Alan Riser, president and founder of Charitable Ingenuity Inc., is an inventor, humanitarian, outdoorsman, pilot car company owner, cemetery sexton and modern-day jack of all trades with a background in building, welding, fabrication, electrical and mechanical engineering, and solar.

His biggest love, however, is helping people. His journey in life has taken him from his small farm in Corrine, Utah, to many African countries.

“I am just one of those guys who can do almost anything, especially with a bit of study and research,” Riser said. “To some, I do a lot of weird stuff. I received my first passport in 2005 and started dabbling in doing humanitarian projects in Africa.”

His humanitarian work began when his wife was reading a newspaper about a woman who was taking 52,000 pounds of used textbooks to Africa and looking for volunteers to accompany her. Riser’s wife told him he should call the woman and go.

Courtesy of Alan Riser

“At the time, I was a mid-aged guy who wanted to go to Africa, but I didn’t think I had the money,” Riser said. “After the third time my wife told me I should go, I called the woman and told her I felt strongly about going with my son to Africa. At first she was hesitant. One thing led to another, and my son and I eventually went to Africa.”

Riser and his wife put together a second trip to deliver additional books and school supplies. They took the books to the school they thought needed them, but the government had already provided that school with those supplies. Riser knew there had to be some remote village that needed the books. It came to him that he needed to go to Lake Tanganyika, located 3,000 feet at the bottom of Zambia’s great Rich Valley.

“Two Christian missionaries met us because they were so curious as to why we were there. They had arrived a couple of months previous to teach the gospel and discovered few people knew how to read and write,” Riser said. “They said they had been praying for help. I said, ‘Your prayers are answered. Everything you asked for is on the boat: books, hygiene kits, school supplies. We have to teach these kids to read and write.'”

Riser convinced the minister of education that he could build a school in the area: “Early one morning, he came to the village. We went down to the lake shore where many rocks lay scattered everywhere. I pointed to all of the rocks and asked, ‘Do you think this rock will wear out?’ He told me I could not do it. I told him I could because I wanted the school to stand forever,” Riser said.

Before the school was completed, he ran out of money to buy cement. Riser called a friend in Alpine, Utah, who was building a school for disabled people in Kenya. He told Riser he would give him 1,000 pounds of cement if he helped make the school ADA accessible. He went for a month to Kenya, made ramps and handrails to accommodate the clinic, and received the cement.

It took a couple of years to build the three-room rock school with windows and an indoor shower/bathroom. The entire village helped by hauling sand, water and rocks to the building site.

“Additionally, we also built a teacher’s house and used local wood to build five boats to use as boat buses for the children to attend the new school from neighboring villages along the lake,” Riser said. “I purchased a hut along the lake bank and lived in it for six months.”

They also added a medical clinic. The Swanson Foundation gave them outdated and used medical equipment to supply the clinic. They delivered babies, stitched up people and helped people with cholera. Every day, sick people came to the clinic, and they helped them the best they could.

Riser always has invention prototypes lying around his house. He takes the designs to the country and finds the parts in salvage yards or has them made in various shops. He then transports the pieces and parts to wherever he is going to build his inventions.

One of Riser’s main inventions is called “the Chameleon,” a human-powered, multi-function machine that creates many different opportunities for a village, including generating enough electricity to supply rechargeable LED lanterns to the whole village.

“Basically, the Chameleon can do anything requiring a spinning shaft,” Riser said. “For example, during the harvest it can shell corn or peel cassava and then grind it into flour. The stored power can also charge batteries of all kinds. The Chameleon can run a table saw, grinder, air compressor, sewing machine, cement mixer, water pump and washing machine — all through human power. Soon, the Chameleon will be able to drill a bore hole in the earth 180 feet deep for a fresh-water well.”

After some trips with Ben Marcum of Power Playgrounds and working with them in building merry-go-rounds in various African countries, Riser decided to create his own organization.

“After teaching people in Ghana how to build merry-go-rounds, I created Charitable Ingenuity Inc.,” Riser said. “Charitable Ingenuity Inc.’s mission is ‘to create self-sustaining families and communities in remote villages by empowering them with new technology, education, and opportunities.'”

