.svg)
After difficulties, restrictions, and travel bans imposed by the global pandemic, Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation (BHHF) has only emerged stronger than ever! After almost two years, our founder Dr Mariwan Baker was finally able to embark on a trip back to managing daily global affairs of BHHF; From Geneva - Kurdistan - Dubai, availing opportunities, also ensuring that hope can continue to inspire and transpire globally.
Dr Baker believes that the COVID-19 pandemic has been an exceptional wake-up call, personally and objectively, to recognise opportunities and find the inspiration amidst uncertainty. As for the future of BHHF post-pandemic, Dr Baker affirms that the pandemic has served as a learning opportunity, both in terms of practical matters as well as the structural foundation of BHHF. The realisation and acceptance of the interconnectedness that all members of BHHF possess with each other, regardless of where we reside has empowered Bring Hope to continue thriving even during a global crisis.
Moreover, the pandemic has served as a crucial moment in certifying the core values of BHHF, and the essential strength of maintaining collaboration, cooperation and trust between our partners, members and most importantly - YOU, the supporters of BHHF. The guarantee of trust is what drives us forward to become unstoppable and have the desired impact on a noble scale!
Hygiene project at Sahrawi refugee camps (Western Sahara)
The summer season in Western Sahara tends to become brutal, as temperatures can exceed over 50°C! Undoubtedly, this makes the living conditions for refugees exceptionally harsh. Following such conditions, the Sahrawi refuge community has described the practical difficulties of maintaining personal hygiene routines - especially for nursing mothers with infants to also care for.
To address and overcome such difficulties, Bring Hope Humanitarian
Foundation along with our partners SHAI FUND and Saharawi Red Crescent has initiated a pilot project across the Sahrawi refugee camps within Western Sahara with the aims of improving access to personal hygiene and household cleaning items for nursing mothers.
BHHF is proud to report that together with SHAI FUND, we have successfully delivered 60 000 hygiene and cleaning items worth about 300 000 USD to the Saharawi Red Crescent, which will be further distributed directly to the young mothers in need.
Surgical Mask Delivery of the Maternity Teaching Hospital (Erbil)
Maternal deaths remains a substantial issue in many countries, with Iraq not being an exception. The maternal mortality data does not only disclose the quality of health care status in any given country but also; the efficiency of the health care system, especially with regards to the level of priority provided to women’s health. Consequently, it is crucial to provide medical aid to women who are facing that reality, and to the medical staff taking care of them. Especially at the time of a global pandemic, the focus of the world tends to overlook the issues falling outside the scope of the pandemic, which has visibly resulted in heavy burden and pressure on health care facilities all over the world.
To tackle the problem, Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation on the 16th of August 2021 mobilized our resources and donated 5000 surgical masks, as well as 5-bed mattresses to the Maternity Teaching Hospital in Erbil.
MEAL Training programme for the BHHF team in Kurdistan
We at Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation understand that the foundation of any successful organisation rests on its representatives. Therefore, we strongly believe in the investment of education and training of our employees in order to facilitate continuous skills building and development. Consequently, our team in Kurdistan refreshed their skills and knowledge of Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) through internally organised training - ensuring the essence of increased capacity!
Ordinarily, our ventures and programs on the ground are tailored to work in line with principles of economic and environmental sustainability, however, through training activities, we aid in the improvement of social sustainability with our international teams. Accordingly, we urge our employees to learn new things, explore new areas of interest and widen their expertise. As a result, the training also guarantees the strengthening of the team’s confidence in their skills and capabilities.
Our team has reported that implementing and concepts learnt by the training has benefitted them well in various areas of their individual work. Besides, knowledge is power! these new skills gained is will allow BHHF to work more effectively and empower us to reach more people in need.
Bring Hope consists of a diverse team of skilled individuals, as they make it possible for us to expand our abilities and maintain the support we provide globally - We would like you to better know the faces behind our organisation!
Lara Gusek (25), from Wuppertal, Germany, did her bachelor in Business Administration, Master in Sustainable Destination Development from Uppsala - now obtaining a Master in Disaster and Risk Management Climate Change Adaptation. When Lara is not supporting Bring Hope, she is also a Yoga teacher.
Tell us a bit about yourself:
My name is Lara Gusek; I'm originally from Germany but have been in Sweden for about 2 years now. While studying I always knew I wanted to do something different. Therefore, I have aimed at expanding my understanding of different perspectives ranging from Business HR to Ethics and Cultural Communications. Now, I have knowledge and prospects from diverse fields which really serves me well when looking at circumstances from a bigger picture!
What is your role in the Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation?
That's a difficult one! Well, I'm part of several departments, as I mentioned before that I'm more of a generalist than an expert it's important to not theorise everything and accept the complexities that exist. I'm definitely always looking from the bright side of things. As a result, I'm a part of most sustainability endeavours with Bring Hope; be it the MEAL training or obtaining donations from influential companies.
But also, the creative side of things, like fundraising and brainstorming new ideas and bring them to life.
What do you think makes Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation so different?
Firstly, I definitely have always liked the idea of an NGO that has a primary focus on a specific area, making it a much more devoted and personal experience. Especially in terms of creativity and the impact that we can have on an individual scale. Ofcourse, other than the incredible story and message that Bring Hope promotes it's also definitely the people. I'm surrounded by diverse individuals that are unique, yet still are like-minded about our values, goals and motivations which really drives us to be extremely productive. the atmosphere is really important, as the people that you're surrounded with largely also affect your performance and mindset. To have respectful colleagues that are also your friends; makes you really appreciate the authenticity that remains among us as people and a team to improve Bring Hope and thrive.
What is world Humanitarian day?
Formalized as 'World Humanitarian Day' in 2009 by the UN General Assembly, the day falls on the 19th of August and is primarily designated in remembrance of the 19th August 2003 bomb attacks in Baghdad, Iran. The attack killed 22 people, including Sergio Vieira de Mello, the chief humanitarian in Iraq. Moroever, the day serves to commemorate and applaud all aid and humanitarian workers all over the world for their resilience. Many humanitarian workers are at risk of injury, death and sickness. Being a humanitarian worker means enduring severe uncertainties whilst providing protection and support to people in need,
This makes humanitarian work extremely critical for providing emergency assistance to those in need, rebuild communities, education, reaching sustainable development goals whilst also adjusting to the changing weather patterns as a result of the climate crisis.
Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation reaffirms that humanitarian workers are the backbone of society, without which we would not have been able to achieve at the scale we have accomplished today. It is through humanitarian workers and volunteers and their collaboration, cooperation and trust that we have become capable of fulfilling all the values, purposes and aims of Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation.
Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation assures to progressively improve our impact and support to more and more people. As we expand and improve; we are excited to inform that various diverse projects are underway to better serve and assist those in need of our aid.
For the upcoming month; We will continue distributing the much-needed humanitarian and medical aid items across the refugee and newly arriwed families (IDP's) camps in Iraqi Kurdistan.
In cooperation with the camp managers, we will be carrying out emergency needs assessments for the IDP's in the three main IDP camps in Iraqi Kurdistan
Our business development and partnership team is working on expanding our international collaboration partner network to increase the capacity and reach of our humanitarian aid activities.
