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INTERNATIONAL AID ORGANIZATION Newsletter for Friends and Supporters Edition February 2017 Newsletter for Friends and Supporters of NEHEMIAH GATEWAY 1 There is an old African proverb: “If many small people, in many small places, do many small things, they will change the face of the world.” We at Nehemiah Gateway are convinced that this is true and there- fore want to take a look behind the scenes, where people who are not in the limelight, do a lot of small things every day, to help others and ultimately make a big difference. One of these people is Jonida Cungu. She is our social worker at the Amaro Tan Project in Albania. The first steps Jonida grew up in Elbasan, the fourth largest city in Albania with 80,000 inhabitants. Her father is a big fan of Germany – for his sake she attended a foreign language school and studied German philolo- gy afterwards. She received several scholarships to travel to Germany and liked the correctness and the discipline of the Germans. After her Read more on the next page » Many small things, that make a big difference Dear friends and supporters! Mother Teresa is well-known all over the world, perhaps the most famous Albanian woman ever. Being in the limelight was never important for her, just the contrary. She always consid- ered the poor and despised, who have fallen through society’s welfare net, as the real VIPs in our world. Re- gardless of difficulties and challeng- es, Mother Teresa always lived by her well-known statement: “It’s love that gives you courage.” There are many women working with Nehemiah Gateway who, like her, prefer to stay in the back- ground. With courage and stamina, they accomplish a lot, driven by love for the people. Their stories could fill a whole book. We don’t have the space to present all of them in one newsletter, but we chose a few stories for you that may give you an idea. Be inspired! Your Compact team

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Page 1: Dear friends and supporters! Many small things, that make ... · Dear friends and supporters! Mother Teresa is well-known all over the world, perhaps the most famous ... The majority

INTERNATIONAL AID ORGANIZATION

Newsletter for Friends and Supporters Edition February 2017

Newsletter for Friends and Supporters of NEHEMIAH GATEWAY 1

There is an old African proverb: “If many small people, in many small places, do many small things, they will change the face of the world.” We at Nehemiah Gateway are convinced that this is true and there-fore want to take a look behind the scenes, where people who are not in the limelight, do a lot of small things every day, to help others and ultimately make a big difference. One of these people is Jonida Cungu. She is our social worker at the Amaro Tan Project in Albania.

The first steps

Jonida grew up in Elbasan, the fourth largest city in Albania with 80,000 inhabitants. Her father is a big fan of Germany – for his sake she attended a foreign language school and studied German philolo-gy afterwards. She received several scholarships to travel to Germany and liked the correctness and the discipline of the Germans. After her

Read more on the next page »

Many small things, that make a big difference

Dear friendsand supporters!

Mother Teresa is well-known all over the world, perhaps the most famous Albanian woman ever. Being in the limelight was never important for her, just the contrary. She always consid-ered the poor and despised, who have fallen through society’s welfare net, as the real VIPs in our world. Re-gardless of difficulties and challeng-es, Mother Teresa always lived by her well-known statement: “It’s love that gives you courage.”

There are many women working with Nehemiah Gateway who, like her, prefer to stay in the back-ground. With courage and stamina, they accomplish a lot, driven by love for the people. Their stories could fill a whole book. We don’t have the space to present all of them in one newsletter, but we chose a few stories for you that may give you an idea. Be inspired!

Your Compact team

Page 2: Dear friends and supporters! Many small things, that make ... · Dear friends and supporters! Mother Teresa is well-known all over the world, perhaps the most famous ... The majority

Workshop – Jonida with colleagues from Buçimas

Newsletter for Friends and Supporters of NEHEMIAH GATEWAY 2

studies she started looking for a job and came across the website of Nehemia Albania (now: Nehemiah Gateway). Immediately, she was attracted by the organization and its work. She applied for a job and was actually hired. Jonida started to work at Nehemia in Pogradec as a German teacher, translator and in administration. For the young woman this meant being separated from her family for the first time in life – she was 22 years old. She encountered people, like her roommate or her neighbors, who told her about their Christian faith. Jonida began to attend church services and got to know the community. The encounter with the Christian faith changed her – a new life-concept opened up in front of her.

