NEF 2005 Annual Report - Near East Foundation

EAR EAST FOUNDATION WINS 2004 AGFUND INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR 

PIONEERING DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS among 83 competing projects, in 32 

countries, on three continents. NEF won for its enhancement of nursing as a 

career in Upper Egypt. 

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Editor: Andrea M. Couture 

• Designer: Ellen Scott

EAR EAST FOUNDATION PRESENTED 2004 FREEDOM AWARD BY 

ARMENIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF AMERICA, WESTERN REGION, “…for 

your organization’s longstanding history of aiding the Armenian people and others 

in their darkest hours.” 

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From thousands of miles away they came to Near East Foundation’s New York headquarters, little 

burgundy velvet boxes that opened to reveal brass plaques: 

ASIRA EL-SHAMALLIA WOMEN’S CLUB 

Thanks gratefully 

NEAR EAST FOUNDATION (NEF) 

For their helpful efforts in establishing many projects 

With all regards 

2004 

And from the Albadan Regional Council “For your support and efforts” and 

the Bayte Imrin Village Council…all West Bank Palestinian towns. 

Closer to home were recognitions from the State of California Senate and 

the State Assembly “…for bridging national and cultural boundaries to help 

people help themselves.” From the City and County of Los Angeles, “…your 

commitment to helping people in the Middle East and Africa build better lives 

for themselves and their communities by working with local institutions is of 

great benefit to those you serve and to the global community,” signed Los 

Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn.

Presented annually “for remarkable contributions toward the 

Armenian people and the cause of peace in the world,” the Near 

East Foundation was honored in October with the highest award 

conferred by the Armenian National Committee of America, 

Western Region, a dramatic, nearly foot high, bronze eagle with 

outstretched wings. It was accepted by NEF Board Chairwoman 

Linda K. Jacobs and NEF President Ryan A. LaHurd at a gala with 

over 600 guests and a long list of dignitaries, who stood and 

applauded the presentation. 

“There is no more meaningful acknowledgement than that which 

comes from those to whom we are most closely connected 

historically,” Dr. LaHurd told them. Near East Foundation was created in 1915 to rescue desperate and 

dying survivors of the Armenian Genocide and deportations, becoming the first nationwide, large scale, 

international assistance organization in the United States. In February Dr. LaHurd returned to Los 

Angeles to be featured speaker at the “International Relief, Refuge, and Recognition Tribute.” Near 

East Foundation was recognized by the Armenian Assembly, Armenian General Benevolent Union, and 

the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church, for its efforts on behalf of survivors of the Genocide. 

In April Dr. LaHurd was guest speaker again, this time in Washington, D.C. for the Congressional 

Armenian Genocide Observance held on Capitol Hill, joined by Members of Congress, civic, religious, 

human rights leaders, and Armenian-Americans from across the country. “The work of the Near East 

Foundation argues that humanity can respond to evil with good; to despair with hope; and to destruction 

with rebuilding,” he told the assembly. 

Near East Foundation received the very 

prestigious 2004 International Prize for 

Pioneering Development Projects by the 

Arab Gulf Programme for United Nations 

Development Organizations (AGFUND). 

The announcement was made in Riyadh in 

September on the recommendation of a 

distinguished committee, and the award 

was presented in Tunis in December by His 

Royal Highness Prince Talal Bin Abdul 

Aziz Al Saud. NEF won for its 

enhancement of nursing as a career in Upper Egypt, in competition with 83 projects from 32 countries 

and three continents. “Looking at the overwhelming need in our world,” the NEF President said upon 

accepting the prize, “too many people regard as worthwhile only projects which affect millions…but 

every human life is of great value. And every effort which enhances a human life is an important 

success.”

Near East Foundation's efforts and successes in 2004-05 follow, in 

keeping with our historic mission — To help the people of the Middle East and Africa build the 

future they envision for themselves. 


• Designer: Ellen Scott 

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This has been another momentous year for Near East Foundation. Not only did we mark the close of our 

ninth decade, we also implemented important structural and organizational changes at NEF. The growth of 

our field programs has been consistent and rewarded by new grants in places like Palestine, Egypt, and 

Morocco. However, it has been a struggle for our fundraising, which mostly takes place here in the United 

States, to keep pace with this expansion. 

Consequently, NEF’s Board of Directors made a number of difficult decisions, including strict budget 

controls, cuts in spending, and contracting our office here in New York to make the best use of our limited 

resources. NEF President Ryan LaHurd and I went to Cairo in January to talk with our Egyptian staff about 

implementing these cuts. Each manager understood the necessity and timeliness of the measures, and 

worked wholeheartedly to implement them. Despite the challenges, NEF continues project exploration, 

including in Armenia, Sudan and in Ethiopia, where we received government registration as an international 

NGO this year. 

Not just content with cuts, however, we have stepped up our fundraising efforts, both on the Web, through 

personal contacts, and with our loyal donors. Your support has helped NEF reach this 90th year milestone. 

Now we hope that you will help us, not just in monetary support, but in talking about NEF with your friends, in 

your giving circle, at the gym, or at your place of worship. We would be happy to provide you with a speaker, 

should you request one. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful ways that any organization becomes 

known. 

At this time, the American people are both curious about—and confused by—what is happening in the 

Middle East. Having spent more than two decades in the region, working first as an archaeologist in Iran and 

Jordan, and since 1986, with NEF, I have to say that never before have I seen the kind of mutual 

misunderstanding which now exists. NEF is the only organization I know which can become a bridge of 

understanding between our peoples. 

Thank you for your continuing support, which has helped NEF reach this remarkable 90th anniversary year 

in its service to the Middle East and Africa. Our partnership is more important than ever to the people we 

serve during these difficult times in the Islamic world. 

Sincerely, 

Chair 



Recently, The New York Times joined other periodicals in reflecting on the doomsday outlook of many 

Americans. People anguish at the piling up of disasters and potential disasters from tsunami to earthquake to 

avian flu. While their concern has motivated some philanthropic generosity, it seems to have also generated 

feelings of despair: that improving the condition of people in developing countries is impossible. 

The Near East Foundation shares a deep concern about the crises that affect people’s lives around the 

globe. But far from despair, we have a sense of optimism. For we see first hand the genuine progress being 

made by the people with whom we work in the Middle East and Africa. 

In these countries one finds people suffering the devastation of famine, conflict, authoritarian government, 

and economic deprivation. Yet we find them to be people of great resilience, hope, energy, and commitment 

to the betterment of themselves and their communities. 

They respond with gratitude and vigor to NEF’s participatory approach, which treats them as equal partners 

with a great deal to offer, but in need of a helping hand. Palestinian villages are developing democratic 

institutions and economic stability; displaced persons in Sudan are starting businesses and learning to 

improve their health and nutrition; Malians are forging community structures to ensure their food security and 

build the structures of civil society; women in Jordan and Morocco are gaining a place in the future of their 

society through training and cooperative ventures. 

These are examples of real people whose real lives are improving. Their stories unfortunately do not often 

make it to the airwaves or the newsprint of American media. But they are no less a sign of hope for being 

hidden from sight. 

They are why we are optimistic about the state of the world and about the future--and why we think you 

should be too. And, for those of you who support our work, these stories are why you should feel proud of 

having made a difference. These people know they have enhanced their lives because of the generosity of 

average Americans and of American foundations and corporations who care. I think there is no better “public 

diplomacy.”

As we approach the end of our 90th anniversary year, we at NEF can proudly say that we are continuing to 

bring hope, build friendships, and do good in the international arena as we enter our 10th decade. We are 

hard at work shaping NEF to be even more effective in the future. We can do more with your help. Please be 

generous enough to include NEF among those philanthropic efforts you support. 

Sincerely, 

NEF President 



Remarks by Montasser Kamal, M.D., Ph.D. 

Chief of the United Nations Health Institutions Unit 

Director General of Multilateral Programs, Canadian International Development Agency (Quebec) 

y relationship with the Near East Foundation began more than 20 years ago, starting from their work 

in Egypt. During that time I was a medical student at Cairo University, and at a later date, I worked 

directly with their Center for Development Services as a manager. NEF has without doubt come to 

be one of the most influential institutions in my life and the lives of many other development practitioners in 

Egypt and other countries of the Middle East. 

“The influence of NEF cannot be attributed to the scale of its financial resources, which was always modest, 

but is mainly due to the ability of its leadership to engage in key development issues, making timely 

decisions and charting new strategic directions and alliances. These decisions have contributed 

substantially to helping alleviate the suffering of poor women, men and children in the region…. 

“Perhaps one of the most extraordinary achievements of NEF has been to bring the voice of the poor to 

policymakers. In the absence of democratic processes, people’s voices are often lost to the more powerful. 

That is not the case where NEF works. Where NEF works, people now know that power is not a zero-sum 

game and that they have an ally who can help them bridge this power gap in an effective and constructive 

way. 

“I remember the time I was working at NEF, when the concept of citizen participation in development was 

paid lip-service at best. At that time, NEF had embarked on a change strategy by which all its projects and 

programs had to demonstrate that they were participatory in nature. It was not easy. It is still not easy. But 

progress has been made, and NEF has come to set the ground rules on how to encourage participation and 

create the social sphere for it to take place. 

“NEF has also had a profound impact on my life. Work ethos, teamwork, mutual respect and having an 

investigative mind—are all qualities which I gained while at NEF and which I carry with me to this day.” 

hortly after the Camp David accords were signed in 1978, development resources began pouring into 

Egypt, but something vital was in short supply—qualified local staff—to use these new funds effectively. 

The Near East Foundation saw this need for a pool of skilled development professionals who could 

provide necessary project management, development and capacity-building services. Given this important 

recognition, NEF headed in a new direction in the Middle East with a vital and continuing infusion of financial

support and technical assistance. 

While continuing its own grant-making and programs 

throughout the 1980s, NEF began to emphasize the 

professional development of individuals, including 

forming strategic partnerships with other organizations in 

order to provide Egyptian nationals with training and 

education and a chance to apply what they had learned. 

It was called “the network,” more formally known as the 

Development Practice Support Network. 

NEF provided sustained funding for needed publications, 

local learning as well as scholarships to study abroad. 

While the focus was on Egypt, the network soon expanded into Sudan and Jordan as well. It attracted young 

professionals employed by local and international nongovernmental organizations; and also tried to lure 

well-educated, young people into the development field, particularly encouraging them to work outside 

capital cities and go into the countryside. An amazing 5,000-plus development practitioners joined this 

network, and many went on to key posts, both locally and internationally. 

By 1990 a new organization clearly was badly 

needed to accommodate them. Heroically, 15 

network veterans left secure jobs and an 

uncertain future to establish the NEF Cairo 

affiliate—Center for Development Services 

(CDS). 

At first CDS carried on the previous professional 

development activities, but then realized yet 

another need existed—capacity building for 

institutions. For the next several years the NEF 

affiliate focused on improving management, 

finances, and service delivery by collaborating 

organizations. A wide range of Arabiclanguage 

courses and materials, training, and 

technical assistance was developed by CDS 

and provided to them. 

Also, CDS approached leading lights in the field in order to provide Arab-language materials that made a 

significant contribution, in particularly on participatory approaches; that in turn influenced development 

education and practice throughout the region, raising standards to new heights. Thousands of 

nongovernmental organizations were strengthened and became valued partners to their communities, 

donors and governments. That CDS was based in Cairo was instrumental in its accomplishing so much in 

such a short time, given many donors were attracted to undertake development in a country of 70 million 

people, more than any other in the region. 

CDS started offering project management 

services by the mid-1990s, with its evaluations 

particularly in demand. By 1998 this NEF Cairo 

affiliate had 60 full-time employees and had 

become the largest single provider of Arablanguage 

development services for 

nongovernmental organizations in the Middle 

East. More recently CDS has again repositioned 

itself, this time addressing the roles of government 

and the private sector. For peak impact and continuing sustainability, CDS now is intensely involved in 

participatory planning, coalition building, and the creation of structures and networks. 

Here are some cases in community and sector development NEF-Egypt addressed in 2004-05.

At a meeting hosted by CDS, 40 lead researchers and experts from six countries came together in Cairo to 

address the subject of philanthropy for social investment and development, with funding provided by the Ford 

Foundation. CDS’s Egyptian philanthropy program is examining the patterns and size of local philanthropy 

and very importantly, its potential to play a larger role in national development. This pragmatic, actionoriented 

research is considered a leading effort to understand local assets of all kinds and mobilize them for 

community betterment. In addition to Egypt, conference participants were from Indonesia, Turkey, Britain, 

India and Tanzania. 

In what could become the largest project every implemented by NEF in this field in Egypt, CDS began the first 

phase of agricultural development of reclaimed desert land west of Lake Nasser, the largest fresh water 

reservoir in the world and a fragile environment under increasing stress. Funding came from Canada’s 

International Development Research Center, supplemented by a grant for training and market research from 

the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development. The project also represents a landmark for NEF’s 

growing expertise in innovative and sustainable strategies for communities with delicate ecosystems and 

changing socio-ecological environments. The aim is to enhance the health, income, and welfare of the 2,500 

small landholding families of the area. That includes an eco-health approach by CDS’s agro-ecology project 

which designed a plan to overcome such difficulties as poisonous bites from snakes and scorpions, the 

remoteness of the area, and lack of medical and emergency health facilities. 

Ongoing since early 2003, CDS’s collaboration 

with the Cairo-based Arab Council for Childhood 

and Development aims to unify the efforts of five 

countries in the Arab world and build their 

institutional capacity to address the phenomenon 

of street children and their lost human potential. 

Participating in this significant joint initiative are 

Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Syria, and Yemen. The 

project has three main phases and CDS is 

involved in all of them: first, development of a 

general framework for action, including planning, 

budgeting and reporting; second, training 

workshops for the five countries using that 

framework; and three, creation of operational 

manuals and application of the information and 

skills they contain. The Council and CDS 

previously worked together on a training program 

on project design and proposal writing for 24 

participants from 13 Arab countries. This project builds upon Near East Foundation’s involvement with street 

children in Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, and most-recently in Armenia. 

But one example of the wide expertise CDS makes available to community-based organizations addressing 

a range of needs and issues is a three-month project with the Association for Young Diabetics. The 

organization was founded in Egypt in 2000 and since has served over one thousand cases, helping young 

diabetics and their families better manage this disease. After conducting a comprehensive organizational 

assessment of management, finances and programs, CDS worked with board and key staff to devise 

expansion and implementation plans, then collaborated on securing needed funding to service the 

increasing number of young diabetics across Egypt. NEF’s health and population staff began to take note of 

diabetes as a rising health concern in the late 1990s, not only in Egypt, but throughout the region.

A first for Egypt, a fixed-price people’s market for 

the Al Mounib District of Giza came about with 

assistance from CDS and the United Nations 

Development Program as well as cooperation 

from the Giza Governorate, the Social Fund for 

Development, and Sekem companies. Only 

Venezuela has a similar enterprise, and it was to 

the popular market there that the field team went 

for a first hand look at a market that operates by 

group collaboration, and directly connects 

agricultural operators with the consumers of their 

produce. Then CDS started training 30 local 

volunteers and potential market operators, 

designed the research and field work, and 

supervised the team. NEF has a strong 

background in establishing urban markets, 

including the upgrading of the Tablita Market in 

Old Cairo and the establishment of the El- 

Harameen Market in East Alexandria. 

A year-long, multi-faceted involvement in upgrading services to Egyptian children with disabilities and 

special needs and at-risk youth in both urban and rural areas included a number of different assignments for 

CDS. A main objective of the World Bank-funded project was to design a comprehensive training program 

for staff of the Egyptian Ministry of Insurance and Social Affairs, who work with at-risk young people in 

Greater Cairo. In addition, CDS monitored and evaluated 33 subprojects by service providers in 11 

governorates throughout the country, leading to a complete and streamlined database. Based on this indepth 

familiarity, CDS was asked to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the entire initiative preparatory 

to World Bank review. Results indicated nearly 45,000 people benefited—children, trainees, participating 

organizations. The increase in the number of service providers was perhaps the most important contribution 

as well as the development and testing of new, integrated ways of providing services. CDS’s experience 

with these issues goes back to 1995, including authoring a series of manuals on street children for the Arab 

Council for Childhood and Development, and long-term assistance to organizations like the Hope Village 

Association, which works with street children, and the Hospital Day Association, which serves the disabled. 

In a public-private partnership affecting the delivery of 

health care nationally, CDS is partnering with the Arab 

African International Bank and Cairo University 

Specialized Pediatrics Hospital, investing in the 

hospital’s staff and expansion plans. The hospital 

serves an average of 2,500 patients weekly and is one 

of the largest health care providers for Egyptian 

children. For its part, the bank is providing the majority 

of financing for the project; while CDS is upgrading 

nursing skills and simultaneously creating a core of 

well-qualified professionals capable of transferring 

their knowledge. The plan is for CDS to exit in a year 

with a sustainable program in place. Further, CDS is 

working at the operational level with the hospital’s 

administration to improve management, technical 

capacities and day-to-day efficiency. CDS was 

selected to play this pivotal role because of its 

involvement in the Egyptian health sector since 1991, 

most particularly because of its truly remarkable 

success at enhancing nursing as a career in Aswan. That project has since expanded to the Governorates of 

Aswan and Qena.

Working with the Egyptian government’s Social Fund for Development, in turn using World Bank funding for 

54 projects, CDS documented the implementation of four models being tried to increase awareness about 

population and reproductive health issues. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, including 

conducting 373 interviews, CDS clearly defined the characteristic strengths and weaknesses of each model, 

determining exactly what created success and effectiveness. From these lessons learned, CDS then 

extracted the basics for an efficient and sustainable model to address population growth and improve the 

lives of rural women of reproductive age, reporting these complex findings to the government. CDS also 

examined each model for the approach most helpful to effective cooperation among the Ministry of Health 

and Population, nongovernmental organizations and local communities—the capacity-building part of the 

project. 



haled Bin Al-Waleid’s General Voluntary Society serves a community of 3,000 people who live in a 

starkly dramatic setting in steep hills 40 kilometers south of Jordan’s capital city of Amman. There are 

120 members in the society managed by a board of seven and assistance of four full-time women 

volunteers. The community-based organization began in 1991 with the goals of increased education and 

health awareness, vocational training, and support for school children. “We’ve reached almost all our goals, 

including community-based credit,” reported Mamdouh Hawatmeh with evident satisfaction. 

And their achievements are most impressive, 

particularly given such evidently difficult 

circumstances. The General Voluntary Society 

conducts informal classes supplementing the 

available school programming and in 2005 held 

14 workshops on subjects such as women’s and 

children’s rights, business awareness, care of the 

elderly, as well as for kindergarten teachers in 

conjunction with the kindergarten and nursery 

school they maintain. Indeed, they made such a 

good impression in 2001 when His Majesty King 

Abdullah II visited their community, he donated a 

bus to their kindergarten program. On the health 

front, the society ran an eight-week training 

program in family planning this year with 20 

women participants; and also conducted a 

workshop on the importance of a pre-marriage 

health examination. 

