German AIDS Foundation
The German AIDS Foundation is not only involved in improving the living conditions of HIV positive people and AIDS patients in Germany, but has extended its work since 2000 to include South Africa. “We see AIDS as a global challenge and want to help reduce the suffering this illness causes in Africa as well,” explains Ulrich Heide, the foundation’s managing director. The foundation is currently supporting five different project organizers in South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique. “Our work in southern Africa focuses on AIDS orphans, pregnant women and children.” In Mozambique, for instance, support is given to a clinical centre for HIV positive pregnant women. The success is stunning: of approximately 700 babies born there each year less than 2% are infected with the virus. Another treatment centre cares for about 300 sick children. In Namibia schooling is supported for 500 AIDS orphans, and in South Africa the foundation finances training programmes and street theatre to raise awareness about the illness. The money for the projects comes almost exclusively from private donations. Numerous prominent people, such as actor Hape Kerkeling (photograph) support the work.
www.aids-stiftung.de
Masifunde Educational Support
“We believe that education is the key to solving almost all social problems,” says Jonas Schuhmacher, the founder of Masifunde. The Masifunde team consists of about 30 students and young professionals from Germany, all of whom have spent lengthy periods in South Africa. Together with their organization they are carrying out educational work in a township in South Africa’s Port Elizabeth – and they have already notched up some considerable achievements: 32 children are being supported though sponsorships, 100 participate in an extracurricular support programme and another 100 children profit indirectly from Masifunde-funded partner projects, such as a kindergarten. In addition to financing the projects, Masifunde also arranges placements in Port Elizabeth for interns from Germany. They work together with the local staff in looking after the children and young people. In this way, Masifunde’s mutual support scheme promotes cultural interchange and understanding between peoples. And this is why the organization received the prestigious Marion Dönhoff Award for International Understanding and Reconciliation in 2008.
www. masifunde.de
Betterplace
Mosquito nets to protect people from malaria in Tanzania, dry toilets to improve hygienic conditions in Namibia and training for midwives to reduce infant mortality in Malawi are just three of some 300 humanitarian aid projects in Africa for which betterplace has sought and found supporters. The Internet platform enables private organizations and initiatives to present their projects in Germany and throughout the world and support their fundraising efforts. So far around 300,000 euros have been collected for projects in Africa through the website. The idea of the platform actually originated in Africa. Till Behnke, the founder and CEO of betterplace, studied in South Africa. During his two years at the University of Cape Town he was involved in a housing project in a local township. This experience changed his life. “I met many people in South Africa who were filled with hope despite their difficult situation. They were searching for ways to a better life. We want to help to carry this hope out into the world through betterplace. Anyone who is interested can become involved in social projects in Africa via our Internet platform – it’s simple, transparent and sustainable.”
www.betterplace.org
Kolpingwerk Altenhundem
Thirty-six beds, two doctors, two midwives, twelve nurses and around 200,000 treated patients: these are the facts and figures of the Kolping Hospital in Agbanto, Benin. The success story began in the 1980s, at a restaurant in the Sauerland, when Marcellin Djanato, a student from Benin, met Günter and Marianne Werthmann. The chance encounter turned into a friendship that continued after the student had completed his studies and returned home. “One day Marcellin asked us whether we could send some medicines, because his family had fallen ill with malaria,” recalls Günter Werthmann. Together with the newly founded Kolpingwerk Altenhundem Entwicklungshilfe development organization the Werthmanns supported the construction of a hospital in Agbanto. Donations, ranging from beds to an x-ray machine, were organized and shipped out, and the hospital opened in 1998. Since then the organization has financed the salaries and part of the running costs. Günther and Marianne Werthmann were awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for their dedication, and Benin named Günter Wertheim “honorary king”.
www.entwicklungshilfe-lennestadt.de
Dreyer Foundation
During a visit to Burkina Faso in the early 1990s, Gisbert Dreyer quickly recognized that a shortage of water was the biggest problem confronting Dano in the south west of the country. The businessman from Munich decided to do something about it, so he built a dam. What initially began as a project has now developed into a foundation that finances numerous projects in Dano. “We lay the foundations the people need, so that they can improve their own lives themselves,” says Gisbert as he explains the foundation’s aims. This work also includes the modernization of agriculture: 90 families have been helped to irrigate their fields and improve their cultivation methods. The foundation also supports agricultural research projects and invites German scientists to Dano. The third area of work is education. The foundation has financed the complete renovation of two schools in Dano and is responsible for providing school meals to 1,000 children. All of the foundation’s projects count on cooperation with the local authorities, because the aim is to focus on financing projects that really are needed. “We hope very much that our work will act as an example to others,” says Gisbert Dreyer who is hoping for imitators.
www.dreyerstiftung.de