Challenges accepted

Jonida likes challenges, she wants to explore and try out new things. Nehemia gave her the chance to do so – next to her other duties, she soon helped with the social work. She realized how much she likes working with people, with the elderly, who come by to eat a hot meal, or the children with disabilities, who can get free therapy.

For some time, she even took over the management of the entire office as a maternity cover. If she sometimes

gets a queasy feeling in her stomach because of all the responsibility, it helps that the organization shows her a lot of trust. Arnold Geiger often encourages her, tells her about his own experiences as a young policeman, when he as well had a lot of responsibility to bear.

Later, she became the assistant to Herolinda Shkullaku, Managing Director of Nehemiah Gateway Albania. The two women became a great team, Jonida learned a lot from Herolinda and soon became indispensable. Employees and guests appreciated her for her patience and kindness.

A big decision

Despite the good time she had, she became increasing-ly aware that neither the work in the office nor working as a German teacher was the right thing for her in the long run. The desire to work socially and to help peo-ple became stronger and stronger in her. She made a decision: In addition to her full-time position, she began to study a second field: Social Work. Today, she doesn’t know how she was able to cope with this double bur-den at the time. Every weekend, she took the minibus to the university to Elbasan and back to Pogradec at the start the work-week. Her roommate often took pictures of her as she sat underneath a big pile of books in the

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Newsletter for Friends and Supporters of NEHEMIAH GATEWAY 3

kitchen and studied, so that she can later recall the time when she sacrificed her entire private life for her study. But to Jonida, it was not a sacrifice - it was a desire that came from within. It took four years, required countless studysessions in the kitchen and thousands of kilome-ters in the minibus, until Jonida finished her studies and reached graduation.

Going your own way

Immediately, she requested to switch to the Amaro Tan Project as a social worker – even though her family, friends and colleagues were critical of this step in her career, she got a positive answer. The farewell to her old job, Herolinda and her other colleagues was not easy for her, but Jonida had a clear vision of her goal.

She became the first fully-trained social worker ever at Amaro Tan. She organizes afternoon programs, always in collaboration with the students, whom she lovingly calls her “colleagues”: cooking classes, mechanics courses, hygiene groups ... She wants the children to take the initiative, to express what they want and by doing that, discover their own abilities.

Role model and confidant

The majority of the pupils at the Amaro Tan school come from very poor families. Many belong to the minority of the Roma or the Balkan-Egyptians. Especially the underprivileged children, who often feel small, invisible and helpless in a society that does not offer them the same opportunities as others, shall experience that they can achieve something on their own. This is particularly important for the girls. The discovery of their own abil-ities helps them to value themselves and others. To see one’s own talents, to be proud of oneself, to experience oneself as effective also helps to say “no” at home and to express one’s own needs.

The students are now coming to Jonida with different questions. A personal relationship develops, Jonida is a role model and a confidant, who acts with great prudence and never interferes inappropriately. Her diplomatic skills are based on the respect for her counter- part – be it a student or a parent.

Working with the families

Working with the parents is an important aspect of Jonida’s daily work. The mothers’ meetings, which have

existed for some time, have now become parents’ meet-ings. The fathers show more and more interest in the education of their children and they see that Jonida is interested in them, too. Through the meetings and many home visits, Jonida gets deep insights into the families of her protégés. Sometimes it is painful for her to be con-fronted with the different problems: financial hardship, domestic violence, alcoholism, nutritional deficiencies or hygienic problems ... Many students work in addition to school, to earn something for the family. Some of them come to school tired and unable to concentrate, because the loud arguments of the adults kept them up all night.