In addition, the society has a gallery space to 

display and sell products created by village women and provides other income-generating activities. Two 

dunums of land have been set aside for olive tree cultivation. They maintain the natural water springs in the 

breathtakingly beautiful valley below benefiting 20 farmers, who grow wild mushrooms, tomatoes, 

cucumbers, green peppers, olives, eggplant, figs, and guava. The catchment area for three farmers costs 

$4,225; and their newly-constructed water tank and concrete canal collects precious rainwater for five farm 

houses. “If we had more money, we could do more reservoirs,” Mr. Hawatmeh added. For his part, Falah 

Khlaf needs water to irrigate his olive grove. A concrete wall and a cistern has the potential for 80 cubic

meters of water, helpful for three or four families. 

The society also wants to establish a local bakery and use their bus to distribute baked goods throughout the 

area. They figure the bakery would cost about $140,000 with their 30 percent share raised from cash and 

building rent. They estimate profits of $4,225 annually, in turn used to expand their programs, even into 

nearby villages. In addition to income generating activities, the society has donated $8,450 in direct cash 

assistance to 300 poor families as well as to orphans and widows in their community. 

But it sounds like Mr. Hawatmeh is most proud of 

their NEF-funded credit program, which has 

assisted 58 families so far, creating small 

businesses like a grocery store, restaurant, and 

making possible the additional income that 

comes from raising rabbits, chickens, cows and 

goats. A case in point, one village women, the 

wife of a bus driver and mother of six children, 

took out a loan of $700 two years ago and bought 

six goats. Their milk, yogurt and butter products 

were used by her family and sold. She repaid 

the loan in full at $35 a month and now wants 

another to raise turkeys. 

Loans average about $700 with a maximum of 

$1,400; run for two years; with the monthly 

payment about $35. In three years they have 

made $4,000 from fees and boast an impressive 

96 percent repayment rate. About 75 percent of 

the businesses they staked with $14,000 are still 

going strong, and now have tripled in value to $42,300. The society has only $425 left to repay of the 

$16,000 NEF provided to get them going, along with training and technical assistance, like designing the 

application form, determining the selection criteria, and analyzing how much money is needed. 

For all these reasons, Khaled Bin Al-Waleid’s General Voluntary Society met the Qudorat Project’s stringent 

requirements and was selected to be one of 30 finalists from among 300-plus applicants. Society members 

have participated in intensive NEF training sessions over the past months. 

ear East Foundation opened its Jordan office in 1936 and since that time has been a prime mover in 

training and capacity-building for Jordanians and Jordanian institutions, culminating most appropriately 

in its leadership in 2005 of the Qudorat Project, Arabic for “capacities” and a most appropriate 

translation. A televised ceremony in December and subsequent national media campaign officially launched 

this ambitious, multi-year, multi-million program. It aims at nothing less than strengthening the country’s civil 

society, boosting non-governmental, community-based organizations and their traditional services, while 

enhancing their income generation potential. 

In yet another major thrust, NEF has been very intensely 

involved since last year in the creation of new fish farms in the 

Jordan Valley, working with small farmers to raise fish in 

existing irrigation ponds for both home consumption and sale. 

Further, NEF has been busily planning with the Jordanian 

government for a large aquaculture/fish farming program for 

the Zarka Governorate. This grand-scale proposal, involving 

the wider community—not just agricultural sector, uses NEF’s 

20 years of solid expertise since its first introduction of fish 

farming in rural areas in the 1980s. 

It would create a major center for aquaculture promotion in the region; provide recreational facilities for the 

people of Zarka and surrounding areas; increase water availability for bio-saline agriculture; and promote 

environmental education and applications throughout Jordan. Such changes ultimately could impact up to 

80 percent of Jordan Valley and Zarka Basin farmers.

These exciting latest developments really go back 

much further, building upon NEF’s work in Jordan 

since the 1930s with the founding of an institute 

for teachers in Trans Jordan in conjunction with 

the American University of Beirut, later attracting 

many Jordanian students to a new College of 

Agriculture, and by 1952 to an Institute of 

Economic Research. Over the decades NEF 

honed an approach based on agricultural 

extension in combination with comprehensive 

rural reconstruction—improvements in rural living, 

increased farm production, and an emphasis on 

the family. In every instance, programs were 

requested, begun, and financed by the people 

themselves. 

From the beginning our kind of technical 

assistance meant bringing scientifically skilled 

people to live in Jordanian villages—where they 

stayed in the background. Our funding focused 

on providing education that stimulated Jordanian 

villagers to freely undertake helpful change. By any standard, the Near East Foundation pioneered 

international technical assistance in Jordan, reaching people of all economic and social levels. In 

recognition of these contributions, His Majesty King Hussein awarded NEF the Jordan Star of the Second 

Order in 1971, “for valuable work…in the domain of social service and economic development”— which 

continued on a grander scale and with more sophisticated techniques in 2004-05. 

Through the years NEF programs evolved, reflecting changing local conditions and new opportunities. In the 

1980s NEF expanded into urban settings, promoting health and social services through local communitybased 

organizations for the first time; and introduced fish farming in the rural areas. By the early 1990s this 

now vast experience focused on local economic development, promoting small businesses and incomegenerating 

activities in both cities and the countryside. 

NEF was the first to introduce micro-credit to Jordan and 

since the early 1990s has been a major player in assuring 

equitable access to credit, promoting income-generating 

activities, and supporting small and micro-enterprise 

development. Today NEF-Jordan is a primary resource 

for training, teaching materials, and technical assistance 

for more than 200 community-based funds; and now 

works with local banks and private sector companies to 

increase capital flows to these funds. 

literally entire communities. 

In the Zarka Governorate, in cooperation with the 

Jordanian Ministry of Social Development and local 

community-based organizations, NEF more recently has 

conducted housing assessments and established credit 

funds for home improvement loans to poor urban 

households. Over the years thousands of Jordanians 

have received loans and enhanced their livelihoods and 

living conditions as well as many organizations and 

NEF’s innovative approaches to problem-solving and technological innovation continued in 2004-05, 

particularly evident in its leadership of Qudorat, 

our largest project ever in Jordan, consolidating 15 years of 

capacity-building experience with community-based organizations there. With a $2.5 grant from Jordan’s 

Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation’s Enhanced Productivity Program, NEF is the principal 

agency in a consortium of Jordanian non-government and private sector institutions, including the Jordanian

Hashemite Fund for Human Development and Dajani Consulting, a private firm. Contracts were signed 

October 19, 2004. 

There are 5,000 community-based organizations across 

Jordan offering a wide range of services and activities. 

By 

supporting them with a new and creative approach, 

Qudorat aims at far more than training and technical 

assistance, but fully integrated institutional change in 

Jordanian civil society that will enhance and sustain 

these institutions and the contributions they make to their 

communities. Simultaneously Qudorat is encouraging 

income-generation, job creation, local economic 

development, and small and micro-enterprise throughout the country. 

NEF’s long-time Jordan Program Manager Majdi Qorom is directing the Near East Foundation consortium, 

which brings together a group of experienced and dedicated professionals, skilled in organizational needs 

assessment, participatory strategic planning, custom-tailored training and technical assistance as well as 

old-fashion hand-holding and cheerleading. They are working with management, board members, and 

community representatives, equipping them with the tools and practical assistance--to take a new look at old 

ways of doing business; redefine their relationships with existing and potential partners; and reform from 

within and reach objectives. 

Further, Qudorat intends to instill a better sense of direction, encourage commitment, and design 

interventions, then measure results. Once assessed, the information, materials, systems and lessons 

learned will be available for later expansion that should prove less costly and even more effective. At the 

same time NEF is “linking” these institutions together for the first time, boosting Jordan’s role in Internet 

applications and information technology. Every participating organization gets a computer with scanner and 

Internet connection. 

According to Manager Qorom, “ Qudorat aims to 

encourage public involvement, expand private 

financing as well as positive governmental 

practices.... In short, this is an integrated, goaloriented 

methodology and social change 

strategy. It’s citizen-driven and asset-based. 

The decentralized approach to implementation 

will strengthen the sector and leave something 

to build on for the future.” 

By the end of this fiscal year, Qudorat had 

received an overwhelming response to its 

request for proposals—over 300 communitybased 

organizations from six Jordanian 

governorates applied by the January 6 

deadline. NEF revolutionized the sorting 

process by entering applications on a webbased 

system for transparent tracking of 

progress, and later, selection of the 30 finalists. 

They were announced in Amman in April amidst 

much fanfare, attendance by officials, and press 

coverage. Finalists included 18 charitable organizations, eight cooperatives, two culture centers, and two 

sport clubs. Interestingly, nine of the finalists provide services to women. Not incidentally, NEF spent a 

month explaining to organizations that were not selected—why they did not win, considered a helpful 

process for a future application. 

Qudorat field trainer-motivators immediately began to compile basic information on the 30 communities 

served by the finalists for baseline studies and later market research and business development activities. 

Twenty of the finalists will receive financial assistance for income-generating activities. In conjunction with 

the announcement of finalists, a day-long orientation immediately launched the training phase of Qudorat.

By March more than 7,800 visitors had checked 

out the project website, about 18 percent from 

outside Jordan, indicative of international 

interest gradually growing each month. Also in 

March the first youth volunteer group was 

established to participate in Qudorat activities, 

particularly research and marketing, with two 

more planned. In April an intensive series of 

workshops and training exercises began for 

more than 200 trainees, carried out by 30 

instructors at more than 40 locations in six 

governorates. 

Next came institutional needs assessments at 

each community-based organization, prepared 

and piloted by NEF’s Cairo-based Center for 

Development Services, profiling each 

organization and where reform was most needed. These findings then became the basis for further planning 

at the three-day workshops on participatory strategic planning and visioning, to evaluate the general 

environment in which these organizations operate. Parallel with this training, Qudorat staff met with 

participating organizations to explore business concepts and ideas for income-generating activities. 

Editor: Andrea M. Couture • Designer: Ellen Scott

ian Stanhouse, who worked after school as a bagger in a grocery store, donated 10 percent of his 

paycheck, which he got his parents to match, plus involved his relatives in the cause. Some teachers, 

like Carol Bertsch, challenged their classes by pledging to match their contributions, in her case 

$1,700. A collection table manned during lunchtime in the school cafeteria began at about $20 the first day, 

then exploded, reaching $2,400, even $4,000! Almost every club and organization on campus took on the 

project—the orchestra raised $500 in a concert and the basketball team’s silent auction garnered $1,500. 

Eventually checks sent to the Near East Foundation 

in New York passed their $10,000 goal to support 

NEF-Lesotho Country Director Ken Storen’s work 

with orphaned and abandoned AIDS babies. That 

was the spirit permeating Houston’s Kingwood High 

School, introduced to the plight of Lesotho’s 

orphans by teachers Courtney Wheeler and 

Jennifer Orenic, ex-Peace Corps volunteers in 

Lesotho and good friends of Ken. “I was thinking 

maybe we’d make a thousand,” confessed Ms. 

Wheeler, a special education teacher of students 

with moderate to severe disabilities of all kinds. But 

in just four weeks, “We were running through the 

halls, yelling, ‘We got it!’ ‘We got it!’” 

In total nearly $110,000 was contributed this year to 

the Near East Foundation to support NEF-Country 

Director Storen’s AIDS orphan project, an enormous outpouring of generosity. 

Peace Corps volunteer in Lesotho before becoming the Near East Foundation’s Lesotho Country 

Director, Ken Storen well knows the hugely tragic dimensions of the HIV-AIDS pandemic in Africa. The 

number of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to more than double by 

2010, requiring one billion dollars annually to care for them, according to UNICEF, the United Nations 

children’s agency. An unprecedented “drastic deterioration in children’s lives” will likely see more than 24 

million children face AIDS-inflicted poverty, UNICEF says. Currently Africa is home to some 40 million 

orphans and that number may shoot to 50 million in the next five years in sub-Saharan African where 60 to 

80 percent of the cases are AIDS-related.

Tens of millions more will be made vulnerable as AIDS slowly 

kills parents, stretches households which care for orphaned 

relatives, and robs communities of teachers and health care 

workers. Historically African communities have cared for 

orphans and vulnerable children, but relatives and neighbors 

have been overwhelmed by this disease, which kills not just 

one parent—but usually both. Over time families find their 

resources depleted. The lifelong impact on these children and 

on the communities where they live will be profound and linger 

for decades after the epidemic begins to wane, particularly 

given the long incubation period of the disease—eight to 10 years. 

Compelled to act in this southern African, land-locked country he 

calls home, in May 2004 Storen founded a non-profit organization 

registered with the Lesotho government to improve the quality of 

life for infants and families affected and infected by HIV. Presented 

in the United States as Six Degrees of Separation, it provides care 

to orphaned infants through a place of safety based in 

Mokhotlong, Lesotho, and an outreach program, training, and 

supporting families so they can care for orphaned infants. 

An elderly widow walked three hours to the district hospital, her 

second such trip in three months. Mathato’s last visit ended when 

her daughter, a single mother, succumbed to a variety of infections 

acquired during her struggle with HIV. She died in her early 

twenties. 

When the old woman arrived at the hospital, she unwrapped her 

blanket to expose the tiny body of nine-month-old Nthabiseng. The 

baby was severely malnourished since the impoverished grandmother lacked the resources to provide more 

than sugar water and an occasional bit of food over the past three months. She tearfully placed her 

granddaughter in the hands of Nthabeleng, the project director, and said farewell, promising to visit when 

she could. 

Three weeks later, she returned to Mokhotlong town again on foot, and this time didn’t recognize her own 

granddaughter! Through feeding, care and medical treatment, Nthabiseng had grown into a healthy baby, no 

longer coughing weakly, but sitting up and smiling while playing with a small pile of toys. Mathato continued 

her visits on a monthly basis, smiling and crying tears of joy every time she held her happy little 

granddaughter in her lap. 

After six months, baby Nthabiseng went home with the 

program staff to be reunited with her grandmother in a 

highly emotional celebration. Project people continued 

to visit once a month, bringing food, training the family 

in proper care, and monitoring Nthabiseng’s health. 

Says her grandmother: “When I brought Nthabiseng 

to the hospital that day, I thought I would never see 

her again. I had lost my daughter and couldn’t bear the 

thought of losing my granddaughter--she was all I had 

left. Her life was saved and I am the happiest woman 

alive, because I have my granddaughter. I cannot say 

‘thank you’ enough.” On October 3 Nthabiseng 

celebrated her second birthday, as smiley and happy 

as ever.

Numerically there have been 93 home visits to provide nutritional support, monitoring, referrals and training; 

42 trips to Leribe Hospital and Motebang Clinic for treatment, immunization, and consultation; 16 staff trained 

in nutrition and medication administration; and 20 meetings with local government officials, hospital staff and 

others to create a referral network, among other facts and figures. 

Only three children sadly have died, while so many others are now living in safe, nurturing environments, 

either with Ken or reintegrated into extended families or in foster care. Staff visited children reintegrated into 

extended families at least two times per month, providing training for their care and monitoring weight, 

general health, development, and attitude. They were reportedly adjusting well. 

Although pressure exists to reintegrate all children into their families, it was discovered in many cases this 

would not be in the best interests of the child’s welfare, indeed in some instances, extremely dangerous. 

Despite training, many families have been found incapable of providing adequate care; and others, 

apathetic to the children’s needs. 

Virtually all children participating in the program 

have been immunized, also are being properly fed 

and receiving health care. Six children among 

those tested have been confirmed to be HIV 

positive; and four are taking anti-retroviral drugs. 

It has not been easy. Although Mokhotlong Hospital 

recently opened a clinic for people living with HIV, 

there is no doctor available to provide treatment and 

consultation, and the clinic is rarely staffed. 

Consequently health care on occasion has required 

a more-than-three-hour-drive from Mokhotlong to 

Leribe Hospital--weather permitting. Further, the hospital in Mokhotlong does not provide comprehensive 

pediatric care, so that can mean going even further afield to South Africa. 

All staff are now trained in health monitoring, nutrition, and baby care skills. That covered common baby 

infections, especially with infants who could be HIV positive; accurate measuring, preparation and storage of 

food; and stimulating educational games for developmental growth. 

In turn they trained caregivers about basics like hygiene, nutrition, and use of medications. Hygiene 

concentrated on topics like the importance of washing hands before handling food, boiling drinking water, 

and proper cleaning of baby feeding bottles and cups. Nutrition included formula preparation and 

maintaining food diaries for better nutrition assessment. Medication training focused on the use of medical 

equipment and observing child health progress, including reactions to anti-retroviral therapy. Importantly, 

each household maintained a notebook to record daily accomplishments about the children’s general 

health. 

Creating a network for referrals for outreach and places of safety has been problematic. Despite repeated 

attempts to create liaisons with the Lesotho Department of Social Welfare and the Child Gender Protection 

Unit, neither has provided much support in referring children or attending cases relating to legal matters and 

child welfare. To add to the frustrations, gender protection officers often have been placed on alternative 

duties and the district social worker unavailable. In fact, most referrals have come from community members 

and local chiefs; and consequently more meetings with local chiefs, clinics and communities are on the 

agenda. 



ountries that promote women’s rights and increase their access to resources and schooling have lower 

poverty rates, faster economic growth and less corruption than countries that do not. Countries with 

smaller gaps between women and men in areas like education, employment, and property rights, not 

only have lower child malnutrition and mortality, they also have more transparent business and government 

and faster economic growth--which in turn helps to further narrow the gender gap. In short, education, 

health, productivity, credit, and governance all work better when women are involved. That’s what the World 

Bank has written. 

According to the United Nations, economies in the developing world grow by three percent for every 10 

percent increase in the number of women who receive secondary schooling—since women are major 

economic contributors. So empowering women and achieving gender equality and integrating equality into 

development planning reduces poverty and hunger and improves poor people’s lives. In another promising 

fact, over the last decade the number of women represented in government increased from 16 countries to 

97. 

For its part, the International Center for Research on Women has pioneered the recognition that the wellbeing 

and survival of poor households depends disproportionately on women’s productive labor. 

Regardless of whether the question is asked from an economic, health or human rights perspective, 

according to the Center, investments in women’s lives yield high returns not only for women, but their families 

and communities as well. Since women typically are responsible for collecting water and firewood for the 

everyday needs of the household—they grow and process food to feed their families; they safeguard their 

children’s health, and care for the sick and elderly. Evidence also demonstrates, they say, that income in the 

hands of women results in better outcomes for children than income in the hands of men, because women 

tend to invest more in their children’s education, health and well-being. 

