We have had a friendly relationship with the “Käthes Nest” kindergarten in our neighborhood in Zeppelinstrasse for some time now. Together with Ms. Käding, the head of the kindergarten, a group of children visited our premises on September 1.
After the children had had a look around the garden under the guidance of Michael Magon, they set about harvesting elderberries and blackberries. The result was a large crate full. As a thank you, we later received a few jars of wonderful jam.
On 27.08.2009, our employees from the gardening department took a trip to the Herrenhausen Gardens.
The AWO had provided a minibus so that we could set off early in the morning. The weather was at its best and the plants were in full bloom. During the walk through the large gardens, we talked shop and were able to get lots of inspiration.
A visit to the grotto designed by French artist Niki de Saint Phalle and the large fountain were two of the highlights. A visit to the garden restaurant rounded off the visit.
On August 18 and 21, 2009, we supported the non-profit organization “Sustainably against Hunger – Contre Le Faim” in Göttingen in packing 2 40′ containers to be transported to Abidjan, the capital of the Ivory Coast.
We dismantled a complete microbiology laboratory from the Institute of Microbiology and Genetics at the Georg-August University in Göttingen – this is to be replaced by a new acquisition. The recipient of this laboratory equipment with 50 workstations is the Université Abobo-Adjame in Abidjan. In future, students from the Ivory Coast will be trained there. This project was prepared and coordinated by Dr. Angelica Saavedra, board member of the Göttingen association, during a visit to Abidjan five weeks ago.
We also loaded a rebuildable prototype for a manioc mill developed from scrap metal in our metal workshop. This is destined for the Blokosso women’s cooperative in Abidjan. The women there produce attike, a cassava grits whose quality is praised throughout the country.
We also loaded children’s chairs donated by AWO Hildesheim. These chairs are intended for the elementary school in Taabo, which is still under construction. Taabo is located about 250 km north of Abidjan in the interior of the country. We also loaded cartons of screws, nails, sanitary items, pumps, masonry tools, leatherworking tools, jigsaws, hammer drills, vises and a pillar drill, as well as 10 sets of tools for wood and metal – a total of 2194 items excluding nails and screws and the 10 sets of tools, all of which had been donated to us and refurbished by our workshops. These donations are destined for the Abel Center for street children in Grand Bassam, a suburb of Adidjan, which is run by Italian monks, and a craftsmen’s center.
Once again, the many donations that we received through collection campaigns by the DGB local branch in Sehnde and the Volkssolidarität Potsdam as well as many individual donors have been put to good use.
On 13 August, we helped to transport school furniture, blackboards, computers and sewing machines to Banjul / Gambia. We contributed 20 refurbished treadle sewing machines from donations we had received, and the AWO Hildesheim also brought 22 children’s school chairs.
Heinz Dombrowski from the Steimke youth workshop of the Albert Schweitzer Family Organisation in Uslar contacted us in the spring of this year on the recommendation of the workshop school in Hanover. He supports the activities of DBO (see link) and found support from us for the plan to support the Ceesay Nursery School in The Gambia, which was built by DBO, with school furniture refurbished in the Steimke youth workshop.
We helped with the transport from Uslar to our workshop, packed the donations, some of which were delivered from Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt on 12 August, organised the sea transport and customs documents and then loaded them on 13 August 2009.
Mr Hertsch from Hildesheim customs checked the load, compared the contents with the packing list and sealed the 40′ container.
The container ship with our cargo is due to arrive in Banjul on 9 September.
Further information here.
As part of the partnership between the church district of Hildesheim-Sarstedt and the diocese of Singida, which has now been running for 30 years, many events are being organised in Hildesheim and the district. A delegation of pastors, teachers and craftsmen from Tanzania, who were invited by the church district and its parishes to mark this anniversary, will take centre stage.