Child-marriages

In many Roma families, the girls are traditionally married extremely young. Previously at the age of 9 or 10, now at 12, 13 or 14 years. In the elementary school, the gender ratio is almost equal, but in secondary school, many of the girls are gone. A few years ago, this was even more distinct: there was a class consisting only of boys, because all girls had been married early. Some of the girls reappear after a year and are suddenly no longer married. The issue of human trafficking comes into play. Jonida does not always know exactly what is going on. She often discusses the issues with the class teachers. With the girls, she is gentle and does not ask for details. The school is supposed to be a shelter where the girls can feel safe and secure. They are always welcome and Jonida helps them to slowly process their experiences, leave the past behind and build a new life.

In recent years, however, Jonida has felt a new aware-ness that grows in parents’ minds. At their meetings, she talks with them about everyday problems, but also about topics such as human rights and children’s rights. Meanwhile, she hears from some parents: “You know, Jonida, we want our children to have a better life. Look at my daughter, she’s in 9th grade and I did not marry her, because I heard that school is important.“

Building trust

Jonida says, “If you build a house and then you can look at the finished house at the end, it is a very nice feeling. But it is different in social work – you cannot see the results right away, it’s more like a long-term documentation. Sometimes you see a change only after a few years, when you hear something about former students or you meet them again in the street.

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Afternoon courses at Amaro TanJonida visits her pupils at home

Newsletter for Friends and Supporters of NEHEMIAH GATEWAY 4

It is the little things that are being done every day, that make a big difference - whether children have learned to trust in themselves and others. Jonida tells a little story, which clarifies this: “There is a 9th grade school-girl, who is involved in many school activities. Her father is often drunk, her mother goes to Macedonia a lot to buy clothes and sell them again here in Albania. One day, it was the first school day after the holidays, she didn’t come to school. All her siblings were there, but she was not. Everyone wondered why, so I went to her home, where I found her crying in a corner of the room. I asked, ‘Why are you crying? What happened?’ The mother was there, too and said angrily: ‘She does not want to go to school just because our comb has disap-peared somewhere in the house!’ That was why she did not want to come to school, because she couldn’t comb her hair. I sat with her for almost half an hour, and I said: ‘Come with me to school, not directly to the class, but to my office first. There I have a comb, you can comb your hair, and afterwards you go to the class.’ That was how we did it, and during the whole school year the girl remembered this situation and said to me, ‘Jonida, remember the first day?’ I feel that she has a lot more trust now and knows: she can do things. I am very proud of her, and I hope that she will be able to continue learning.”

“You can do something!”

Day in day out, Jonida does a lot of small things for the students of the Amaro Tan project: the personal conver-sations, the meetings and trusting in the students: “You can do something.” And the children know, that they can rely on their social worker. This way, Jonida helps to realize the core of our work: to give these young people a positive start into their life. And for this we say: Thank you!

DONATIONS

Would you like to support the social work in our Amaro Tan project?

We greatly appreciate your help!

Donations account in Germany:Nehemiah Gateway gGmbHBank: Sparkasse NürnbergIBAN: DE66 7605 0101 0011 0409 38BIC: SSKNDE77Project No. 32 – Amaro Tan

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Michelle Mann (CPA)

Newsletter for Friends and Supporters of NEHEMIAH GATEWAY 5

As Michelle Mann prepared to enter Oral Roberts University (ORU) in 1984, she was handed a worn envelope by her former elementary school teacher. Inside was a note with the heading, “what I want to do when I grow up.” In Michelle’s scribbled handwriting, her response to that query some ten years earlier was, “Change the World.”

From her earliest childhood, Michelle has always wanted to be an agent of change on this planet. Her choice to study accounting at ORU was based not on the hope that it would bring her the greatest level of income, rather she was advised by an academic mentor that it could have a significant impact in the world of relief and development. With this goal in mind after completing her studies, Michelle worked for a period with a major public accounting firm, obtained her license as a certified public accountant (CPA), and departed for Europe to apply her trade.

