// December 15th, 2011 // No Comments » // Uncategorized
Al Mufradat, Jordan. Photo by Phil Costello
Merry Christmas and a joyous Holiday Season to you! We are so thankful for your friendship and partnership that is helping villages transform out of poverty!
Here is our latest News Behind the News and we invite you to contact us if there is any particular country or project you are interested in learning more about, or contributing towards!
Hal Jones
GHNI President/CEO
Afghanistan
Violence is more and more a reality even in Kabul these days. A roadside bomb attack has killed at least 10 people in northwestern Afghanistan, just days after the Afghan Taliban leader urged his fighters to avoid killing civilians.
Several years ago, at the request of the Afghan Office of the President, GHNI and Donald and Laura Malcom designed and built the Garden of Hope and Peace. It is not only a haven of natural beauty, it is also a center for local art and music. Located behind the National Art Gallery, the garden draws many security guards who often visit. They have told us that walking around the flowers and the fountains helps them to forget the sadness in their lives. They asked us if it would be possible to have calligraphy workshops or an opportunity for them to learn art. A guard shared that when they visit the garden they feel a strong energy which inspires them to do their job with hope and happiness.
Algeria
Algeria’s official news agency says a court in the capital has convicted a tour guide on charges he plotted to kidnap a group of European tourists and sell them to the North African al-Qaeda affiliate. Though violence has kept some of our work from moving on, GHNI hopes to expand a women’s micro loan sewing machine program in 2012.
Armenia
Armenia is one of the poorest countries in the former Soviet Union. We were shocked as we visited with villagers that no one had heard of a Ventilated Pit Latrine (VIP) or a solar cooker! We plan to help our local partners provide both of these as they start TCD in the villages in 2012.
Bangladesh
Our first village workers that we trained are now preparing to start Transformational Community Development in Bangladesh, the poorest country on the sub-continent. We will use animal loan programs and fresh water well programs with our partners to open many doors previously closed. Please check out our GHNI Holiday Gift Store to give an animal for Christmas!
Burkina Faso
Effective use of water is a key problem in Burkina Faso. The government is attempting to implement a nationwide dry-season agricultural campaign to counteract possible food insecurity in areas that received poor or erratic rainfall this year. GHNI is seeking to bring real answers via our TCD efforts. As of this writing, several key leaders and village workers are attending our TCD training at our center in West Africa. GHNI has now entered into a partnership to help provide training for a newly planned Medical Training Center in the capital city.
Chad
Chad is currently ranked 173 out of 177 on the United Nations Human Development Index. The government of Chad is taking steps to address poverty in their country by allocating 10 percent of their oil revenues to improve health, education, roads and water supply for future generations. As we write, village workers from Chad are attending GHNI training in TCD, seeking to transform villages in the areas of wellness, education, food security, income and clean water.
CHINA
This month the Chinese government released documents that state they reduced the amount of people in poverty by 70 million over the last decade. Though this development is promising, the gap between the wealthy and lower class has increased exponentially. GHNI is training the poorest of the poor in new skills that are transforming villages. We are now sponsoring TCD through a school in a remote village with unreached people.
EGYPT
Children play freely in a rat infested garbage dump (literally) where their parents rummage through looking for something of value to resell. Malnutrition and diseases such as typhoid and hepatitis are rampant. In this community called the “Garbage City” we distributed both back to school supplies and food staples. One recipient was a woman named Amal. She has been engaged for seven years. Her fiancé can’t find any stable work so he too, rummages through the garbage. Once they have enough money they can get married. Hopefully our small gifts will help them get a little ahead this month and one step closer to walking “down the aisle.”
ETHIOPIA
Here’s a short report from our Ethiopian director as GHNI helps to provide real answers for food shortages and improving rural income: In Mudiyambo there are 17 group members engaged in farming. They are growing vegetables for their consumption and selling the surplus, helping them generate income. Also, we established women and men’s groups in Tuka and Kekelo to start small business activity to support them in self-sustainable activities.
GENEVA INSTITUTE FOR LEADERSHIP AND PUBLIC POLICY
Policy makers from Africa, the Middle East and Asia are being nominated to attend the next strategic conference called Post-Conflict Leadership: Public Policy in a Changing World. It will be held in The Chateau, a wonderful conference campus for GHNI in the Geneva area. We are very excited as the faculty is coming together with practical experience in helping countries grow out of destruction and into economic growth. It costs us $2400 to provide a scholarship for a delegate. If you’re interested in helping a law maker attend GILPP please contact us.
