About Us
“Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.”
— John Wesley
Answer Africa is a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit humanitarian organization founded in 2006 with the original commitment to provide Africa with critical health interventions and dedicated to the eradication of Malaria.
Answer Africa was co-founded by the late Dr. Makena Marangu and her husband, Craig Elliott Hacche. Makena Marangu, M.D., a Kenyan by birth, was a tireless Philanthropist whose efforts have healed and saved thousands of lives in her native country.
Answer Africa’s original mission centered on their “Nets for Life” Program. This program, which focused on fighting Malaria through the distribution of insecticide treated mosquito nets, one community at a time. Dr. Makena Marangu was from Kenya and had witnessed Malaria’s terrible effects. Her background and personal relationships enabled Answer Africa to develop an infrastructure that insured the cost-effective delivery of mosquito nets even to the most remote, hard-to-reach rural areas.
Many missions have been accomplished and thousands of mosquito nets, medical supplies and other life-saving or life-changing equipment and other items have been donated over the years. We are so proud of the enormous impact Answer Africa has had in Kenya because of the support, industry and donations from amazing friends and volunteers worldwide.
Jean Ann Makena Marangu, MD, passed into the arms of the Lord on September 20, 2015 after battling Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer since 2006, and after tireless effort throughout her adult life to help, aid, assist, heal, save and love the people of her native country.
The Makena Marangu Memorial Maternity Center will serve and provide state-of-the-art medical care and facilities to the people and families in the surrounding areas of Eldoret, Kenya, an area of approximately 10 million people.
Our commitment is that the Makena Marangu Memorial Maternity Center will continue to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Makena Marangu, and… ‘do all the good we can, by all the means we can, in all the ways we can, in all the places we can, at all the times we can, to all the people we can, as long as ever we can’ in honor and remembrance of Dr. Makena, and as Dr. Makena demonstrated throughout her life.
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”
— 1 Corinthians 13:1
The Founders
Craig Hacche
In 2022, he co-founded GTalpha – LLC, a thriving real estate investment and development firm, prioritizing strategic acquisitions and innovative projects aimed at revitalizing communities and fostering sustainable growth.
Beyond his professional pursuits, Craig is deeply committed to philanthropy.
In 2006, he co-founded the non-profit organization AnswerAfrica.org along with his late wife, Dr. Jean Ann Makena Marangu. Over the past 18 years, AnswerAfrica.org has focused on impactful humanitarian initiatives in Kenya. Their mission to empower communities, enhance healthcare, and advance education has touched countless lives, leaving a legacy of hope and transformation.
Jean Ann Makena Marangu, M.D.
A Kenyan by birth, Jean Ann Makena Marangu graduated college Magna Cum Laude from Olivet Nazarene University in Kankakee, Illinois in 1980. She performed Graduate Studies in Physiology at Howard University in Washington, D.C., was an Honor Fellow in International Development at American University in Washington, D.C., and received her M.D. degree from the Medical College of Virginia in 1987.
Dr. Marangu completed a five year General Trauma and Surgery Residency at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, a Hand Surgery Fellowship with the Joseph H. Boyes Foundation at the University of Southern California, and a Plastic Surgery Residency at the University of California in Irvine.
A well-known philanthropist, Dr. Marangu was president and cofounder, along with famed anthropologist, Dr. Richard Leakey, of SADIA, an organization dedicated to addressing the needs of children dying each day from untreated surgical conditions such as appendicitis, burns, and traumatic injury caused by the overwhelming void of neurosurgeons, pediatric and plastic surgeons in Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Marangu is credited with having achieved the impossible for African children by her gathering together physicians and laypersons to give surgical training and on-site care.
In 1993 Dr. Marangu received the F. Edward Johnson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Service to Children by the Advisory Council of the African Development Foundation and the National Museum of African Art, a division of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. The award was presented to Dr. Marangu by Senator Claiborne Pell on behalf of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Dr. Marangu is the stimulus behind and co-founder of ANSWER AFRICA.
Dr. Marangu passed away in September 2015.
Answering the call for over two decades.
Since 2006 we have impacted countless lives in Kenya thanks to our ongoing partnership with Hearts Afire. Learn more about our partners.
impacted in the area
unique missions
mosquito nets provided
local partners & allies
