1991-2016 Mission East

MISSION EAST MAGAZINE | JUBILEE 25 YEARS

25 years reaching the most vulnerable “We can see a huge difference in our village since we had clean water and latrines.” Kahliha Bahadur Padara, social worker in Duli village, Nepal, 2010. Page 34

”We can now transport aid “Now we are producing to Armenia in apparently our own eggs, we do unlimited quantities, BY not need to buy them. SHIP.” This has given us better Read about the first major relief nutrition.” operation in the 1990’s. Momasulo Khodyaeva, Tajikistan Page 16 Page 20 Mission East Contents

Board of directors 4 Foreword: We give people hope 30 Afghanistan 2001: Food aid for Carsten Wredstrøm (chairman of the board) in a chaotic world a country on its knees David Hermansen Poverty is decreasing all over the world, After two decades of war and as their Ib Alstrup but there are still people who find them- country was collapsing, the population Ib Nørholm selves in seemingly hopeless situations. of Afghanistan could finally receive help Dietmar Roller In Mission East we see it as our task to from outside. But their troubles are far from over. Editorial team extend a helping hand to these people. Kim Hartzner (responsible) Peter S. Bøje 6 Interview: “Aid is our life 34 Nepal 2007: Clean water Line Højland and disaster awareness are Svend Løbner passion!” Kim Wiesener It started with insulin containers in a lifesavers in Nepal garage in Birkerød, Denmark. The remote Karnali region is one of the Grafic design poorest places on earth. But basic things Ole Grønvig Nielsen 9 Flashback: 25 years in the like clean water and knowledge of num- Dorthe Engborg, Kindly world’s trouble spots bers and letters make a world of diffe- We take a look at 25 years of support rence for the inhabitants of small, local Production for the world’s poorest. Read about these villages. Kindly & Clausen Grafisk episodes from our history, and how they are relevant for our work today. 38 North Korea 2011: Food for North Korea’s children 10 Timeline For the past five years, Mission East has Get an overview of Mission East’s history been the only Danish organisation to pro- – year by year. vide aid to poor and isolated North Korea. Mission East is member of

14 World map 42 Iraq 2014: Emergency aid in the chaos of war The world is shaken by stories of cruel 16 Armenia 1992: The first major abuse by Islamic State. Mission East is relief operation Contact providing support for body and mind to When the war between Armenia and Mission East the displaced. Skt. Lukas Vej 13, Azerbaijan was at its height, Mission East 2900 Hellerup, Denmark sent planes and ships with emergency Phone +45 39 61 20 48 relief to the conflict area. 46 Why we support Mission East Fax +45 39 61 20 94 Mission East could not exist without its Giro 773 1566 faithful supporters. But what makes CVR 1472 3692 20 Tajikistan 1997: Central Asia’s reg. 3170 account: 3173089007 ’forgotten’ country people donate money for relief work? [email protected] A collapsed economy, a bloody civil war, a Some of our regular donors explain. www.miseast.org country on the verge of breakdown: This www.facebook.com/missionoest is how Tajikistan was like in 1998, when 48 Futorologist: Fast, hitech aid Mission East started supporting the most can prevent future conflicts vulnerable with food aid. We all know that the world is constantly changing, but what do the experts say? 26 Armenia 1998: “The teachers And what will emergency relief be like in were like prison guards” 25 years? Frontpage photo When Dennis and Jane Loze visited the Kulob District, Tajikistan, 1998. In the Nubarashen no 11 orphanage for the first years following the civil war that ended in time, the children were sitting completely 1997, Mission East carried out large-scale still in cold halls. The couple decided to distributions of food aid targeting the work against decades of contempt for most vulnerable parts of the population. persons with disabilities. Photo: Peter Hove Olesen

2 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS 26

First there was emergency relief. Then came a comprehensive support programme for children with disabilities in Armenia and Tajikistan. Read how a life passion was transformed into emergency relief. 6

A water tap can mean the 34difference between life and death in the mountains of Nepal.

48Future relief work will place new demands on technology and cultural understanding.

Mission East supports vulnerable people and helps local communities strengthen and organise themselves. We provide emergency relief and long-term development assistance based on Christian values and help people in need regardless of their race, religion or political views. Mission East operates directly or through local partners in Afghanistan, Armenia, Burma/ Myanmar, Iraq, Nepal, North Korea, Syria and Tajikistan. Mission East is supported by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the EU and the UN. We have been verified compliant 20When Kenneth Whitelaw of Mission East with the People in Aid Code of Good Practice and have committed ourselves to the Core arrived in Tajikistan for the first time, Humanitarian Standards (CHS). there was fighting in the streets of the capital.

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 3 Iraq, 2015. Due to the conflict in Foreword Iraq, Mission East has established Kim Hartzner centres where displaced children Medical Doctor and Managing Director, can play and learn in a peaceful Mission East environment. Photo: Peter Eilertsen

We give people hope in a chaotic world Dear reader, buted emergency relief to Arme- opportunity to survive – by giving lihoods and handle the recurring When I look at the photographs nian orphanages during the ‘dark them water, food or the chance to natural disasters. We should not from 25 years of work at Mission years’ of the war with Azerbaijan. make a living. These actions are an aim to be in ‘cool’ locations, but in East, one particular image stands During the past 25 years, we have expression of love and hope. Yes, the right ones. out. It is a photograph of a girl witnessed huge progress in world we are helping millions of people, called Helena. I met her for the development. Child mortality is but the hope that we give to the first time when she was a small decreasing, education levels are individual makes all the difference. I believe in this kind of child living in an orphanage in rising. More and more people are I see it among displaced children development work.” Armenia where the children were gaining access to clean water and in Iraq: They receive emer- running around like ghosts in the decent livelihoods. But we are also gency relief, but at the Mission dark. The staff did not even know facing new challenges: Climate East centres, they are also able SEE YOU IN 25 YEARS their names. change will lead to more natural to play and learn under peaceful In 1991, the Iron Curtain and the disasters. Population growth – circumstances. These children who shadows it had cast over Europe Helena had a speech impediment. especially in Africa south of the just a few months previously saw was the driving force in our work. Perhaps she also had a minor Sahara – will increase the risk of their parents be killed, are Today, it is the war in the Middle mental disability. She had been conflict. The Middle East has given the opportunity to be chil- East and climate change that rejected, as all children with dis- descended into a spiral of vio- dren once again – thanks to the shape the world – and the areas orders were likely to be in those lence, and nobody knows how it care and comfort they receive. where Mission East works. Then days. We helped stimulate her will end. In all these cases, human as now, our focus remains the through play and a meaningful beings will be caught up in THE SEEDS FOR THE FUTURE most vulnerable people. I hope school education. Ten years later unbearable situations where they In these situations, aid becomes that I will meet the children we I saw her in a supermarket where feel let down, cast aside and sustainable. We cannot save the are helping in Iraq in 10, 20 or 25 she worked as a helping hand, alone. world by doing it all. But by giving years, and that they will give me a placing goods on shelves and human beings faith in themselves huge smile. servicing customers. She gave me we enable them to rebuild their a huge smile! By giving human own societies. I believe in this A very big thank you to all the beings faith in them- kind of development work. people whose support and ARMENIA’S DARK YEARS backing made this work possible! This magazine is a testimony to selves we enable them HELP WHERE IT IS RIGHT the work that Mission East has to rebuild their own Mission East aims to reach the Kind regards, carried out for the past 25 years, most vulnerable people in the Kim Hartzner helping people like Helena. We societies.” world’s troublespots, but we also could not have done this work work in places that do not get without the tremendous support ROOM FOR HOPE much media attention. Tajikistan of private donors, associations, At Mission East, we have made is a good example. We have organisations and states. Much it our business to reach these worked here for almost 20 years has happened since we distri- people. We provide them with an to help people secure their live-

4 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS Kulob, Tajikistan, 2015. Conditions for children with disabilities in Tajikistan are very similar to those in Armenia: A disability is considered shameful, and children are hidden away with little access to treatment. As in Armenia, Mission East tracks down children and gives them access to Armenia, 1996. Kim Hartzner met Helena (pictured left) for the first time when she was a little rehabilitation. This girl has a congenital spinal deformity girl, hidden away from the outside world in an Armenian orphanage. Janet Davies-Jones of and is being trained to sit upright at a centre in Kulob in Mission East is on the right. Photo: Mission East. Southern Tajikistan. Photo: Muyassar Odinaev.

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 5 Armenia, 1994. In the early years of Interview Mission East, René og Kim Hartzner By Svend Løbner brought aid to Armenia, including an journalist emergency hospital and food aid for the population during the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Photo: Jan Jørgensen. ”Aid is our life passion!” It started in a garage in the Danish town of Birkerød. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, René and Kim Hartzner sent food, medicine and hospital equipment to poor people in Eastern Europe. Today, Mission East has grown into a quite large aid organisation, specialising in emergency relief and long-term development in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The enthusiasm is unchanged.

René and Kim Hartzner founded Hellerup north of Copenhagen. support from the government, the grain to Denmark and onwards Mission East as a spontaneous The atmosphere is loaded with and for the first few months, Kim to countries in Eastern Europe. reaction to the situation in the energy that still runs through was volunteering. Today, their roles One day he became unemployed, Eastern Europe after the fall father and son. When asked have been reversed: Kim is ma- but he still had good contacts in of the Soviet Union. From the where all that energy comes from, naging director, René is an active the then Soviet Union. Two travel family’s garage in Birkerød – Kim Hartzner replied: “It is more senior citizen. agencies hired him as a tour and, later, from a larger storage than a job. It is a life passion. We leader for religious and cultural facility - they sent truckloads just did the things that appealed trips to Russia. of food, medicine and hospital to us and seemed fun. It was very equipment. They even flew entire satisfactory to help the churches We just did the things “On the very first trip we visited emergency hospitals eastwards behind the Iron Curtain. Churches that appealed to us a free church on the outskirts of on large transport aircraft. that had previously been op- St Petersburg. The local mayor pressed could now help their own and seemed fun.” supported the social work of the Today, the work has expanded population.” churches and promised that the to several countries in Eastern Kim Hartzner, Managing Director, church would get a large, partially Europe, the Middle East and Asia. René Hartzner readily gives credit Mission East. built centre near one of the metro Thousands of people are bene- to the staff that gradually joined stations if it could obtain medicine, fiting from emergency relief as the organisation: “We hired some GOOD SOVIET CONNECTIONS particularly for elderly patients well as long-term development very capable people. And as it of- The life project Mission East suffering from diabetes.” aid. The family business has be- ten happens, one capable person became a jigsaw puzzle, uniting come an international aid organi- attracted other capable emplo- René’s business acumen and Kim’s sation with offices in Copenhagen, yees. I had the advantage compa- medical background. MEDICINE FOR TWO Berlin and Brussels and hundreds red to Kim that I had no children MILLION KRONER of dedicated staff members in living at home. And my wife Ruth For nearly 30 years, René Hartzner ”On my way home from St Peters- eight countries. was very dedicated to the cause.” worked as an international burg, I couldn’t stop thinking: ‘If The two men have been a team manager in one of the world’s lar- I could get the medicine, I could DEDICATED TO THE CAUSE since the organisation was gest grain companies. His job was help the church and the city.’ I We meet the two committed founded in November 1991. At to buy grain in North and South told people at my church about men at the Mission East office in the time, René received startup America, charter ships and export the situation, and one of the

