Hello Friends of ESI,

We have achieved a lot in the last two years but still have far to go. We are receiving support from UNDP for our jatropha farm cooperative project that we hope will be the centerpiece of our community development initiative.

This summer, the ECOSA Sustainability Institute of Prescott, AZ, will design our community master plan that will integrate the principles promoted by the Sustainable Village Initiative. ASU’s Stardust Center will also aid in this master plan by developing architectural plans for green buildings and structures within the community.

This fall, ESI hopes to partner with Envirofit International to distribute over 10,000 cookstoves into Liberia to help save lives taken by Indoor Air Pollution (IAP), and to help decrease deforestation.

We also hope to partner with FIFA in our Development Through Football education program (DTFP) to use sport as an aid to the education of the community’s youths.

Thank you all for your tremendous support. I ask you to continue to support us. Funding is a critical issue, and without it, we cannot reach our very lofty goal to bring sustainable development to the world. Thank you and I look forward to your support today.

Sincerely,

Peter Adolphus Gbelia, Jr
Executive Director

Vessel of Hope, ACF makes generous donation to ESI

1/9/2009

ESI would like to extend a thank you to Vessel of Hope, a member of the Alaska Community Foundation for their generous donation. Since partnering with the ACF, ESI's vision has come closer and closer to reality and we value their support and friendship, and invaluable expertise in the field of development.

ESI is very appreciative of this gift and all proceeds will go toward our Sustainable Village Initiative, which is set for a May 2009 implementation.

SJedi awarded grant by ASU Technopolis

1/9/2009

ESI's SJedi, has just been rewarded a grant from ASU Technopolis and its Entrepreneurial Advantage Program (EAP), in the amount or $2,000 as part of ESI's Sustainable Village Carbon Offset Program. ESI and SJedi plan on using the money to purchase a GPS unit to map the boundaries of the project area, and to order Satellite imagery in order to analyse flora and ground vegetation as well as aid in spatial planning and remote sensing.

ESI is very appreciative of this gift and all proceeds will go toward our Sustainable Village Initiative, which is set for a May 2009 implementation.

Alaska Airlines First Officer Helps Fight Poverty With Model Eco-village in Liberia

10/13/2008

Article from AlaskaAir.com

Los Angeles-based First Officer Peter Gbelia may fly jets for a living, but the focus of his life is helping people on the other side of the world rise out of desperate poverty.

Gbelia spends most of his free time trying to help people in African villages and cities build new, sustainable communities. Empowerment Society International (ESI), a nonprofit organization he founded, recently partnered with the Ecosa Institute to design a model eco-village in Duayee, Liberia, starting in January.

Gbelia, who lives in the Phoenix area and is working on a master's degree in sustainable development from Arizona State University, has a connection to the war-torn country that dates to his childhood, when he lived there with his father... Article continued at AlaskaAir.com

Our Mission

ESI's mission is to empower individuals by promoting sustainable development in their communities. ESI was founded to empower the children of sub-Saharan Africa affected by war and conflict, and to treat, prevent, and manage aids and other diseases, to combat illiteracy, and defeat poverty. Our motto is "Building a sustainable world, one individual at a time..."

CNN Special: Child Rebels in Africa

Link to story

(CNN) -- Warlords are forcing children in conflicts around the world to become killing machines -- nothing more than what one child advocate calls "cannon fodder."

Some children are kidnapped from their schools or their beds, some are recruited after seeing their parents slaughtered, some may even choose to join the militias as their best hope for survival in war-torn countries from Colombia, and across Africa and the Middle East, to south Asia. (click here for full story)

 

Pilot heads to war-torn Liberia to help homeland

December 30th, 2007

By Christy True (AlaskaAir.com)

Article from AlaskaAir.com

The story of Peter Gbelia, an LAX-based first officer, reads like a compelling novel or a blockbuster feature film.

Born in Spokane, Wash., he lived five years of his childhood with his father in Liberia after his parents separated. He returned to the United States in 1982 just as civil war was breaking out in the troubled country. He went on to become a successful Air Force officer and now a pilot with Alaska Airlines. Click here to view full article at AlaskaAir.com