Despite all these facts and figures, gender inequality remains deeply rooted in entrenched attitudes, social 

institutions, and market forces. However, with the right approach, these attitudes and institutions can 

change—evidenced in Near East Foundation’s “remarkable breakthroughs” in Mali over the past year. NEF 

well understands women’s critical role in building strong communities and strong nations, and consequently 

reports with special satisfaction the progress made in Mali. Despite considerable obstacles, women gained 

power and inequalities and discrimination diminished. 

ver the past year, two very important facts about Mali generally, and the area of Near East Foundation 

concentration in particular, hit hard at our multi-faceted rural development program. First, according to 

NEF Country Director Yacouba Dème, the grain harvest was “calamitous” because of locust infestation-- 

the worst in 15 years (see photo above)--and drought conditions, creating a massive exodus from NEF 

partner villages. Food prices soared, precious cattle died, and the government urgently called for food

aid. Second, municipal elections installed a new group of public officials in local and regional government of 

the country. However, noteworthy too were remarkable breakthroughs in the enormous challenge of 

involving Mali’s women in the development of their country. 

It all goes back to 1964 when Near East Foundation 

began working with the newly-independent African 

countries on agricultural development, recruiting 

hundreds of technicians trained in livestock 

improvement, water management and scientific crop 

improvement. As its program evolved, NEF established 

a separate African Endowment Fund that by 1980 

financed development of experimental projects in new 

areas. 

In the 1980s NEF responded to the threat of famine in 

Mali with a program that embraced livestock rehabilitation, village seed and cereal banks, agricultural credit, 

literacy, and soil and water conservation. Just one case in point, NEF designed an efficient, low-cost system 

for better harvesting rainwater for agricultural and forestry purposes that reduced stress to crops and 

improved food security. It represented in important ways an adoption and extension of traditional and locallyfamiliar 

water conservation techniques, however, not limited to individual farms. To successfully extend the 

design to a larger water catching area, NEF helped community members work through a number of complex 

questions around land tenure, water rights, and labor management, yielding sustainable benefits that could 

be managed by the local community permanently. 

In the competition between population growth and food shortages in Africa and the Middle East throughout 

the 1980s, NEF continued to work on agricultural improvement tailored to local conditions and the 

strengthening of local institutions and communities. Increasingly, NEF cooperated with other donor 

agencies to implement projects ranging from beekeeping in Sudan and Swaziland, to community 

development in Egypt and Jordan, and seed and cereal banks in Mali. 

Building upon work going back to 1984, NEF is intensely engaged in a band of 127 villages in Mali's 

northern Sahel, an area plagued by poverty, degraded land, sparse rainfall and the encroaching desert. 

NEF’s multifaceted, simultaneous strategy employs environmental and natural resource conservation and 

management; micro-credit; community organization; information; food security; and decentralization in 

consonance with government policy. 

In keeping with a major objective of creating and 

sustaining local community organizations and their 

capacities, 18 new, viable, democratic 

associations formed over the past year and 

became engaged in the social and economic 

development of their villages. Activities largely 

centered on potable water with important 

assistance provided by the Drilling Association of 

Mali; natural resource management with the help of 

the Regional Director of Nature Conservation, and 

health issues. Significantly, all but one association 

included women, in stark contrast to the cultural 

tendency toward their systematic exclusion and 

marginalization. 

In the area of Bore, for example, women joined 11 

committees concerned with woodland 

preservation, six water committees as well as 

multipurpose associations. Further, they were 

appointed to important posts—treasurer, inspector, 

secretary for information, for conflict resolution, for 

development, even deputy secretary general in one case. Fifty women accepted these new responsibilities 

from among a total of 387 new female members in the 1,467 combined membership of Bore’s various 

groups. 

This trend continued in NEF’s 45-day, capacity-building training in subjects such as literacy, leadership, plant 

nurseries, gabion construction as well as management of sensitive areas like water power and agricultural

oundary projects. In particular, female participation pops off the charts reporting work in literacy: in the 41 

sessions conducted, 15 were for women with participation a remarkable 89 percent, a significant increase 

over last year’s 73 percent participation. Overall a total of 638 people attended training sessions with only 

four drop-outs. 

On the public education front, 140 radio programs out of the 550 broadcast—about 25 percent--concerned 

the role of women in development. Next in order of frequency came education, health, environment, 

democracy, animal breeding, and agriculture. Like the radio programs, booklets explaining the 

government’s decentralization policy and the rights and duties of citizenship, rules about credit and collective 

farming in democratic Mali, were translated into the languages of the people—Bambara, Dogon and 

Peulh—and widely distributed throughout the area. Helen Keller International Foundation made possible not 

only radio programming, but Internet connection for people living in the countryside. Countries in 

Development-Canada and CTA (technical audio visual center) provided valuable radio programming 

services. 

Also, over 2,000 newspaper editions were published, reporting international stories like the situation in 

neighboring Ivory Coast and in Iraq; more local concerns like locusts, microfinance and the actions of 

community councils; and health issues including vaccination and fevers. All this kept information current, 

raising the level of rural culture generally, and assisting information exchange between readers and the NEF 

program. 

Further helping that dialogue, NEF organized eight 

inter-village gatherings with representatives from 

59 villages—over 35 percent of them women, 

coming together to discuss with NEF staff the 

progress and problems of their village associations, 

activities and plans, and provide increasingly 

accurate statistics on births, marriages and 

deaths—important information for civil society 

building. A truly extraordinary phenomenon, the 

number one concern expressed at these large 

village meetings was the lack of women 

participating in some of the villages. Here are their recommendations to correct the situation quickly: 

NEF should make women’s participation in development the primary condition for assistance to 

villages; 

NEF should sensitize villagers, changing their attitudes toward women and promoting the importance of 

community service at the same time; 

village associations should appoint women to committees and responsible positions—and women 

should accept those jobs when offered; 

there should be more literacy training for women; 

structures should be created and organized for men and women to work together as well as exclusively 

women’s associations created or support renewed; 

NEF should integrate women into program management and provide more information to women about 

activities. 

This past year’s NEF credit activities centered on assisting the financial needs of women in the areas of 

Douentza and Mopti. For individual loans, amounts ranged from a low of nearly $10 to a high of $375; and 

out of 60 applicants, 51 were favorably received. Also, three village groups were capitalized to make their 

own commercial loans. NEF itself financed 19 women’s groups. In total there were 1,520 beneficiaries—11 

per cent of the women in the area, receiving over $250,000. That was lower than in 2003 and even 2001 

because of the locust infestation, which made the women even more hesitant than usual about taking on a 

debt they might not be able to repay. Yet, of the nearly $525,000 loaned the previous year, about $440,000 

has been reimbursed with another $73,000 late-but-expected. Only a single loan is considered a default— 

an enviable record. 

In addition, NEF credit activities generated an important operations manual that published in December, 

outlining all procedures in proper credit processing; and created a fund of about $3,400, given interest 

payments. The program’s 26 village credit agents added yet more experience to their growing competence 

and careful risk assessment evident in this year’s reimbursement record. Agents also received language 

lessons in Peuhl and Dogon in preparation for future expansion of the program in the country as well as 

training from the Professional Association of Micro Finance Institutions of Mali and the Mali Finance Ministry.

And inspired by NEF’s credit activities, the women’s 

group from Barmandougou visited the women’s 

association in Boni to learn how it all works—conditions 

for credit access, rules and regulations, their organization 

and functions—with some plans clearly in mind. 

Supporting Mali’s national policy and recognizing the 

harmful impact of timber exploitation and 

commercialization as an energy source, NEF continued 

its efforts to train local people in the economic and 

ecological wisdom of managing their natural resources 

in 11 rural centers. Solid results were quantifiable: 4,667 cubic meters were authorized for cutting and sale 

in the market and less were sold—3,904. Some 274 producers and 10 managers were involved. Further, 

four among the 11 villages regulated their woodlands for the first time. 

To restore and protect biodiversity and 

prevent erosion, local associations put 

nearly 4,500 new and varied plants into 

the ground, adding to the nearly 4,000 

successful plantings from the previous 

year’s activities. Rice farming was 

enhanced by NEF’s addition of a 

permanent technician on-site and 

provision of all necessary materials as 

well as by 80 volunteers “seeding” this 

experimental program in 12 villages. 

However, nature was most uncooperative 

and rice yields in some villages were 

severely affected by the prevailing 

drought. The year saw only 30 days of 

rainfall with less than 13 inches of rain. 

The village of Hombori was particularly 

deprived, getting less than eight inches of 

desperately needed water. In comparison, 

New York City’s recreational-use Central Park received 47 inches of rainfall in the same period. 

Despite such obstacles, NEF persisted on all fronts. Irrigation activity continued with new water pumps and 

canal building. The previous year’s 10 participating villages were joined by six new ones and availability of 

water increased as much as 153 percent. That meant a lot to the kitchen-gardeners of the villages of Mendie 

and M’Bessena, just one case in point and a huge blessing for 156 women living there. Kitchen-garden 

production in 12 villages—mostly onions with some tomatoes, apples, garlic, beets, peppers and tobacco— 

brought in nearly $10,000, hardly small change in a country where nine out of 10 people live on less than $2 

a day. And this clearly impressed women gardeners, attracting their increasingly active participation in 

NEF’s program. 

Also, a total of 86 hectares of denuded and degraded pastures were resurrected to the benefit of six villages. 

Over 23,000 forest and fruit plants emerged from 33 nurseries equipped by NEF; and NEF agro-forestry 

techniques helped farmers regenerate Baobab, Acacia and other valued trees. A total of 3,738 meters of 

riverbanks were protected against erosion. While pond regulation was set back by financial constraints and 

equipment problems, work on sand dunes continued. Twelve volunteers agreed to invest 18 months 

protecting farm land against dunes and wind erosion by planting protective shields of trees, provided by NEF 

along with all necessary equipment to accomplish the task; while six villages worked collectively on their 

erosion problems. These are but a few highlights from the natural resource management section of a 

detailed 51-page report on NEF-Mali 2004-05. 



ear East Foundation Moroccan Country Director Abdelkhalk Aandam wants you to meet two women he 

has come to know during this year’s continuing work in the education of women and girls in the remote 

villages of the High Atlas Mountains. He writes: 

"Her name is Aicha Youss, a woman nearing 60, more 

marked by life than by her age. She has traveled a road of 

suffering, humiliation, and sacrifice. Because of her unlucky 

destiny, she was widowed and responsible for educating her 

eight children. However, living in a heartless society for 

widowed or divorced women only succeeded in making 

Aicha stronger, more ambitious and thirsty to learn. She 

succeeded is raising her children into the men and women 

she always wished for, and even more important, in forging 

her own iron personality and becoming a leader in the 

development of her community. This year her village has 

had the opportunity to make a leap and take the first step 

toward a better life because of the NEF project in rural 

primary education. It was also an opportunity to escape from 

her life’s sad destiny and reach the peak of her powers. 

Because of her unlimited ambition, her boundless 

enthusiasm and her irreversible will, she was named the 

leader of the local women. This new role opened up yet 

further horizons, Aicha traveled here and there, encountering 

many people and their differences, expanding her 

sophistication and experiences, and making her 

progressively deeper and more questioning. 

"Then there is Fanna Aamamou, a 58-year-old woman taking 

NEF literacy training. Her life has hardly been served on a 

golden platter, so the powerful liberation of her personality 

and charm of her conversation so full of wisdom comes as a 

surprise. At the same time she is so different, yet also a consummate woman of Morocco and the Grand 

Atlas. We have had the pleasure to recruit her as president of the women’s association in the Asseghmou 

area of Ouarzazate Province. Fifty-five years old and the mother of seven children, Fanna never went to

school because at that time education of girls was given no importance. She excelled in meeting her 

domestic responsibilities and with seven children to care for and without any resources, Fanne found refuge 

in the warmth of the home she created and where her family never went lacking. But because of her 

husband’s advancing age, he was no longer able to take care of the farming and the burden fell upon 

Fanna, who typically rose to the occasion. 

"The idea of creating a women’s association emerged from within the ranks of the village women and what 

they saw happening around them. Motivated and convinced, their association first saw the light of day in 

April 2001 and revived again in April 2005. After identifying the needs of the women, local projects were 

launched, particularly literacy. Also, contacts were made with a number of organizations to obtain funding 

and French Heifer agreed to provide the means for a goat raising project for the sale of milk and cheese. 

Obstacles surely were not lacking, but they were managed, overcome by female initiative, and never 

discouraging Fanna. It took a lot of time and there were occasions when the credibility of the association was 

in question. 

"This long process had its impact upon the personality and life of Fanna, allowing her to fulfill her innate 

potential and to excel at advancing the best interests of her sisterhood. This journey and the solidarity of 

others increased Fanna’s confidence in her abilities, and as a result, Fanna’s life as a village woman has 

been transformed and she has become a militant for the rights of women and the well being of her 

community." 

he mountains of the High Atlas east of 

Ouarzazate are breathtakingly beautiful--cool 

and relaxing in summer, rugged and isolated 

in winter. In the warm months, fruits and nuts are 

plentiful; shepherds traverse the hills with sheep 

and goats. These provide villagers with cash crops 

for sale in distant urban markets. Where water is 

available, villagers cultivate small plots of grain, 

some few vegetables, and crops for animal fodder. 

In a good year, there may be a surplus for sale in 

local markets. 

In winter, snow-covered mountains, narrow 

unpaved roads, over-flowing rivers, and periodic 

landslides block access for weeks at a time. 

Small, isolated villages are cut off from one another 

and from the surrounding area, relying on the 

rewards of a summer harvest to survive the harsh 

winter. Electricity, water, and sanitation facilities 

are absent. 

For the vast majority of people in the High Atlas, education is a luxury they can ill afford. In many villages 

virtually all adults, both men and women, are illiterate; and there is a total absence of programs for adult 

literacy. In one village the local school had to be constructed alongside the village cemetery, reflecting the 

utter lack of social acceptance of education in or within proximity to the village. Further, teachers are 

outsiders, speaking and teaching in Arabic rather than the local Berber dialect. 

Where schools have been introduced, attendance is limited and largely restricted to boys. In some areas 

women and girls are not even allowed to pass by the school, symptomatic of the longstanding culture and 

traditions working against the education of girls and preventing the full integration of women in society. 

There are an estimated 2.5 million girls of primary school age in Morocco; and more than half of them live in 

the countryside, where again, less than half of girls attend school, and when they do, the drop-out rate 

between grades one and six, is a shocking 80 percent. 

Families feel little incentive to educate girls who are generally married by the age of 14 and are helpful with 

household chores like gathering water and firewood as well as child-rearing. Consequently, there is strong 

social pressure for girls not to attend school, and when they do, they often encounter a hostile environment 

and leave in discouragement. When NEF first began the project, some communities even refused to 

participate. They simply could not understand that education was important. Young men completing primary

school were unable to go on to the secondary level since it all too often meant a costly commitment to 

boarding and education in a distant town. 

Besides, local schools with their classes through 

sixth grade were all too often simply uninviting bare 

shells with little warmth and nothing to encourage a 

child’s attendance. Many consisted of a single or 

perhaps two classrooms. They lacked space, had 

leaky roofs, broken windows, missing doors, 

insufficient and often broken furniture, no heating 

so were absolutely freezing in winter, and typically 

had inadequate or often absent water and 

sanitation facilities. School books and supplies 

were extremely limited and beyond the means of 

the majority of families. 

Students, age six and up, had to walk many miles 

through rugged country in the cold of winter to 

attend class. Those beyond sixth grade have to 

travel 50 miles or more across the mountains to 

reach the nearest school at that level. Here they 

had to board with relatives or in unfamiliar hostels, 

and at a cost they could ill afford. Clearly such 

conditions discouraged school enrollment and 

encouraged frequent absenteeism. 

According to Abdelkhalk Andam, NEF’s Moroccan 

project director: “It’s hard for people to realize just 

how much has to be done. For instance, it’s not 

just about registering girls for school, but about 

keeping them there. This means that we have to 

deal not only with how these communities perceive 

education, but also how they look at the role of 

women at home and in the broader community, 

and also the role of young girls in the household 

economy. It’s about long-standing traditions and 

cultural issues,” he continued, adding, “Many 

people would prefer to see it more simplistically, 

but that’s just not possible.” 

Near East Foundation is working in the High Atlas Mountains in partnership with the US State Department’s 

Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and the Moroccan Department of Education, to bring learning to the 

High Atlas, promote the education of girls, provide continuing education, and encourage the involvement of 

local parents and teachers in activities that promote education and further development in local communities. 

The initiative was launched early in the year 

with much fanfare at the area Chamber of 

Commerce, including attendance by the 

General Director of the Moroccan Ministry of 

Education. Even the inauguration of the 

program was a learning experience—a 

workshop where all paricipants, including 

village representatives, exchanged ideas and 

NEF’s project manager outlined plans for the 

year. 

While initially difficult to gain community 

acceptance, the project has in nine months of 

intense activity produced a virtual revolution 

in the perception of education among villagers

in the eight participating communities. 

Villages that had refused to participate in the project are fast becoming models of educational reform. 

Virtually empty classrooms are now full. Those who enroll tend to remain for the term. Over 300 adults, an 

extraordinary more than 60 percent of them women, are enrolled in adult literacy classes--and their numbers 

are increasing. 

Newly-formed Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs), 

joined by women leaders from the villages, are 

collaborating with NEF to encourage education for 

all and to mobilize the resources needed to 

improve schools and allow local graduates to 

continue their education in secondary schools 

located in nearby towns and cities. Some PTAs are 

nearly autonomous and have proven their ability to 

organize and manage their affairs; some others will 

need additional support before reaching that 

plateau. 

NEF’s Project Director Andam reported with evident 

satisfaction: “A majority of both PTA members and 

local teaching staff and administrators are now 

much more aware of the role of the PTA in relation 

to the school, as well as their role in relation to the 

PTA. There is also much greater support and participation by local religious leaders, the Imams-fkihs.” 

While PTAs had been tried in some communities, they had met with little success in isolated areas such as 

the High Atlas. People simply did not understand what they were for, and if they did, they needed a great 

deal of help to make them function. So this became NEF’s starting point to encourage education—make the 

PTAs work for the community, and in turn, help the community understand how to work for the PTA. And to 

do this, help the teachers and administrators assigned to the schools understand how they could help and 

how the school would benefit from their greater involvement. 

This often meant breaking down barriers between 

insiders and outsiders since administrators and 

teachers are assigned for short terms to the rural 

areas, generally a few years at most. All the more 

reason for parents to take more responsibility for 

assuring that children attend school and that the 

education they receive is what they need. That 

challenge was further complicated by the gender 

issue. When NEF began its work there were almost 

no girls enrolled in village schools and the idea of 

having women participate on the boards of local 

PTAs absolutely unheard of, given that some 

communities even prohibited women and girls from 

venturing near schoolyards. 

