dependant children whom she cares for that live with her at home. In 2007, Grace became Managing Director at Life in Africa Foundation, Uganda. She also sits on the Board of Life in Africa's WE Centers in Kampala and Gulu.
  
   

• Life in Africa USA Director Evvy Bryning has been an active Life in Africa supporter and volunteer since its inception. She visited Uganda for 4 months in early 2002 and again for 1 year in 2003 to work with Life in Africa as a user group training administrator and operational advisor. Now resident in the USA she remains an active virtual volunteer editor for Life in Africa's microfinance program activities online. She has also provided the LiA community with business planning support and product marketing assistance through active online participation at omidyar.net and ned.com.
  
  In 2007 Evvy left her job to lead the start up of Life in Africa-USA as a nonprofit fundraising arm and US-based craft distribution hub. She brings 7 years of high school group fundraising experience with her to the position, as well as a 20 year career in managing corporate logistics, purchasing, advertising and administrative operations at medium-sized US companies. Evvy is the mother of 4 children (including Christina Jordan) and grandmother to 8.

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