Pangeo

Signs of Hope... Village Transformation!

Our first-ever Village Interns in east Ethiopia, Ian & Peter, are starting to help pull the village together... helping them believe they can truly transform themselves.

It sure helps that they're fun, zany, white guys -- "forengies"!

Boy Without Arms' Store Opens!

Remember Aschelew? The Ethiopian AIDS orphan who lost both arms?

MANY, MANY of you contributed to our "BoyWithoutArms" campaign in January to build him a store. Then volunteers went in February, and construction for his store/home was launched.

Since then, our Ethiopian director Zerihun (in the middle below) made sure the building was completed by locals, then he helped Aschelew form a relationship with a wholesaler, then he trained Aschelew and his brother in how to operate the store.....

AND NOW THEY'RE OPEN FOR BUSINESS!!!!!

I can't help but tear up when I look at this picture. And here's great news on top of it all: Aschelew is due to get two prosthetic arms in the next month or so.

Amazing. Totally amazing.

 
  

Neighborhood to Neighborhood... 10,000 miles!

This is too cool... a neighborhood group in Algonquin, IL commits themselves to helping our poor Kenyan village in its transformation, for the next 3 years.

They're going to involve their WHOLE neighborhood.

Catch this video: families signing their "pledge" to the village.

I got to watch by Skype video.

Neighborhood to Neighborhood -- GHNI from Jeff Power on Vimeo.

Peter & Ian arrive in Ethiopia!

A vision: get pairs of one-year interns to go help with TCD in each poor village GHNI is helping in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

BIG NEWS... our FIRST interns... Peter Masters and Ian Moss... ARRIVED in Hurso, Ethiopia! And they've started a GREAT blog.

Here's their first video update after being in Ethiopia for a week. Way to go Ian and Peter!

Good News from Gambella!

I got an email from Habiba & Wubshet yesterday, and we just got off the phone together today.

Good news from Gambella!

It seems the Kenyan government has arrested a number of people who were funding and fueling the attacks on Gambella and several other villages.

Gambella, and the area, has been at peace now for a few weeks. And the Gambellans are redoubling their efforts on their development projects.

Here's an excerpt from Habiba's email:

"We had faced the greatest challenge of this project since the fighting all the way until recent when the PC of eastern province come down, and had to arrest many people and now things coming back to normal. The project was moving quite slow because we felt our own life might at risk and Gambella advise us to be careful. But now we have resume our normal program, and people are coming back to the village."

Gambella has been extremely grateful for all the GHNI partners. Thanks to all of you who sent contributions for their recovery!

I'll keep you posted.

Adopt-a-Village

Don't you wish you could do something specific and effective to help end world poverty?

That's why we've begun our Village Partnership program.

Your company, church or organization can now adopt a specific poor village GHNI is assisting in Africa, the Middle East or Asia. You invest in specific development projects in your village, and can send employees or members to give hands-on help.

You actually get to know a village... and help them escape disease and starvation... and get a school... and start businesses...

Call me. Let me hook you up with a village. My cell is 720.331.0348.

Village Partnerships w/ GHNI from Jeff Power on Vimeo.

Welcome AJ & Melissa!

Fasten your seatbelts!

We're soon going to take our entire GHNI web presence in a social-web, open source charity direction. And we've brought on AJ and Melissa Leon to lead the change.

AJ and Melissa live in the East Village, NYC... and they're going to help us change the world from there :)

THRILLED to have them aboard!

Hang on for the changes!

Gambella Update

Hi Everyone,

I just received an email from Habiba with some thoughts on Gambella:

"In Gambella many people have very little hope to live for and some have nothing to opt for especially now, when the few goat which kept them their out in bush was all stolen in broad day light.

"But after all this turmoil,  four women came to us and said, 'Even if all seems to be dark ahead of us, thanks to Global Hope Network International projects we can still work hard and get back our life to normal if all is going to be well in Gambella.' So there is hope for future.

"They are the poorest of all poor. They never imagine at any time things might change in their life, they never thought they will see white man in their village or any form of help could come their way.

"But now, to tell the truth, even the young and unborn child in Gambella have hope, a brighter future because of the work Global Hope are doing in terms of food, water, wellness, education, enterprise and above all their whole being as human. (note: that's our TCD--Transformational Community Development).

"Gambella village is growing to small town at an amazing rate, apart from the attack which brought everything to stand still in a day.

"But Gambella people still feel they have friends who care, even if all is not okay. They feel there are some people from somewhere (the muzungu, the foreigners) who are concern and loving them and give great hope of facing all the challenge and trials which comes their way."

Wow. It's such an honor. Together we can help one poor village at a time, like Gambella, find Hope.

(Watch this video of habiba telling the remarkable story of Gambella's TCD journey).

GHNI Habiba, and Gambella's TCD story from Jeff Power on Vimeo.

Ownership!

This 4-room school's actually getting built!

We've worked hard alongside the village. We have to leave tomorrow, and the village will finish the building under the guidance of the builder we hired (what an AMAZING guy he turned out to be!).

Together we've made great progress. It really feels like a significant accomplishment for Hurso.

And here's the coolest thing:

After we foreigners went back to town and our hotel at the end of the day two days ago, about a dozen of the villagers strung up lights and continued to WORK ON THE BUILDING ALL NIGHT!

Wow. That's ownership.

The biggest roadblock to humanitarian work around the world is lack of local ownership. Throwing western aid at poor countries actually fosters that mentailty.

That's why in our TCD model we don't do ANYTHING in a village unless they have decided it needs done and have invested of themselves FIRST.

I'd say Hurso is invested, wouldn't you?

So we go home tomorrow, confident that this really wasn't about us. We got to help, we got to cheer Hurso on, we even got to invest time and money.

But it's THEIR journey out of poverty. And they are taking the first steps well.

Can't wait to come back with more volunteers in February. Join us!

 

Below: bending metal rods to make reinforced concrete. One of our Chinese participants called it sweatshop labor under the white supervisor... LOL!

 

 

 

Measuring Impact

How do you KNOW when you've TRULY made a difference in a village?

As we keep developing our model of TCD (Transformational Community Development), we're intent on evaluating the long-term results with measurable outcomes.

Hence "Impact Evaluations"

Impact Evaluations are a relatively new but highly needed tool. Think how much money gets wasted in humanitarian circles because it's a "good cause" but there's no tough-minded evaluation of effectiveness.

A European friend of GHNI, doing her doctorate on this very topic, is helping us introduce Impact Evaluations to our work. To ALL of our work eventually.

The basic idea is to do a specific type of family data measurement (including young children's height, weight, upper left arm circumference, etc.) as you begin in a village, then again as you conclude, and honestly evaluate the degree to which all your money, time and work made a diffrerence.

So, since we're just beginning our TCD work in Hurso, we did a bit of a "dry run." We tested some of the sampling techniques and materials with the help of several village families.

Now, when we return in February with another volunteer team, we hope to hold a school-based "health outreach day" and do a thorough sampling with the hundreds of families that will participate.

We need some medical personnel for that trip. Is that you? Wanna come?