The Journey

by Donna Berber

“Dawn, and as the sun breaks through the piercing chill of night on the plain outside Korem, it lights up a biblical famine, now, in the 20th Century.”

These words opened Michael Buerk’s first report on Ethiopia’s Great Famine for the BBC on October 24, 1984. Buerk’s words, and the accompanying images of “hell on earth,” shocked the world and famously motivated Bob Geldof to launch Live Aid.

As I watched one of the worst human catastrophes in history take place right in my living room, Buerk’s words also planted the seed for A Glimmer of Hope. I can still see the pain and suffering in the victims’ eyes. Over one million people died.

At the time, Philip and I were newlyweds, living in London and not in a position to do too much. Yet seeing those images flash across the television had a profound impact on me and left a nagging voice in my head that said if I was ever in a position to do something, I would.

Soon after, I became pregnant with our first son Ryan and my focus shifted to our growing family while Philip concentrated on his entrepreneurial career.

I settled into my new life and it was happy and fulfilling. By the end of 1998, we had three sons [Shane was born in 1990 and Jake in 1997] and we were living in Austin, Texas where Philip was doing very well with his hi-tech company CyBerCorp.

From time to time, I would hear my little voice and the more comfortably numb I became, the louder it grew. The time to take action had come. I began researching Ethiopia and what I uncovered was not good news. It remained one of the poorest countries in the world.

The average life expectancy was just 45 years and the average income was only about $100 a year. Severe food shortages were an ever-present part of life.

My research led me to the Embassy of Ethiopia in Washington D.C. and the office of Tameru Abasaba, the liaison officer for all US NGOs. He listened to my story and we cried as we remembered the Great Famine. It wasn’t the reaction I was expecting from a senior official at a major embassy.

At the end of our meeting, he calmly said: “Before you decide to do anything, you need to go and see it for yourself.”

I took his advice and in September 1999, my friend Kara Ferris and I flew to Addis Ababa. No amount of research could have prepared me for what I encountered. The ride from the airport to the hotel left me deeply saddened.

We checked in, showered and went straight back out to buy blankets, oranges and bread to give to some of the people we had seen. It was as if I needed to put a Band-Aid on myself. The level of suffering, the poverty and the disease I witnessed during that first 10-day trip was overwhelming. Yet, I was deeply moved by the spirit, dignity and beauty of the people. I felt a deep and inexplicable connection to Ethiopia.

Back in Austin, I went into deep seclusion for about six weeks while I tried to process what I had experienced. I just couldn’t equate how such extreme poverty could exist side by side with such opulence in the same world. I called Tameru and we began to work on a new plan.

Then, everything changed.

In February 2000, Philip sold CyBerCorp to Charles Schwab and we found ourselves in a position to do more – much more.

I called Tameru: “I think we’re going to be able to do things on a slightly larger scale. Will you come and help us?”

He agreed and over the next year, Tameru, Philip and I spent long hours going over ideas about what our approach would be. Our model was taking shape as we settled on a number of key elements (scroll over links for more information):

• We would focus on the neglected rural poor.Few of the NGOs operating in the country did anything outside the major cities despite the fact that more than 85% of the population lives in rural areas. Special consideration would be given to projects that benefited women and children.

• We would create an endowment to provide a sustainable source of funding for projects and to cover all operating costs.We wanted 100% of our money to have an impact and we wanted our supporters to have the same opportunity.

• We would ask the communities what they needed and then we would help them get it.We would never assume to know what the Ethiopians needed better than the Ethiopians themselves.

• We would work with Ethiopian organizations as implementing partners and employ Ethiopian professionals to oversee our operations there.Only by engaging and partnering with local leaders and development experts from the outset – to find the solutions to their own issues – can those solutions be sustainable.

• We would work in co-operation with the Ethiopian government but not through it.It is important to work alongside the government yet funds do not need to be sent to nor through government channels and/or agencies. It was important that we create our own secure channel of distribution.

By the end of 2000, we were ready to fund A Glimmer of Hope’s first solo project – a new school for 500 children in the remote township of Dembi Dollo. The role of education in eradicating poverty cannot be overstated.

Just as work of the school was starting, Philip made his first trip to Ethiopia. This trip and a book called Lords of Poverty – about corruption in the world of International Aid – had a profound effect on him.

He came home, resigned from Schwab and joined me at Glimmer. I had never expected him to follow me on this path but I knew how driven he could be when he was passionate about something. I was excited about what this meant for Glimmer.

We set up offices in Austin and Addis and by June 2001, we had attended our first official inauguration at the Berhane Yesus School and held our first partner meeting.

I remember that meeting being an interesting one because our model was so unlike the bureaucratic processes they were used to. They were used to being told what they needed, being told all the hoops they had to jump through and then, waiting years to hear if they were going to receive funding for their project.

They had every reason to be cynical but Tameru and the rest of the Addis staff played in huge role in convincing them that we were going to follow through and that things were going to be different with A Glimmer of Hope.

From that point on, things happened quickly and by January 2002, we had released funding for 62 projects to be implemented throughout Ethiopia’s eight rural regions that year. By the time we had our second annual partner meeting in June, three quarters of those projects had been completed.

A cornerstone of trust had been laid and we have continued to build upon it ever since. The unique relationship between A Glimmer of Hope, its partners and the communities we serve has been a key to our success and there have been many highlights over the years. Some of them include:

• More than 2.5 million rural Ethiopians have gained life-changing access to clean water, health care, education, veterinary services and microfinance.

• 4,000 projects have been completed with impact being measured through spot checks, photos, videos and GPS coordinates. Our Addis team visited more than 500 projects in 2009 alone (no easy task in rural Ethiopia).

• Hundreds of thousands of women and girls no longer have to devote their entire lives to carrying heavy loads of filthy water, robbed of the opportunity to better their lives.

• Thousands of community-based organizations have been trained to operate, maintain and sustain the projects after they have been built.

• Support for our efforts and our 100% Promise has been climbing steadily every year. In 2009, we crossed the $5 million in donations barrier for the first time allowing us to reach more people at an ever-deepening level.

• People like Michael Dell and senior US diplomat Tibor Nagy have offered endorsements of our model. Ambassador Nagy recently went so far as to describe our integrated approach as being “the silver bullet for Africa.”

• Our first fundraising event – Let There Be Hope – was a huge success raising $1 million in one night to provide integrated development to two villages in northern Ethiopia.

• Barron’s Magazine ranked us 6th on their 25 Best Givers in the World list.

• Other publications to feature our work have included: the Wall Street Journal; Worth Magazine; BusinessWeek; the Austin American-Statesman; and, the bestselling book Be the Change by Lisa Endlich.

It’s been a truly remarkable first 10 years. Even a glance at the Our Team page on our website makes me think about just how far we’ve come since we started out in our old offices in Austin and Addis.

In closing, I would just like to say that now, in the 21st Century, A Glimmer of Hope is doing all that it can to make sure that history never repeats itself in Ethiopia. We have developed a model that can be applied in other developing countries around the world.

I want to thank you all for the vital roles you are playing in our efforts and for your willingness to respond when we ask for help on behalf of those who are unable to ask for themselves.

Donna Berber
Founder and Co-Chair

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