What Our Global Team Members Are Thankful for This Year
Despite a year of unprecedented challenges, Project HOPE's global team members helped reach nearly 1 million people around the world this year. Here's what they're thankful for most.
From rural Ethiopia to Mexico City, Project HOPE’s global team members are helping more people access the care they deserve, even amid the worst pandemic of our lives.
Thanks to your support, that work reached nearly 1 million people around the world last year.
Our team members have never been more crucial to our work than now. From big cities to small villages, on the front lines of a pandemic and in the aftermath of disaster, their work is healing people and transforming lives around the world.
Here are a few things they’re thankful for this year.
Yarishdy Mora, Mexico
This year I’m thankful for our alliances with our fellow organizations, private sector partners, and institutions. Although this year has been really challenging for all of us on a personal and professional level, it represented the comeback for Project HOPE México. I’m proud of the teamwork we’ve had with headquarters, the trust of former and new partners, and our ability to cope with COVID-19 and continue to deliver quality virtual programs and donations to protect health care workers, young people, and society.
Dr. Teklab Zaid, Ethiopia
This year, I am thankful for the chance to work with Project HOPE as a COVID-19 case management trainer and organizer for frontline health care workers serving a significant number of internally displaced people in Dire Dawa City and the Somali region in Ethiopia. At the beginning of the pandemic, both regions contributed more than 12% of Ethiopia’s COVID-19 case load, yet constituted just 5% of the total population. Thanks to our work, health care workers are improving COVID-19 prevention, preparedness, and case management for vulnerable populations in the two regions.
Dr. Anne Chasny, Indonesia
This year, I’m thankful for having a healthy life, good friends and family, and a friendly working environment.
Vlatko Uzevski, North Macedonia
This year, I’m thankful for being in a position where I can have an impact and help. Many people, despite their willingness, don’t have a chance to change anything. In a moment when humanity is in a such desperate situation, I am fortunate to have the opportunity to be side-by-side and support frontline fighters, and that’s what makes me really happy.
Jenny Xu, China
This year, I’m thankful for the great collaboration among Project HOPE’s headquarters, Global Logistics team, and the China office during the response to the COVID-19 outbreak in China and around the world. I’m also thankful for my family’s support during the COVID-19 emergency response period.
Jimin Sontyo, Nigeria
I am grateful for life and good health. When you work with different vulnerable groups, visit hospitals, and see people struggling even to breathe, you will realize the enormous gift life is to you. Now we are back to a near-normal life and working toward innovative and strengthened systems for child welfare and an AIDS-free generation.
When I joined Project HOPE earlier in the year, we needed to conduct baseline assessments with the state and local governments to begin interventions. However, Lagos State, Nigeria was on total lockdown due to COVID-19. Three months down the line, we have done pretty well. We used a different style to conduct the assessments that involved few in-person workshops, and today we have started to make a difference. I am thankful that even amid COVID-19, innovation is coming our way and helping us do things differently that touch systems and lives.
Celeste Pearson, Volunteer Nurse
As we continue to persevere through these tough times, I am thankful for the amazing Project HOPE team that I am fortunate to work with. I am also thankful for the dedicated and conscientious employees who work in long term care facilities and are facing extraordinary challenges. Many thanks to everyone!
We are all thankful for the support of our donors, volunteers, and partners.
Whether equipping health care workers to fight COVID-19, delivering lifesaving relief to the front lines of disaster, or giving newborns a healthier start at life, our work is only possible because of your support.
On behalf of our global team members — and the millions who dream of a healthier future around the world — thank you!
How you can help
Make a lifesaving gift to support our work now and for the future at projecthope.org/donate.
Are you a health-care or other professional who would like to learn more about volunteering abroad with Project HOPE? Learn more about our volunteer program and join our volunteer roster.
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