Abram-Gary-Dan-Haig A & H are 1st 2 residents of HoE – Spitak, Armenia
Nothing compares to actually being on-location. My(Daniel’s) time in Spitak & Yerevan, Armenia was incredibly rewarding, as I was able to be close to all the staff, volunteers, and the two men(Abraham & Haig) who are the initial refugees at the House of Esther(HoE). These men will soon be joined by their families, as they set up all the needs of Transformational Community Development(TCD) as it relates to this unique setting of refugees from war-ravaged Syria.
Vince at the helm, leading so many of these initiatives allowing HoE to become a reality, he is juggling so many responsibilities and needs. Please do let us/me know if you’d like to be a part of this endeavour. Our hopes are to have at lease 3 families there by summers’ end.
Already, we have leadership that is allowing mentoring related to agriculture and specifically green-house gardening, so needful in this part of Armenia at an altitude of over 7K feet.
Sayran. …The Litel Big Man (our GHNI Garden Greenhouse Specialist – Spitak, Armenia
Our meetings with ALEPPO Organisation and UNHCR for Armenia went well. Our hope is to have them both engaged in HoE, as they are enabled to provide quality oversight. More importantly, they are also able to help GHNI pre-select specific families most suited to this type of refugee setting, almost two hours from the capital of Yerevan.
Vince w/ landscape crew … grating for the 2x barns/storage buildings – Spitak, ArmeniaVince w/ backhoe crew … HoE – Spitak, ArmeniaAbraham & Haig working on HoE landscape/garden prep – Spitak, ArmeniaIn-your-road … in-your-face typical herds of sheep, as we drive to Spitak, ArmeniaVince with greenhouse mentor … Sayran – Spitak, Armenia
GHNI Gains Presence in the United Nations !!!
This is such fantastic news for GHNI and you who support this your labor of love for the poor … Isabelle Burgeois is our new UN Representative for GHNI
Isabelle Burgeois
Geneva, Switzerland
Isabelle Bourgeois is a recent addition to GHNI as our Permanent Representative to the United Nations. A native of Geneva, Switzerland, home of GHNI headquarters, Isabelle has worked for many years on the United Nations stage for a wide variety of human rights issues.
With a multidisciplinary training and a master degree in humanitarian action, she is engaged for more than 25 years with NGOs and associations working alongside the most vulnerable. Isabelle enables GHNI to be a global active player at the international level of the United Nations movement, working to strengthen ties between Human Rights efforts, the International Community in Geneva, and GHNI.
Isabelle launched her efforts with GHNI by presenting the following speech at a United Nations Side Event*—an event outside official United Nations meetings, organized for the purpose of sharing experiences and increasing opportunities for informal dialogue among the meetings’ participants.
*social.un.org
A Participatory Approach in the Community Projects
By, Isabelle Bourgeois
We are all aware of the challenges connected to each other, inseparable that arise in the world. The situation remains very fragile. The load for all is growing. The needs are enormous and constantly increasing. They are factors of violence, protest and desertion of their living areas by the affected populations, in particular those affected by extreme poverty.
The NGO Global Hope Network International (GHNI) has experienced positive examples of communities transformed by the active participation of people, groups and villages belonging to the marginalized in the world’s poorest areas. For 12 years in 40 partnership countries, it offers emergency, humanitarian aid and initiates community projects of 3-5 years.
Despite the risks, Global Hope Network International (GHNI) makes it a priority to help and give hope in the most heavily insulated, inaccessible and poorly developed areas. By setting up and carrying out community development projects (TCD), the organization supports, motivates and equips communities so that everyone can participate in the decisions and actions affecting its own life, its own development and that of its entourage.
These collaborative projects are spaces for dialogue and training. They allow individuals to gain confidence in themselves and their relatives. They contribute to help people to have a sense of belonging, to be essential actors in the community while encouraged to stay and develop their own place of life.
Daniel at GHNI 