A Glimmer of Hope exists today because International Aid can and must be delivered efficiently and effectively.

It is different from traditional charities because it believes it can help bring about an end to extreme poverty in rural Ethiopia during our lifetimes. Everything it does is geared towards that goal.

Our approach has drawn significant support from other results-oriented philanthropists like Scott Harrison of charity:water, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Whole Planet Foundation and Matt Damon’s H2O Africa among others.

Harrison’s charity:water has funded 1,247 water projects in 14 developing nations around the world – including 10 in Africa – in just two years. He provides an unprecedented level of transparency to his supporters about how he uses their donations and it’s no accident that he chose A Glimmer of Hope as his implementing partner for his biggest fundraising campaign of 2008 – the September Campaign – which raised over $1 million for water projects in Ethiopia.

A Glimmer of Hope’s model has also received a ringing endorsement from an expert in the traditional model of international aid. Ambassador Tibor Nagy spent over 23 years in the US Foreign Service in Africa serving twice as Ambassador and three times as Deputy Ambassador.

In an article in the May 2004 edition of the Foreign Service Journal, Ambassador Nagy said A Glimmer of Hope’s approach was resulting in “dramatic positive outcomes.” In the article, he suggested: “we [the US government] should partner more with innovative emerging NGOs, such as A Glimmer of Hope.”

In the five years since Ambassador Nagy wrote the piece, we at A Glimmer of Hope have witnessed the astonishing rate at which true development can happen when it is done well. In Dembi Dollo, the isolated village where we began our work in 2001, funding requests for clean water, basic health care and primary education are giving way to ones for a teachers’ training college, a university, a job training center and loans for small and medium-sized businesses.

Less than a decade ago, Dembi Dollo was paralyzed by grinding poverty. Today, the community’s leading concern is what their children are going to do for a living after they graduate from high school.

Aid is not dead if it is done right. The traditional approaches need to be examined with a critical, creative and constructive mind as well as a compassionate heart. The setbacks, disappointments and shortcomings of aid and development need to be understood and then challenged and solved.

Recognizing that poverty comes in many forms, A Glimmer of Hope Austin was established in 2003 to fund programs designed to make a difference in the lives of disadvantaged youth and seniors in the foundation’s hometown.

We are so excited to see their work firsthand, meet the people, see how their lives are already being transformed and visit a potential site for a new project. The video above is the project that we will visit one of the days. It isn't finished yet, but we will get an idea of the scope of this type of project. I'm so struck by the children crammed into that school room, so eager to learn, not elbowing the person next to them for more room, writing as much as possible on each page as they know that paper is precious and not to be bought at a convienience store down the road. We have much to learn from these remarkable people!

I will post specific prayer requests in another post, this one got long. Just know that I will indeed covet your prayers as they will be crucial for this trip.