After many years of war and oppression, the Kurds have opened their borders and the leaders of the community have extended a call for Westerners to come and work among them. In response to this invitation, Global Hope is constructing the Freedom Center, its primary development project in Kurdistan of Iraq. The aim of this large-scale community center is to be a “net” for building relationships with the Kurdish people, meeting their expressed needs, and sharing God’s love. This project will serve as a vehicle to accomplish Global Hope’s greater vision of holistic community transformation.

Freedom Center will be home to five businesses: a coffee shop and internet café, business center, English language school, sports and recreational facility, and copy center. Additional facilities will include a library, family park and playground, offices, and women’s center. Freedom Center, with its multiple facilities, will meet the community’s expressed needs for learning English, developing professional and leadership skills, and training. It will act as a hub for community growth through educational, medical, economic, and social development. Each of the services within the facility will benefit a varying population allowing Freedom Center to be a strategic crossroads for every segment of Kurdish society.

Students, professionals, government leaders, women, children, and families will converge at the Freedom Center. Situated across the street from one of Kurdistan’s largest universities, it will function as a “hang out” for countless students looking to connect with others. In addition, women, children, and other vulnerable peoples will be provided with an opportunity for personal growth, skill development, education, and social interaction. Freedom Center offers one of the very few culturally appropriate environments for these marginalized people to engage in activities outside the four walls of their homes. For these and many others, the Freedom Center will make available the opportunities they have only hoped for. No center of its scale and scope exists in the entire region, and is highly valued by the regional government and the growing local community.

Ultimately, Freedom Center is not about bricks and mortar, but rather about the people who will enter its doors. It represents literally thousands from the local community, men and women, young and old, professionals and tradesmen who would otherwise never experience its benefits or be exposed to the Truth. Freedom Center represents the mobilization of hundreds of believers to this harvest field who will have a strategic and unique outlet for incarnating and sharing the Hope. As the people of Iraq look forward to a brighter future, we believe Freedom Center will play a vital role in changing this nation – one life at a time.