6 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS church leaders worked in a phar- concerned.” start,” René Hartzner recalled. baijan. All in all, we sent nine big maceutical company that pro- “People did not know us; we had aeroplanes to Armenia, most of duces diabetes medicine. Very SHAKY, BUT GREAT START just started. But things went like them with food, medicine and soon, I had received diabetes me- Kim is a medical doctor, but dedi- the clappers.” hospital equipment.” dicine in big drums. It was valued cated four months to working as at two million Danish kroner. We a volunteer, contacting compa- FIVE HOSPITALS SENT delivered it on a trip with young nies and asking for donations for BY AIR AND SEA We gave two of the people from the Karlslunde Beach the work in the East. Churches A year after the start – in October hospitals to the worst Church and got a fantastic recep- collected funds for transporta- 1992 – Mission East sent large tion,” René Hartzner recalled. tion, companies donated food aeroplanes with aid from Den- imaginable prisons in “On our way home on the bus I and medicine, and hospitals do- mark to Armenia. The small aid Moscow” told Kim: ‘This is very time- nated equipment. organisation had received five of consuming. Either I must continue “We stocked our storage facility 40 mobile emergency hospitals René Hartzner, founder of Mission doing this full time, or I have to in mum’s and dad’s garage and that were meant to be used du- East. stop now.’ Kim looked at me and took off in vans. Then I moved to ring a nuclear war. But now, the said: ‘Dad, you must continue full Hjørring and started working as Cold War had been cancelled. Mission East got off to a flying time, and I am with you from day a doctor. After five days of work, “The hospitals were packed into start, but Kim Hartzner’s in- one.’ That’s how it began.” I had my first holiday to take large cardboard boxes in hospital volvement in Eastern Europe Kim Hartzner remembers that emergency aid to Ukraine. I had a basements and at schools. They began many years before that. day on the bus: “I told dad: ‘You major accident and returned in an had operating theatres and lots “My father was traveling behind are already working full time with ambulance plane. I was hospita- of equipment,” René Hartzner the Iron Curtain as early as 1968. I emergency aid; you just need lised in Hjørring, and it took se- recalled. “We gave two of them was nine years old and to call it something. How about veral months before I had worked to the worst imaginable prisons pestered him to take me along, Mission East? It is a mission in the there for more days than I had in Moscow, one was sent to St but of course he didn’t. When he East, and we are working through been on sick leave or holiday,” Petersburg, one to Albania and came home, he showed us photo- the church, aren’t we?’ That Kim Hartzner said with a smile. one to Armenia. In those days, graphs of persecuted Christians, settled it as far as the name was “It was a shaky, but fantastic, Armenia was at war with Azer- their faces, scarves and a culture

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 7 so different from ours. They were officers could easily have spotted kroner per month for three years. mountains of Nepal. Restoration suppressed and persecuted but me. But on the train heading We applied for permission to of water systems in Afghanistan. also had tremendous spirit, and towards the border, I shared a keep medicine in my house, and Schooling for Burmese children. they were willing to risk their lives compartment with a diplomat’s were allowed to do so. Kim con- And food aid for malnourished and personal safety. It was madly son from Congo, and he told so tacted a number of pharmaceu- children in North Korea. exciting! Their stories and many funny jokes in wonderful tical companies, and you cannot destinies started it all for me.” French that I was laughing my imagine how much hospital This brings us back to the life head off all the way. When the equipment, food and medicine passion: How does one avoid BEHIND THE IRON customs officers came to search we received during that period!” being totally overwhelmed by the CURTAIN AT 15 our luggage, I wasn’t nervous enormous needs everywhere?” When Kim was 15, he traveled to anymore. And when they had “When things look bleak, it is Yugoslavia, Romania and Hungary finished, I managed to place the tempting to say: ‘It is so with his cousin. “It was a different documents in the already I was so nervous that I terrible that so many are dis- world behind the Iron Curtain; searched suitcase before the offi- couldn’t control myself, placed because of Islamic State!’ you felt something heavy, a sub- cers started a body search. What You can say that a hundred times dued atmosphere among people,” luck! Or divine intervention …” and the customs offi- without making any difference. he said. cers could easily have But you can also say: ‘We can “I used every opportunity to AID FROM CHURCH TO CHURCH do something! We can help and travel to Eastern Europe. Later, I When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, spotted me.” change people’s lives!’ The truth smuggled bibles to the churches. René and Kim Hartzner both had is that every Dane can do a lot for Kim Hartzner, Managing Director in I also smuggled out information a strong network among the every person in need out there.” Mission East. about the plight of Christians be- churches in the East and in the hind the Iron Curtain, where the West. “It seemed completely This is exactly what René and authorities raided churches and natural to establish ties between THE PIECES FIT Kim Hartzner, their staff and imprisoned church leaders. That the two networks and organise Today, Mission East runs a many supporters in Denmark and was probably the most dange- emergency aid to the poor in the complex operation from offices abroad have done for the past rous bit. Once I was standing in East,” Kim Hartzner said. in Denmark, Berlin and Brus- 25 years. a train station in Romania with “We were based in my house in sels. Emergency aid for tens of some sensitive documents in my Birkerød and wrote letters to all thousands of displaced people in pocket. It was the last train sta- our friends asking for support,” Iraq. Education for children with tion before the Hungarian border. Réne Hartzner added. “I also disabilities in Armenia. Help to I was so nervous that I couldn’t applied for startup support from achieve self-sufficiency in Tajiki- control myself, and the customs the municipality and got 5000 stan. Disaster prevention in the

Armenia, 2011. René’s wife, Ruth Hartzner, immediately warmed to the cause and North Korea, 2011. Kim’s medical background is useful when he travels provided great support in establishing Mission East. Here, the couple attend a around the world to inspect Mission East projects. Here he visits an demonstration for disability rights in Armenia in 2011. Photo: Mission East. orphanage in North Korea. Photo: Mission East.

8 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS Kulob, Tajikistan, 1998. Single mothers and fa- milies with three or more children were among the beneficiaries of Mission East food aid in the wake of the Tajik civil war. A basic principle of Mission East’s work is always to support the most vulnerable. Photo: Peter Hove Olesen.

25 years in the world’s trouble spots Mission East was founded as a reaction to the needs of people in Eastern Europe after the breakdown of the Soviet Union. Today, we still work in the former Eastern Bloc, but the conflicts in and around the Middle East are playing an ever larger role in our work. Read this selection of episodes from Mission East’s 25- year history of helping the world’s poorest people.

Looking back

1991-2016 Mission East

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 9 Timeline

1991-2016 Mission East Overview The 25-year history of Mission East has been documented by thousands of photographs, reports and testimonies from volunteers, staff members, partners, supporters and, not least, the people that our work is all about: Those who get support to lift themselves out of poverty. We can never tell the full story at once, but on the following pages we have selected some of the important highlights of our history.

Father and son, René and Kim Hartzner, Mission East sends shipments of emergency Mission East starts to provide food and found Mission East as a reaction to the relief to war-torn Armenia. Countries like clothes to orphanages in Armenia. distress in Eastern Europe. René is seen Ukraine and Albania also begin to receive here (to the right) with Niels Carsten aid. Hansen, a volunteer from the church Karlslunde Strandkirke. 1991 1992 1993

Mission East starts working in the former Mission East embarks on a determined The UN asks Mission East to be in charge Soviet republic of Tajikistan by supplying effort to supportchildren with of a camp for 10,000 refugees from food aid to tens of thousands of im- disabilities in Armenia. Kosovo in the Albanian town of Körce. In poverished people, following a bloody civil November, René Hartzner is replaced by war. Soup kitchens for the needy are his son Kim as managing director established in Sofia, Bulgaria. of the organisation. 1997 1998 1999

10 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS Mission East helps firefighters at the The ’Denmark’ Hospital opens in Sixty-six children who suffer from various Chernobyl nuclear power station in Sisian in Southern Armenia. ailments following the Chernobyl disaster at- Ukraine improve their security. tend a summer camp on the Crimean Peninsula, hosted by the Evangical Church in Ukraine. The Mission East office moves toSankt Lukas Vej 13 in Hellerup north of Copenhagen. 1994 1995 1996

Mission East distributes food rations to In October, Mission East conducts a needs Mission East hires local people in 40,000 destitute people in Mongolia assessment among internally displaced Afghanistan to rebuild the country. where a severe drought has killed persons in war-torn Afghanistan. That One project is to build five kilometres millions of animals. same winter, the organisation starts of road to take the emergency relief distributing emergency relief. further.

2000 2001 2002

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 11 Mission East prepares to work in Northern Through partner organisations, Mission Mission East plays a decisive role Iraq where Iraqi Kurds returning home East helps tens of thousands of deprived when Armenia passes a new after the fall of Saddam Hussein are in dire people in South East Asia following the national law that gives children need of support. tsunami on 26 December that caused a with disabilities and learning dif- quarter of a million deaths. ficulties the right to education. 2003 2004 2005

The world’s largest humanitarian fund, the Following the Haiti earthquake and Mission East gains access to North Global Fund, selects Mission East to run a the floods in Pakistan, Mission East Korea. During the following years, programme for the prevention and com- provides emergency relief outside its more than 50,000 malnourished chil- bating of AIDS in Armenia until 2015. usual cooperation countries – through dren in kindergartens, nurseries and its partner organisations. orphanages receive food aid from Mission East. 2009 2010 2011

1991-2016 Mission East

Mission East celebrated it’s 25-year Jubilee at a reception in Copenha- A massive earthquake strikes Nepal, Mission East intensifies its work in gen November 18, 2016. causing thousands of deaths. Mission East war-torn Iraq. In its jubilee year, the is already working in the country and is organisation is also looking ahead able to provide early emergency relief in towards new horizons and the wake of the disaster. challenges.

