From our mountains to theirs Big-bellied kids, flies on their heads, and grim faces.

That is what most westerners imagine when someone talks about Africa. At least thats what Billy Riddle, Jr. has noticed. Founder of Hope Grows, a nonprofit that focuses on the asset-based poverty alleviation in Wadupe, South Sudan, Riddle works with Boones Local Lion to connect Boone and Wadupe and show the community that Africa is not all that bad. Originally a football player for Appalachian State University from 2004 to 2007, Riddle decided right before his senior year to take a trip to Sudan with Samaritans Purse, according to his Appalachian Athletics biography. But it did not end there. When I came back from that trip, I decided to drop my football scholarship to further pursue where I was needed in Sudan, Riddle said. My coach, Coach Moore, was understanding and thats really amazing. Its not a normal or accepted thing to drop that kind of a scholarship. Many of Riddles friends and family are completely supportive of his decisions. Some of them are now integral parts of his organization, like Derrick Foster, his childhood friend and now Vice President of Hope Grows. His wife, Allie Riddle, knew about his work in South Sudan when she met him, and that is part of why she instantly fell in love with him, she claims. I just remember thinking how admiral it was of him to stop his life as a star football player to go do work worth something, Allie said. Not only has Riddle dropped his life in the United States to start his own work in what is now South Sudan, but hes decided to take on a new perspective on poverty alleviation, too. Westerners, mainly Americans, have been looking at the problems in African nations on a needsbased outlook, he claims. His approach is the exact opposite. When Billy and I went to Wadupe together in 2009, we realized that the act of giving and giving our money and resources for the past who-knows-how-many years simply isnt working, said Foster. We did our research and learned about asset-based community development. The concentration of asset-based community development recognizes the communitys individual talents, skills and assets, instead of their needs, and helps build prosperity through those, according a study by the New South Wales, Australian government.

I believe happy people can have a happy life, Billy said. This is opposite to the popular belief that people with money and material goods are the only ones that are happy. His nonprofit, Hope Grows, has been working to create relationships and inspire hope among the people of Wadupe but it has not all been easy, he claims. During his trip in the 2013 summer to Wadupe, Billy received a difficult phone call from his mother in Winston Salem, informing him that she had received some bad medical news. Breast cancer. There, the village is always together, Billy said. You dont really get any alone time, which I was normally fine with. But when my mom called to inform me that her cancer had returned, Allie and I actually just put ourselves in our house there and spent the night alone, sometimes crying and just trying to figure things out. Stuck between the natural urge to return home to be by his mothers side and remaining in Wadupe to finish a project he and the community were in the middle of, Billys mother refused the let him come back. The way I see it, Billy is doing Gods work over there, said Cathy Riddle, Billys mother. The devil had got me by giving me this cancer but I was not going to let him take my son away from Gods work, too. Billy remained in South Sudan for three more months after the news to finish off their project of building a new school with the community. Now living with his mother for the time-being, Billy and Allie are working and planning for their next trip to Wadupe. Poverty alleviation and his newer approach to it is a motivation for Billy to not separate Wadupe from his home life. He decided to connect Boone to this process. After talking to his friend and owner of Boones Local Lion, Billy arranged a coffee trade between the farmers in South Sudan and this small donut and coffee shop. Local Lion will be the only buyer of South Sudanese coffee and there will be no middle-man, says Billy. Its something that connects the two small communities and I think thats awesome, he said. The love is spreading from our mountains to theirs. Billy makes frequent trips to Appalachian State club meetings relating to the topic to speak on his poverty alleviation approach, as well as his organization.

Because of that, a couple students have taken it under their wing to produce a documentary on his organization, as well as Billys story. His eyes glowed and he smiled as he hoped that his organization will truly make a difference. I know its changed me, he said. I just hope it works for them, too. -33-