Leading With Love

Leading With Love

By | 2019-02-14T15:16:59-05:00 February 14th, 2019|Cameroon, Humanitarian|

All Photos By: DJ Pierce

February 14th is a day that celebrates all kinds of love that can be expressed in an unlimited number of ways. This ranges anywhere from family, friends, pets, and hobbies, to global partners and alliances. We want to emphasize the importance and power of love and respect, and how it influences all the work that we do through Himalayan Institute Humanitarian Projects.

Almost 12 years ago, we began our humanitarian work in the Northwest region of Cameroon—a rural area in West Africa struggling with widespread poverty. We began by forging lasting and meaningful partnerships with the community we wanted to start working with. It is out of this love, respect, and understanding for our local partners that we were able to create a successful model for community development in Kumbo, Cameroon, and establish a mutual relationship with all the individuals that continue to thrive to this day.

Stand-alone projects rarely have a sustainable impact. Our organizational history of humanitarian service has shown that a more holistic model—meeting communities where they are and developing local partnerships—creates lasting transformation.

At the center of all respectful partnerships is love—love for the work we do, and love for the people we are working alongside of. When this is the driving force behind the work that you do, all other things (with a lot of hard work) will fall into place. Those we partner with are naturally inclined to engage with this kind of partnership, and the mutual effort allows projects like these to thrive.

People are surprised when they realize we have been sustainably growing our impact in Cameroon for almost 12 years. This is possible because of the understanding, respect, and love we share with the community we serve. When you listen to what resources and opportunities people need and are asking for, and you have a safe place to communicate those needs openly, it creates an entirely new way to pursue development work.

It is with this reminder of how powerful love can be that we move forward into our 12th year of service in Cameroon. We are so grateful to the community in Kumbo for allowing us to work alongside them to bring resources and opportunities to the region. Together, we will all move forward in love.

How do you use love in your everyday life to drive the work you do?

All Photos By: DJ Pierce

The Himalayan Institute’s humanitarian initiatives in Cameroon depend upon the love and support of our donors—the progress and development we have seen over the years could not have been possible without you, and for this we are truly grateful. Together, we are creating peaceful communities throughout Cameroon.

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