2015 2016

12 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS Managing Director Kim Hartzner moves to The television weather presenter Mikael The efforts to support people with dis- Armenia with his family for two years to Jarnvig becomes Mission East’s first abilities are replicated in Tajikistan whe- lead Mission East’s country office. ambassador. He wishes to focus on the re the attitude towards such people is still overlooked crises that are often ignored dominated by the Soviet era contempt by the media. for physical and mental vulnerability.

2006 2007 2008

North Korea is ravaged by devastating Mission East decides to support the vic- Mission East returns to Northern Iraq floods that makes more than 200,000 tims of the civil war in Syria. A new pro- where hundreds and thousands of people homeless. Mission East helps 511 gramme is established to support the people are in severe distress because families rebuild their homes. vulnerable Mara people in western of the devastation caused by Islamic Burma/Myanmar. Mission East State. opens an office inBerlin . 2012 2013 2014

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 13 World map

1991-2016 Mission East

Romania

Bulgaria

Albania

Haiti

These are the countries Mission East has operated in during the last 25 years

Mission East’s present Countries where Mission Mission East’s previous Countries where Mission East countries of operation East works through countries of operation has previously been working partners through local partners

14 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS Ukraine Russia

Romania Mongolia

Armenia North Korea

Bulgaria

Iraq Tajikistan Nepal Afghanistan Syria Burma/ Myanmar Pakistan

India

Philippines

Indonesia Sri Lanka

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 15 Armenia 1992

1991-2016 Mission East

By Line Højland Communication Officer

The first major relief operation In 1988, an armed conflict broke out over the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan. As the six-year conflict reached its climax, the newly founded aid organisation Mission East decided to send emergency relief to the area.

On 17 October 1992, the founder Armenia and Azerbaijan, attracted FROSTY OPERATING whole month’s salary. Another of Mission East, René Hartzner, few headlines. But under the THEATRES solution had to be found. The was standing at Værløse Air leadership of René Hartzner, The help was much needed. The Mission East newsletter from April Base with a group of volunte- Mission East dedicated a lot of war against Azerbaijan created 1993 brought the following news: ers, getting ready to fly a mobile its work to help the small Eastern a deficit of all basic necessities. “Through contacts in Canada, a emergency hospital to Armenia nation. From their office in Bir- Shop shelves were empty, and unique opportunity has presented on a Russian Ilyshin transport kerød, René and Kim Hartzner the daily bread ration – the main itself: We can now transport aid aircraft. This was the culminati- gathered a team of volunteers staple of the Armenian diet – was to Armenia in apparently unlimi- on of weeks of preparation and around them to collect food, as low as 250 grams. There were ted quantities, BY SHIP.” Armenia the biggest operation in Mission clothes and hospital equipment reports of people killing each is landlocked, so the route went East’s one-year history. The aid to the impoverished populations other outside food stores. There via Spain to Georgia, and from was intended for a hospital for of Russia, Ukraine, Albania and was also a lack of petrol, and Ar- there by train to Yerevan. In April patients wounded during the Armenia. menian families had to get 1993, Mission East shipped the bloody conflict with Azerbaijan. through the freezing Armenian first 15 containers with clothes, At 20:15, the aircraft took off winter without any heating in food and hospital equipment. for Armenia with a cargo of 35 While the world’s their homes. Even in hospital tons of hospital equipment from attention was focused operating theatres the tempera- Næstved Hospital. tures were freezing, and the UN We can now trans- on the bloody conflict warned that thousands could die port aid to Armenia in A CONFLICT IGNORED in former Yugoslavia, from hunger and cold. apparently unlimited The transport on this autumn day the war between the marked the beginning of a long- AID BY SHIP quantities, BY SHIP.” term relief operation for war-torn two former Soviet At first, Mission East planned and impoverished Armenia. While republics, Armenia and to establish an air bridge with Mission East’s newsletter, April 1993. the world’s attention was focused emergency aid from Denmark to on the bloody conflict in former Azerbaijan, attracted Armenia. But as Azerbaijan was WARM SOCKS FROM HELGA Yugoslavia, the war between few headlines.” blocking fuel imports to Armenia, Mission East sent hospital equip- the two former Soviet republics, just seven litres of petrol cost a ment and other emergency aid to

16 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS Houses were shot to pieces Kim Hartzner went to Armenia Nubarashen, Armenia, 1995. to receive the aid shipment and Children from the Nubarashen no distribute the goods. He wrote 11 Orphanage needed the sweaters about the capital Yerevan in May and socks that Helga Pedersen from 1993: Holbæk knitted for them. Photo: Mission East. “A ghost town with access to electricity 3-4 hours a day. The inhabitants must use torches to find their way home at night – if Armenia several times, by sea as they dare go outside. The city is well as by air. A former school in plagued by ferocious dogs who the town Sisian south of Yerevan Værløse, Denmark, 1992. In October, a Russian Ilyshin transport look as if they have not eaten for became the site of the ‘Denmark’ aircraft flew a whole emergency hospital from Næstved, Denmark, months. One dark evening I emp- hospital, which is still operating to Sisian in war-torn Armenia. Photo: Mission East tied my adrenalin supply when today. The aid also went to vil- three hungry dogs jumped out lages, refugee camps, old from behind a street corner.” people’s homes and orphanages. The Nubarashen Orphanage No In Stepanakert – the main town 11 received several shipments of of Nagorno-Karabakh – the situ- aid. The Filip School on the Danish ation was even worse: “Stepana- island of Amager collected food, kert seems like a step into the and senior citizen Helga inner court of death. MOST of the Pedersen from Holbæk knitted houses have either been shot to warm sweaters, socks and caps pieces or show traces of two years for the children. Several children of intensive missile attacks. Last at the orphanage had suffered year, its inhabitants spent nine brain damage, and it was here months in underground shelters, that Mission started its work for Copenhagen, Denmark, 1993. The original intention was to establish and the wounded were operated people with disabilities which you an air corridor for emergency aid from Denmark to Armenia, but due on by candlelight in the basement can read more about on pages to exceedingly high fuel costs, Mission East decided to transport the underneath the city’s cramped 26-29. aid by sea to Georgia and from there by train to Yerevan. hospital.” Photo: Mission East

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 17 PHOTOS: Relief aid for Armenia 1994

What is an emergency hospital? During the Cold War, the Danish state decided to establish 50 emergency hospitals in schools and other public buildings around the country if war should break out. When the Cold War ended in 1991, organisations could apply to have them, and Mission East got five. Three were sent to Russia, one to Albania and one to Armenia where it became the foundation of the still existing hospital called Denmark. An ‘emergency hospital’ weighed between 25 and 43 tons and took up approxi- mately 350 cubic metres of space. It contained complete equipment for trea- ting 200 patients: Beds, nursing equip- ment, an operating theatre, laboratory, diagnostic equipment, kitchen and office supplies. Its value in 1992 was esti- mated at 30 million Danish kroner.

What is the 2 conflict about? Nagorno-Karabakh is a territory in Azer- baijan with a predominantly Armenian population. It measures 4,400 square kilometres. As republics were formed in the early days of the Soviet Union, Sovi- et leader Joseph Stalin made it part of Azerbaijan. In 1988, the territory’s popu- lation wanted to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia. That same year, war broke out over the territory. It claimed almost 30,000 lives before a ceasefire was agreed upon in 1994. The territory has remained under Armenian control since then. On 2 April 2016, fighting erupted once again, and soldiers on both sides were killed. Both sides ac- cuse each other of starting the fighting.

18 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS 1 Kafan, Armenia, 1994. A father 1 4 cannot conceal his joy when he receives a parcel with ten kilos of food from Mission East. Photo: Jan Jørgensen

2 Sisian, Armenia, 1994. En route to the southern town of Kapan, the convoy of aid trucks drove past Sisian, site of the Central Hospital Denmark established by Mission East. Photo: Jan Jørgensen.

3 Yerevan, Armenia, 1994. When the volunteers from Mission East opened the door of the Ilyushin-79 aircraft carrying 45 tons of humanitarian aid from Denmark, they were met by this 5 old lady, working to clean the airport runway by hand. Photo: Jan Jørgensen.

4 Armenia, 1994. People in Arme- nia were in desperate need of aid in the early 1990’s. It was not unusual to see children play in the street with whatever garbage 3 they could find. Photo: Jan Jørgensen.

5 David-Beg, Kapan District, Armenia, 1994. Ensuring that the aid reaches the beneficiaries is a key principle of Mission East. Here, then Operations Director (now Managing Director) Kim 6 Hartzner participates in a food distribution during the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the breakaway Armenian enclave of Nagorno Karabakh. Photo: Jan Jørgensen.

6 Kapan, Armenia, 1994. In the town of Kapan, not far from the border with Azerbaijan, René Hartzner hands over a food parcel to a local beneficiary. The woman to the left is Knarik Chalabian who owned the flat where Mission East had its first office in Yerevan. Photo: Jan Jørgensen.

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 19 Tajikistan 1997

1991-2016 Mission East

Kulob District, 1999. In the spring of 1999, about 100 Tajik families became self-sufficient with eggs as Mission East gave them chickens. This was the beginning of long term development aid to the country. Photo: Mission East.

20 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS By Kim Wiesener Communication Officer

Central Asia’s ’for- gotten’ country Mission East has worked in Tajikistan, the poorest of the former Soviet republics, since 1997. In the early days, the organisation distributed food aid to tens of thousands of vulnerable locals. Later, the focus shifted to long term development projects.