Confronting gender head on and as a condition for 

participation, the project began by identifying and organizing women leaders from each village. Their role 

was to support the PTA in its efforts to encourage education and discourage dropouts. These women 

received training and were encouraged to participate in PTA activities and board meetings; and PTA boards 

were prompted to seek their advice and assistance. The 

strategy worked and gradually they became ad hoc members of the PTA boards. 

In addition, adult literacy classes were established in most communities and the majority of attendees were 

women. In class women were able to discuss their problems, needs, and aspirations. They were now 

outside of their homes, in school, and involved in the larger community--participating in educational 

awareness campaigns, making home visits to investigate school absences and dropouts, and encouraging 

parents to send their children to school. Not only moving about more freely in their own communities, they 

also traveled beyond and met with other women in other villages. For most, it was for the first time. For

some, it was their first time in an automobile. 

For their part, school administrators and 

teachers helped plan and participated in 

project activities, assisting new PTA board 

members in fulfilling their unfamiliar 

responsibilities, and in organizing and 

follow-up of project events. Many served 

as instructors for adult literacy classes with 

NEF providing vital training and support 

for their new role. Clearly evident, the 

educators came to better understand the 

problems rural people face; the role they 

can play in addressing these issues; and 

the critical importance of the teacher in 

encouraging and maintaining an interest 

in education by children and adults alike. 

To support all this, NEF encouraged the 

emerging PTAs to take an interest in improving school facilities. Working together, NEF, local communities, 

and local schools are transforming rundown facilities into adequate school rooms and providing pupils with 

basic school supplies and teachers with teaching materials. Over the coming two years, NEF hopes to 

continue to support the eight participating schools and to expand the project to include a total of 15 villages 

in the surrounding area together with their satellite school. 

This is only the beginning. Education is the core of development, but sustainable only through promotion and 

support for local economies. People expect education to produce results, for both men and women, 

improving their everyday quality of life. So NEF is working with government authorities and community 

residents on the development of complimentary activities that help identify and benefit from previously 

underutilized or neglected local resources. 

These include expansion and diversification of 

crops, introduction of quality seeds and plant 

materials, rebuilding and improving herds 

devastated by recent droughts, quality control 

and marketing of rural crafts, improving 

processing and packaging of goods, developing 

local markets and transport facilities. Much of 

this depends on putting in place simple, costefficient 

forms of water harvesting, reforestation, 

alternative sources of fuel, and greater fuel 

efficiency. Required too is increasing community 

participation and encouragement of individual 

entrepreneurs of all ages, male and female. 

Developing local economies provides incentives 

for continuing education and feeds the process 

of continuing and sustainable development for 

all. 

There is indeed a revolution brewing in the High 

Atlas, one that is fueling development and making it possible for local people to build the future they envision 

for themselves—the Near East Foundation mission. “I have to say that the work being done in the High Atlas 

by the NEF team is some of the best that I have seen in my career. They really are promoting a revolution in 

education and laying the base for economic recovery…I truly believe that,” emphatically commented NEF 

Regional Director Roger Hardister. 



AGFUND Prize Acceptance Remarks 

Ryan LaHurd, President, Near East Foundation 

Tunis, 15 December 2004 

irst I offer thanks to the Arab Gulf Programme for United Nations Development Organizations 

(AGFUND) and to its president HRH Prince Talal Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud for honoring our project and 

sponsoring a prize which recognizes that good work is being done in support of international 

development objectives and that such work deserves to be held up and honored. The encouragement this 

award gives to organizations like the Near East Foundation and those of my colleagues here is especially 

important in an international environment which generally maintains that development efforts are 

unsuccessful. 

"I would like to thank our supportive partner and funder of the project, The Sawiris Foundation for Social 

Development. The Sawiris Foundation and NEF's Cairo-based Center for Development Services worked 

closely throughout in planning and development, showing how donor organizations can be intimately 

involved throughout a project. I also pay tribute and offer appreciation to the staff of the Near East 

Foundation who developed and carried out the project. They are committed to the philosophy which has 

guided the Near East Foundation since its beginnings 90 years ago when it began as America's response to 

the humanitarian crisis facing Armenian, Arab, Persian, Greek and Turkish refugees in the period of World 

War I and its aftermath. At that time America's citizens, not its government, took responsibility for rescue and 

relief efforts among these people they did not know and formed the organization that became the Near East 

Foundation. NEF's founders understood that to create a lasting solution to human need, more than relief 

efforts are required. The Near East Foundation pioneered an approach they called 'practical citizen 

philanthropy.' By this they meant assisting people to gain the skills and resources they need to help build 

their own better future, using an approach that seeks partnership and equality with no sense of domination 

or superiority. It is this approach the Near East Foundation has continued to use throughout its history and 

still employs, one which encourages participation of the people we seek to assist and listens to their needs 

and plans, treating them with the dignity and respect they deserve. 

"The reward of this approach is not only that the projects we work on together are more likely to be successful 

but, in the process, we build friendships and we build human beings. Our staff has seen repeatedly over the 

years that dealing with people as dignified and honorable equals builds their capacity more than any training 

sessions or educational programs. 

"The project for which the Near

East Foundation won the 

AGFUND International Prize for 

Pioneering Development 

Projects for 2004, enhancing 

nursing as a career in Upper 

Egypt, offers a perfect example. 

Three years ago when the Near 

East Foundation started working 

at nursing sector development 

with the Swairis Foundation, 

there were 170 applicants for 

Aswan's six nursing schools 

compared with this year's 535. 

Immediate employment in 

public health facilities has been found by 398 new nurses; and 443 new nursing jobs, including 74 for 

nursing teachers and supervisors, have been created. While the project had many components, a key to its 

success was our ability to enhance the sense of dignity and respect that accrued to the career of nursing and 

therefore to the people who chose it as a career. 

"Besides the most important aspect of this project—the enhancement of the lives of the women involved—I 

ask all of you to consider another aspect: that a positive impact on the lives of even hundreds of people is a 

worthy goal and should be encouraged. Looking at the overwhelming need in our world, too many people 

regard as worthwhile only projects which affect millions. Hence they often conclude that the work of 

organizations like the Near East Foundation is luxury. But every human life is of great value. And every 

effort which enhances a human life is an important success. I ask your continuing support of work like ours, 

and again I thank the AGFUND for recognizing its value and honoring the dedicated staff who commit their 

lives to such work." 

ear East Foundation moved from its mid-Manhattan offices the first of the year, taking advantage of the 

end of its lease to benefit from financial incentives designed to attract occupancy downtown in the 

aftermath of the World Trade Center tragedy. Rental costs were cut nearly in half while square footage 

remains about the same at our newly renovated 90 Broad Street, 15th floor location in lower Manhattan’s 

Financial District. It is convenient to public transportation for both staff and visitors; and a short walk from 

historic Bowling Green park with its view of the Hudson River and Statue of Liberty. 

Anwar Samad was named Chief Financial Officer. A native of 

Bangladesh, he previously worked in finance for international 

assistance organizations, including Counterpart International, involved 

in social entrepreneurship, and InterAction, the alliance of US-based 

international development and humanitarian nongovernmental 

organizations, which includes NEF. 

Anwar graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration 

from Baruch College of the City University of New York, where he 

majored in finance and computer information systems and minored in 

accounting. He holds an M.B.A. in bank administration from St. John’s 

University, and has completed most requirements for a second M.B.A. 

with a major in accounting from Pace University. Both schools are in 

New York City. He is also licensed in mutual funds, real estate, income tax preparation and has obtained 

certificates in health care management, travel/tourism and other areas. 

The NEF museum exhibition that debuted at the Museum of the City of New York in 2003, “Near East/New 

York: The Near East Foundation and American Philanthropy,” toured to the West Coast, opening in October 

at the Doheny Memorial Library of the University of Southern California. The NEF exhibition was on view 

through January. 

In October NEF partnered with ArteEast--

a nonprofit promoting the art and culture 

of the Middle East and its diaspora--for 

the premiere screenings of two 

documentary films, one Palestinian, the 

other Israeli. “Hopefully for the Best” 

(2004) by Raed Helou portrays Ramallah 

during the tense winter before the US- 

Iraq war. “Mashallah” (2004) by Eytan 

Harris was inspired by the brutal murders 

of two cab drivers three days apart in 

Jerusalem--the first an Israeli Jew, the 

second a Palestinian and the absent subject of the film. The films provoked a lively, at times passionate, 

post-screening discussion, which followed responses by NEF President Ryan LaHurd and Aissa Deebi, 

ArteEast’s visual arts director. 

The line went around the block for the February joint Near East 

Foundation-New York University Middle East Studies Department 

event. Participants filled all seats, and unfortunately the 

Greenwich Village theatre could not accommodate all who 

wanted to attend. The overflow audience came for a screening of 

the documentary film, “Control Room,” about the Al Jazeera 

television network, the Arab world’s most powerful broadcaster at 

work during the Iraq war. It was followed by a roundtable 

discussion including the film’s director, Jehane Noujaim, and 

producers Rosadel Varela and Hani Salama. They were joined 

by Jay Rosen of NYU’s journalism department and Khaled Fahmy 

of Middle East/Islamic studies. “Why did you do it?” asked a 

member of the audience. “Our hope is that this film will give 

people a window into a different perspective”…”that people will 

question the media”…”gain an independent way of thought,” 

responded the three women filmmakers in turn. 

In May NEF partnered with the Bard Program on Globalization 

and International Affairs, to present noted authority and 

commentator Fawaz A. Gerges, who spoke about the future of 

Middle East security. He is professor of international affairs and Middle Eastern studies at Sarah Lawrence 

College, and author of the new book, “The Jihadists.” 

In the fall the NEF website www.neareast.org was 

redesigned for a sharper look and easier maneuvering with 

an ever increasing frequency of new postings—and steadily 

gained more daily average visitors over the following 

months. The NEF annual report became an entirely on-line 

publication for the first time. 

With generous funding by Antranig and Varsenne 

Sarkissian, a portable NEF exhibition was created, featuring 

seven panels about NEF’s history and one on present 

projects. It was first used in October in South Pasadena, CA, 

at the Armenian National Committee of American, Western 

Region event, where NEF received the organization’s 2004 

Freedom Award; again in February when NEF was among 

honorees for the Armenian Genocide commemorative 

“International Relief, Refuge and Recognition Tribute” 

luncheon in Los Angeles; and in April for the Congressional 

Armenian Genocide Observance held on Capitol Hill in 

Washington, D.C.

In conjunction with NEF’s 90th anniversary year, a comprehensive three-part series of articles on our history, 

evolution, past and current projects, and influence was widely featured in the Armenian American press and 

excerpted in Arab American magazines such as “Islamic Horizons.” An NEF anniversary announcement ran 

in “Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs,” a widely read magazine with an Arab American audience 

of 100,000; also in a prominent Armenian weekly, “The Armenian Reporter,” in Armenian Genocide 

commemorative issues in April. 

In both an individual mailing and placement on the web, NEF promoted planned giving as a way for our 

supporters to meet personal financial goals while simultaneously contributing to NEF. Planned giving to 

NEF provides important benefits by allowing our donors to fulfill philanthropic interests today—making a gift 

that will both have a long-term impact and provide opportunities to reduce personal taxes. Long-time 

supporter William Z. Cline, who has NEF in his will, gave his strong, personal endorsement to NEF’s planned 

giving program. 



or a brief time, despair in the Abou Shouk–El Fashir refugee camp faded and life seemed almost normal 

for people who feel preyed upon by all sides, caught up in a cruel conflict, with forced displacement of 

civilians, mass killings, burned villages, abducted women, stolen cattle, rape, and other grave crimes 

commonplace in this war-scarred region of Sudan. So far violence, hunger and disease have claimed up to 

300,000 lives, according to United Nations sources, while a further two million people have been forced from 

their homes. 

Despite extreme risk for humanitarian 

personnel, Near East Foundation's 

Sudan administrator Mohamed Ali 

successfully delivered 50 sheep, 

purchased for the special occasion of 

the Eid Al-Adha celebrations, the holiest 

in the Islamic religious calendar. The 

feast commemorates Abraham's near 

sacrifice of his son and subsequent 

slaughter of a sheep instead. The Near 

East Foundation joined in the Eid Al- 

Adha celebrations with camp residents, 

most of whom had lost not only their 

homes and livelihoods, but family and 

friends as well. 

Abou Fashir is comprised of 22 blocks 

with about 500 people in each; and an average of three sheep were allocated to each block and the meat 

shared, in keeping with the custom for this occasion. NEF was the only non-Islamic, Western agency 

participating in the feast with local people in Darfur. Mohamed Ali reported back: 

"It was very rewarding to see the impact of these gifts on the families and in particular on the children who 

have suffered so much. We learned that this is the first time that such gifts have been distributed in the area, 

with most agencies preferring distribution in the larger towns and villages rather than the camps, which are 

more chaotic and less easy to deal with. Both local officials as well as camp residents welcomed the 

initiative of Near East Foundation and extended a heart-felt welcome to continue to work with people in the 

area."

Then he contributed this personal note: "I would like to say that although due to the travel I was not able to 

be with my own family and children during the feast, I feel privileged and glad that I was able to contribute to 

the happiness of so many others in this area, who have been so severely affected by recent conflicts and 

tribal feuds. Rest assured that however small this effort may seem in comparison to the need, we did 

something positive to help people and to let them know that someone cares about them and shares with 

them during this important holiday season." He returned in early February and distributed thousands of 

dollars of emergency medicines and blankets. 

eople appreciate help on special occasions and emergencies—and we offer such help, but what they 

really want and need most is the kind of long-term development assistance the Near East Foundation is 

all about. For it is the underlying insecurity, poverty, disease, ignorance, environmental degradation, 

and lack of economic opportunity, that create conditions hostile to peace and stability. 

From the beginning, NEF’s work in Sudan has provided funds and training to increase the skills of Sudanese, 

who often lack only the expertise or experience to implement the initiatives they have in mind. At the World 

Bank's request, NEF helped launch and coordinate the first Ethiopia-Sudan Development Marketplace, a 

competition showcasing innovative ideas for development and poverty reduction. NEF promoted and eased 

Sudanese participation in the marketplace, where 20 Sudanese organizations secured funding. With 

Sudan's land-based people, we have labored in fish farming, bee-keeping, rangeland rehabilitation and 

much more. 

But deserving of particular mention, one of NEF's 

early publications in Arabic was an extensive case 

study of micro-credit in Port Sudan back in the 

1980s, and that long history of providing training 

and capital for micro-credit continues. NEF set up 

two programs in the Abou Hamid area, 350 km 

north of the capital of Khartoum. Even for the 

visually impaired, a very special challenge 

requiring adaptation of all our materials and 

techniques, for an association of more than 60 

young adults and heads of households. The socalled 

"popsicle lady" from Tyba Kababish in 

northern Sudan, graphically demonstrates the 

difference a $200 loan can make in a human 

destiny. 

Her house is mud brick, a couple of small, spare, 

clean rooms with a bed of tree branches and 

woven support for a thin mattress. Outside, the 

garden space between the house and surrounding mud wall features a few flowers and some herbs and 

peppers planted in dirt-filled, powdered-milk cans. This starkly simple home is also her business location 

and makes possible the feeding, clothing, and education of the children of this widow and sole support of a 

large family. 

The enterprise was her idea. She borrowed the equivalent of $200 and bought a refrigerator with a freezer. 

Every evening she fills small plastic bags with flavored juice, and freezes them overnight. In midmorning she 

puts them in the orange insulated cooler atop the refrigerator, and heads off to the nearby elementary school 

where the children buy them as recess-time treats. The pennies add up and she makes a living by dent of 

her evident ingenuity, hard work, and the small loan—repaid in less than a year—and made possible 

through NEF’s program. 

NEF is now working with the International Fund for Agricultural Development to enhance Sudanese 

resiliency to drought, food security, and income generation in two western Sudan states. Beneficiaries are 

the small farmers, livestock keepers, workers and artisans, who comprise 90 percent of the rural population 

with average annual incomes of only $100 to $150. Previously NEF partnered with the Global Environmental 

Facility to support 20 community-based credit funds in the same area in 2001. With this new project, NEF is 

connecting with local groups to help establish effective credit for small enterprises and income-generating 

opportunities.

To make that possible, this spring NEF’s Jordan 

staff organized a study tour for 16 Sudanese 

officers of the traditional, informal, village saving 

and credit sanduqs. The sanduqs offer the 

advantages of use by illiterate villagers, low cost 

servicing, and built in social pressure for 

repayment. NEF is helping to develop these 

sanduqs with organizational and management 

support, loan policies and procedures, and grants 

up to $20,000. A 15-day workshop was held in 

Jordan, using participatory techniques, case 

studies and other methods, including field visits to 

two micro-financing companies and two 

community-based credit programs established in 

the south of Jordan with NEF support. Dr. Souliaman Ajeb, Director General of Sudan’s Ministry of 

Agriculture/State of Kordofan North, accompanied the sanduq representatives on the study trip. 

Also NEF introduced credit facilities in New Dar El-Salaam El-Rabwa to reinforce its reproductive health 

program with income-generating activities that supplement family income, improve nutrition, and increase 

access to health services. Again, to broaden the scope of training for the community-run, micro-credit fund, 

NEF called upon its Jordan staff and technical specialists from NEF-Egypt. 

After 30 months of very hard work to provide, affordable, quality reproductive health care to displaced 

Sudanese living outside the capital city of Khartoum—there is a fully operational health clinic, made possible 

by a grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and with NEF support. It is the only health center 

available for the entire settlement of about 35-45,000 people fleeing Sudan's internal conflicts, drought and 

other difficulties. 

Their health is jeopardized by both poverty and the 

environment in which they live. Malaria and endemic 

diseases rank the main causes of illness and death 

with high maternal and infant mortality and a fertility 

rate of 5.4 children per women. National family 

planning is estimated at only 9.9 percent because of 

lack of information and misconceptions about risks; and 

an estimated 82 percent of Sudanese women have 

undergone female genital mutilation. Further, 

reproductive health problems, sexually transmitted 

disease and HIV/AIDS are growing at unprecedented 

rates—and the Sudanese Ministry of Health has put 

AIDS at the top of its agenda. 

By the first of the year, the NEF clinic had treated over 

33,000 patients since opening in September, and 

nearly another 30,500 in the past six months. In 

addition to general health services—diagnosis, primary 

health care, laboratory tests and a pharmacy, the clinic 

emphasizes reproductive health care, including family planning, prenatal and postnatal care, attracting more 

than 800 patients for these new services in the past six months. In 2005 NEF was able to expand services to 

include labor and delivery as well as advanced laboratory work, thanks to a grant from the Population 

Council. This extension involves designing a health management information system and establishing a 

sustainable pricing model for reproductive health care in low-income areas. All clinic services are offered at 

nominal fees to enhance access. 