Little did Michelle know how correct her former professor would be regarding his career advice. Now, almost three decades after venturing out into the world, Michelle has assisted countless non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and indigenous national groups world-wide, from the bush of South Sudan to the board rooms of Berlin – her assistance has made a lasting impact across the continents of the world.

Often those working in international aid fail to consider that their presence and work in a nation requires governmental compliance to business, tax, and em-ployment laws. That it is not uncommon for these details to easily be overlooked by many foreign and local

organizations has always been a point of major concern for Michelle. In fact, part of what drew Michelle to the work of Nehemiah Gateway early in her career was Nehemiah Gateway’s extremely high level of commitment to work as an organization with the utmost level of integrity – especially as it relates to accounting practices and accountability to others. Michelle be-lieves that followers of Christ should set the standard for professionalism and integrity in all their activities – not bring up the rear.

Through her years of world travel and accomplish-ments in business, Michelle has also experienced her share of adversity. For Michelle, she has noticed that adversity can take many forms. It can come as a major health issue, or it could relate to the challenges faced by a woman working for most of her career in a field predominantly occupied by men. Michelle’s response to life’s trials – don’t let the adversity define you, you define yourself.

Today, Michelle lives with her husband, Doug, in Colo-rado, and helps to manage the US office for Nehemiah Gateway. Michelle and Doug have three adult children, and in addition to their numerous administrative duties, they both travel extensively on behalf of the organiza-tion. One of the venues Michelle has recently begun to visit is the Nehemiah Gateway University in Albania. As a university guest lecturer, Michelle has accepted her latest challenge of training a new generation that through accounting, you can change the world.

Changing the World – By the Numbers

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Newsletter for Friends and Supporters of NEHEMIAH GATEWAY 6

Herolinda, you have more than 100 co-work-ers – do you know them all by name? Of course. Our co-workers are very important to me. Many have been with us for many years, others just started. For example, the students of N.G. University who take part in the “Work and Study” program and are completing their prac-tical terms. Several of this group I still remember as pupils at our high school.

Is it difficult for you as an Albanian woman to head such a big organization? Not so much within the organization where we have a very good cooperation. External contacts can be more difficult. A woman as a leader, and still quite young, that’s not so easy for the people in our small towns and villages. However, an increasing number of women are taking executive positions in Albania, in politics as well as in business.

Many people your age emigrated – what is keeping you in Albania?

It is wonderful that Albania is now open and we Albanians are part of this mobile world. We can travel and even live in other countries. When I was a child that was unthinkable. Many young Albanians have em-igrated, but several are returning. Everyone I happen to know loves his or her homeland, and they are willing to do something for it. Unfortunately, the development is going rather slow, as a result of our value system and mentality. I’d wish it would go faster, but it needs time.

We decided as a family to live in Albania because there is hope. Nehemiah Gateway’s mission is very important for me, it’s one of the reasons that makes me stay. I think God loves this country, that’s reason to hope. And I will contribute as much as I can. You are also a wife and a mother – how do you cope with all your tasks?

I guess this is a tension field for every woman working full-time. I am very lucky to have great support, es- pecially from my husband, Ardi. His family, too, is always there for us, most of

all for our son, Mateo, for whom they love to take care.

What was last year’s highlight for you? My first trip to Africa ever! We travelled across the country of Tanzania to meet partner organizations and their candidates for scholarships at our N.G. University. This opened my eyes for a new dimension of our work, for the role we play in Albania with our small, interna-tional university.

You are fluent in four languages – don’t you ever get mixed up? Languages are tools to come in contact with people and cultures. I absolutely love it! They make my life so much richer. Whether I get mixed up from time to time?(hahaha) Of course! On occasion, I can tell you some funny episodes J

We quizzed Herolinda Shkullaku about her life and work, who, as the Executive Director of Nehemiah Gateway Albania, is leading our biggest and most complex projects.

