NEAR EAST FOUNDATION CREATES ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE

Imagine this…you are living in one of the world’s poorest countries—Sudan, where even there you are considered “poor.” Your husband dies, leaving you alone with a large family to support. What to do? Is the only possibility to beg?

OR
You are the victim of a solitary landmine of the estimated 11 metric tons of landmines and unexploded shells in Lebanon’s Beka’a Valley. Now you are a person with “special needs” who traditionally has been kept at home, isolated, not educated, held back—or sent into the streets for a handout to pay for your keep.

OR
You are a farmer in a remote area of Djibouti. No matter how hard you try, it’s always a hand-to-mouth existence with almost nothing to fall back on. There are droughts withering your crop. There are flash floods sweeping away the topsoil—and your house and everything you own. There are bad roads to market—or no roads. There is little good seed, fertilizers, herbicides. Plus, there is the cruelty of competition from foreign imports. You and fellow farmers have organized a cooperative. You’re trying; you’ve got plans, But there’s really no money available to work with.

NEAR EAST FOUNDATION OFFERS RESOURCES
To the widow in Sudan, we provide a micro-loan so she can buy a little refrigerator—and actualize an idea that could give her economic self-sufficiency. She freezes fruit juice, makes popsicles, sells them to children in nearby schoolyards—and supports her family.

For the landmine victim in Lebanon, we are working with that country’s progressive legislation assuring employment for adults with special needs. Providing a user-friendly, readily-accessible website linking job-seekers with potential employers. Along with assistance on resumes and job applications; how to interview, and cope on the job when you get one. The goal is 2,000 adults with special needs employed--out in the world and financially independent.

In Djibouti we are creating a network of community-based credit funds for poor communities. Terms and procedures range from simple interest over one year to seasonal loans, seed bank and partnerships. So a farming cooperative now has a first round of capital, about $5,000, to expand agricultural production and marketing. With new pumps, irrigation systems, fencing, packaging and plant protection. For starters.

There’s more…in Mali, Jordan, Swaziland.