Given the kinds of health problems encountered by clinic staff, there was a strong need for increased 

community awareness, particularly about reproductive health and sexually transmitted diseases. So NEF 

responded with an outreach program teaching both primary and reproductive health care. Women have 

been trained in nutrition and hygiene, as midwives and home visitors, benefiting nearly 4,000 families. 

There’s even the possibility of micro-health insurance. Also, the NEF project has helped local residents to 

plan, manage and network within their own community, government and non-governmental organizations,

for the services they need, including a severe shortage of clean, potable water for the rapidly-growing 

population of the settlement and roofing and equipping the local school. 

And all that effort is very appreciated. “We used to travel a long distance to El-Hajj Youssef area just to get 

even the most basic medications,” said one member of her new village health committee, “We can now get 

them at cheaper prices at the NEF health center.” “This is my fourth pregnancy, but the first time I follow up 

with a doctor,” said a visitor to the Center for Pregnancy. “I used to call the midwife only when the labor pains 

came. Now I know how important it is to maintain a proper diet and healthy life-style during pregnancy. The 

friendly staff at the health center have taught us many things about having and raising health children,” she 

added. 

On the official side, the Sudanese Ministry of 

Health’s North Khartoum Health Team Director 

summed up the prevailing opinion: “The NEF 

center offers high-quality services at very low-cost 

prices…services provided have contributed 

considerably to improving the health situation. Our 

entire team highly appreciates the valuable 

services NEF is offering to the Dar El-Salaam 

community.” 

Clearly delivering sheep to Sudan to provide meat 

for a religious feast is just one piece in the Near 

East Foundation’s multi-faceted approach to 

bolstering human dignity. Over this year NEF 

continued to invest in the people of Sudan for their 

long-term development and well being, building a people's sense of their possibilities and supporting their 

priorities. 



athy Gau, Near East Foundation Country Director for Swaziland, has lived there for over 20 years, in 

fact has dual American and Swazi citizenship, which helps account for her commanding grasp of both 

local issues and national character. Ms. Gau directs Vusumnotfo, a community organization begun by 

NEF, which translates to “restarting the economy,” and employs a range of approaches from early childhood 

education on through business development, to build individual and organizational capacity so Swazi 

communities can responsibly and effectively pursue development. About 50,000 people in 18 chiefdoms 

participate in Vusumnotfo. Ms. Gau made these observations during a home-for-the-holidays visit: 

Business Development —“Swaziland doesn’t have to be poor,” she said of a country where the main 

industries are sugar and forestry, the culture authoritarian, and life harder than in 1983 when AIDS struck. 

Working with local associations to enhance business opportunities, “We look at the psychological issues 

first. I tell them—‘We want you to make mistakes, business is about risks.’ Swazi culture wants to please, so 

this is very radical.” Given a little start up money, eight weeks, and the challenge of making a profit, the 

groups develop pilot projects and, “They get smart fast. I see slow, but steady progress.” 

Early Childhood Education —“People are so hungry for it,” she said. Vusumnotfo started a model preschool, 

provides in-service teacher training, and has been assigned a teacher by the government’s Ministry 

of Education. “But with the kids playing games and having fun…parents don’t think we’re being serious,” 

which led to a major undertaking, a manual on the physical, mental, and social development of children, 

titled “Growing Children Straight and Strong.” 

Social Development —Citing domestic water supply as but one example of Vusumnotfo’s contribution to 

community well-being—given routine daily “fetching” requires nine-and-a-half hours per household in 

addition to important implications for HIV, sanitation, convenience, the environment, and more—“But before 

we do water, we have to do a lot of education.” 

Status of Women —“The legal standing of a married woman is that she is a minor of her husband,” she said, 

telling a lot in a single sentence, then adding, “Once a group of Swazi women get empowered, my advice is 

to get out of their way.” 

HIV/AIDS —“The most effective HIV education is in pre-puberty.” Vusumnotfo advocates HIV testing; current 

US policy against providing condoms is “very detrimental," and orphanages are needed by only the 10 

percent who have no alternative and cannot be accommodated by their community. “I am seeing slow 

indications of behavioral change,” she gestured a tiny space between her thumb and forefinger, “but it won’t 

show up in the statistics.” A shocking 39 percent of the country’s adults are infected with HIV—the highest

prevalence rate in the world. 

he Near East Foundation was overseeing a beekeeping project under the Swaziland Ministry of 

Agriculture and Cooperatives during the harsh 1991-92 drought, when the National Disaster Task 

Force coordinated the distribution of food and water through various nongovernmental organizations, 

including NEF. As a follow up to food distribution, homesteads were given the wherewithal to plant a half 

hector of maize—with the provision they return a bag of maize at the end of the growing season. 

In June 1993, 92 percent of the homesteads 

overseen by NEF had returned their maize, which 

was subsequently sold at a profit of about $11,300. 

Rather than dividing these funds for projects within 

each of their communities, the traditional leaders 

decided to work together, and in December 1995, 

agreed upon a constitution governing the funds. 

Following a lengthy internal process—which 

included substantial capacity building by NEF—a 

redrafted constitution was authorized in September 

1999. Vusumnotfo had been established and since 

then has concentrated on three areas—business 

development at the community level; civil society 

and social development; and early childhood 

development. 

Very importantly, problems related to the country’s 

HIV/AIDS situation are mainstreamed throughout these programs: 

Business development activities increase income available to rural households, mitigating the impact of 

HIV on families and communities. 

Early childhood development activities help insure that children, particularly those orphaned and 

vulnerable, meet age-appropriate milestones, making them more resilient to the impact of HIV/AIDS in 

their families; less vulnerable to HIV/AIDS in later years; better functioning adults able to met 

responsibilities. 

Improved understanding from best practices in early childhood development provide a foundation for 

community support for orphaned and vulnerable children. 

Emergence of strengthened community-based organizations in turn empower entire communities to 

organize and address their HIV/AIDS situation on multiple fronts. Similarly social committees are better 

able to implement and sustain social services for their communities. 

Also, Vusumnotfo conducted several surveys related to HIV and is well positioned for future social 

research in communities served. 

These points are vitally relevant in a region of the world where AIDS has caused average life expectancy to 

drop to age 40 or less and population is declining. The economy and social fabric is deteriorating due to the 

loss of women and men in their most productive years. There is a dramatic rise in the number of orphans. 

And the proportion of people living in extreme poverty has continued to grow for 20 years. 

In July the NEF project completed a monumental childhood education task underway for two years, the 

publication of the community training manual, “Growing Children Straight and Strong.” A copy of the 

parenting and early childhood development manual was distributed to all 14 partner organizations with 

UNICEF, the funder, getting a CD Rom as well. 

It was immediately put to productive use over the following months. Fifty-nine key people representing a 

cross section of gender, age and area, as well as a number of partner organizations, both in and out of 

government, were trained in the basic concepts of early childhood education; as were 37 other selected 

caregivers. The manual also facilitated follow up HIV testing as requested. 

Every opportunity was seized upon to train the

community at large in early childhood development— 

National Women’s Day, the traditional July 7 reed dance, 

on through the NEF project’s participation as facilitator 

and secretariat in the development of a national 

curriculum for psycho-social support in Swaziland. 

Partners included the deputy prime minister’s office, 

UNICEF, government ministries of public health, health 

and social welfare, the regional education inspector for 

preschools, and a number of nongovernmental 

organizations, particularly those involved with HIV. 

General in-service training for preschool 

practitioners extended to 43 practitioners and 39 

preschools, involving more than 1,250 children. 

Training ranged from art making and volunteer 

counseling and testing, on through when death 

touches a child, kitchen gardens and speech and 

hearing problems, and HIV-related topics like 

supporting terminally ill people and mother-to-child 

transmission and antiviral drugs. Also 194 

monitoring days of applied knowledge at the 

preschool level were held and 203 preschool visits 

conducted. Twenty-one 

teachers from 10 Vusumnotfo areas attended an 

August workshop on early identification and 

intervention of learning disabilities; and 45 

preschool practitioners the two-session, September workshop on “understanding myself.” 

Happily by year’s end the community of Lomshiyo was 75 percent along in obtaining matching funding to 

construct a preschool, using the low cost $6,250 design prepared by the NEF project. Two other 

communities were talking about it—the necessary first step. The structure includes two classrooms, storage, 

teacher’s corner, common area, and with outside structures and play equipment added, can be built for about 

$12,650. 

Simultaneously Vusumnotfo’s business development program aimed to establish sustainable incomegenerating 

initiatives at the community level through capacity training, resource allocation, and assessment 

at each step of the way. 

A total of 81 days of group formation training 

within the community at large were held for 

209 participants— 22 percent male and 78 

percent female; seven existing associations 

received training to strengthen their 

organizations; and 10 meeting were held with 

community trainers and three more with team 

leaders. In-service training included provision 

of supplies and funds to learn skills like hair 

dressing, catering, driving, and computers. 

Cutting through the numbers, here’s just one 

example of an initial project development 

workshop held in February that involved six 

associations and in many ways summarizes 

the issues facing grassroots Swaziland. There 

were 61 members present—23 percent male and 77 percent female—with an average age of 49. Of their 88 

total dependents, 35 were under the age of 20. Six members had immediate family who had died in the past 

12 months; and 25 percent of members had taken in children, both family and non-family, during the past

three years. So it is in a country with the highest HIV infection rate in the world. 

Technical support, working materials and tools were provided to five associations. That meant grants of 

about $1,800 for the purchase of chickens after each member had built a shed from locally available 

materials and for the stocking of an association’s new store; water feasibility studies for other associations 

and capacity training for yet another needing help after getting financial support for a garden project…and on 

the list goes. 

Similarly social development at the 

community level translated to the specifics 

and diversity of rehabilitating a Lomshiyo 

shed into a community hall for the 

Lomshiyo Area Development Committee, 

compiling a list of all local homesteads, 

then linking and grouping them for a future 

water system, and obtaining a grant from 

the Finland Embassy for roofing of a 

classroom block for their new school; on 

through completing a domestic water 

system for the Nkonjanani community of 

982 people in 86 homesteads, with 95 

kitchens, and 78 percent coverage of pit 

latrines and 48 percent coverage of 

rubbish pits. 

It may not be glamorous but Vusumnotfo 

is improving the daily lives of thousands 

of Swazis. “What I love about NEF is that 

you see human behavior for what it is—an untidy process that bumps along at an up-and-down rate,” 

commented NEF’s well-experienced country director, adding, “The most you can hope for is that the overall 

progression is angled upward…. Really, there is no ‘them and us’—it only looks like a cleaner process in the 

United States because we are at a higher level than where Africa is at.” 

Editor: Andrea M. Couture • Designer: Ellen Scott

he West Bank village Al-Bathan has big problems, according to Mayor Mohammed Salahat, who heads 

the village council, only two years old and limited in resources. About 3,000 people live in Al-Bathan’s 

scattering of houses and small landholdings, averaging two-to-three dunums. Unemployment is a 

staggering 60 percent, since so many residents have lost jobs in Israel. But the youngish, serious-eyed 

mayor peering through his glasses, has a vision for his community of something better. 

On the up side, the large map in his office shows the locations of seven natural springs in the village, 

producing 5.5 million cubic meters of water a year, and a system of canals—making the Al-Bathan area 

green all year round and full of tourism potential. There are now seven small initiatives underway, he said, 

including restaurant development, swimming pools, cafes and private water parks for this region abundant 

with ancient history, vibrant culture, scenic landscapes and other attractions. A traditional Palestinian picnic 

spot, 500,000 visitors came each year before the Intifada, but despite such success, tourism wasn’t well 

planned, he added, and lacked appropriate infrastructure even before the economy suffered its current 

drastic decline. 

Now the mayor is lobbying the Palestinian National Authority and nongovernmental organizations for help 

with proper planning. He attended a recent tourism forum held in Nablus on just where new facilities should 

be located, and has established a good working relationship with Al Najah National University in Nablus and 

its resources. The mayor is encouraged and now is looking beyond local tourism to Al-Bathan’s national 

potential. Since Palestinians no longer have ready access to the Mediterranean, he says, Al-Bathan and its 

beautiful natural environs become a major recreational resource ripe for development. 

In 1998 a local pediatrician and a village mayor together 

contacted the Near East Foundation office in the West Bank. Dr. 

Hashem El Sholi and then-Mayor Assad Sawalmah from the 

village of Asira Al-Shamaliya north of Nablus were concerned 

about the increasing incidence of waterborne disease among 

children in the area. To prevent further outbreaks, help was 

needed. From these initial meetings began a long, productive 

partnership between NEF and an ever growing number of 

supporters--the Asira Municipality, local councils from 13 villages 

in the surrounding area, and more than 30,000 area residents. 

That relationship continues today and remains the strong core of 

NEF’s 2004-05 programs in the West Bank serving a “cluster” of villages: Asira Al-Shamaliya, Sabastiya, 

Bayt Imrin, Nisif Jubail, Burqa, Bazzariya, Al-Naqura, Dayr Sharaf, Yasid, Ajansiniya, Bathan, Taluzza, Bayt 

Iba, and Zawata.

Initially, cooperation focused on the development of a common vision for the entire cluster area, addressing 

basic needs while seeking longer-term solutions to endemic economic and social problems. Schools were 

overcrowded and health services inadequate; water and sanitation in need of repair and expansion; garbage 

collection sporadic with few available dumping sites. In particular, illegal roadside dumping and the burning 

of toxic wastes were affecting health conditions throughout the area. Also, family incomes were low and 

opportunities for jobs scarce in a society characterized by a young and growing population. 

For NEF and its partners these were immediate priorities, yet to address them meant more long-term 

approaches: human development, institutional capacity building, and more business-like planning and 

service delivery. This in turn required effective leadership, good governorance, and informed citizen 

participation. In short, to assure sustainability of any improvements made, there was a need for a delicate 

balancing act between long-term development needs and short-term priorities. 

As is often the case, reality overtook planning. Economic and social conditions quickly deteriorated given 

mounting political pressures of the second Intifada, and NEF’s focus shifted from the long-term to simply 

“what’s possible with what we’ve got.” 

Local economies downslided. Laborers once accustomed to good salaries, no longer were allowed to cross 

into Israel, and agriculture no longer an option for the majority of these young men. Education was 

interrupted. Freedom of movement was restricted and often dangerous, affecting the ability of employees to 

reach their work in the West Bank; also preventing producers from obtaining raw materials and from 

transporting goods to local markets. Local councils, struggling to cope with declining economic conditions, 

were strapped for cash, and despite often valiant efforts, generally unable to cope with emerging conditions. 

International assistance downturned as the political situation deteriorated further, and donor assistance 

increasingly focused on emergencies and relief operations. 

Despite all, the Near East Foundation 

continued to build its relationship with local 

municipalities in the “cluster,” bringing relief 

while establishing a base for future, long-term 

projects. We did all we could—and frankly 

accomplished a good deal. The Near East 

Foundation Consortium of NEF and its 

contributors, international partners and project 

sponsors, provided assistance to families in 

need, supported and encouraged school 

attendance, sponsored summer camps, and 

encouraged community participation in 

environmental education and clean-up 

campaigns. The consortium helped pay 

mounting utility costs for local families and small 

businesses; supported several self-help initiatives for women and youth; planned and raised funds for local 

infrastructure and water projects; and shared in community celebration of special events. All this was done 

in collaboration with local councils and civil society organizations, with many others throughout Palestine 

joining the efforts. 

As a result and even during the height of the Intifada, more than 1,000 children and their families were 

involved in special programs for “Helping Kids Cope” under conditions of continuing stress and violence. 

Over 2,500 children benefited from NEF provision of teaching materials and school supplies for children, 

along with very important nutritional supplements through our “Cup of Milk” project. Building upon last year’s 

success and responding to the requests of the six participating communities, this year packages of dairy 

products went to the entire family, not just to kindergarten children—particularly helpful to the poorest. All 17 

kindergartens received the milk, white and yellow cheese, and other local dairy products such as 

pasteurized lebaneh. 

Indicative of local enthusiasm for “Cup of Milk,” there was absolutely no absenteeism on distribution dates. 

Family contributions to the program—about $9, 25 percent of total costs—were easily collected in their 

entirety in the first month. Building upon evident parental support, this year NEF launched a health and 

nutrition awareness program for the mothers of participating children, attracting 440 women to the 

workshops. Also the local dairy industry benefited. The Al-Safa Dairy Plant in Nablus, for example, had an 

important new outlet for its products during a difficult economic period of generally low sales, assuring

continued employment for its workers and the 250 small farmers in turn dependant upon the factory for their 

livelihoods. Tetra Pac Inc. also is assisting the NEF program, funded by Human Concern International. 

New classrooms were built onto existing schools 

and in some villages, playgrounds and toilet 

facilities added. In Asira Al-Shamaliya an 

amphitheater was constructed with an added play 

area and cafeteria, now venues for local 

celebrations and community events. A new folkloric 

troupe nurtured along by NEF, now performs in the 

amphitheater and at weddings and other 

celebrations, building up pride and identity. 

“Emphasis on traditional culture, folklore, and 

language is essential for holding societies together 

in difficult times such as Palestinians now face,” 

commented NEF Regional Director Roger 

Hardister. 

With NEF project development and proposal writing 

assistance, the poorest of the poor in the village of 

Yasid got clean, potable drinking water this year, 

and workers in the area gainful employment while 

making that possible. Funded by a grant from the 

Welfare Association, the largest Palestinian nongovernmental 

organization, 20 water cisterns were dug. NEF worked closely with the local village council to 

develop transparent and accountable selection criteria. In addition, local workers benefited from the 900 

working days needed to build the cisterns and an average income gain of $13,500. 

Also, NEF partnered with the national Palestinian association working with youth, Taawon Cooperation for 

Conflict Resolution, on boosting the infrastructure and programming of three youth organizations in Nablus, 

hopefully the pilot for an even bigger youth program now in the planning stage, also financed by the Welfare 

Association through World Bank Assistance. 

The 10-month, nearly $100,000 project included the renovation of three youth centers, three sport halls, three 

Internet cafes and libraries, and four management programs and workshops, benefiting around 600 young 

people. “The emphasis is on financial sustainability over the long term,” said NEF-West Bank Country 

Director Tarek Z. Abdel Ghany Kotob, “designing recreational and sports activities on a fee-for-service or cost 

recovery system.” 

With such assistance, large and small and throughout the “cluster,” NEF has been instrumental in creating 

new institutions and strengthening others. These developments, while clearly positive in themselves, all 

have a much bigger role to play as conditions in the area become more stable and long-term plans come on 

line. 