FRANCOPHONE AFRICA
Presently in our West Africa Training Center we are training, in French, village delegates from Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Senegal, Togo and Northern Nigeria. Each will return to their villages to launch TCD with “seed” projects of animal loan programs, wells and health clinics. We desperately need help for them. Please visit GHNI’s Holiday Gift Store of to give a small gift that makes a big difference!
INDIA
This month the UN has determined that India has higher poverty levels then Pakistan. This has caused disbelief among Indians due to their fast growing economy. GHNI has been focused on the poorest of the poor in India for several years. Self-sustaining community development projects in 30 areas will be starting in January! Our work of Transformational Community Development has been multiplying through our trainings this last year. We will need to launch animal loan programs, dig small wells and provide trainers to teach community health, especially to the women.
INDONESIA
Women in the community of Camba Berua are creating sewing/micro-enterprise groups through GHNI’s TCD. Over the next few months, they will learn how to make things like curtains, cooking aprons, and floor mats to generate more income for their families. They will also learn how to manage their income and the basics of budgeting! Many friends, companies, churches and family foundations are ADOPTING A VILLAGE, like Camba Berua. This allows them to be in direct contact with the village and also to visit it if they like! Click here to learn how you can adopt a village!
PERSIA
Our partners report poverty in the villages is getting worse, in spite of media efforts to block this information. GHNI does not take sides when it comes to the poorest of the poor. We help people regardless of their political and racial and religious leanings. We now have a chance to provide food and animal loan programs to some of these villages.
ISRAEL
We are still having a very difficult time getting needed food for children into Gaza. Recent bouts of violence along Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip are leading toward military action in the coastal enclave.
JAPAN
As of this writing, Senior Vice President Dr. Robert Schultz is in Japan with our partners reviewing the progress on the PTSD counseling and the debris clearance and reconstruction. We are working with many lifelong friends and finding a need for TCD among the very poor that have been identified in the recent years.
JORDAN
Last month an incredible partnership between Joni and Friends and GHNI Jordan provided more than 150 wheelchairs to men, women children with disabilities. Each wheelchair was custom fit to the needs and comfort of each recipient. In a country where disabilities are very often a burden of shame, this outreach brought hope, love and mobility to the individuals and families.
KENYA
In the village of Shambani, four Community Health Workers were trained in Wellness and are teaching women how to take care of themselves and their children. This training was done at the neighboring Nomad Catholic Dispensary, 5 km from Shambani village, where pregnant women and malnourished children receive care.
KYRGYZSTAN
On the heals of the recent election, GILPP Special Rep. Wes Brenneman visited a number of Kyrgyzstani leaders and we are hoping for a few delegates to attend the GILPP Conference this year on Post Conflict Leadership and Public Policy.
LEBANON
Sixty Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese children came from different Islamic and Christian sects and denominations to participate in a children’s camp led by one of our partnership programs. This camp in the volatile region in the north is building unity and opening doors of opportunity for poor youth. There were challenges as well as countless benefits.
LIBYA
Two world class consultants for medical infrastructure and international law have just volunteered to go for free to advise the leaders of this new country. GHNI was the second NGO to arrive in Bengazi after the fighting started. Many friends there now want our help.
MOROCCO
Good news! For several years GHNI has been helping with agricultural TCD efforts in Morocco as the needs have been great. Now, Morocco and Algeria have increased their agriculture collaboration. They furthered cooperation by signing multiple agreements on a variety of agricultural issues.
NEPAL
A time for peace has come and GHNI hopes to dramatically expand our work in Nepal in the next 12 months. Many of the former Nepalese Maoist rebels have decided to enlist in the army. These people have been held in internment camps for 5 years.
NIGERIA
As we write, a historic training is taking place for village workers from several Francophone African countries. This vision will result in hundreds of thousands of poor villagers being lifted out of poverty. We need $15,000 per year to keep this training going.
NORTH KOREA
GHNI is participating with several other organizations in closely supervising a shipment of food recently sent by our partners to help the starving there. Children and other vulnerable groups are in desperate need of food aid. The World Food Program and Food and Agriculture Organization said North Korea needs to import 739,000 tons of grain.
