In two decades, Humanity First has quickly grown into a leading international human development and disaster relief organization impacting more than 4.5 million lives. But when we were founded in the UK in 1995, it was to tackle just one terrible problem: The Bosnian Crisis.
With the breakdown and fracturing of former Yugoslavia, Bosnia was in the midst of a bloody civil war. Civilians were desperately in need of disaster relief supplies, and Bosniaks in particular were in crisis, under assault from a vicious campaign of ethnic cleansing by nationalist Serbian forces.
Volunteers from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community knew that this wasn’t a crisis that could wait. Refugees were traumatized, dislocated and in incredible danger. They desperately needed help, not just in the form of donations, but also on-the-ground support.
That belief in our obligation to safeguard human life and dignity — not just with words, but with immediate action — was the seed of Humanity First. And we’ve been honored to watch that seed grow into an international disaster relief and development organization, powered by a diverse group of volunteers united by the same vision.
