A Humanitarian Foundation that Brings Hope to Millions of People
By: Margaretta Colangelo
Tags: Social Good, Impact Investing, Philanthropy, Humanitarian, Charity

In ancient Rome, Spes was the Goddess of Hope. The Romans believed that Hope was a divine virtue bestowed on humans by the Gods. Roman Emperors consecrated temples to Spes along the triumphal routes in Rome to encourage Hope during difficult times.

One morning in May of 2015 a husband and wife named Ali and Essagi were forced to leave their home in a village in Iraq by ISIS. On that morning, armed ISIS fighters took their four children. No one has heard from their children since that day. Everyday Ali and Essagi pray, wait, and hope to be reunited with their children. Ali and Essagi are Yazidis from the Sinjar province in Iraq. Their story is a common one across refugee camps. ISIS fighters seized 81 Yazidi villages around Mount Sinjar in a coordinated attack, enslaved thousands of Yazidi women and girls, killed thousands of Yazidi men, and drove everyone from their homes. To avoid torture by ISIS, Ali and Essagi fled with 1.8 million other people to Kurdistan, which is a safe haven for people fleeing ISIS.

While this was happening in Syria and Iraq, Dr. Mariwan Baker was living in Sweden with his wife and daughters. Dr. Baker was born and raised in Iraqi Kurdistan. In 1991, during the First Gulf War, he became a refugee and was trapped in the mountains between Iraq and Iran. Over 3 million Kurds were displaced in one night and Dr. Baker was one of them. He personally witnessed the eight year Iran-Iraq war, the chemical attack on Halabja, and the massive Kurdish exodus during the First Gulf War. He managed to immigrate to Sweden and lived in eight different refugee camps outside of Stockholm. In 1995 Dr. Baker was granted asylum and permanent residency by the Swedish Government. He went on to earn two master’s degrees and a PhD in Sweden, and in 2015 he was a medical scientist working in radiation oncology in Scandinavia.

After living through the refugee crisis in Kurdistan 1991, watching another refugee crisis unfold in Kurdistan in 2015 had a profound impact on him. He wanted to create change and improve the lives of other people. Most of all, he wanted to give hope to other people so that they would believe in the future. Dr. Baker left his career as a medical scientist in Denmark and founded Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation to deliver humanitarian aid, medicine, and medical equipment to refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Dr. Mariwan Baker at a refugee camp in Iraqi Kurdistan with refugee children

Bring Hope’s Mission

Bring Hope’s mission is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and bring hope to the most vulnerable people. Bring Hope has delivered medical supplies and aid to refugees living in over 50 refugee camps in 4 provinces in Iraq, and people living in poverty across the Middle East and Africa. Bring Hope has distributed over $130 million worth of medicine and aid to over 2 million people. Bring Hope is the largest organization on the ground and has delivered over 300 loads of humanitarian aid to refugees. Bring Hope collaborates with many international organizations and corporations to make the biggest impact and help the highest number of people.

Over the past five years, Bring Hope has evolved into a worldwide organization providing aid to refugees, victims of natural disasters, survivors of wars and famines, and people in need all over the world. With 40 strategic partners including Johnson & Johnson and International Humanitarian City, Bring Hope has helped people in Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria, Bangladesh, Guinea Conakry, Pakistan, Ukraine, Togo, Nigeria, Congo, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Gambia, Kenya, Liberia, Ghana, and Mali.

The unique story of the creation of the Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation

1 in every 97 people in the world is displaced by war, violence, and persecution

almost 80 million displaced people are unable to return home

34 million of those displaced are children

twice as many people are displaced now compared to 10 years ago

8.7 million people were newly displaced in 2019 alone

73% of the 80 million refugees are sheltering in counties neighboring their own

poorer countries are hosting 85% of displaced people

7 in 10 of displaced people are from Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Myanmar

68% of global forced displacement would end if crises in these countries were solved

the vast majority of displaced people are unable to rebuild their lives

in 2019, only 317,200 refugees were able to return to their country of origin and only 107,800 resettled in third countries

Bring Hope documentary, produced by Tarika Vara and Bit Finer Design Studio

“As a survivor of many wars and being a refugee for many years, I can attest that restoring Dignity and Hope are essential elements of humanitarian relief. If someone told me 29 years ago, while I was displaced, that I would one day be able to live a different life, I’m not sure that I would have believed that it was possible. Bring Hope seeks to instill Hope in people who are displaced, so that in turn, when their needs have been met, they will advocate for spreading hope for all displaced people.” Dr. Mariwan Baker, Founder and Chairman, Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation

Bring Hope’s Eight Programs

Bring Hope’s mission to restore Dignity and Hope goes beyond distributing medical supplies and aid. We have created 8 programs to help displaced people develop their lives.

2. Bring Hope Medical Aid Bring Hope delivers high quality medicine donated from western pharma companies. Bring Hope collaborates with dozens of international organizations, local NGOs, medical teams, clinics, hospitals, as well as the ministry of health, to ensure that the donated medicines are efficiently used for the most vulnerable groups of people.

5. Bring Hope Sportsis a high impact social development model in collaboration with Erbil Sports Club. This partnership provides an opportunity to refugees to play in Iraq Division One football. As 4-time champions of the Iraqi Premier League, Erbil Sport club is a source of pride and inspiration to the Iraqi-Kurdish people and gives displaced children and adults a sense of belonging.

Bring Hope Leadership and Board of Directors

Bring Hope has grown from one man into a talented group of highly skilled people all around the world who share a passion for bringing hope.

