International Foundation of Hope,Afghanistan,international,foundaion,hope,Hope,Jalalabad,Afghanistan

IFHope Team

Founder/President

IFHope's main project area is in the eastern region of Afghanistan.

Asia is a living body, and Afghanistan its heart

In the ruin of the heart lies the ruin of the body

So long as the heart is free, the body
remains free

If not, it becomes a straw adrift in the wind.

~ Mohammed Iqbal
Muslim Poet, written in the late 19th century

Afghan Hospitality

Hospitality runs deep in the Afghan culture and farm visits always bring offers of tea. On a recent visit to a farm near Jalalabad, lunch was waiting under the shade of eucalyptus trees.

The table is a blanket laid on the ground and naan (bread) hot from the tandoor oven is set out as edible plates.

Everyday lunch for most Afghans is a simple affair, but on special occasions may include chicken and lamb kebabs, okra, eggplant and tomatoes.  A local version of a national favorite is Kabuli pilau, a rice dish with raisins and sweetened carrots that also serves as a delicious bed for slow roasted beef or chicken.

Yaya is the cook at the IFHope office in Kabul and makes the best pilau in town.

A school boy asks Jim
Du Bruille to check his homework.

James and Kimberly Ritchie with two of their three children

James Ritchie
Since his childhood in Kabul, James Ritchie’s commitment to the Afghan people has been passionate. As CEO of IFHope since 1998, Ritchie has inspired and created a host of successful relief and reconstruction projects, which currently include The Hope School in Kabul and the country’s largest tree nursery in Jalalabad, as well as a sister city relationship between Jalalabad and San Diego. His advocacy for a democratic and self-sufficient Afghanistan is well-known in Washington DC and in Kabul.

James, his wife Kimberly and their three young children live in Afghanistan several months a year. Kimberly is trained as a teacher and works with the Hope School in Kabul and on textile projects.

Senior Staff

Afzal Rashid (Kabul)
Country Director

Recently in Afghanistan, Rashid was advisor to the Economic Governance Project of USAID. He has acted as a Deputy Minister of Finance in the absence of one of the three deputies, he was on the steering committee organizing the Berlin Conference convened for the reconstruction of Afghanistan, and participated in drafting the constitution of Afghanistan. Rashid also established the International Development Law Organization's (IDLO) Afghanistan representative office in Kabul.

Additionally, Rashid is a co-author of a textbook in spoken Pashtu and a book on the environment of Afghanistan. He lectures extensively on the issues of Afghan politics and is the founding editor of a newsletter published in three languages.

Jim Du Bruille (Jalalabad)
Chief of Operations

Du Bruille has been with IFHope in Afghanistan since 2002. His ties to Afghanistan go back to 1981 when he worked with a refugee relief organization focusing on Afghans in the NWFP of Pakistan.

Jim taught agricultural economics and financial management for twelve years in a nationally recognized program serving Washington’s tree fruit industry at Wenatchee Valley College. He also served for two years as associate dean of instruction in charge of 18 technical and professional programs. He is internationally regarded as an agricultural economist in tree fruit production and has given a number of presentations at national and international tree fruit conferences. He holds a graduate degree in International Agricultural Development from the University of California at Davis.

Jim's work in Afghanistan has been reported frequently in his hometown newspaper since 1995.

Ahmad Said
Director of Agriculture, Ahmad Said was working at Tarnab Research Station in Peshawar, Pakistan when he came to IFHope to establish the drip irrigation demonstration. He quickly became indespensible and was hired by IFHope in 2003. Ahmad has earned a reputation as one of the of the most competent agricultural professionals in the province.