A case in point and in consonance with the larger vision 

with which NEF and the residents of the cluster area began 

their collaboration years ago--the preparation of a landfill 

site is well underway, benefiting more than 3,500 

households. The large, up-to-code site, complete with 

electricity and water needed for cleaning and composing, 

has been built by the municipality of Asira. Also, five village 

councils have signed on, sharing costs and benefits, and 

determining the fines to be paid for violations of their new 

system. Roadside dumps are to be cleared in cooperation 

with local councils and illegal dumping ordinances are now 

being enforced. 

Further, NEF’s Environmental Action Program (EAP) has 

established a system of garbage collection and sorting at the household level; providing for timely transfer of 

sorted garbage to the project dumpsite; identifying viable markets for recycled products; and separating and 

sorting refuse to meet the demands of recycling. In summary and no small feat, NEF’s environmental 

program is providing jobs, improving sanitation, increasing health, encouraging voluntarism, developing 

local leadership, and instilling project management skills. Indeed, many consider it a model for future solid

waste disposal for the entire West Bank. 

Some Environmental Action Program facts straight 

from the grassroots include the following this year. 

Comprehensive, 50-hour, training courses held for 

80 male and female volunteers, focusing on solid 

waste management, sorting, collecting and 

composting, as well as community leadership and 

collaboration, communications and reporting. 

Equipped with this information, they became the 

core of a much larger volunteer effort to build 

community awareness, in all kinds of ways, 

including house-to-house visits along the town’s 

streets, advocating the sorting of organic and 

inorganic waste, just one for-instance. NEF field 

staff closely monitored the progress and 

development of these volunteer groups to sustain 

their environmental services and are at work 

forming new youth groups. Targeting the sweepers 

in particular, collection employees in the five villages were trained about solid waste’s deleterious impact on 

the environment and in new sorting, collecting, and disposal techniques at three workshops and four 

additional meetings. 

Among many other events designed to focus attention on the environment, the Asira community planned, 

launched, and directed clean-up campaigns, some attracting more than 240 participants—people of all 

ages, involved and volunteering. They collected waste, cleaned streets and illegal dumping sites, painted, 

distributed new waste bins, and generally worked together to make their environment a better place to live— 

plus promoted their cause with the placement of 2,000 posters and 1,000 stickers. 

Providing education without necessary resources only creates frustration. So NEF arranged for such 

elementary equipment as brooms and shovels for street cleaning, on through arousing community pressure 

that led to increased frequency of weekly waste collection, accomplished by new tractors and trolleys— 

thanks to NEF. Also, there are now environmentally-friendly and educational play gardens for children, a 

creative kids’ corners, mothers fitness center, among other small but helpful happenings. 

Agriculture and animal husbandry are key for an economic revival in many parts of the “cluster” and NEF is 

working with local authorities on plans to increase the number of livestock and boost dairy product 

production. Already underway is NEF’s rehabilitation of the area’s olive industry and encouragement of a 

wide variety of related income-generating activities. 

To assure long-term sustainability, 

however, there is a need for something 

larger. NEF and its partners envision a 

tourist route through the “cluster,” 

beginning in neighboring Nablus, the 

so-called “Gateway City,” known for its 

historical core and traditional markets. 

From there the route would wind its way 

through one of the most beautiful 

natural areas in the West Bank, with a 

varied landscape of rolling hills, small 

forests, orchards, and water parks, 

amidst picturesque villages mixing traditional and modern buildings, open-air restaurants, and historic sites. 

Such attractions already are a magnet for local tourists and the hope is for many regional and international 

visitors in the future. 

NEF’s involvement in the “cluster” has demonstrated without doubt the strong commitment of local leaders to 

good governance; and these same local councils are now moving beyond their individual concerns to form a 

Joint Services Council. This in turn will provide the legal status necessary to move forward with larger

cooperative efforts as well as the vehicle to attract international funding. To support this development, NEF is 

planning a pilot project promoting good governance, encouraging greater transparency, and providing a 

platform for broader participation by local residents and civil society institutions in their government. 

In short, NEF’s involvement with these West Bank villages exemplifies common economic problems and 

social concerns creating shared solutions. We think our “cluster” approach has clearly demonstrated more 

options, increased cost effectiveness, and helped assure sustainability. For all that we thank our partners in 

2004-05 for their support in making it all possible: United Nations Volunteers (UNV), Human Concern 

International (HCI), Mercy International (MI), the World Assembly of Moslem Youth (WAMY), Flora Family 

Foundation, and Mosaic Foundation. 

While NEF is an international development 

organization, we understand the importance of 

traditional feast days—and their spirit of charity and 

community. As the 2004 Ramadan began, 250 

food packages containing 16 nutritious foods 

cheered impoverished Palestinian families. Need 

was determined by the numbers of children and 

orphans, the sick and elderly, the unemployed and 

those families unable to maintain a minimum 

income level. The mid-October distributed was 

initiated by NEF in cooperation with Mercy 

International and Human Concern International, 

and with the participation of local municipal 

governments and Islamic charity committees in the 

West Bank villages selected by the number of 

inhabitants. In addition, the Ramadan food 

packages inspired yet more generosity, for 

example, the municipality of Asira and their village Islamic charity committee provided another 200 food 

packages for the needy. 

A few months later, again joined by its partners, NEF saw to it that nearly a thousand of the poorest “cluster” 

families received the Eid Al-Adha feast day they deserved. Widows, orphans, unemployed, those with 

special needs received meat packages along with a “Happy Eid” card and the good wishes of the NEF 

consortium supporting integrated development in their villages. For Sa’ed Mashaki, a young boy from the 

village of Yasid, whose unemployed father had not been able to buy meat for many feasts past--this was a 

real family celebration. 



(Gifts from July 1, 2004 - June 30, 2005) 

DODGE CIRCLE 

($10,000 and over) 

Dr. Vartan Gregorian 

Dr. Linda K. Jacobs 

Mrs. Violet Jabara Jacobs 

Ms. Aida S. Shawwaf 

ACHESON CIRCLE 

($5,000 - $9,999) 

Mr. Yervant Edward Demirjian 

Mr. and Mrs. L. Wesley Hayden 

Mr. Wentworth Hubbard 

Mr. and Mrs. Shant Mardirossian 

Varsenne & Antranig Sarkissian 

Dr. and Mrs. Daniel J. Towle 

PATRONS 

($2,500 - $4,999) 

Shahnaz Batmanghelidj 

Mr. David S. Dodge 

Mr. John A. Grammer 

Ms. Leigh W. Hamilton 

Mr. Bryan N. Ison 

Mr. Ronald E. Miller 

Mr. Abe J. Moses 

Ms. Pam Nunnally 

Ms. Courtney Wheeler 

SPONSORS 

($1,000 - $2,499) 

Anonymous 

Anonymous 

Mr. John Bart Antista 

Laura and Stephen Avakian 

Mr. and Mrs. Jerome W. Bolick 

Mr. William Bolin 

Ms. Briana Brower 

Mrs. William E. Bulkeley 

Mrs. William L. Cary 

Melissa B. Dodge and Mark W. 

Rutherford 

Ms. Lois Gau 

Mr. and Mrs. Arnold H. Gazarian 

ASSOCIATES 

($500 - $999) 

Anonymous 

Dr. John R. Alden 

Mr. John Amboian 

Mr. and Mrs. William N. Bancroft 

Mr. Steven A. Becker 

Carol L. and John A. Bertsch 

Dr. and Mrs. Richard C. Boyajian Lacy 

Walter and Dorothy M. Brady 

Mrs. Walter F. Brissenden 

Mrs. Grace D. Guthrie 

Mrs. Doris C. Halaby 

Mr. Daniel Fc Hayes 

Dr. and Mrs. George A. Hyde 

Mr. and Mrs. Frank Jungers 

Drs. Ryan & Carol LaHurd 

Mr. and Mrs. Tedford P. Lewis 

Ms. Toni A. Magnotta 

Mr. and Mrs. George E. Mallouk 

Haig G. Mardikian 

Sally Behn Martin and Mark Nelson 

Lynas 

Mr. Nazar Nazarian 

Ms. Eunice B. Ordman 

Ms. Jane Dressler Page 

Aldo and Helene Parcesepe 

Ms. Jennifer Doolittle 

Mr. Christopher Ebert 

Dr. and Mrs. Herbert D. Floyd 

Mr. and Mrs. Bruce E. Fraser 

Mr. Thomas K. Garesche 

Ms. Anne Gibson 

Ms. Dorothy Gill and Ms. Marcia Smith 

Mr. Robert C. Helander 

Dr. Jean Herskovits 

Mr. and Mrs. James T. Johnson 

Ms. Ann Z. Kerr 

Ms. Martha L. Payne 

Ms. Susan Penn 

Ms. Cecilia A. Quinn 

Ms. Mary E. Ramser 

Richard and Dee Robarts 

Mr. and Mrs. Alex Sarafian 

Walter J. and Maryjane M. Scherr 

Walter A. and Dorothy W. Stanhouse 

Mr. J. B. Sunderland 

Brian and Rosemary J. Waldron 

Arthur J. and Deborah F. Watson 

Ms. Kami Sue Watson 

Ms. Clare Wegescheide 

Ms. Nicole Willard 

Dr. David F. Nygaard 

Mr. Robert S. O'Hara 

Ms. Muriel L. Pfeifer 

Michael T. and Pamela K. Piotrowicz 

Ms. Georgeen M. Polyak 

Dr. Samuel S. Rea 

Ms. Frances K. Ross 

Mr. Orhan Sadik-Khan 

Mr. Richard J. Schmeelk 

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Haig Setrakian 

Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Stevens

Mr. and Mrs. Carl F. Brockenauer 

Ms. Patricia Burns 

Ms. Caroline Buscher 

Ms. Elaine Carey 

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Cassilly 

Mr. John W. Chapman 

Mr. and Mrs. William Z. Cline 

Mr. and Mrs. Raymond H. Close 

Mrs. Mary S. Cross 

Rev. and Mrs. James K. Donnell 

Dr. John M. Kerr 

Mr. Weldon D. Kruger 

Ms. Marilyn S. Lewis-Waugh 

Mr. Theodore R. Lilley 

Joaquin C. and Marina M. Lugay 

Mr. Robert E. Manning 

Ms. Siva Martin 

Dr. and Mrs. A. Colin McClung 

John F. McNamara and Maureen M. 

McNamara 

Mr. and Mrs. Lee Vance 

Stephen and Maura Walsh 

Mr. John D. Waters 

Mr. and Mrs. John H. Watts 

Mr. Andrew Wenke 

Dr. and Mrs. Baird W. Whitlock 

Ms. Carolyn M. Wilhelm 

Sara C. and Gregory H. Williams 

Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred R. Woods 

INSTITUTIONAL DONORS 

Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity 

Academy for Education & Development 

(AED)/Kaf’a 

AGFUND 

Alms Student Council 

Al-Safaa Dairy 

America’s Charities 

American Association of 

Critical Care Nurses 

American Eagle 

American University of Beirut 

Arab African International Bank 

Arab Council for Childhood & 

Development 

A.R.E. Inc. 

Asira Al Shamiliyya Municipality 

Bank of America Matching Gifts 

JS Barry Construction LLC 

British Council/Egypt 

British Council/Jordan 

Canadian International Development 

Research Center (IDRC) 

Central Ohio J.V.S.D. 

The Cleveland H. Dodge Foundation 

Community Church of East Williston, 

New York 

Countries in Development 

The Debs Foundation 

East-West Institute 

Egyptian Ministry for Agriculture & 

Land Reclamation 

Egyptian Ministry of Insurance & 

Social Affairs 

Egyptian Social Fund for Development 

ExxonMobil Foundation, Inc. 

First Congregational Church of 

Branford, Connecticut 

First Presbyterian Church 

The Flora Family Foundation 

The Ford Foundation 

German Education & Training 

German Technical Cooperation 

Global Environment Fund (GEF) 

Global Impact 

Helen Keller International Foundation 

Human Concern International 

Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC)/ 

Sudan 

Interaction in Health 

Integrated Development Action 

Association in Minia 

International Development Foundation 

(IDF) 

International Development Fund 

(ALMIA) 

International Development Research 

Coop. 

International Food/Agriculture 

Development 

International Fund for Agricultural 

Development 

Jacobs Family Foundation 

Jessie M. McGavin Estate-Reid 

Educational Trust 

Jordan River Foundation (JRF) 

Jordanian Ministry of Planning & 

International Cooperation 

Kingwood High School 

Knights of Columbus - Council 5743 

The J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation 

Lakeside Foundation 

Land O’Lakes 

Little Hands 

Government of Mali 

Mercy International 

Mosaic Foundation 

MTA New York City Transit Authority 

Netherlands Government/Dutch FIPMP 

Netherlands Organization for 

International Development (NOVIB) 

The New York Community Trust 

Norwegian People’s Aid 

Orinda Community Church 

Oxfam (U.K.) 

The David & Lucille Packard Foundation 

The Pepsi Bottling Group Foundation, 

Inc. 

Pittsburgh Baptist Association 

Population Council 

Projet d’Appui aux Communes Rurales 

de Mopti 

Proliteracy Worldwide 

RMF Foundation 

Sawiris Foundation for Social 

Development in Egypt 

South Side Presbyterian Church 

St. John the Evangelist Church 

St. John the Evangelist School 

St. Johns Respect for Life Society 

Sudanese Development Initiative 

(SUDIA) 

The Tarvezian Group 

Tetrapak 

United Nations Development 

Programme (UNDP) 

United Nations Volunteers (UNV) 

US Department of State (MEPI) 

Welfare Association 

World Assembly of Muslim Youth 

(WAMY) 

World Bank 

World Fish Center 

Youth Association for Population & 

Development, Egypt 

OTHER DONORS 

Anonymous 

Mr. and Mrs. Bill Abraham 

Mr. Rami Abudraz 

Mr. Constantinos D. Agouridis 

Mr. and Mrs James M. Alexander 

(in honor of Jack) 

Mr. Benjamin M. Aminoff 

Mrs. Marjorie B. Anderson 

Ms. Mary Elizabeth Anderson 

Ms. Gabriela Andrade 

Kathryn and Jon Appelbergh 

Mr. James Archambeault 

Ms. Eleonore Aslanian 

Robert and Sophia Assadourian 

Ms. Florence Avakian ( in memory of 

Louise Dingilian, Ashan Avakian, 

Phoebe Kapikian) 

Mr. and Mrs. Gennaro W. Avolio 

Ms. Cheryl F. Aycock 

Mr. Louis Galeazzo 

Mary Shiland Gallagher and Andrew 

Shiland Poa 

Mark Stephen and Laurie Galland 

Mrs. Charlotte Orr Gantz 

Dr. and Mrs. Lloyd E. Garcia 

Mrs. Dorothy K. Gardiner 

Ms. Annette Gast 

Mrs. Rita R. Gehrenbeck 

Mr. and Mrs. Wood M. Geist 

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Gennaro 

Tommy George 

Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Gerrity 

Eileen Z. and Joseph A. Gillespie 

James B. and Barbara J. Gilman 

Ms. Elena Ann Giordano 

Ms. Margaret Glasco 

Gloria and Anthony Golia 

Mr. John C. Goodridge 

Leona Goren and Sylvia Richman 

Dr. and Mrs. Louis M. Najarian 

Marlene and Joseph Natalie 

Mr. Conrad N. Nelson 

Ms. Alice Nigoghosian 

Mr. and Mrs. Albert P. Nittolo 

Dr. and Mrs. Richard H. Nolte 

Dr. & Mrs. Charles Nucho 

J.M. O'Bar 

Ms. Ann P. O'Brien 

Kenneth and Eileen R. O'Brien 

Michael and Eileen J. O'Brien 

Ms. Amy J. O'Connor 

Ms. Mary O'Connor 

Ms. Susan O'Connor 

Mr. and Mrs. Dan K. Olson 

Dr. Omara and Dr. McGrath 

Ms. Jennifer A. Orenic 

Mr. Matthew S. Orosz 

Mr. and Mrs. Vahe Oshagan 

Karen and Dale Panton

Mr. and Mrs. John A. Ayoub 

S & K Baghdassarian 

Ms. Jennifer Bagrowski 

Ms. Johanna Bairel-Wohlfart 

Ms. Ann Bailey 

Mrs. Olive C. Baird 

P. R. Baker 

Ms. Eleanore M. Baran 

Mr. Andrew A. Barasda 

Mr. Robert Barclay 

Mrs. Emma E. Barnsley 

Tracy and Danny Barron 

Patricia M. and Robert L. Bartkus 

Ms. Arlene Bartlow 

Randy R. and Debra A. Bauler 

Erich and Marianne Bayer 

Dianne M. Bazell and Laurence H. Kant 

Ms. Joyce M. Becker 

Ms. Karen Bedrosian-Richardson 

Mr. and Mrs. William T. Behrends 

Donna L. Belger 

Linda Jean Bell 

Mr. Charles E. Benjamin 

Ms. Elizabeth S. Bennett 

Mr. Thomas S. Benton 

Susan and Nicholas Berardi 

Aram Berberian 

Andre and Andrea Berg 

Mr. and Mrs. Loren C. Berry 

Mrs. Ankin G. Bertelsen 

Mrs. Irene B. Betner 

Mr. William R. Bigge 

Mr. Gerard Bochicchio 

Ms. Carmen Boghossian 

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph L. Bolster 

P.J. Boone 

Mr. and Mrs. Raymond M. Bost 

Mr. Arman Boyajian 

Barbara A. and John J. Brady 

Ms. Marie Brady 

Matthew and Melissa Brady 

Ms. Nicole Breazeale 

Kenneth J. and Shirley Breeman 

Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Brinkmann 

Mr. and Mrs. Carroll J. Brown 

Dr. and Mrs. George G. Browning 

Mr. John E. Browning 

Michelle M. and J. Brad Browning 

Mr. and Mrs. Frank J. Brumbaugh 

Craig E. and Kristi Bruner 

Mrs. Helen D. Bruner 

William A. and Sandi Bruss 

Dr. and Mrs. Henry J. Bruton 

Jeffery H. Buck and David A. Gall 

Theodore H. and Martha R. Bullock 

Russell and Barbara Bunyea 

Walton and Mary E. Burdick 

Ms. Patricia N. Burkitt 

Robert and Louise W. Burton 

Craig S. Buscher 

Ms. Maria E. Byrne 

Ms. Linda Callanan 

Ms. Elizabeth L. Cane 

Ms. Lusi Caparyan 

Nicholas and Rosemarie Carinci 

Ms. Ann Marie Carlo 

Kenneth and Barbara Carlson 

Joseph S. and Therese M. Carr 

Grover and Caroline A. Carrington 

Ms. Roberta C. Cassetta 

Mr. and Mrs. William B. Catton 

Mr. and Mrs. Michael C. Gorton 

Mr. and Mrs. William Goshgarian 

Mr. and Mrs. Sam L. Gousen 

Mr. John Graham 

Ms. Theresa Graham 

Charles A. and Mary Jane Green 

Ms. Sallie L. Greenfield 

Marie F. Greenhaw 

Mr. and Mrs. Louis P. Greulich 

Mr. and Mrs. William J. Griswold 

Mrs. Marjorie Grochola 

Catherine and Joan Gronowski 

Rick and Susan Groth 

Larry and Joanne Grunwald 

S. M. Guerrant 

( in honor of William G. Lord) 

Jim E. Gummelt 

Mr. Thomas A. Gutnick and Ms. Mary 

Grace Reph 

Mr. James H. Haddad 

Mr. Jerrier A. Haddad 

Ms. Mazen Haddad 

Ms. Dena Hall 

Roger W. and Gayle L. Ham 

( in name of Judy Doolittle) 

Barbara Hamilton 

Ms. Mary Hamparian 

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Haratunian 

Carol Simon and Jack Harrigan 

Harold and Claire Harrison 

Ms. Carol Hartigan 

Scott D. and Michelle J. Hartings 

Ms. Karen L. Harvey and Marquis P. 