PAKISTAN
Our partners, some of the bravest people we know, are still running TCD in some of the poorest villages in Baluchistan, and in the Northwest Frontiers. Lives are being changed!
SOMALIA
GHNI has been working in Somalia with our partners for several years, focused on rural agriculture as a key for helping the poorest of the poor out of severe vulnerability. GHNI distributed relief food in the northeastern part Somalia, south of the town of Galcalyo in an IDP (Internally Displaced People) camp called “Shabelle”. The IDP camp had approximately 700 families and we were able to distribute rice and oil for one month to 250 of the most needy families of the 700 families in the camp. Each family consisted of six to eight families members. It was difficult to select the most vulnerable and needy.
SRI LANKA
GHNI has been making efforts to provide a water well in one of the villages we work in. Due to elections in the village, official approvals for the land to dig the well was delayed. However we finally received the approval and dug the well to 15 feet. All the primary work is completed!
DARFUR, SUDAN
A Sudanese court sentenced to death seven people accused of being members of the most powerful rebel group in the country’s war-torn Darfur region. It was not reported exactly what they were convicted for. All seven were sentenced to death by hanging by the capital court in El Fashar, North Darfur. GHNI has suspended our work in Sudan but not with the Fur people. Many refugees have fled to South Sudan and Chad. We now have partners there who need our help in training the Fur people in TCD. Thanks for remembering the Fur people. Let us not forget.
SYRIA
The death toll in the Syrian uprising has soared to at least 3,500 people. Thousands face a freezing Christmas and are escaping from Syria to camps on the borders. Our director in Jordan is working to help these refugees, especially of the very young and very old. GHNI is providing blankets and tent heaters for these desperately fearful and hurting families. You can help with a gift of $25 per blanket or $20 per heater by clicking here.
TAJIKISTAN
The global economic downturn will hit some of the poorest of the poor we’re trying to help in this mountainous country in Central Asia. We are distributing emergency food parcels and loaning goats to help families start goat herds. Please check the GHNI Holiday Store to provide a gift that will help so much!
TUNISIA
Protests are spreading across the country this month outside of large corporations. With poverty levels rising, protestors are seeking employment. They also want corporations to reinvest into the community to stimulate growth. This response is rooted in the last January’s overthrow of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. A friend some of GHNI colleagues we have worked with are now being considered for national leadership for the new government. We hope to have two come to the GILPP Conference for Post Conflict Leadership and Public Policy.
TURKEY
A third earthquake hit the Eastern Turkey on November 9th. This third earthquake caused a civilian uprising and was repressed by the police with tear gas. This astounded the Turkish people because the people who were targeted by police are already homeless and starving. Our partnership continues to provide food and winter support to the hundreds of families who lost all they had in the earthquake. This horrible situation has opened a door we really want to pass through. If you can help pay for a blanket or food for a month, click here and type “Turkey Earthquake” in the special instructions under Other Projects.
VIETNAM
A Vietnamese appeals court has reduced the sentence of a French-Vietnamese math professor. He was jailed for belonging to a banned pro-democracy group and publishing an anti-communist blog. The appeals court in Ho Chi Minh City reduced it from 3 years to 17 months. Even more positive signs are the significant number of aid organizations that are now helping many of the poorest of the poor there.
YEMEN
The recent change of power seems too unclear to declare a new government or regime. Recent killings makes it still too dangerous for us to restart our coffee project and TCD work.
GHNI USA & Europe
Adopt-a-Village is growing! We now have fortune 500 companies, small businesses, families and family foundations, Sunday school classes and churches and hundreds of individuals hearing all the time from the villages they adopt from Indonesia to Ethiopia. Why not take this opportunity to connect yourself, your children and family, or company with Adopt-a-Village! Lana and I are joining with others in adopting Dogon Gada, Northern Nigeria and the Dukawa and Fulani people. We are so thrilled and we are giving our grandchildren Holiday Gift Cards so they can give a goat or chicken to their animal loan program – helping raise the poorest of the poor to have opportunity and more freedom!
Thanks again for your compassion and friendship! Again, we would love to hear from you, feel free to contact us! Merry Christmas!