When Kenneth Whitelaw got The first days were quite nerve- off the plane in the Tajik capital wracking. On his way from the Dushanbe in August 1997, he airport, Kenneth had to cross the On his way from the immediately understood that so- ‘front line’ in Dushanbe on foot, airport, Kenneth had to mething was wrong. The luggage because the taxi driver refused to had already been dumped on the continue due to the fighting. Then cross the ‘front line’ in landing strip, and soon, the plane he mostly had to stay indoors for Dushanbe on foot” took off again. The locals advised a couple of weeks, as the UN said him to leave, as it turned out that it was too dangerous to go that fighting between rival gangs out. But gradually, peace de- ”EVEN IN SOVIET TIMES WE had erupted the previous night. scended on the capital, and he HAD NOTHING” This brought back unpleasant started working. memories of the civil war that During the pioneering days, it was had ravaged the country for the When Kenneth, whose surname the need for emergency food aid previous five years. is now Whitelaw-Jones, reflects that drove Mission East’s work. on his early days in Tajikistan, he According to the UN, Tajikistan If Kenneth had known that the obviously remembers the poverty found itself in a ”continuing, al- unrest would break out at that and looming violence. But his most chronic, emergency situati- particular time, he would pro- strongest memories are the coun- on”. Half of the country’s children bably have postponed his arrival, try’s beauty and the generosity of were malnourished, and a family and Mission East’s work in the po- the local population. described the lot of the Tajiks orest of the former Soviet repub- as follows: “We are a forgotten lics might have been significantly “They were incredibly hospitable. people – even in Soviet times we delayed. Instead he chose They were willing to share their had nothing, and now it is getting to stay and create the founda- last food with you, and they did it worse and worse.” tions for a Mission East presence with joy. They also had a fantastic in the country that has now en- sense of humour,” he recalled. The first shipment of aid con- tered its twentieth year. sisted of 29 containers with 471

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 21 tons of food which was distri- their children who were sleeping people’s dependence on food buted to tens of thousands of on dirt floors. They often did not parcels. From 1999, tomatoes and vulnerable people in the southern go to school because they had no eggs were added to the menu in There are a lot of province of Kulob. They each clothes to wear. some Tajik homes. About 60 rural calories in eggs, which received a parcel of 15.8 kilos that families who were already Mission contained rice, flower, cooking oil Mission East was cooperating East food aid beneficiaries, were is good, as we can only and other foodstuffs. closely with local communities to given 100 tomato plants each. afford red meat once a ensure that the food aid reached Some of the produce they used in The needs were enormous. In those who needed it most. Staff their households, some they sold year.” 1997, a large proportion of the members were also present du- at the local market. Tajik population was forced to ring distributions of food parcels, Momasulo Khodyaeva, a widow its knees following the Soviet creating a lot of trust among local In the spring of 1999, Momasulo with six children from the village of collapse and the ensuing civil people – and a very low percen- Khodyaeva, a widow with six chil- Choktemur war. Poverty in rural areas was so tage of waste. dren from the village of Chokte- serious that many families had to mur, became the proud owner of DIED FROM DIRTY sell their animals to buy bread for TOMATOES AND EGGS a small group of hens. More than DRINKING WATER ON THE MENU 100 other families did the same. In the late 1990s, Mission East The food distributions continued She told the Mission East maga- pioneered water, sanitation and Khalaikhumb, Tajikistan, 2015. In a for several years. Mission East zine: “Now we are producing our hygiene (WASH) in Tajikistan. school in Khalaikhumb, Southern helped a large group of very poor own eggs, we do not need to buy This was later to become one of Tajikistan, Mission East is teaching Tajiks get through some tough them. This has given us better nu- the organisation’s main areas of children to uphold a proper times in the late 1990s. It also trition. There are a lot of calories expertise. Two thirds of the popu- standard of hygiene, including washing their hands, to avoid quite soon became clear that in eggs, which is good, as we can lation lacked access to clean drin- infectious diseases. more long-term development only afford red meat once a year.” king water, and several thousand Photo: Muyassar Odinaev. aid was necessary to reduce children died every year from

22 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS water borne infectious diseases. As part of a project in Southern Hospitality is Tajikistan, 20 villages received paramount clean drinking water and hygienic latrines to reduce the prevalence In Tajik, hospitality is called of diseases. mehmonnavozii and forms an important part of the way the Today, Mission East continues to Tajiks see themselves. Guests – run water and sanitation projects invited as well as uninvited – get in Tajikistan. In 2015, 2,000 people the best seat opposite the door got new toilets, either in their and are treated to tea, sweets and home or village. Although the up to several meals, no matter country has become more stable what time of day. A Tajik expla- than during the dramatic years nation for this hospitality is that in the 1990s, it is still one of the Abraham – known as Ibrahim in world’s poorest. The way Kenneth Islamic tradition – was famed for Whitelaw-Jones, who now works his great hospitality. Consequently, for the European Development the poverty of many families is Bank, sees it, it has been difficult a source of shame because they for Tajikistan to find its place in the cannot treat their guests as proper global economy. However, tens of tradition dictates. thousands of Tajiks can thank Mis- sion East for making their lives just a bit easier during hard times. And to this day, people with disabilities still benefit from the support they receive. Darvoz District, Tajikistan, 2015. The table is laid for the guests to mark I met some fantastic the festival of Id-i-Kurban, which people, and I think celebrates the prophet Abraham. Photo: Muyassar Odinaev that they gave me at least as much as I gave them.”

Kenneth Whitelaw-Jones, Mission East

Kenneth Whitelaw-Jones hopes that he made at least a little dif- ference back in the 1990s: “I con- sider it a great privilege to have taken part in this work during my formative years. I met some fantastic people, and I think that they gave me at least as much as I gave them.”

Langaro, Tajikistan, 2016. These women have been educated by Mission East to be advocates for better hygiene in their village, and they now carry their message from door to door . Photo: Vibeke Hauge Førrisdahl.

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 23 PHOTOS: Relief aid to Tajikistan 1998

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4 5

1 2 3 4 Kulob District, Tajikistan, 1998. Kulob District, Tajikistan, Kulob District, Tajikistan, 1998. Ensuring Kulob District, Tajikistan, 1998. Bene- Improving agricultural production is 1998. A local boy at a that the marginalised access assistance is ficiaries carry home the food parcels a key activity of Mission East in our distribution point. Food aid a key tenet of Mission East. Here, a lady they have just received. During the programmes of rural development. targeted the most vul- with a disability is helped by her children years 1997-2001, Mission East carried Here, a Tajik farmer sows seeds on a nerable, including families to transport food parcels during a distri- out large-scale distributions of food aid slope. Photo: Peter Hove Olesen with many children. bution in Tajikistan in 1998. to vulnerable population groups in the Photo: Peter Hove Olesen Photo: Peter Hove Olesen Kulob District. Photo: Peter Hove Olesen

24 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS 2 3

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5 6 7 Kulob District, Tajikistan, 1998. A girl does the dishes in Kulob District, Tajikistan, 1998. Tajikistan is the poorest Kulob District, Tajikistan, 1998. A bene- a dirty canal. Providing clean water and teaching new nation in Central Asia, with over 80 per cent of the po- ficiary child watches the distribution of hygiene standards to the population of rural Tajikistan pulation living in poverty. Since its 1991 independence, food aid in southwestern Tajikistan. dramatically reduces child mortality from 25 percent to Tajikistan has been plagued by massive unemployment, People in the area still remember a bit more than 0 percent. Photo: Peter Hove Olesen rampant hyperinflation and corruption. Mission East for these distributions in Photo: Peter Hove Olesen the late 1990s. Photo: Peter Hove Olesen

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 25 Armenia 1998 Nubarashen, Armenia, 1998. A child eats some of the food that was given 1991-2016 to the orphanage by Mission East du- Mission ring the harsh winters. Even children East with minor disabilities – such as being cross-eyed – were declared defective and placed in orphanages without By Line Højland any hope of schooling or future work. Communication Officer Photo: Rachel Nicolas

During the 1990s, Mission East distributed food and warm clothes to Armenian orphanages, “The teachers including Nubarashen 11. But the Soviet attitude towards disability made were like lives at the orphanages miserable. Jane and Dennis Loze decided to change that. prison guards”

26 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS On a freezing cold Saturday A LIFE WITHOUT LAUGHTER morning in 1998, Dennis and Dennis Loze used to work as a Labelled as defective Jane Loze visited Nubarashen 11 physiotherapist for several English In the Soviet Union, persons with disabilities were considered – an orphanage for children with football clubs, including Arsenal. defective. Rather than educating children with special needs on ’mental problems’ on the outskirts During a trip to Armenia with their own terms, they were locked up in institutions like Nuba- of the Armenian capital Yerevan. some English football players who rashen 11. The science on disability was called ‘defectology’, and Later, Dennis described the visit in wanted to teach the sport to local the attitude was that children with ‘defects’ could never learn his autobiography: refugee children, he felt compel- anything. Historically, persons with disabilities have also been led to return to the country and considered defective in Denmark. Until 1962, it was legal to “As we entered the building, the stay there for an extended peri- forcibly sterilize persons with intellectual disability in Denmark. coldness just hit you. It wasn’t just od. Dennis got a job as a the temperature that was cold, the physiotherapist with the Arme- whole building was so severe and nian Football Association, and a bare and so quiet, were there any couple of months later he re- laugh and play and be stimulated, the week, but their thoughts were children? We walked down along a turned with his wife Jane and as children do in order to grow constantly with the children, and stone corridor and through double their 12-year old daughter, Mor- up and become well-functioning they wondered how they could doors into a large room with long gana. human beings. spend more time at Nubarashen tables and benches, sat on these 11? The transport issue and the benches were children aged from During their stay, they got in touch HOW COULD THEY HELP difficult Armenian language were 7 to mid/late teens, approx. 150 in with a group of Red Cross volun- THE CHILDREN? both insurmountable obstacles. total. Everything was so quiet, not teers. Together with them, they Saturday after Saturday, Dennis a whisper, walking between the paid their first visit to Nubarashen and Jane visited the orpha- The solution presented itself on a tables were 4-5 adults wrapped 11. For years, Mission East and nage, and their visits became the Sunday when Jane met Peter and up against the cold who seemed other organisations had sent food highlight of the week – for them Jikke Drummond-Smith in a to be warders or even prison and winter clothes to the or- and the children as well. Not only Christian group organised guards, again no smiles. We had phanage, but the needs were still were the children happy to eat through Morgana’s school. Today, brought peroskies, which were considerable. As Dennis and Jane varied food, they were ecstatic Peter is Mission East’s operational meat or potatoes in a pastry, a Loze felt this winter’s morning, that adults were showing an director in Brussels, but at the typical Armenian food, apples and it was more than just food and interest in them. Dennis and Jane time he was the organisation’s what fruit we could find. The chil- clothes that were lacking. These began to become emo- country director for Armenia. dren ate so fast and all the crumbs children had an overwhelming tionally involved in the children. Jane told the couple about her were not missed, but again in total need to be seen – to be allowed to They continued working during experiences at Nubarashen 11. silence as the ‘guards’ looked on.”