Vawter ( in name of Pat Reilly, Teresa 

Bell, Karen Harvey) 

Mr. and Mrs. Henry H. Heil 

Mrs. Esther A. Heller 

Edwin G. and Claire J. Hellgoth 

Doug and Katherine Henry 

Ms. Marilyn Herigstad 

Paul and Kacy Hertz 

Mr. Edward A. Hicks 

Dr. and Mrs. Allan G. Hill 

Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Hillery 

Terry S. Hood and Julia Murray 

Mr. and Mrs. Alan Horton 

Mrs. Lois C. Houghton 

Mr. John Hudson 

Ms. Phyllis Huffman 

Ms Virginia A. Humphreys 

Mr. Robert M. Hutton 

Francis and Nancy T. Ivanisko 

Theodore and Annette Barbara Izzo 

Mr. and Mrs. Gerald N. James 

Dr. and Mrs. Vahan Janjigian 

Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Jerry 

Mr. and Mrs. Noubar Jessourian 

Mr. and Mrs. John Jinishian 

Wanda L. and Lawrence H. Johanson 

Mr. Bob Johns 

Harry and Mary Ann Johnson 

Mr. James R. Jones 

Mr. and Mrs. Russell V. Jongewaard 

Mr. Paul Jorjorian 

Mr. Sean F. Julian 

Mr. and Mrs. Albert Kabrielian 

Anahid and Vertanes Kalayjian 

Mr. Elmer Kaprielian 

Mr. Stefan Karadian 

Mr. Haig Kartounian 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kasbarian 

Josephine and Anthony Paragano 

Michael and Mary Paul 

Mrs. Ruth R. Pease 

Mr. and Mrs. William W. Pease 

Ms. Frances C. Perito 

Lisa L. and Terry R. Perkins 

Mr. Albert J. Perri 

Mr. and Mrs. Victor E. Peters 

( in memory of Dr. James C. Moomaw) 

Mr. Carl H. Pforzheimer 

Joanne Phelan 

Ms. Anna Picone 

Mr. and Mrs. Pouzant Piranian 

Vincent P. and Carolyn D. Pisculli 

Mr. Allan L. Pitcher 

Bernice and Trampas Poldrack 

Mr. James C. Poloshian 

Ethel J. and Vito J. Porpora 

Philip E. and Kandy M. Pouget ( for Sally 

Martin’s birthday; in memory of Janice 

McCarthy) 

Dennis and Sandra C. Poulin 

Mr. Hasmig Proudian ( in memory of 

Aram T. and Rose Jenazian Proudian) 

Ms. Ariane A.V. Putnam 

Genevieve and Joseph Puzio 

Ms. Jessica Quarles 

Ms. Ingeborg Quesenberry 

Ms. Helen R. Reed 

Ms. Fran Renehan 

Mr. and Mrs. William Renehan 

Ms. Gerri Richardson 

Ms. Heidi Riddlesperger 

Mrs. Edgar C. Rines 

Ms. Kay H. Roberts 

Ms. Rona Roberts 

Mr. Andrew A. Robinson 

Mr. Horace C. Rodgers 

Francis and Mary Ellen G. Ronnenberg 

Mr. John B. Root 

Ms. Emily Rosenberg 

( in honor of Linda Jacobs) 

Ms. Victoria A. Ross 

Mr. and Mrs. Gregory J. Roth 

Ms. Joan D. Rueckert 

Dr. Herman Ruether 

Patricia Waite Ruger and Jacqueline 

Ruger Hutton 

Ms. Phyllis Ruppert 

Ms. Matilda Russo 

Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Ruth 

Mr. and Mrs. Steve Sabella 

Ms Sandra Sacks 

Ralph and Francoise Santalis 

Mr. and Mrs Cody Sargent 

Mr. Khajag Sarkissian 

Mr. Harold H. Saunders 

Ms. Rachel Savane 

Mrs. G. W. Scarborough 

John and Margaret Scarfi 

Ronald J. and Sherri M. Sceroler 

Mr. James R. Schaefer 

Mrs. Marion M. Schersten 

Susan and Charles Schilling 

Miss Helen R. Schlifke 

William and Vivian Schmidt 

Mr. and Mrs. James W. Schmitt 

Dr. Walter R. Schur 

Ms. Tina L. Schwab 

Harsha A. Sen 

Mr. and Mrs. Hasma Serverian

E. V. and Francine Cerutti 

Ms. Nancy J. Chapman 

Herbert and Marilyn L. Cheskis 

Aroussiag and Tigran Chitjian 

Newman B. and Carole J. Chittenden 

Ms. Sharon B. Chrisman 

Emily and E. Kathy Christensen 

Ms. Barbara J. Christesen 

Gary A. and Mary C. Ciasullo 

Ms. Karen Cichocki-Vucci 

Ms. Susan A. Clancy 

Mrs. Sara F. Clark 

Carol A. Clayton 

Mr. and Mrs. James P. Clement 

Miss Mary E. Clemesha 

Denis and Kathleen J. Clifford 

Mr. Marvin Coats 

Ms. Hope Cobb 

Mr. Dennis Cochran 

John and Maria Coffin 

Michael E. and Kerri Collins 

Mr. and Mrs. Stanley C. Collyer 

Frederick W. and Patricia M. Colman 

Mr. and Mrs. William E. Copeland 

Ms. Monika Cornelius 

Mr. Joseph Costello 

Thomas and Mary Agnes J. Cotter 

Ms. Jeanette D. Coufal 

Miss M. Celia Coulter 

Mr. John R. Cox 

Michael J. and Sandra J. Coyne 

Mr. and Mrs. Miner D. Crary, Jr. 

Mr. R. Stephen Craxton 

Susan Cucinella and Holly C. Varriale 

Mr. and Mrs. William J. Cullen 

Philip and Terrie Curd 

Ms. Margaret R. Curtin 

Ms. Maria G. Cutrona 

Ms. Donna D'Andraia 

Charles and Loretta E. Dailey 

Mr. Robert S. Damerjian 

Mr. Ken Darian 

Ms. Ida Darrah 

Larry and Judy Darrah 

Ms Sarah S. Davidson 

Mr. George Davis 

Dr. Susan S. Davis 

Lucia M. and Artie De Feo 

Ms. Theresa M. DeLucia 

Mr. and Mrs. Boghos Der Ghazarian 

Dr. and Mrs. George Dermksian 

Ms. Nora M. Derwin 

Mr. Thomas Desimone 

Ms. Ethel M. Dewey 

Mr. Armon W. Diedrich 

Wesley W. and Cindy Diehl 

Andrew and Diane Dinoia 

Pauline Phuong Do 

Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland E. Dodge 

Mr. and Mrs. Walter J. Doherty 

Kerry P. and Dennis A. Dolan 

Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Donnelly 

Ms. Nona M. Donoval 

Samuel W. and Judith K. Doolittle 

Mr. Alden C. Douglass 

Dr. Heratch O. Doumanian 

Ms. Amanda M. Dove 

Mr. Anthony J. Draye 

Mr. and Mrs. Mickey Dry 

Rev. Robert J. Duane 

Mrs. Suzanne F. Dunbar 

Rev. and Yn. Karekin Kasparian 

Dr. and Mrs. Paul Kechijian 

The Rev. Dr. and Mrs. David R. Keck 

Stacey W. and Brian W. Keltch 

Miss Adele M. Kennedy 

Mr. and Mrs. Mike Kerby 

Dr. and Mrs. Michael Keshishian 

Mr. and Mrs. Edwin M. Keusey 

Mr. Aram T. Kevorkian 

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Keyishian 

Ms. Claudia J. Kilby 

Erin K. Kilby 

Grace V. and John P. Kincart 

Ms. Belinda Zoet King 

Miss Margaret Kinne 

Ms. Sheila B. Kirkham 

Alan and June Kluepfel 

Mr. and Mrs. Gregory B. Knudson 

Mr. and Mrs. Emil Koistinen 

Mr. Oleh Kostiuk 

Miss R. H. Lola Koundakjian 

Erwin and Mildred A. Kraft 

Mr. Haig Krekorian 

Dr. and Mrs. John A. Lampe 

Mr. George M. Landes 

Ms. Marla Landis 

Ms. Carol R. Lange 

Alvin and Sharon Layton 

Brian P. and Debbie W. Leech 

Ms. Wanda LeGrand 

Ms. Amy M. Lehane 

Dr. and Mrs. William L. Lehmann 

Ms. Jacqueline E. Lein 

Anthony and Anne Lemma 

Mr. Joseph Leporati 

Mr. and Mrs. Alexander S. Lett 

Stuart Levin and Chun Kim-Levin 

Richard A. and Carolyn A. Lewis 

Concetta and Heather Liberatore 

Dr. Linda Lifur-Bennett 

Mr. and Mrs. John Little 

Mr. John J. Little 

Mr. James Lombardo 

Ms. Amanda Lowery 

Mr. Charles M. Loyd 

Ms. Donna Hutton Loyd 

Mr. Oliver H. Loyd 

Mr. Lawrence C. Lucas 

Michael A. and Sigrid H. Luksza 

William and Mary Luthin 

Christopher and Eileen MacDonald 

Miss Marcia MacDonald 

Ms. Jane S. Mackay 

Ms. Susan M. Mallonee 

Mr. Robert S. Mallouk 

Mrs. Harriette W. Mandeville 

Robert J. and Margaret P. Manny 

Mr. Hagop Manuelian 

Edward and Columbia L. Marcantonio 

Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Mardian 

Mr. Mark N. Markarian 

Mr. and Mrs. David Marrash 

Mr. James E. Martin 

Ms. Patricia Martin 

Mrs. Anita Masoian 

Ms. Barbara Massey 

Ms. Rosemary Matossian 

Miss Merze Mazmanian 

Ms. Lynda Mazzurco 

John McAvoy and Kathleen Mcavoy 

William and Diane McCabe 

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew A. Shahinian 

Keith and Joan M. Shepherd 

Daniel and Patricia B. Sheppard 

Ronald and Joan Sheppard 

Thomas P. and Patricia Shiel 

Ms. Betty Shumaker 

James and Dorothy Sideris 

Mr. Harold R. Sims 

Mr. and Mrs. Leon Siroonian 

Brian and Cynthia Skeels 

Rev. and Mrs. Harold G. Skinner 

Jeffrey J. and Ann Slader 

Elizabeth A. and John A. Slosar 

Mr. Alan Smith 

Ms. Allison G. Smith 

Mr. Eric P. Smith 

Ms. Jacqueline A. Smith 

Mr. James B. Smith 

Joseph J. Smith 

Mr. and Mrs. George W. Smyth 

Joan and George Spano 

Mrs. Doreen C. Spitzer 

Cindy and Michael Stagner 

Ms. Doris A. Stahl 

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Staudenmayer 

Ms. Katherine Steele 

Mr. and Mrs. Curt Steger 

Mr. Steven C. Steinberger 

Mr. Eric P. Steinhoff 

Mr. Lawrence Stelter 

Paul and Anna Stenhouse 

Mr. William A. Stoltzfus 

Ms. Eileen A. Storen 

Jeffrey and Janine Storen 

Mr. Donald S. Stosberg 

Ms. Elizabeth Stouffer 

Ms. Pamela R. Stutzman 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Sundstrom 

Joseph and Kathryn A. Sutka 

Mrs. Joan S. Tait 

Ms. Rose Tashjian 

Haig and Sydnia Tcheurekdjian 

Mr. Noubar Tcheurekdjian 

Mr. Robert W. Thabit 

Ms Rita Thomas 

Miss Anahid Thomassian 

Mrs. David B. Thurston 

Ms. Arlene E. Tice 

Ms. Laura Tivoli 

Mr. and Mrs. William J. Tivoli 

Mr. and Mrs. Kevork S. Toroyan 

Ms. Helen Towsley 

Dr. Bruce L. Trott 

Mr. and Mrs. George E. Truppner 

Cathleen C. and michael R. Truschelli 

William and Jane Ann L. Tunnard 

Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Tusick 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Ufford 

George A. and Lucille S. Uhlman 

Pallas Lee Van Schaick 

Mr. and Mrs. Harutun Vaporciyan 

Reno and Inez Veschi 

Mary Vicario and Nancy Lynne Gagne 

Oba L. Vincent 

Hercules and Barbara A. Volpe 

Ms. Patricia von Ahnen 

Ms. Beverly Paige Vyn 

Mr. and Mrs. Walter Walkinshaw 

Maryann and John Joseph Walpole 


Mr. and Mrs. Duane E. Ward

Mr. and Mrs. George S. Dunham 

Ms. Kathleen Ebner 

Richard A. and Anne Elizabeth Elbrecht 

Ms. Mollie D. Elicker 

Edward E. and Judy M. Elsner 

Mr. and Mrs. Alexander T. Ercklentz 

Mr. and Mrs. John G. Erickson 

Ms. Marisa Ernst 

Ms. Isabell C. Esposito 

Ahmed and Eva Essa 

Mr. and Mrs. Edward Essayan 

Mrs. Elizabeth S. Ettinghausen 

Mr. Jason W. Evans 

Gerald F. and Rose Fahey 

Dr. Amir Ali Farman-Farma 

Jerilyn Fasold 

Marcy E. Feller and Gabrielle A. Hanna 

John and Mary Leigh A. Feloney 

Rupert and Mary Fennelly 

Mr. Keith M. Ferguson 

Mr. Stephen Ferrari 

Robert R. and Ann M. Fetzer 

Ms. Heather L. Fisch 


Mr. Edgar J. Fisher 

Mr. Larry J. Flood 

Duane H. and Verne F. Floyd 

Ms. Lindsay Flury 

James and Rosemary P. Flynn 

Dr. Laurie Ann Forest 

Mrs. William D. Foye 

Edward A. and Patricia A. Frawley 

Mrs. Donna A. Friedman 

Ms. Karen L. Frye 

Anne and David Gagliardi 

Kevin McCarthy and Joyce Mccarthy 

Ms. Carol McClellan 

Ms. Lucinda McCloud 

Mr. David McDonald 

Mr. David T. McDonald 

Ms. Molly McDowell 

Carlene M. and Thomas J. McGill 

Ms. Dana McKenna 

Mr. and Mrs. Mark J. McManus 

Ms. Laura S. McPherson 

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Mekenian 

Mr. Julio Melgar 

Ms. Barbara Merguerian 

Ms. Patricia E. Merrill 

Mrs. Anne A. Meyer 

Mr. James Micciulla 

Cheryl A. Miller 

Gerald and Claudia I. Miller 

John M. and Marsha G. Miller 

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Miller 

Ms. Mary Ellen Miller 

Mr. Ralph Minasian 

Ms. Jeanmarie M. Mitchell 

Mr. Andrew Moers 

Walter H. and Anne F. Mongon 

Mr. Andrew P. Monroe 

Joyce C. and Michael Mooney 

Marie A. and Stanley Morgievich 

Ms. Regina C. Morini 

Mr. William J. Mostler 

Ms. Sara T. Munson 

John W. and Catherine A. Murchison 

Oliver and Ethel F. Murray 

Robert and Margaret Murtagh 

Ms. Patricia A. Ward 

Mr. Brian B. Watkins 

Ms. Teresa A. Wavra 

Mr. Joseph M. Weaver 

Gerald B. and Priscilla Weeden 

Pauline and Roger Weger 

Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Wehter 

Ms. Leslie Wenke 

Debra R. and William G. Wenter 

Lori J. and Edward L. Wheeler 

Ms. Doris T. White 

Ms. Jessica L. Whitney 

Bryan and Kendra Williams 

Mr. and Mrs. Samuel B. Williams 

Miss Pauline E. Williman 

Susan K. Willis and Leah D. Lucas 

Ms. Gabriel C. Wilmoth 

Mr. and Mrs. Jack A. Wilson 

Ms. Penelope P. Wilson 

Bruce D. and Carolyn Wise 

Mr. and Mrs. Frederic G. Withington 

Mr. Virgil O. Wodicka 

Betty M. and Craig W. Wolf 

Ms. Murden Woods 

Mr. Jan Wright 

Ms. Julie Wyatt 

Mrs. Hasmig Yankelovich 

Ms. Denise L.C. Yap 

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Ymbras 

Dr. and Mrs. Malcolm B. Young 

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Zenian 

( in memory of Levon and Araxil 

Zenian) 

ARMENIAN FRIENDS OF NEF 

90TH ANNIVERSARY DONORS 

Mr. John Amboian 

Ms. Eleonore Aslanian 

Robert and Sophia Assadourian 

Ms. Florence Avakian ( in memory of 

Louise Dingilian, Ashan Avakian, 

Phoebe Kapikian) 

Laura and Stephen Avakian 

S & K Baghdassarian 

Ms. Karen Bedrosian-Richardson 


Ms. Carmen Boghossian 

Mr. Arman Boyajian 

Ms. Lusi Caparyan 

Aroussiag and Tigran Chitjian 

Mr. Robert S. Damerjian 

Mr. Ken Darian 

Mr. Yervant Edward Demirjian 

Mr. and Mrs. Boghos Der Ghazarian 

Dr. and Mrs. George Dermksian 

Dr. Heratch O. Doumanian 

Mr. and Mrs. Edward Essayan 

Mrs. Donna A. Friedman 

Mr. and Mrs. Arnold H. Gazarian 

Mr. and Mrs. William Goshgarian 

Dr. Vartan Gregorian 

Ms. Mary Hamparian 

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Haratunian 

DONORS TO SPECIAL APPEAL: 

Six Degrees of Love, Lesotho 

Anonymous 

Mr. and Mrs James M. Alexander 

( in honor of Jack) 