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The beautiful new homeSkenderia with her daughters Elona and Greta

Newsletter for Friends and Supporters of NEHEMIAH GATEWAY 7

For the Muco family a dream has become true – they have their own house now, perfectly suited for Skenderia’s wheelchair.

Skenderia Muco has been a part of Nehemiah Gateway in Albania for many years. In 1998 the young widow, paralyzed in a tragic car accident, moved with her two little children into the newly built Nehemia Center in Pogradec, where a barrier-free apartment, especially equipped for the wheelchair, waited for her. It was a model project for Pogradec at that time, as well as the barrier-free place of work in Nehemia’s office. By constant medical support and social service Nehemiah enabled the small family to lead an independent and dignified life.

Her two daughters, Elona and Greta, are young women now. Both started their career at Nehemiah Gateway at an early age, attending school, graduating from high school and later from Nehemiah Gateway University. Today, with great zeal and highly motivated, they are working at the Albanian Headquarters of Nehemiah Gateway and for N.G. University.

Elona feels almost dazed: “I can hardly believe how much God blessed us! To build a house – that seemed to be absolutely impossible only a few years ago. Today this dream has come true! We are infinitely thankful to the big Nehemiah family for every kind of support!”

Nehemiah Gateway supported them practically and with building materials, as the family’s small savings and the support from their extended family would never

suffice for such an ambitious project. Our caretakers Fatos, Alban, Sokol and Gazi did their best to help them practically and Nehemiah Gateway added con-struction material of good quality in order to make it a cozy, well-insulated home with high building standards and good housing technology. The result: a very good indoor climate, – a luxury that is still hardly to be found in other newly built houses in Pogradec. For Skenderia, who is suffering from poor health due to her handicap, this is very important. It helps her to collect her strength and enables her to work in the reception of Nehemiah Gateway in Buçimas several hours a week.

There comes one more highlight with the story: their previous apartment is now free for another family in need! Our blind co-worker Moza and her son will final-ly have a decent, barrier-free place to live in – no com-parison to their present dilapidated home that would be barely tolerable even for people without a handicap. After 20 years, Skenderia’s former apartment needs re-pairs and renovation, but we hope to finish soon, so that Moza can move in as soon as possible, latest in spring.

Would you like to contribute to the renovation of Moza’s new home? Your contribution is greatly appreciated! (Project: accessible housing)

We feel it’s a privilege to support and help these strong women, who have to face so many problems due to their handicaps, to lead their lives in dignity and independence!

Home Sweet Home – Barrier-Free

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Newsletter for Friends and Supporters of NEHEMIAH GATEWAY 8

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NEHEMIAH GATEWAYgemeinnützige GmbHKontumazgarten 3D-90429 NurembergGermany

T +49 911 60009960F +49 911 [email protected]

IBAN: DE66 7605 0101 0011 0409 38BIC: SSKNDE77

INTERNATIONAL AID ORGANIZATION

A Fresh Breeze for UniversityN.G. University is pleased to welcome Dr. Roy and Beverlee Atwood. Beginning in January 2017, Dr. Atwood is the new Deputy Head of University for Academic and Institutional Development. Beverlee is an Advisor to the University’s administration, helping to optimize and to increase efficiency with academic records and procedures.

Off to Africa....Anna and Dominik Geiger will move to Uganda for six months, where they’ll support our Alumni, Doka and Martin, establishing a refugee relief project right at the border of South Sudan. Anna is a surgeon and quite familiar with Africa, being born and raised in Malawi as a daughter of missionaries. Dominik is a paramedic and also full of wanderlust – supporting international aid projects, for example in Albania, Nepal and Bangla-desh. They are a great team!

Winter AidFrost, snow and ice are a nightmare for people in need. This winter is very harsh in Pogradec. Nehemiah Gateway Albania helps the needy in town and also in villages, distributing food and firewood.

FOR DONATIONSProject No. 3024, Social Services Albania

At a Glance