It wasn’t just the tem- perature that was cold, the whole building was “The teachers so severe and bare and so quiet” were like Dennis Loze, Mission East. Nubarashen, Armenia, 1998. ”One of the purposes of our therapy pro- gramme has been to give the children joy and increased self-worth through play and physical exercise, and to prison guards” teach them how to work together,” Dennis Loze said about the work that he and his wife Jane carried out in the Nubarashen 11 Orphanage during the late 1990s. Photo: Mission East

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 27 Peter and Jikke were aware of the They painted the walls in bright birthday and they can carry out they did so with laughter and problems, but had not been able colours, drew animals on them, simple tasks, such as tying their humour. to come up with a solution. To and celebrated the children’s shoe laces,” Dennis told the Mr and Mrs Loze spent five years Jane’s surprise and delight they birthdays. Mission East Magazine at the time. in Armenia educating teachers suggested that Jane and Dennis who were working with children develop a programme for the FALSE DIAGNOSES with disabilities and learning dif- Nubarashen children. Mission East One of the purposes of Apart from the common activiti- ficulties. They laid the foundation offered to pay for transport costs our therapy program- es, they also found out what was for the work that Mission East has and an interpreter. wrong with each child. This enab- done since then among people me has been – through led them to target their tuition with disabilities in Armenia in PUNISHED IF THEY TALKED play and physical better. The result of their survey cooperation with the local dis- Jane and Dennis began to visit the was a surprise: More than 85 per ability organisations Bridge of orphanage three afternoons every exercise – to give the cent of the children at Nubaras- Hope and Arabkir. Every child week. In the afternoon, the children joy and in- hen 11 did not have a men- in Armenia now has the right teachers were supposed to help creased self-worth, and tal disability at all. Jane to education, and teachers are the children do their homework. looked up their families to find trained to integrate children with The reality was different: the to teach them to work out what had happened. It turned disabilities, including learning children were sitting silently on together.” out that the parents had obtained difficulties, in their work. Thanks the floor, and if they dared make false diagnoses for their children to Jane and Dennis Loze a lot has a sound, they were hit by older Dennis Loze, Mission East. to get access to the orphanage. happened since that Saturday children who were assigned to The children came from such poor morning in 1998 when the keep an eye on them. The teachers families that their parents could children at Nubarashen 11 were were drinking coffee in an adjacent “One of the purposes of our not feed them. forced to sit in complete silence in room. therapy programme has been a freezing cold hall. – through play and physical As time went by, Jane and Dennis Jane and Dennis got acquainted exercise – to give the children joy became increasingly attached This article is partly based on with the subject of play therapy and increased self-worth, and to to the children who began to Dennis Loze’s book ‘Arsenal to Ar- and started to practice it. They teach them to work together. Du- open up to them and show their menia’, Trafford Publishing 2008. moved the children from the ring our time with them we have emotions. The staff, however, stuffy class rooms into the cor- noticed that they have become were very unsatisfied. The work ridors, and when the weather got more lively, interested and willing of the couple demonstrated how warmer, they cleared the outdoor to make an effort. They have also incapable they were themselves. areas for cactus plants so the learnt some practical skills. They In particular, the relationship with children could play ball games. can tell the time, they know their the director gradually de- teriorated, and finally, Jane and Dennis very reluctantly had to stop working at Nubarashen.

Out of the dark CHANGE IN LEGISLATION In Armenia, Mission East cooperates with the local disability This was not the end of their organisations, Arabkir and Bridge of Hope. Together, we run se- commitment to children with veral centres for the development and rehabilitation of children disabilities in Armenia. They had with disabilities. The staff visit families in poor villages and find plenty of experience and data children with disabilities who are hidden from the outside to demonstrate that their work world. They then start treating them and organise support was necessary and useful. They groups for their parents in order to break the taboos. Schools applied to the Armenian Ministry and teacher training colleges focus on the integration of of Education for permission to children with disabilities. Moreover, Bridge of Hope has ma- educate teachers at other Arme- naged to influence changes in Armenian disability legislation. nian institutions for children with disabilities. It was a long and ar- Many staff members and members of Bridge of Hope have a duous task to get through to the disability themselves or are the parents of children with disabi- schools, but during the work- lities. In 2014, Bridge of Hope received the UNESCO inter- shops they noticed how other- national prize for promoting inclusive education. wise rigid teachers managed to work together as a group – and

28 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS ”We cannot bear injustice any longer!” Since 2000, 25-year old Arevik has taken part in training and advocacy work organised by Mission East and Bridge of Hope. Now she works for Bridge of Hope. She says about her involve- ment:

”I have always had this disability, it is part of me just like the colour of my skin. I speak for human rights and dignity together with hundreds of my contemporaries. We cannot bear injustice and inequality any longer. We have to demand our right to education, work and participation in society as equal citizens.”

Tavush Region, Armenia, 2015. In the poorest areas of Armenia, the serious issue of understimulated children remains. Andranik, a two-year old, sits on his grandfather’s lap outside the shed the family lives in. Andranik and his two sisters, Zina and Lilo, have grown up in such desperate poverty that it has affected their physical and mental health. Photo: Mission East

Armenia, 2013. Arevik takes part in a peaceful demonstration for the rights of persons with disabilities, organised by Bridge of Hope. Photo: Bridge of Hope.

Penjakent, Tajikistan, 2015. Following the success of the work on disability issues in Armenia, Mission East has embarked on a similar effort in another former Soviet republic: Tajikistan. Thirteen-year old Manizha has cerebral palsy – she is undergoing physical training at a rehabilitation centre in Penjakent. Photo: Muyassar Odinaev

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 29 Afghanistan 2001

1991-2016 Mission East

By Line Højland Communication Officer

Afghanistan, 2001. Ruth Dyer of Mission East met Fatima and her children in an IDP camp in Afgha- nistan in 2001, not long after an international presence became possible. The previous winter, Fatima had lost three children. Photo: Ruth Dyer. Food aid for a country on its knees In October 2001, US and British Forces invaded Afghanistan and deposed the Taliban regime from power. This opened the door for international aid to the severely tested Afghan population, and Mission East started providing food aid that same winter.

30 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS Afghanistan, 2001. Despite heavy snowfall and an inhospitable terrain, the food aid reached the Afghan families. Photo: Mission East

ditions in the camp were un- siting the camp to assess the Many lives were saved that win- bearable: The families lived in needs before starting a distri- ter, but it soon became obvious tents made from light bamboo bution of emergency food aid: that new ways of thinking were mats and plastic, which offered ”Fatima helplessly watched her necessary. A lot of Afghans did little protection from the wind. three children die last winter,” she not like depending on what they wrote. considered charity, and Mission ”Three of Fatima’s children died East started handing out food aid last winter. Will the three others Fatima helplessly LIFE EXPECTANCY: 41 YEARS in exchange for work towards re- survive this one?” Ruth Dyer of watched her three Fatima and hundreds of others building roads and water systems. Mission East asked this question that Ruth Dyer met that autumn Seed, fertilizer and agricultural in October 2001 during a visit to children die last had spent 20 years in a country equipment was also distributed war torn Afghanistan. That same winter,” at war. There was a serious lack to enable the population to grow month, allied forces had deposed of clean water and decent roads, food for itself. A project involving the Taliban regime from power. and the average life ex- beehives ensured that women in The conflict had displaced millions Ruth Dyer, Mission East pectancy was 41 years. Based on rural areas could earn a living and of people from their villages, Ruth Dyer’s report in the autumn feed their families. and a humanitarian disaster was The previous year, Fatima had of 2001, Mission East carried out looming. fled fighting in her home town a major food distribution. 18,000 The troubles of Afghanistan are together with her six children. 12 beneficiaries received a parcel not over. Mission East continues LOST THREE CHILDREN months after their escape, they containing 10 kilos of food every to assist the country through a Ryth Dyer met Fatima in a still had neither blankets nor month for three months. major aid programme that makes refugee camp in northern Afgha- clothes and far from sufficient lives change for the better, one nistan in October 2001. Con- food supplies. Ruth Dyer was vi- family at a time.

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 31 Afghanistan, 2001. The displaced lived in tents with walls made from simple bamboo mats that offered no protec- tion from the wind. Photo: Ruth Dyer

Taloqan, Afghanistan, 2004. For several years, Mission East has sup- ported hygiene teams in northern Afghanistan. Female specialists offer health and hygiene training to other women. Three of the women are shown here with team leader Dr. Hafiz. Photo: Mission East

32 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS Afghanistan today She feeds her children by selling jam Many families in Afghanistan go to bed hungry. Mission East is training women to support themselves and their families.

Afghanistan, 2009. In the food groups, the women learn to preserve food in a secure and efficient way, which will make it last through the winter. Photo: Mission East

Sayerah, a 35-year old Afghan natural disasters and conflicts to establish their own small the business plan and gave us woman, remembers with horror that force people away. Most businesses. The method has some raw materials, we could the time before she started her women must endure more than a proved efficient in providing a start out with,” Sayerah says. She own small business. “It was so handful of child births, and many livelihood for poor families in the now produces about 50 glasses awful and scary. My husband is a children do not survive their first mountains. When the women of pickled vegetables, tomato day labourer, but often there was year. The high child mortality rate have received some training and sauce and cherry preserve per no work, and it was difficult for is caused by water borne diseases start-up help, they show a lot of week. Her husband sells them at us to get just one decent meal and poor nutrition. Mission East is drive and enthusiasm for selling local markets and to byers. The a day for our nine children,” she therefore working in the area to the food products they make. This family makes about 100 Euro per says. Sayerah could only dream establish water systems, organize provides them with funds to month from this business which of winter clothes and other hygiene education and secure a support their families. enables Sayerah’s nine children necessities. livelihood for the families. to eat proper meals every day. 50 GLASSES OF “I can also buy winter clothes HIGH CHILD MORTALITY AN EFFICIENT WAY OF PRESERVE PER WEEK for my children, schooling and a Sayerah lives with her family in SELF SUFFICIENCY “When the project started, I few cosmetics for myself. I thank Badakhshan in Northern Afgha- To be able to support her family, wondered what I could gain from Mission East and Denmark for nistan. Life in the high mountains Sayerah joined one of Mission it. How would I be able to start helping poor people like us,” she is tough: Bitterly cold winters, East’s food groups. The women a business without any capital? concludes. scorching hot summers, recurring are trained to process food and But Mission East helped me with

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 33 Dhainakot, Nepal, 2006. “Her Nepal 2007 parents were not alive anymore, and she lived with her grandparents 1991-2016 who quite obviously did not want Mission her. At their advanced age, they had East sufficient problems feeding them- selves,” Graeme Glover said about By Line Højland the little girl he met in the village of Communication Officer Dhainakot in western Nepal. Photo: Mission East Clean water and disaster awareness are lifesavers in Nepal Since 2006, Mission East has worked to develop remote mountain communities in western Nepal. The poverty-stricken population has found new opportunities and hope for the future. A permanent presence in the country also enables Mission East to respond quickly to disaster situations.

