Wedding Party
Ali Hanson
Maid of Honor
Ali and Mandy met in Tanzania in 2015 — both had traveled to Tanzania through Cross Cultural Solutions volunteer trips (different years) and had moved to Tanzania at different times, but both came to work with children and make a difference. The two became instant best friends upon meeting through mutual Tanzanian friend. Ali then joined the Neema International team and served full time as Mandy’s co-director for 4 years. Ali and her adopted daughter Sadie lived next door to Mandy and her adopted son Baraka and the girls learned to be mothers together as they raised the kids as pseudo siblings :) Ali and Sadie moved back to Canada in 2019 to be close to family. From visits, daily calls and video chats, the two families are still close as ever.
Jean-Pierre Maree
Best Man
Chris and JP both grew up in East London, South Africa and have been friends since high school. While they met when they were a bit younger, they didn’t truly become friends until they were teenagers. Cut from the EXACT SAME CLOTH, these two were meant to be best friends. JP and Chris have done everything together and this wedding will be no different. JP, his beautiful wife Dom and their three year old son Jayden live in South Africa. Chris is Jayden’s godfather and Baraka and Jayden spent a week together on holiday in October and adore each other!
Darryll Talbot
Groomsman
Darryll and Chris have been friends for about 10 years now. They are both pilots and met through the flying club in East London where Chris grew up. Chris spent some time flying for Darryll’s company when he lived in South Africa, before moving to Indonesia and then Tanzania. The two both have huge passions for flying, cars, and fixing things— and they could spend DAYS in a garage doing DIY projects never getting bored. Darryll, his wife Sally and their children Alexa and Josh still live in East London and are good friends with Mandy and Chris.
Justin Stein
Groomsman
Justin is Mandy’s older brother! Justin is lawyer in New York where he lives with his partner Juan Pablo (also known as JP). Being only two years apart in age, Justin and Mandy were extremely close when they were growing up and throughout university when they attended UT Austin together. Justin has visited Tanzania twice since Mandy moved out here, and they still see each other yearly when the family meets up Stateside. While the distance and time change makes constantly being in touch tough, when the two siblings get together, it’s like no time has passed at all. Justin and Chris have only had time to bond during short family trips, but they look forward to many more times together!
Kyle Stein
Groomsman
Kyle is Mandy’s younger brother! Kyle was born when Mandy was 7 years old, and she had the best time caring for her baby brother. While Mandy and Justin love to tease Kyle and say that the “good old days” were when it was just the two of them, they really and truly adore Kyle and his birth completed their family. Kyle has come out to Tanzania twice since Mandy moved here in 2013, including climbing Kilimanjaro with some of his friends from the University of Texas in 2019. Kyle and Chris met for the first time in 2022 on a family trip and hit it off immediately. Unfrotuantely, given everyone’s work schedule/available time off, it makes visits to see each other difficult. Furthermore, Kyle has been VERY busy pursuing his Master’s Degree at Columbia University this past year, and we are so proud of him. Now that Kyle and Justin are both in New York, Mandy and Chris hope to take a trip to visit them and to show Chris the madness of NYC :)
Destiny Arteaga
Bridesmaid
Destiny and Mandy met while attending the University of Texas. While they were two years apart in school, they were in the same sorority, Alpha Phi. Their friendship truly started however when Destiny decided to come volunteer in Tanzania with Neema during the summer of 2015. She then came back and climbed Kilimanjaro for Neema’s charity climb the following summer and continued to come and visit every year after that. She has a truly beautiful bond with some of the older Neema kids, and this mutual love of Neema and Tanzania has made Destiny and Mandy extremely close friends. Destiny lives in Houston, Texas where she works in the petroleum engineering industry.
Penny Cook
Bridesmaid
Penny and Mandy just recently became friends when Penny’s family moved to Usa River from Norway in August 2024. Mandy’s son Baraka and Penny’s daughters attend the same school, and Mandy and Penny met through mutual mom friends there. Shortly after meeting, the two became quite inseparable finding endless things they have in common— including their obsession with the show FRIENDS, trampoline/tumbling throughout their childhoods, the fact that their significant others are both pilots, and that they both have a passion for helping people. Multiple people have commented on their friendship, saying it seems the girls have known each other for years and joking that there are “two of them!” Penny has been a rock for Mandy the past couple months and their families truly love being together on weekends.