Riser also created a “Poop Light” to use in rural villages. He was living in Zambia in his little village hut and using candles in a tin dish. He knew that light was an issue, and the people could not afford flashlights or candles.

“Traveling back and forth, I wanted to invent a battery for Africa,” Riser said. “I didn’t have the resources and funding, but I knew I could build it. I did lots of testing with dirt, plants, electronics, meters, and all sorts of gadgets lying around my house. After some time, I took the different technologies and came up with a battery that used common camel and goat manure, and it worked.”

Jane Mukami Chege of Kenya met Riser in 2008 when he was drilling a fresh-water bore hole in a remote area in Kenya and doing machine innovations at a technical university in Mombasa. When Alan returned to the U.S., he kept in contact with her and her family. In May 2023, Alan called and asked her to be the volunteer director of Charitable Ingenuity in Kenya.

“My first project was empowering girls in remote areas by offering hygiene kits to vulnerable girls in one primary school called Mnazi Mwenga,” Chege said. “In March 2024, we gave out the first wheelchair to a woman named Kadzo who could not use her legs, talk or hear. Then I began looking for others who also need wheelchairs.”

For the past couple of years, Riser has been donating his time to Personal Energy Transport (PET), a wheelchair organization that builds wheelchairs specifically adapted for Africa. He also made sure hygiene was part of the project.

“Hygiene is so critical for these young girls. During their menstrual cycle, they hide in their huts,” Riser said. “Consequently, they don’t go to school. One of my country directors, Jane, makes sure when we do wheelchair projects, we add hygiene products from an organization that offers Africa-style products.”

Charitable Ingenuity has made a big difference in the lives of many girls from poor backgrounds, helping them complete their primary level education and earn good marks from exams as well as helping those with disabilities enjoy their movements like any other mobile person.

“Even that tiny act of kindness can change someone else’s life,” Chege said. “It is good to lift another person and put a smile and joy in their hearts. God will always bless us. My heart is overwhelmed by the love and kindness of Charitable Ingenuity.”

Landon Sichilima became friends with Riser in 2008 as a young boy. In June 2024, he and Dan Sikazwe, his good friend, became the humanitarian coordinators for Charitable Ingenuity in Zambia in the Lake Tanganyika area.

“We are fishermen, but we helped Charitable Ingenuity build and maintain our school and a teacher’s house,” Sichilima said. “Charitable Ingenuity has changed my life by helping me go to school, allowing me to work on projects for our area, and become familiar with other places like Nairobi, Kenya and other parts of Zambia.”

The future of Charitable Ingenuity is always in Riser’s mind. Funding for Charitable Ingenuity comes from people and friends, project by project, dollar by dollar. Riser often works a third job to generate enough revenue to keep his African project going, but to him, it’s been a wonderful nearly 20-year journey full of life-changing experiences.

“I would love to see it expand and grow, but I am also 66 and slowing down,” Riser said. “I am always in touch with the African people. My heart is still over there. I pray for them daily. I would love to make more trips, although the 36-hour plane ride is no fun anymore. Our biggest challenge is funding, and I only build things for humanitarian purposes. I would love some energetic person to be in charge.”

Riser lives life with no regrets, which has become his life’s tagline. During his 20 trips to Africa, he has built a community school and desks for the schools, furnished villages with boat buses, drilled water wells, provided people educational opportunities, constructed a medical clinic and supplied it with donated medical equipment, supplied shoes and clothes, built playground equipment that generates electricity, taught in a technical college, developed wheelchair projects and completed dozens of other humanitarian projects.

“My wife said that’s the way I live my life,” Riser said. “I try to live life head on. I may never get that opportunity again. I don’t want to have any regrets. Telling yourself you can do something, you can. I am not smart enough to do anything on my own. It is truly the Lord’s hand in all that I do, and I let the villagers know this.”

Those interested in donating to or connecting with Charitable Ingenuity can call Riser’s cellphone at 435-720-0564 or send a check to Alan Riser, Charitable Ingenuity, 1467 N. 6800 West, Corinne, Utah 84307. For more information about Charitable Ingenuity Inc., visit www.charitableingenuity.com.