Dr. and Mrs. Vahan Janjigian 

Mr. and Mrs. Noubar Jessourian 

Mr. and Mrs. John Jinishian 

Mr. Paul Jorjorian 

Mr. and Mrs. Albert Kabrielian 

Anahid and Vertanes Kalayjian 

Mr. Elmer Kaprielian 

Mr. Stefan Karadian 

Mr. Haig Kartounian 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kasbarian 

Rev. and Yn. Karekin Kasparian 

Dr. and Mrs. Paul Kechijian 

Dr. and Mrs. Michael Keshishian 

Mr. and Mrs. Edwin M. Keusey 

Mr. Aram T. Kevorkian 

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Keyishian 

Mr. Haig Krekorian 

Mr. and Mrs. Emil Koistinen 

Miss R. H. Lola Koundakjian 

Dr. and Mrs. Richard C. Boyajian Lacy 

Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Mardian 

Haig G. Mardikian 

Mr. and Mrs. Shant Mardirossian 

Mr. Mark N. Markarian 

Mr. Hagop Manuelian 

Mrs. Anita Masoian 

Ms. Rosemary Matossian 

Miss Merze Mazmanian 

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Mekenian 

Ms. Lindsay Flury 

James and Rosemary P. Flynn 

Dr. Laurie Ann Forest 

Mr. and Mrs. Bruce E. Fraser 

Edward A. and Patricia A. Frawley 

Ms. Barbara Merguerian 

Mr. Ralph Minasian 

Dr. and Mrs. Louis M. Najarian 

Mr Nazar Nazarian 

Ms. Alice Nigoghosian 

Mr. and Mrs. Vahe Oshagan 

Mr. and Mrs. Pouzant Piranian 

Mr. James C. Poloshian 

Mr. Hasmig Proudian ( in memory of 

Aram T. and Rose Jenazian Proudian) 

Mr. Khajag Sarkissian 

Varsenne and Antranig Sarkissian 

Mr. and Mrs. Alex Sarafian 

Mr. and Mrs. Hasma Serverian 

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Haig Setrakian 

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew A. Shahinian 

Mr. and Mrs. Leon Siroonian 

The Tarvezian Group 

Ms. Rose Tashjian 

Haig and Sydnia Tcheurekdjian 

Mr. Noubar Tcheurekdjian 

Miss Anahid Thomassian 

Mr. and Mrs. Kevork S. Toroyan 

Mr. and Mrs. Harutun Vaporciyan 

Mrs. Hasmig Yankelovich 

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Zenian 

( in memory Levon and Araxil Zenian) 

Kenneth and Eileen R. O'Brien 

Michael and Eileen J. O'Brien 

Ms. Amy J. O'Connor 

Ms. Mary O'Connor 

Ms. Susan O'Connor

American Association of 

Critical Care Nurses 

American Eagle 

Ms. Mary Elizabeth Anderson 

Ms. Gabriela Andrade 

Anonymus 

Kathryn and Jon Appelbergh 

Mr. James Archambeault 

A.R.E. Inc. 

Ms. Cheryl F. Aycock 

Ms. Jennifer Bagrowski 

Ms. Johanna Bairel-Wohlfart 

P. R. Baker 

Ms. Eleanore M. Baran 

Mr. Andrew A. Barasda 

Tracy and Danny Barron 

Patricia M. and Robert L. Bartkus 

Randy R. and Debra A. Bauler 

Erich and Marianne Bayer 

Dianne M. Bazell and Laurence H. Kant 

Ms. Joyce M. Becker 

Mr. Steven A. Becker 

Mr. and Mrs. William T. Behrends 

Donna L. Belger 

Linda Jean Bell 

Susan and Nicholas Berardi 


Carol L. and John A. Bertsch 

Mr. Gerard Bochicchio 

P.J. Boone 

Barbara A. and John J. Brady 

Ms. Marie Brady 

Matthew and Melissa Brady 

Walter and Dorothy M. Brady 

Ms. Nicole Breazeale and Rodolfo 

Marcos Lloveras ( for Tara Loyd) 

Kenneth J. and Shirley Breeman 

Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Brinkmann 

Mr. and Mrs. Carl F. Brockenauer 

Ms. Briana Brower 

Michelle M. and J. Brad Browning 

Craig E. and Kristi Bruner 

William A. and Sandi Bruss 

Jeffery H. Buck and David A. Gall 

Russell and Barbara Bunyea 

Walton and Mary E. Burdick 

Ms. Patricia N. Burkitt 

Ms. Patricia Burns 

Robert and Louise W. Burton 

Ms. Caroline Buscher 

Craig S. Buscher 

Ms. Maria E. Byrne 

Ms. Linda Callanan 

Ms. Elaine Carey 

Nicholas and Rosemarie Carinci 

Ms. Ann Marie Carlo 

Kenneth and Barbara Carlson 

Joseph S. and Therese M. Carr 

Grover and Caroline A. Carrington 

Ms. Roberta C. Cassetta 

Central Ohio J.V.S.D. 

E. V. and Francine Cerutti 

Mr. John W. Chapman 

Ms. Nancy J. Chapman 

Herbert and Marilyn L. Cheskis 

Newman B. and Carole J. Chittenden 

Ms. Sharon B. Chrisman 

Emily and E. Kathy Christensen 

Ms. Barbara J. Christesen 

Ms. Karen Cichocki-Vucci 

Ms. Susan A. Clancy 

Ms. Karen L. Frye 

Anne and David Gagliardi 

Mr. Louis Galeazzo 

Mary Shiland Gallagher and Andrew 

Shiland Poa 

Mark Stephen and Laurie Galland 

Thomas K. Garesche 

Ms. Annette Gast 

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Gennaro 

Tommy George 

Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Gerrity 

Ms. Dorothy Gill and Ms. Marcia Smith 

Eileen Z. and Joseph A. Gillespie 

James B. and Barbara J. Gilman 

Gloria and Anthony Golia 

Mr. John Graham 

Ms. Theresa Graham 

Charles A. and Mary Jane Green 

Marie F. Greenhaw 

Catherine and Joan Gronowski 

Rick and Susan Groth 

Larry and Joanne Grunwald 

Jim E. Gummelt 

Ms. Dena Hall 

Roger W. and Gayle L. Ham 

(in name of Judy Doolittle) 

Barbara Hamilton 

Carol Simon and Jack Harrigan 

Harold and Claire Harrison 

Ms. Carol Hartigan 

Scott D. and Michelle J. Hartings 

Ms. Karen L. Harvey and Marquis P. 

Vawter ( in name of Pat Reilly, Teresa 

Bell, Karen Harvey) 

Mr. Daniel Fc Hayes 

Edwin G. and Claire J. Hellgoth 

Doug and Katherine Henry 

Ms. Marilyn Herigstad 

Paul and Kacy Hertz 

Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Hillery 

Terry S. Hood and Julia Murray 

Ms Virginia A. Humphreys 

Mr. Robert M. Hutton 

Francis and Nancy T. Ivanisko 

Theodore and Annette Barbara Izzo 

Mr. and Mrs. Gerald N. James 

Wanda L. and Lawrence H. Johanson 

Harry and Mary Ann Johnson 

Mr. Sean F. Julian 

Ms. Claudia J. Kilby 

Erin K. Kilby 

Ms. Belinda Zoet King 

Kingwood High School 

Alan and June Kluepfel 

Knights of Columbus - Council 5743 

Mr. and Mrs. Gregory B. Knudson 

Erwin and Mildred A. Kraft 

Ms. Marla Landis 

Ms. Carol R. Lange 

Alvin and Sharon Layton 

Brian P. and Debbie W. Leech 

Ms. Wanda LeGrand 

Ms. Amy M. Lehane 

Ms. Jacqueline E. Lein 

Anthony and Anne Lemma 

Mr. and Mrs. Alexander S. Lett 

Stuart Levin and Chun Kim-Levin 

Richard A. and Carolyn A. Lewis 

Concetta and Heather Liberatore 

Ms. Linda Lifur-Bennett 

Mr. and Mrs. John Little 

Dr. Omara and Dr. McGrath 

Ms. Jennifer A. Orenic 

Mr. Matthew S. Orosz 

Josephine and Anthony Paragano 

Aldo and Helene Parcesepe 

Ms. Frances C. Perito 

Lisa L. and Terry R. Perkins 

Mr. Albert J. Perri 

Joanne Phelan 

Ms. Anna Picone 

Michael T. and Pamela K. Piotrowicz 

Vincent P. and Carolyn D. Pisculli 

Bernice and Trampas Poldrack 

Ms. Georgeen M. Polyak 

Ethel J. and Vito J. Porpora 

Philip E. and Kandy M. Pouget ( for Sally 

Martin’s birthday; in memory of Janice 

McCarthy) 

Dennis and Sandra C. Poulin 

Ms. Ariane A.V. Putnam 

Genevieve and Joseph Puzio 

Ms. Jessica Quarles 

Ms. Ingeborg Quesenberry 

Ms. Cecilia A. Quinn 

Ms. Mary E. Ramser 

Ms. Fran Renehan 

Mr. and Mrs. William Renehan 

Ms. Gerri Richardson 

Ms. Heidi Riddlesperger 

Ms. Kay H. Roberts 

Ms. Rona Roberts 

Mr. Andrew A. Robinson 

Francis and Mary Ellen G. Ronnenberg 

Ms. Victoria A. Ross 

Patricia Waite Ruger and Jacqueline 

Ruger Hutton 

Ms. Phyllis Ruppert 

Ms. Matilda Russo 

St. John the Evangelist Church 

St. John the Evangelist School 

St. Johns Respect for Life Society 

Ms Sandra Sacks 

Ralph and Francoise Santalis 

Mr. and Mrs Cody Sargent 

Ms. Rachel Savane 

John and Margaret Scarfi 

Ronald J. and Sherri M. Sceroler 

Walter J. and Maryjane M. Scherr 

Susan and Charles Schilling 

Ms. Tina L. Schwab 

Harsha A. Sen 

Keith and Joan M. Shepherd 

Daniel and Patricia B. Sheppard 

Ronald and Joan Sheppard 

Thomas P. and Patricia Shiel 

Ms. Betty Shumaker 

James and Dorothy Sideris 

Brian and Cynthia Skeels 

Jeffrey J. and Ann Slader 

Elizabeth A. and John A. Slosar 

Mr. Alan Smith 

Ms. Allison G. Smith 

Ms. Jacqueline A. Smith 

Joseph J. Smith 

Joan and George Spano 

Cindy and Michael Stagner 

Walter A. and Dorothy W. Stanhouse 

Ms. Katherine Steele 

Mr. and Mrs. Curt Steger 

Mr. Eric P. Steinhoff 

Paul and Anna Stenhouse

Carol A. Clayton 

Mr. and Mrs. James P. Clement 

Denis and Kathleen J. Clifford 

Mr. Marvin Coats 

John and Maria Coffin 

Michael E. and Kerri Collins 

Frederick W. and Patricia M. Colman 

Ms. Monika Cornelius 

Mr. Joseph Costello 

Thomas and Mary Agnes J. Cotter 

Ms. Jeanette D. Coufal 

Mr. John R. Cox 

Michael J. and Sandra J. Coyne 

Susan Cucinella and Holly C. Varriale 

Mr. and Mrs. William J. Cullen 

Philip and Terrie Curd 

Ms. Maria G. Cutrona 

Ms. Donna D'Andraia 

Charles and Loretta E. Dailey 

Ms. Ida Darrah 

Larry and Judy Darrah 

Ms Sarah S. Davidson 

Lucia M. and Artie De Feo 

Ms. Theresa M. DeLucia 

Ms. Nora M. Derwin 

Mr. Thomas Desimone 

Wesley W. and Cindy Diehl 

Andrew and Diane Dinoia 

Pauline Phuong Do 

Mr. and Mrs. Walter J. Doherty 

Kerry P. and Dennis A. Dolan 

Ms. Nona M. Donoval 

Ms. Jennifer Doolittle 

Samuel W. and Judith K. Doolittle 

Ms. Amanda M. Dove 

Rev. Robert J. Duane 

Mr. Christopher Ebert 

Ms. Kathleen Ebner 

Edward E. and Judy M. Elsner 

Ms. Marisa Ernst 

Ms. Isabell C. Esposito 

Mr. Jason W. Evans 

Gerald F. and Rose Fahey 

Jerilyn Fasold 

John and Mary Leigh A. Feloney 

Rupert and Mary Fennelly 

Robert R. and Ann M. Fetzer 

First Presbyterian Church 



Mr. Larry J. Flood 

Duane H. and Verne F. Floyd 

Mr. John J. Little 

Mr. James Lombardo 

Ms. Amanda Lowery 

Mr. Charles M. Loyd 

Ms. Donna Hutton Loyd 

Mr. Lawrence C. Lucas 

Joaquin C. and Marina M. Lugay 

Michael A. and Sigrid H. Luksza 

William and Mary Luthin 

Christopher and Eileen MacDonald 

Ms. Jane S. Mackay 

Ms. Toni A. Magnotta 

Ms. Susan M. Mallonee 

Mrs. Harriette W. Mandeville 

Mr. Robert E. Manning 

Robert J. and Margaret P. Manny 

Edward and Columbia L. Marcantonio 

Ms. Patricia Martin 

Sally Behn Martin and Mark Nelson 

Lynas 

Ms. Barbara Massey 

Ms. Lynda Mazzurco 

John McAvoy and Kathleen Mcavoy 

William and Diane McCabe 

Kevin McCarthy and Joyce Mccarthy 

Ms. Carol McClellan 

Ms. Lucinda McCloud 

Ms. Molly McDowell 

Carlene M. and Thomas J. McGill 

Ms. Dana McKenna 

Mr. and Mrs. Mark J. McManus 

John F. McNamara and Maureen M. 

McNamara 

Ms. Laura S. McPherson 

Ms. Patricia E. Merrill 

Mr. James Micciulla 

Cheryl A. Miller 

Gerald and Claudia I. Miller 

John M. and Marsha G. Miller 

Ms. Mary Ellen Miller 

Ms. Jeanmarie M. Mitchell 

Walter H. and Anne F. Mongon 

Joyce C. and Michael Mooney 

Marie A. and Stanley Morgievich 

Ms. Regina C. Morini 

Ms. Sara T. Munson 

John W. and Catherine A. Murchison 

Oliver and Ethel F. Murray 

Robert and Margaret Murtagh 

Marlene and Joseph Natalie 

J.M. O'Bar 

Ms. Ann P. O'Brien 

Ms. Eileen A. Storen 

Jeffrey and Janine Storen 

Mr. Donald S. Stosberg 

Ms. Elizabeth Stouffer 

Ms. Pamela R. Stutzman 

Joseph and Kathryn A. Sutka 

Ms Rita Thomas 

Ms. Arlene E. Tice 

Ms. Laura Tivoli 

Mr. and Mrs. William J. Tivoli 

Mr. and Mrs. Daniel J. Towle 



Dr. Bruce L. Trott 

Cathleen C. and Michael R. Truschelli 

William and Jane Ann L. Tunnard 

Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Tusick 

George A. and Lucille S. Uhlman 

Pallas Lee Van Schaick 

Reno and Inez Veschi 

Mary Vicario and Nancy Lynne Gagne 

Oba L. Vincent 

Hercules and Barbara A. Volpe 

Ms. Beverly Paige Vyn 

Brian and Rosemary J. Waldron 

Maryann and John Joseph Walpole 



Ms. Patricia A. Ward 

Mr. John D. Waters 

Arthur J. and Deborah F. Watson 

Ms. Kami Sue Watson 

Ms. Teresa A. Wavra 

Gerald B. and Priscilla Weeden 

Pauline and Roger Weger 

Ms. Clare Wegescheide 

Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Wehter 

Mr. Andrew Wenke 

Ms. Leslie Wenke 

Debra R. and William G. Wenter 

Ms. Courtney Wheeler 

Lori J. and Edward L. Wheeler 

Ms. Jessica L. Whitney 

Bryan and Kendra Williams 

Sara C. and Gregory H. Williams 

Susan K. Willis and Leah D. Lucas 

Ms. Gabriel C. Wilmoth 

Mr. and Mrs. Jack A. Wilson 

Bruce D. and Carolyn Wise 

Betty M. and Craig W. Wolf 

Mr. Jan Wright 

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Ymbras 



NEF BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

Ms. Shahnaz Batmanghelidj 

Mr. Charles E. Benjamin 

Mrs. William L. Cary 

Mr. David S. Dodge 

Dr. Amir Ali Farman-Farma 

Mr. John Goelet 

Mr. John Grammer 

Mr. Robert C. Helander 

Dr. Jean Herskovits 

Dr. Linda Jacobs 

Dr. John M. Kerr 

Dr. Ryan LaHurd 

Mr. Haig Mardikian 

Mr. Shant Mardirossian 

Mr. Ronald E. Miller 

Mr. David W. Mize 

Mr. Abe J. Moses 

Mr. Richard C. Robarts 

Ms. Aida Shawwaf 

Ms. Emma Torres 

Mr. Anthony R. Williams 



NEW YORK HEADQUARTERS 

Ryan A. LaHurd 

President 

Andrea M. Couture 

Development Officer 

Anwar Samad 

Chief Financial Officer 

OVERSEAS NEF STAFF 

Roger Hardister 

Regional Director for Middle East, North Africa, 

and Horn of Africa - Cairo 

Alaa Saber 

Country Director - Egypt 

Hajem Halaseh 

Country Director - Jordan 

Kenneth Storen 

Country Director - Lesotho 

Yacouba Dème 

Country Director - Mali 

Abdelkhalk Aandam 

MEPI Project Director - Morocco 

Mohamed Ali 

Administrator - Sudan 

Kathy Gau 

Country Director - Swaziland 

Tarek Abdel-Ghany Kotob 

Country Director - West Bank 



BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU SEAL OF APPROVAL 

Near East Foundation meets all Standards for Charity Accountability of the 

Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance. The alliance helps donors by 

collecting and distributing information on hundreds of nonprofit organizations 

that solicit nationally or have national or international program services. 

Organizations are asked to provide information on programs, governance, 

fundraising practices and finances. 

NEF hopes the fact that it displays the Better Business Bureau’s National Charity Seal helps 

reassure supporters, especially potential donors who do not already know our long history and 

stellar reputation. Given the current environment of confusion and suspicion about organizations 

working in the Middle East, the seal adds reassurance. 

> IRS Form 990 Fiscal Year 2004 (available soon) 

> Download IRS Form 990 Fiscal Year 2003 



Near East Foundation - Headquarters 

90 Broad Street, 15th Floor • New York, NY 10004, USA 

Phone: +1 (212) 425-2205 • Fax: +1 (212) 425-2350

NEF 2005 Annual Report - Near East Foundation

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