Mariwan Baker, PhD was born in Northern Iraq in 1973. During the Kuwait war, he became a Kurdish refugee, trapped in the mountain area between Iraq and Iran. At age 19 he migrated to Sweden and lived in eight different refugee camps outside of Stockholm. Dr. Baker personally witnessed the 8 year Iran-Iraq war, the chemical attack on Halabja, the Kuwait war, and the massive Kurdish exodus during the first Gulf war. After settling in Sweden, he earned two master’s degrees and a PhD, and worked as a medical scientist in radiation oncology in Scandinavia. In 2015 Dr. Baker abandoned a 10 year clinical career treating cancer patients in Scandinavia and founded Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation.

Robert Blum has been an active philanthropist for many years. In 2004 Mr. Blum created Le Cercle Diplomatique de Genève (CDGE) to promote intellectual exchange and dialogue between diplomats, representatives of civil society, and business leaders. As President and CEO of the CDGE he works to integrate many segments of society including leaders of political parties, countries, corporations and those operating at high ranking levels. Mr. Blum has received many honors, recognitions and awards including Légion d´Honneur, the highest decoration in France, Cavalieri from the Italian government, and Grand Commodore and President of the Order of Lafayette. Mr. Blum functions as Administrator and CEO of many companies and serves as a member of the Management Board or representative for many others.

Catherine van Kampen Esq. is an American-trained attorney with 20 years of commercial and international litigation experience. Catherine has been a champion of social change and justice, particularly for immigrant and refugee women and children with whom she has privately worked since 1997. A committed humanitarian, Catherine was honored as the 2018 Ambassador Medalist at the New Jersey Governor’s Jefferson Awards for Outstanding Public Service for her international humanitarian and pro bono work with refugees. In 2020, as a member of the New City Bar Association’s United Nations Committee and African Affairs Committee, she spearheaded the highly successful New York City Bar’s International Law Conference on the Status of Women.

Margaretta Colangelo is President of U1 Technologies, an enterprise software company, and Co-founder and CEO of Jthereum, an enterprise Blockchain company. She has worked in Silicon Valley at the forefront of emerging technologies for over 30 years. She was a core member of the team that developed the first Java based secure messaging software for stock trading platforms used by the world’s top multinational banks, and has influenced important technical specifications and standards, including JDBC and JMS that have helped advance the technology industry. Margaretta serves on the advisory boards of the AI Precision Health Institute at the University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center, Ageing Research at King’s College London, Nanomedicine company NaNotics, and First Longevity.

Leyla Celebi is an engineer with over 15 years of leadership and software experience. Throughout her career, she has focused on developing, launching, and growing profitable product portfolios in software, wireless semiconductor, Internet of Things, telecommunications, and automotive industries. She is the founder of the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society at Kansas State University and has served as the Technical Committee Chair of various consortiums in Silicon Valley. Throughout her professional career, she has focused on diversity, inclusion, and has been an advocate encouraging women and under-represented students to pursue STEM careers. She loves boxing, gardening, giving back to the community, cooking, and art.

Dr. Michelle Sanders is a licensed psychologist in New York and Texas and has a private practice in Austin, Texas. She specializes in treating children, adolescents, and adults who have experienced trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Dr. Sanders received her M.S. Ed. And Psy.D. in School Clinical Child Psychology from Pace University in New York City. She has held faculty positions at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Pace University. Dr. Sanders has worked on humanitarian projects in several countries throughout the Middle East and South America and speaks fluent Spanish. Most recently, Dr. Sanders has made several trips to Kurdistan to provide therapeutic interventions for Yezidis and has trained local psychologists to diagnose and treat trauma.

Bring Hope Partners Worldwide

Bring Hope is able to help millions of people because of the generous support of over 40 partners around the world who donate medicines and supplies and help distribute them to people in need. We are very thankful for the generosity and dedication of our partners.

Join Us and Help Us Bring Hope!

Bring Hope is a global movement dedicated to bringing hope to millions of displaced people around the world who are in dire need of basic commodities, support, and skills to restore dignity, a sense of belonging, and achieve a decent life. Bring Hope is a non-governmental, non-profit organization with a mission to alleviate suffering and to Bring Hope back into people’s lives. The one thing that can really help people to believe in the future is hope. Join us to bring hope to millions of people around the world!

How can I become involved and help as a volunteer ? You can donate your time and skills by sending an email to info@bringhopefoundation.org. Please provide us with your CV and your field of interest so that we can match you with an appropriate project.

You can donate your time and skills by sending an email to info@bringhopefoundation.org. Please provide us with your CV and your field of interest so that we can match you with an appropriate project. Does Bring Hope have internships ? Yes, we have internships.

Yes, we have internships. Can I send goods to support Bring Hope? Yes! Bring Hope accepts in-kind donations.

Yes! Bring Hope accepts in-kind donations. Does Bring Hope accept monetary donations ? Yes, monetary donations are used to cover transportation costs of donated goods, handling fees, and provide supplies.

Yes, monetary donations are used to cover transportation costs of donated goods, handling fees, and provide supplies. Are my donations tax deductible? Yes, in the USA Bring Hope has Tax-exempt 501 © (3) Code: ID# 31954

Yes, in the USA Bring Hope has Tax-exempt 501 © (3) Code: ID# 31954 How is my donation used and distributed? Your donation will be used based on your wishes. Bring Hope’s strength is that each dollar you donate gives $20 in value of goods right in the hands of the people in need.

This article was written by Margaretta Colangelo . Margaretta serves on the Board of Directors of Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation. Margaretta is Co-founder and CEO of Jthereum, an enterprise Blockchain technology company, and President of U1Technologies and enterprise software company. Margaretta serves on the Advisory Boards of the AI Precision Health Institute at the University of Hawai’i Cancer Center and Ageing Research AI at King’s College London. She is based in San Francisco.

To contact Bring Hope please visit our website. We would be happy to hear from you!

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