The name NEHEMIA stems from the biblical personality Nehemiah, who was a leader in Israel after the people's return from the Babylonian exile. He lived about 450 BC and helped to rebuild his country with practical work as well as through spiritual and social reforms.

At the beginning, 1991 there was suddenly an “open” country, which gave us the opportunity to contribute to the positive development of the community. After the breakdown of the communism, there was a vacuum of identity, and a real human tragedy in Albania, a country in the middle of Europe. Our first step was to lend immediate support by transporting food and clothing to people in Albania and other Balkan countries fi ghting for their survival. Quickly we realized that the people in this area needed much more than just food and clothing. They needed help and support in building their own society. They needed help to become capable of helping themselves and not depending on others for the long term. We were very aware of the fact that it is not a personal decision into which country a person is born and raised. We realized our responsibility to help those in need, and to share our material richness and our values with these people. Very soon it became clear that something had to happen to guarantee their survival and sustainability.

Our goal was to help people by making them capable of helping themselves, and building their future society founded on strong values.

While we were starting to do that, people were observing, and they asked us to justify the reasons and motivation of our involvement. This gave us the chance to share our motivation, and our Christian values with them, without putting pressure on anybody. We have faith and believe we can realize things - through God’s help - that seem only dreamlike, illusory or ideal to many others. It’s just like seed in the ground that, when properly cared for and nurtured, will grow strong and true. Though our dreams are big, we clearly do have a step-by-step approach, which invites many people to join us on our journey for a better world in this region. The NEHEMIA mission has been developing through the years and has been extended into different aspects of life. During three critical phases since 1991 in the history of Albania, we have played an important role for the people of our community. In 1991, right after the collapse of communism, NEHEMIA was present serving to the needs of the people and distributing relief repeatedly in several areas of the country. In 1997, during the uprisings caused by the breakdown of several financial pyramid schemes, NEHEMIA remained in the country and assisted in many different sectors of a very anarchistic society. As the Kosovo refugee crisis emerged in 1999, in cooperation with the government, the UNHCR and other international organizations, NEHEMIA accommodated almost 3000 refugees and assisted the authorities taking responsibility to manage several issues at a time.

We realize we are not in the position to change everything that is needed or wanted, but we aim to have reasonable and significant benchmarks that can be achieved and built on.

Our work is based on a focused vision and mission, with clear goals and a detailed strategy, which includes detailed implementation plans for the short and the long-term. Our strategy and our mission are based on our experiences in different aspects of our work, both spiritual and practical, as well as the successful cooperation we have established with other Christian and secular organizations within the communities where we work. During this time, we have been able to create a network of counselors, each highly noted in their field of contribution at international levels. Since the beginning, we have had a focus on developing local people to become a professional staff who reflect and adopt our values. We want to make them capable of influencing their own society based on our mission, and prepare them for the upcoming challenges they will face. Today, most projects are managed and led by local, well trained and experienced leaders. Several of them now are even able to take over top leadership positions also in other enterprises.