Just before noon on Saturday 25 East, together with partner orga- and latrines. mountain areas in the western April 2015, Nepal was struck by nisations and local volunteers, part of the country were living the worst earthquake for de- distributed the first tarpaulins, tough and isolated lives in extreme cades. Within a few seconds, hygiene kits and jerrycans to poverty. In December 2006, a entire villages and centuries-old families in the severely affected When we approached small Mission East team traveled buildings were turned into rubble Sindhupalchowk District. the village, we saw to the village of Dhainakot on a by the powerful tremors, Two factors enabled Mission mountain slope in the Mugu measuring 7,8 on the Richter East to respond quickly to the traces of diarrhea on District near Karnali to find out scale. More than 8,700 people earthquake in Nepal: A long- the footpaths, and how Mission East could help. The lost their lives, and 2,8 million standing presence in the country journey was taken on foot and became homeless. and a close partnership with the there were flies lasted several days. The small During the first few hours after experienced emergency aid orga- everywhere” expedition encountered horrifying the earthquake, Mission East staff nisation, Medair, through the In- conditions. in Kathmandu, Copenhagen and tegral Alliance. Medair’s expertise Graeme Grover, Mission East. Brussels had already taken action: in quick emergency response and “When we approached the village, They needed to check out the Mission East’s in-depth knowled- A TOUGH LIFE we saw traces of diarrhea on the affected areas, raise money, and ge of Nepalese local communiti- Mission East has worked in Nepal footpaths, and there were flies buy hygiene kits and es made it possible for the two through partners since 1997 everywhere,” Graeme Glover of tarpaulins. They had to coordinate organisations to help 8,480 with an emphasis on agricultural Mission East said. It turned out the relief effort with the UN and families with shelter and pro- development and education. The that the population did not have local authorities. A week after the tection against disease, thanks to organisation was aware that the enough food for the whole year, devastating earthquake, Mission tarpaulins, water purifying tablets population in the remote and the children were visibly

34 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS malnourished and suffered from DIARRHEA COST LIVES intestinal worms. Wherever Mission East staff went, they met others in similar si- One little girl in particular attracted tuations as the little girl: Poor, Graeme’s attention. “Despite the malnourished children who cold temperatures, she had bare suffered from constant diarrhea feet. Her nose was running. From and other simple illnesses that her harsh manner towards others, could be treated or prevented. and the harsh way she was But the local population did not treated herself, I could see that life know how to do this, and almost was bad for her. Her parents were ten per cent of the children died not alive anymore, and she lived before the age of five. with her grandparents who quite Mission East decided to establish Bhotechaur, Nepal, 2015. Just a week after a powerful earthquake had killed obviously did not want her. At their projects in the Humla and Mugu thousands of people and made many more homeless, Mission East was ready advanced age, they had sufficient Districts focusing on health and to distribute live-saving aid to people whose homes had been turned into problems feeding themselves,” hygiene. The villagers were taught rubble. In this photo, local schoolgirl Sunita helps during the distribution in he said. how dangerous it was to leave her village. Photo: Line Højland

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 35 Humla District, Nepal, 2014. Women and men from all castes and social classes take part in Mission East’s projects. Photo: Läkarmissionen/Mission East

realised that our blackboards were standing in our classrooms without being secured. Now we have fastened them to the walls, making our classrooms safer,” Bharat Bam, a tenth grader from Shanighat and chairman of the school’s youth club, said. He received training in disaster management in 2014.

Our blackboards were Everyone can contribute standing in our class- The population of Nepalese villages live very separate lives. rooms without being Mostly, women are confined to their homes. People from the they can grow themselves, one secured. Now we have lowest caste, known as Dalits, do not socialise with people ruined harvest may prove fatal. from higher castes. And people with disabilities are considered fastened them to the worthless and are often ignored – even by their own famili- With the right knowledge, the walls, making our es. All Mission East projects pay a lot of attention to involving worst consequences of disasters classrooms safer” everyone from the village. When Dalits, single women and are preventable. Houses need not persons with disabilities participate in reading groups and be built on slopes where there is Bharat Bam, chairman of the school’s disaster committees, villagers quickly learn to cooperate across considerable risk of mud slides. youth club in Shanighat. the divides that have existed for hundreds of years. And if disaster occurs, one needs to react in the most sensible way possible. If there is an earth- But back to the earthquake in quake, hurrying outside as most 2015. Western Nepal where human feces in the fields and on Bahadur Padara, a social worker people would is not necessarily Mission East carries out its work, footpaths instead of in latrines. in Duli village, said in 2010. the smartest thing to do. A lot was scarcely affected. The di- They were taught to wash their Previously, the village had lost of rubble can hit you before you stricts around the capital hands after going to the latrine. at least eight or ten children per reach safety. Instead, one should Kathmandu were, and many And systems for clean drinking year, but since the introduction of seek shelter under a table or people lost their lives. After water were established, meaning clean drinking water eight months another stable object to avoid focusing on securing immediate that children and adults no longer earlier, not one single child had being crushed underneath a survival, Mission East has started had to drink from dirty streams died. collapsed building. raising awareness of disaster that were also used by cows and preparedness in the affected goats. AVOID THE RUBBLE! SAFE CLASSROOMS areas to better equip the popula- Another big problem in the To spread this knowledge around tion to deal with future earth- Soon, child mortality dropped mountains of Nepal are recurring the villages, Mission East has quakes and other natural dramatically, and the previously natural disasters like earthquakes, established disaster management disasters. unwell villagers became more floods and mud slides. While they groups. Members receive first aid energetic. “We can see a huge are rarely as devastating as the training and in turn they train the difference in our village since we major earthquake in 2015, they rest of the village. Local school had clean water and latrines. Be- do cost hundreds of lives every children are also trained as they fore, there was a lot of diarrhea, year. They also ruin houses and are the future: fever and disease, but now there crops. In an area where people is much less of that,” Kahliha depend 100 per cent on the crops “For example, we have now

36 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS Humla, Nepal, 2009. Villagers are shown a detailed map of areas around their village with the greatest risk of disasters. In this way, they know where not to build new houses or lay new fields. Photo: Christophe Belperron

Now Pundor has time for her homework ”My mother has changed a lot since she joined the reading group,” 13-year old Pundor Lama said. She is the daughter of Tungja Lama who has participated in one of Mission East’s reading groups for women in the area. Apart from numbers and letters, Tungja has learnt about the rights of herself and her daughter. Tungja is now more aware of her daughter’s homework and gives her more time to study. “Before, I had to help cooking, doing laundry and tending the fields. Now my mother tells me to read instead,” Pundor said and con- tinued: “My teacher says that I have improved a lot, and he is very happy about my progress. I like going to school, I especially enjoy physics,” she said with a smile. Pundor dreams of studying to become a nurse in Kathmandu. “Then I can return to the mountains and help people,” she said.

Duli, Nepal, 2010. About 200 children live in the village of Duli. In 2009, Mission East and our partner installed four water taps with clean drinking water in the village. Before this project, up to ten children died every year. From the establishment of the water taps until this picture was taken eight months later, not one single child died. Photo: Kim Hartzner

Humla District, Nepal, 2014. Pundor has more time for school work after her mother, Tungja Lama, joined a reading group for women. Photo: Läkarmissionen/Mission Øst.

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 37 North Korea 2011

1991-2016 Mission East Food for North Korea’s children For the past five years, Mission East has been the only Danish organisation to provide aid to poor and isolated North Korea.

North Korea, 2011. In the years 2011-2015 Mission East delivered emergency food aid to North Korean orphanages. Photo: Kim Hartzner.

38 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS By Kim Wiesener & Line Højland Communication Officers

Mission East started working “During my 20 years of delivering East gave regular support to Hartzner said in 2015. in North Korea in 2011 – at a aid I have never seen anything three orphanages in the southern time when one fourth of the like this,” managing director Kim province of Hwanghae. Kim That same year, Mission East country’s 24 million inhabitants Hartzner said. Hartzner had the opportunity delivered the last shipment of were threatened by hunger to see for himself that the emergency food aid to North following a failed harvest earlier aid was making a difference. Korean children, at least for the that year. The authorities had The authorities are When he returned to one of the time being. As is often the case, lowered the ration of rice per very cooperative, and orphanages in 2015, he was met emergency relief was replaced adult to 150 grams per day – by children who looked well-fed by long-term projects. Mission equaling 400 calories which only it was a joy to feel the and healthy and happily played East has started a pilot project covers one fifth of the daily need. gratitude of the popu- with toys donated by Mission involving 400 vulnerable families East. and 350 school children in Sepo The food crisis severely af- lation.” County, Kangwon Province by fected the children of the “Aid does help – even in the wor- giving them access to clean water country’s orphanages and Kim Hartzner, Managing Director, ld’s most closed country. and hygiene promotion activities. nurseries. Half of the children Mission East. The authorities are very co- This way the organisation can examined by Mission East were operative, and it was a joy to feel contribute to a future without moderately malnourished, the COOPERATIVE AUTHORITIES the gratitude of the population. water shortage and health issues other half severely malnourished: The following four years, Mission This inspires us to continue,” Kim for North Korea’s children.

North Korea 2015. When Kim Hartzner visited the orphanages in 2015 he was met by happy children playing with the toys provided by Mission East. Photo: Mission East

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 39 North Korea, 2011. In some areas of North Korea access to clean water is scarce. Mission East is now working on promoting access to clean water and hygiene for vulnerable families. Photo: Mission East

North Korea, 2012. Li and Kim and their daughters had lived in a tent for two months after the floods of 2012 when they received cement from Mission East. This enabled them to complete the restoration of the walls and floors of their house. Photo: Mission East

40 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS North Korea, 2012. Mission East has helped 511 North Korean families rebuild their homes after the floods. The organisation also built new water systems in cooperation with the local authorities – to replace those that were destroyed during the natural disaster. Photo: Mission East

Construction aid to 511 families When huge floods ravaged North Korea in the summer of 2012 in the wake of a typhoon, Mrs Kim and her family had to escape from their house in the middle of the night. Subsequently, they lived in a tent for several months, but thanks to building materials supplied by Mission East they were able to move back into a restored house in 2013. Mission East has helped 511 North Korean families rebuild their homes after the floods. The organisation also built new water systems in cooperation with the local authorities – to replace those that were destroyed during the natural disaster.

