Helping Hand for Relief & Development (HHRD) is partnering with the Dr. Hawa Abdi Foundation (DHAF) to sponsor of 50 orphans in a one-year pilot project. DHAF is an internationally acclaimed organization whose founder, Dr. Hawa Abdi, has just been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize this year. DHAF is an independent non-profit organization whose mission is to support emergency relief efforts in war-stricken Somalia. DHAF seeks to empower Somalis to take command of their own future. Since 1991, the organization has provided general, emergency, and maternal care to displaced Somalis, independent of their clan, gender, religious, or political affiliation. The DHAF camp, Waqaf-Dhiblawe, is presently hosting 90,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs).
For the last four years, DHAF has been running a small school in the camp. This school has 848 students and 15 teachers, offering courses for grades 1 through 8. The school is committed to providing quality education to the students in an equitable and efficient fashion. Half of the children are girls and all the students are provided with education at no charge. The school is continuously expanding, adding more rooms and classroom materials each year. Currently work is being done to create a co-op program to give the students employment opportunities when they graduate, through apprenticeships with a professional in the camp so that they can learn a trade and escape the cycle of poverty.
There are 50 students at this school who are orphans, who will be sponsored in the one-year pilot project of HHRD in collaboration with DHAF. Both HHRD and DHAF are solution-oriented organizations that seek to provide people with the skills, resources, and knowledge to stand on their own feet.
If this pilot project is successful, additional relief and development programs and projects will be jointly sponsored by HHRD and DHAF, and through the support of generous philanthropists across the U.S. like you.
Please visit www.HHRD.org for more information and donations.
