Shlama! My name is Anthony Dawood. I'm a proud first-generation Assyrian-American who is mildly obsessed with the preservation of this precious culture. Read on to find out what I'm doing with that.

 

In the summer of 2023, I traveled to northern Iraq not as a tourist, but as an Assyrian. What I saw forever changed me.

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I visited villages filled with history, faith, and beauty, yet missing something as basic as reliable electricity. Schools and churches operated in stifling heat. Power outages were a daily reality. Despite their resilience, the people were held back by a lack of infrastructure. For the first time, I truly felt the burden of distance, the weight of what it means to be part of a diaspora.

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When I returned to the United States, I couldn't shake what I saw. As someone who works in solar and energy storage at EG4 Electronics, I knew I could do more than just reflect — I could act. I could power a solution.

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That's how The Shimsha Project was born, named after the Assyrian word for "sun." It started as a simple idea: help just one village with one need. But it quickly evolved into a mission with a clear three-part vision:

Power. Retain. Grow.

We will first power schools, churches, and homes with solar air conditioning and backup systems. In doing so, we’ll help retain the families still living in Assyria by improving quality of life. And eventually, we believe we can grow these communities again, not just in numbers, but in hope.

This is personal. This is possible. And this is just the beginning.