On Wednesday, 12 August 2009, this delegation, accompanied by Christiania Stieghorst, visited us. Mrs Stieghorst and her husband Gerhard have dedicated a large part of their lives to the partnership with the Singida region – including the partnerships between the Robert Bosch Comprehensive School in Hildesheim and the Scharnhorstgymnasium with schools in Ihanja, Issuna and the Iambi Secondary School.
Arbeit und Dritte Welt has been supporting these partnerships since 1998 by helping to collect and pack donations and load containers with relief supplies.
We have also procured, repaired and painted used containers – these are used as storage facilities in Tanzania. As Mrs Stieghorst speaks Kishuaheli, the national language of Tanzania, very well, we had the opportunity to understand and answer the many questions of our guests and to report on our work in Hildesheim.
It was an impressive visit!
On 19 August 2009, an exhibition on the 30-year partnership between the church district and Tanzania will be opened in Hildesheim Town Hall.
Our organisation has been working with the ‘Ambulant Help for the Homeless’ for many years. Many of our employees have received support, advice and help from Dorothea Lohbreier and the team there. For the new rooms in Hannoversche Strasse, our carpentry workshop produced a holder for the telephone in the corridor of the centre as a gift. ADW qualified social pedagogue Sabine Jäger shows that the holder is stable.
Juan Yactayo and his wife Margarita Gabriel de Yactayo from Peru visited us yesterday. They are in Germany at the invitation of Professor Peter Busmann. Architect Peter Busmann is a board member of the association ‘Heredos del Planeta – Erben der Erde Köln e.V.’. This organisation is active in Colombia and Peru. It has set itself the task of overcoming poverty through education and is aimed at young people. Juan Yactayo and his wife work in the slums of Lima.
The visit to us was organised by Moritz Bormann, Reiner Schimberle’s wife Theresa helped with the translation and our employee Bernd Oppermann provided coffee and mineral water.
Helping the waste collectors of Cairo
by improving their plastic recycling operations
Who needs help and why?
Around 7000 people live in Ezbet En-Nawwar, one of Greater Cairo’s waste collection settlements. They collect around 700 tonnes of solid waste every day in the north-east of the city, sort the recyclable materials obtained from it and also sell or recycle most of it. The livelihood of these people was destroyed when the Egyptian government decided to kill all pigs in the country in April 2009. Until then, pig farming in Egypt had been carried out almost exclusively by the mostly Coptic waste collectors, who used the collected organic waste as feed. They earned around half of their income from this sector of their recycling activities alone. After the approximately 40,000 pigs belonging to the waste collectors of Ezbet En-Nawwar were killed, the people now have to look for new ways to secure their livelihood.
Improving their plastic recycling is a particularly sensible option here. This would enable them to improve their competitiveness against the larger recycling companies in the country and create new jobs. There are currently 50 plastic recycling companies in Ezbet En-Nawwar, which are owned by waste collectors and employ around 240 people. However, they mainly have technical deficiencies and urgently need to be improved.
What is to be achieved?
– Plastic recycling should be made more efficient.
– Plastic granulate must be improved so that it sells better.
– More people should find employment.
– Workplace safety must be improved.
– The environmental impact of the companies should be reduced.
The recycling of plastic is of great importance for Egypt. Around 1 million tonnes of plastic waste are produced in the country every year. The numerous plastic factories in the country urgently need plastic granulate, some of which has to be imported from abroad, where the recycling process has already been further developed, using foreign currency.
What does it cost?
– 2000 per farm if the owners bear a third of the costs themselves
– €200 per month for project coordination and training of a
marketing specialist during the implementation of the measures.
How many farms will be helped?
Depends on the amount of financial support received (max. 50).
Further information: fouadnibrahim@aol.com; www.afrikafreundeskreis.de
Please send donations to: (small donations are also very welcome!)
Afrika-Freundeskreis e.V. Keyword:
‘Müllsammler Kairo Plastikrecycling’
Bank details: Account no. 570 005 801; sort code 773 501 10;
Sparkasse Bayreuth
IBAN: DE34773501100570005801 SWIFT-/BIC-Code BYLADEM1SBT
