THE ORIGIN OF EARD

After escaping the civil war in Somalia in 1991, I was fortunate enough to eventually reach the United States and acquire college education. When I returned to Somalia for a visit, I was shocked by the conditions there. There is no central government to provide for schools for children, no health clinics, no safe drinking water, no sanitation, and no jobs. Everything is run by warlords and gangs. Anyone outside these groups is powerless.

The role of civil society, non-governmental organizations, and international NGO’s is very rare because of warlord influences and security concerns. Nevertheless, help can reach the people if such organizations actively and freely work within the community assisted and protected by the regional, traditional tribal leaders.

Therefore, it seemed to me that I could use my knowledge, experience and education to form a non-government organization to lend a hand to these destitute people. That is how I came to develop the East African Relief and Development organization. EARD is an international NGO registered in California, USA, to meet the needs of an area of hard-to-serve and remote areas. EARD is dedicated to reaching and helping East African communities and the most vulnerable groups.

EARD requires twenty-first century cutting edge practices to realize its goals and to accomplish its purposes. The organization will work tirelessly to identify the problems to be addressed and the most reasonable tactics to evaluate and resolve them. It is also necessary to review and assess the outcomes.

EARD will execute programs by working with other non-governmental organizations and donors in a variety of ways. EARD will maintain a presence in the United States and East Africa to coordinate operations.