North Korea 2012. Climate change severely effects the population in North Korea where long droughts are followed by floods. This man’s house was destroyed by the 2012 floods. Photo: Mission East

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 41 Iraq 2014

1991-2016 Mission East

By Svend Løbner Journalist

Sinjar, Iraq, 2015. About 25,000 Yezidis lead difficult lives on Sinjar Mountain, while awaiting an oppor- tunity to return home. Mission East and its partner Humanity provide emergency relief and psychological and social support. Photo: Philip Wikborg Hartzner Emergency aid in the chaos of war In the summer of 2014, the world was shaken by the news of Islamic State’s horrific treatment of everyone who did not support their rigid interpretation of Islam. Mission East is helping displaced Iraqis with support for body and mind.

Men were gathered and executed. to leave her alone, but the IS From a distance we then helped more than 57,000 Women were raped. And young commander said no,” a woman could see that IS se- people with water, food, shelter, girls were sold as sex slaves to told Mission East managing hygiene kits, cooking gear, the fighters of the terrorist move- director Kim Hartzner during a parated women and heaters for the cold winters and ment. Islamic State created horror distribution of humanitarian aid. men and then shot all air coolers for the unbearably hot everywhere, and the population summers. It is not the first time fled in a hurry. A major humani- “From a distance we could see the men” that Mission East is present in tarian disaster had begun. Today, that IS separated women and Iraq. After the fall of Saddam Yezidi father more than three million Iraqis men and then shot all the men,” Hussein in 2003, Mission East are uprooted and displaced from a father said and continued: “IS helped the Kurds who were retur- their homes. captured my uncle and 70 family NO SHELTER FROM THE ning to Dohuk in Northern Iraq. members. Only two survived. SNOW AND COLD “They grabbed my daughter be- They were witnesses to the IS Mission East started delivering In 2014, the work also began in fore my very eyes. I begged them executions of all the others.” aid in August 2014, and has since the area around Dohuk,

42 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS where families had escaped to Dahuk, Iraq, 2014. Mission East has the Kurdish mountains in such carried out several distributions of large numbers that less than half winter clothes to internally displaced Christians in Iraq of them found a place in the UN Iraqis, making it easier for them to Several church communities exist in Iraq. The largest groups camps for IDPs. The rest had to cope with the cold winters. belong to the Assyrian and Armenian congregations. When settle for stairways, thin tents and Photo: Peter Eilertsen. Saddam Hussein was overthrown in 2003, and during the half-completed concrete buildings subsequent conflicts, many Christians fled the country. In 1987, that were completely exposed to UN: IS-TERROR IS GENOCIDE there were 1.4 million Christians in Iraq, today there are less the winter cold, snow and wind. However, it soon turned out that than 450.000. Many churches have been attacked with car Ancient cultures are threatened the small Kurdish people, the bombs, and in several places, Christians have been forced to with extinction. At a church Yezidis, were the hardest hit. The convert to Islam. service on 23 August 2014, the displaced Christians can rely on patriarchs of four ancient relatively strong networks, but the churches met to assess the Yezidi families are often com- dangers against a church that has pletely left to themselves. existed on the Nineveh Plains for Who are the Yezidis? 1,700 years, making it the oldest Mission East gained access to The Yezidis are a Kurdish minority who live in the mountainous in the world. Patriarch Ignatius Sinjar Mountain in March 2015. areas of Northern Iraq and also in Georgia, Armenia and Syria. Aphrem II made an urgent appeal Thousands of Yezidis had sought Some have emigrated to Europe. Around the world, there are to the West for help: “We do not refuge here when Islamic 1.5-2 million, of which 100,000 live in Europe. The Yezidi want our people to be uprooted,” State occupied their main city, religion is monotheistic and is believed to be more than 4,000 he told Mission East Managing Sinjar, and hunted them up the years old. The group is also called Ezidi or Yazidi. Director Kim Hartzner after the mountain. Men were gathered and service. shot. Women were captured and

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 43 abducted. Pregnant women, has founded a number of RECONSTRUCTION Sinjar City itself has been com- elderly people and persons with ’psychosocial centres’. The grue- IS THE NEXT STEP pletely devastated. The same disabilities were left to die on some violence leaves the tormen- Mission East will also assist the scenario undoubtedly awaits their way up the barren ted population deeply displaced once they return to once Mosul has been liberated. mountain. The survivors went traumatized. But at the six their villages and houses after the That is why emergency aid and without food or drink for days Mission East centres, children and war. If all goes well, the returnees development aid must go hand before an escape corridor was young women are welcomed by will get help to repair and rebuild in hand. Emergency relief for the established. Thousands chose friendly staff who introduce them their houses and villages and displaced is only the beginning to go further, but 1,600 families to everyday life. receive support to resume far- of an effort to create order from remained on the mountain hoping ming, beekeeping and trade. chaos, rebuild local communities to return to their homes. They still At the centres, children can play, “The IS rampage has destroyed and give the population renewed live in tents or makeshift huts on draw, play music, do drama and the infrastructure, including the hope for the future. the mountains, surviving on aid learn reading, writing and arith- water and electricity supply. They from, among others, Mission East metic. Young women can ruined the houses and stole all and its local partner, Humanity. safely share their experiences the inventory from the schools,” a “When IS attacked us, we knew with trained advisors and also mayor from a liberated town near that they would kill us so we had learn needlework, IT, music, hair- Sinjar told Kim Hartzner. to get away in a hurry,” said Azid, a dressing, Arabic and English. father of eight children who survives for the second year ”Children have a unique oppor- thanks to the help from Mission tunity to attend the centre. There East and others. “IS told people is nothing like this in Sinjar,” the that they had to convert to Islam children’s mothers said in an or die. Some converted but were independent evaluation Mission East returns to Iraq killed anyway,” he said. report about the work of Mission UN reports call the brutal IS East on Sinjar Mountain. “I had Mission East has previously worked in Iraq. Following the fall of attacks against the Yezidis for started to read but had for- Saddam Hussein in 2003, Iraqi Kurds began to return to Dohuk in “genocide, war crimes and crimes gotten everything, because I had Northern Iraq. Mission East helped them rebuild houses, re- against humanity.” not been to school for a year,” a establish infrastructure and supported their efforts to feed them- Mission East helps everyone little boy said and added: “When selves. Mission East worked in the country until January 2006 and regardless of ethnicity, religion or you opened the centre, I got my then reopened an office as a response to the humanitarian crisis political opinions. So it came knowledge back.” that began in 2014. natural to assist the displaced Sunni Arabs in the Kirkuk area in 2015, when they started to flee IS-controlled areas in ever larger numbers. These fleeing families also told countless horror stories about Islamic State and how they take hostage even those who share their creed. “We had a choice: Die or escape!” Haseem said. He has a disability and had to flee across minefields on his crutches.

RAYS OF HOPE As rays of hope amidst un- bearable tragedies, Mission East

Irak, 2003. When Kurdish families began to return home after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Mission East helped them rebuild their villages. Photo: Mission East.

44 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS Iraq 2016

1991-2016 Mission East

By Kim Wiesener Communication Officer

Nazrawa Camp, Iraq, 2016. Abdullah Said teaches at one of Mission East’s centres for displaced children in Iraq. He has fled Islamic State twice and now lives in a camp for internally displaced people. This does not prevent him from continuing his IT studies. Photo: Peter Eilertsen. From Mosul to Mission East Abdullah Said, a 21-year old Iraqi IT student, has escaped twice from the terrorist movement Islamic State. Now he is taking care of small children in one of Mission East’s child centres – in a camp where he is living himself.

There is obvious chemistry. When recalled. “We were having lessons Abdullah now lives at Nazrawa studies from Mosul to an educa- Abdullah Said teaches Arabic when a curfew was announced. Camp with his family. His father is tional establishment in Kirkuk writing to boys and girls of We heard the sound of mortar dead, and as the oldest of seven where he studies every weekend. kindergarten age, everyone is fire, and the streets emptied. Af- siblings he carries a particular In less than a year, he will finish smiling and laughing. Learning ter a couple of days, many responsibility. This also means his education. should be fun, and it is when he is students decided to leave town. that he is used to taking care taking care of three- to five-year- We heard that Daesh (Arabic of smaller children, and this is This also means that he will not old kids at the Mission East Child acronym for IS) were getting evident when he handles the return to Mosul, even if it should Friendly Space at Nazrawa Camp. nearer.” children at the centre with a com- be liberated. He is eagerly fol- For the last couple of years, the bination of friendly humour and lowing developments in the city life of the 21-year old IT student Luckily for Abdullah, most IS authority. where he started his studies, but has been anything but fun. Twice fighters were on the right bank for him, the future lies some- he has had to flee from Islamic of the Tigris River while he was where else – preferably with a State, but now he is part of a on the left bank. So, he managed We heard the sound base in his home village. team of six ‘educators’ who are to get away – initially to Erbil, the of mortar fire, and the working part-time at the child main city of the Kurdistan region, The present is shared between centre. They teach and play with and later to his home village streets emptied.” his studies in Kirkuk and his life the children, and they are them- in Dibis district near the city of in Nazrawa Camp. An important selves displaced from their homes Kirkuk. It took him three days to Abdullah Said, Mission East. part of that life is his work as an due to the conflict in Iraq. get home. Later, he had to flee educator at the child centre: “I again – this time with his family STUDYING IN KIRKUK like working with kids,” Abdullah THE STREETS EMPTIED – when IS came perilously close Being responsible for his family Said said with a smile – and you In 2014, Abdullah Said was a to Dibis: “We were in danger and may also be part of the expla- believe him. student in the major city of Mosul wanted to get to a safer place,” nation why Abdullah really wants when it was occupied by Islamic he explained. to achieve something in his life. State. “They came suddenly,” he He was able to transfer his IT

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 45 By Svend Løbner Journalist ”Mission East puts its heart into its work and its everyday de- cisions. When I receive the Mission East magazine, I put everything else aside to see which projects they are working on. It Why we support makes you happy when you see that the population in a country like Afghanistan is participating in constructing roads, setting up Mission East water pipelines and digging wells. In this manner, they can relate Mission East can support hundreds of thousands of people all to the support they receive from outside, as they themselves have over the world because of contributions from a broad range of worked hard to complete the companies, clubs, churches, associations and individuals. But why project. These more long-term projects are so important to support Mission East? We have asked some of our regular donors. create cohesion in the population.

