OUR STORY

MEETING ABADBU

Matt Allen Ellsworth is an international genealogical facilitator who has traveled the world, learning languages and following his passion for preserving and sharing family histories. Over the past 10 years, Matt has personally collected over 100,000 images of unique documents from Nigeria, the Congo, Cuba, Burma, Cyprus, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Burundi.

While on a work assignment in Burundi in 2021, Matt met with Vianney Nshimirimana and Jean Bosco Ntungirimana (ABADBU). Together they forged a plan to work with the National Archives of Burundi to share Burundi’s neglected records with the world, building a national treasure in the process. Matt hired local students and bought cameras to help ABADBU digitize the Archives. When Matt returned to the US, he sold his house to fund the cause.

STarting Mbuyu

In 2022, Matt created MBUYU with his son, Pace Ellsworth, and Pace’s friend, BJ Hamaker, to raise awareness and get donations to speed up the work. MBUYU is in now in partnership with Flying Over Time, an Arizona 501(c)(3) dedicated to preserving and publishing imperiled histories, and plans to continue supporting local archival and indexing efforts across East Africa and eventually throughout the world under the Pre Project.

We hope to inspire millions to connect with their ancestors, their family and national histories, and their cultural heritage. We can’t do this invaluable effort without your help. All art on the site was painted by Burundi artist Audrick Manirambona. Check out his fantastic works on his Instagram: @audrickmanirambona