46 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS Sæby, Denmark, 2016. Without its We know from experience that when we support faithful supporters and popular backing, Mission East would not be people through Mission East, the money does able to carry out its work. Through not end up in the wrong pockets, but reaches its volunteer work, Sæby Church Café, chaired by Agnete Ethridge the people it is intended to help.” (middle), collects money for reading groups for women in Nepal. Agnete Ethridge, chairperson, Sæby Church café Photo: Susanne Madsen

“We support Mission East, be- cause your work is efficient. We know Kim Hartzner and find him a very trustworthy person. And we appreciate the link between Christianity and social work.” Mie and Simon Grønne-Gram

”It is a pleasure to support Mission East. You are doing a fan- tastic job. I tell everyone that the money is spent in the right way. The support reaches the small, local communities, so it makes a difference, and local people get a new start.” Tove Østerby, Struer Vorbasse, Denmark, 2016. Karin and Kristian Hansen from Vorbasse support ”We support you, because you Mission East. One reason is the direct involvement of the local population in do good work, it’s as simple as development projects. Private photograph that. At the school where I work, we have a professional pancake bakery. Twice a year, we make pancakes in support of Mission East. The youngsters love it! And we usually collect 25,000-30,000 You act very quickly, and Kim kroner every time.” Hartzner is often the first man on Finn Højland, Holbæk the spot and the last one to leave the most difficult areas. He is very visible, e.g. on TV2 News, and he We think that you are demonstrates credibility and doing a fantastic job. involvement. It means a lot that not a lot is spent on ad- The support gets there, ministration. I have visited the and you help people office in Hellerup, and I was quite surprised that they were working in a very professional in such humble surroundings in manner. Your hearts rented office space. This fact also beat for the weak, and told me that outward appearance is not so important, but that the you help them right first priority is the human being where they are.” in need. Holbæk, Denmark, 2016. “Mission Øst provides practical support to people who Karin and Kristian Hansen, Vorbasse Mirjam and Bent Rasmussen, Randers live close to conflict zones. This support really makes a difference to people in need,” says Finn Højland. Every year, he makes pancakes for a worthy cause. Private photograph

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 47 Yonsa County, North Korea, 2016. In the future, it will be the most vulnerable countries such as Af- ghanistan og North Korea that will need aid. Here a family from North Korea who lost their home due to flooding in August 2016. Photo: Mission East

By Svend Løbner Journalist

What will aid work be like in 25 years? Mission East has interviewed two Danish futurologists, each with their own point-of-view. One of them believes in self- help via the internet and new technology, the other predicts that there will be more speed and flexibility in aid. Both, however, agree that aid organisations will be needed in the future. Futurologists: Fast, hitech aid can prevent future conflicts

48 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS It is difficult to make predicitions, unstable and that no major FEWER WAR DEATHS Bhotechaur, Nepal, 2015. When especially about the future. powers want to become involved So how will the world look in 25 distributing aid, it is important to Nevertheless, two futurologists in regional conflicts which will years? “Generally, there is more know the local culture. After the are attempting to do so. In this therefore tend to escalate. peace in the world now than ever earthquake in Nepal in April 2015, article, they talk about big global before,” Klaus Mogensen said. He Bandana Shrestha of Mission East trends, requiring a quick and Generally speaking, noted that “statistics show that ensured that poor widows and marginalised Dalits also had access flexible response combining fewer people are star- the number of deaths around the expertise, cultural understanding world has fallen over the past 100 to relief. Photo: Line Højland and new technology. One thing ving than ever before. years. At present, there is war in is clear: Aid organisations like Many diseases that pre- and around Syria, and many escape poverty. Many of the Mission East will still be needed in viously led to disasters people are dying, but it is still causes of war – famine, disease, 25 years. nothing compared to what we extreme poverty – are little by have been eradicated.” have seen earlier. I am thinking of little being eradicated.” MORE PEACE OR MORE WARS the Second World War, the The two futurologists have dif- Klaus Mogensen, Copenhagen Korean War and the recurring MORE PEOPLE IN NEED ferent views of the future. Klaus Institute for Futures Studies. conflicts in Africa and other Marianne Levinsen is less Mogensen from the Copenhagen places.” optimistic: ”I see a world of many Institute for Futures Studies be- But both researchers agree that more conflicts and many more lieves that there will be fewer aid organisations like Mission East He added: ”Generally speaking, interests, because no major wars, and fewer poor and sick will still be relevant, especially if fewer people are starving than powers are really calling the people in the future. He refers to there is a need to respond quickly, ever before. Many diseases that shots anymore. Instead, many statistics that show that the world adapt to changing conditions, previously led to disasters have different actors want to have today is more peaceful than it has understand the local culture, help been eradicated. Even though power, and many nations and been for the past 100 years. people to help themselves and there are many poor people in subgroups within nations demand Marianne Levinsen of the Centre prove that aid works. People have the world, there are less than that their rights and interests are for Future Studies predicts more seen enough images of hungry there were 50-60 years ago, even respected.” wars. She notes that the distri- children; they want positive stories just 20 years ago. New techno- bution of power in the world is about real change. logy helps many poor people She does, however, admit that

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 49 ”more and more people in situation. Otherwise, they will He imagines that aid can be logical aid to small farms as a developing countries are escaping be left to themselves,” she said brought directly to families in means for developing countries to poverty” and that “the global and specifically mentioned distress by drones. Today, drones feed their own citizens. middle class is growing at an Afghanistan where Mission East are already used to find and de- explosive rate.” “But right now, we works. tonate landmines, so why not use are living in times of change, and them to deliver aid? This requires The problem is not lack we do not really know how the ”There is no doubt that a country an alliance with big technology of food; the problem is world’s leaders will share power like Afghanistan will need aid for firms so that the enemy is not between them,” she said and many years to come. It has been able to ruin the relief effort by that we don’t distribute added that “over the next 10-15 at war for years, and this does attacking it with its own drones. it properly.” years I expect more refugees and not look like stopping any time more people in need because of soon. The civilian population will “It will be hitech against hitech in Klaus Mogensen, Copenhagen conflicts.” still be subjected to failed the future,” he predicts. Institute for Futures Studies. policies, corruption and poverty. INTERNET ACCESS Over the next 10-15 GREATER POLARISATION EMPOWERS PEOPLE WE CAN FEED TWICE AS MANY years I expect more OF RICH AND POOR The risk of unrest and war is Klaus Mogensen stresses that Klaus Mogensen agrees that more lower, if the difference between there must still be food and refugees and more aid will be required in the future, rich and poor is smaller. In this medicine for everyone. “But people in need be- but for completely different sense, emergency relief and the problem is not lack of food; reasons: ”Even if the world as long-term development aid the problem is that we don’t cause of conflicts.” such becomes richer, there is are inextricably connected. In distribute it properly. War and also a certain level of polarisation Klaus Mogensen’s opinion, it is conflicts prevent emergency aid Marianne Levinsen, between rich and poor. Until important that aid organisations from reaching its destination. If Centre for Future Studies now, the poor countries have involve and empower people in we can distribute food better, we become richer at a faster pace developing countries: can feed almost twice as many A NEED FOR MORE than the rich countries, but people as there are in the world EMERGENCY AID within rich and poor countries, “You should help people help today.” This means that there will still be the gap between rich and poor is themselves. Internet access would a need for major aid operations, growing. Evidently, a strong level be of enormous benefit to a lot of While Klaus Mogensen is focusing Marianne Levinsen believes. of polarization lead to more social people. If tablets with solar on technology, Marianne Levin- “When states withdraw or stay unrest. So the difference between chargers are placed in poor areas, sen considers aid in a broader out of conflicts, the people who rich and poor can lead to civil the children teach themselves perspective. “Flexibility and a are persecuted or displaced wars and revolutions that will how to use them. In fact, they willingness to change are decisive are extremely dependent on require more emergency relief.” become so proficient that they factors. We cannot predict exactly the interest of others in their can hack them after six months! what will happen and where it will happen. A relief organisation When poor people get access to must have a cultural under- resources on the internet and to standing and approach. You need markets where they can sell to spend time familiarising electronic services or arts and yourself with conditions in the crafts or other stuff, a wealth of place you are operating in. You opportunity opens up to them,” need to focus on culture, history he says and mentions techno- and traditions in the specific country to be able to make a positive contribution.” Afghanistan, 2012. Emergency relief cannot stand alone, but must POLITICIANS SHOULD REMOVE be complimented by long-term DEBT AND TRADE BARRIERS development assistance. In Afgha- nistan, Mission East trains women to Finally, Klaus Mogensen has some produce their own vegetables and advice for western politicians: sell them at markets at a good price. ”Instead of giving aid, you could This enables them to support their reduce developing countries’ debt children for many years. to the western world. For each Photo: Mission East. Euro developing countries receive

50 | MISSION EAST | JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS Bhotechaur, Nepal, 2015. Using flying drones that can take photographs, it will be easier to plan aid distributions in remote areas. This image of Mission in aid, they must repay five Euros good than direct aid. So remove East’s distribution of emergency relief in a Nepalese mountain village after the or more as debt repayment. This debt and barriers instead of 2015 earthquake was taken by a drone. Ruined houses can be seen to the left. is just untenable!” giving them money that they Photo: Roy Fielding, Medair. have to pay back as debt repayments.” Flexibility and a wil- lingness to change are The ball is in play. It is difficult to predict the future, but with their decisive factors. We respective views on current cannot predict exactly megatrends, the futurologists Klaus Mogensen from the have given us a few pointers. Copenhagen Institute for Futures what will happen and Studies conducts research on the where it will happen.” possibilities of technology, cul- ture, future ways of life, con- Marianne Levinsen, sumer trends and media. Centre for Future Studies

Trade barriers should also be Marianne Levinsen from the removed, he believes: ”It is hard Centre for Future Studies for Africa to export to Europe specialises in globalisation, because we have barriers for food developments in society, the imports to protect our agricultural labour market, consumer pat- sector. If we removed those trade terns, and young people. barriers, it would do a lot more

JUBILEE MAGAZINE 25 YEARS | MISSION EAST | 51 Mission East Denmark office Mission East Brussels office Mission East Berlin office

Sankt Lukas Vej 13 Rue de l'Arbre Bénit 44, box 4 Marienstraße 29 DK-2900 Hellerup 1050 Bruxelles D-10117 Berlin Denmark Belgium Germany Tel. +45 3961 2048 Tel. +32 2 533 0500 Tel. +49 172 9057696 Fax +45 3961 2094 Fax +32 2 537 2360 Fax +49 30 20215782 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.miseast.org www.miseast.org www.miseast.de