Africa - always somewhere in my mind. The recurring question why life fulfills me many wishes, while others port 60kg of stones every day and fight death every second arises. How can I change this unfairness?

 

I live with these thoughts every day and decided  not to leave answers to excuses like faith or something alike. On the contrary I want to reach out and be active. I wished to dedicate my surplus of energy for a good  purpose and  went to Ghana with my good friend Katharina . In 2011 Katharina stayed in Walewale, a little village in the North of Ghana. During her stay, she started to build an orphanage and education center for women with a local pastor. Together we went to the village to finish the construction work and to prepare it for its first inhabitants.  We did this in the name of the jointly founded club L.I.F.T

 

It was our plan to dedicate this house for primary educational purposes, as we saw education as the asset we could give to others to help them become independent and sustainable.

 

The house was built with money raised through Charity Events such as flee markets, tea and cake parties, a Charity Concert with famous Austrian comedians and singers. We also organized some partner ships for some children and started to contact Foundations.

 

Overall we collected more than 48.000€ and soon had the first inhabitants moving in. Around 10 children and three women were guided by a teacher couple, who was responsible for their education and physical well-being.

 

During our stay in Walewale, I got the chance to teach 3 little girls mathematical skills myself. This experience will always stay with me. Being urged to continue teaching and assigning more homework filled me with joy and I loved witnessing progress among the little ones.

 

It made me sad to see that such a high amount of potential is being dismissed in these countries and I promised myself to make people aware of it.

 

Therefore we continued with the project and became more popular in Austria. In July 2013 my friend Katharina went to see further progress and to set new goals for the following years.

 

After some complications in the collaboration with the Ghanaian pastor, we were forced to stop the project in this specific way and were looking for alternatives. We found our best alternative in the cooperation with the Austrian charity organisation Braveaurora,  an organization based in the village Guabuliga in the North of Ghana. It is their aim to provide the village with enough skills to become independent.

 

Through the cooperation with Braveaurora we could establish the house we built as a school for children and as an educational center for women.

 

It has always given me a lot of energy to work with the people in Ghana and it was wonderful to see the children’s smile and the women’s forthcoming self-confidence.

 

I hope to contribute my energy also in the future, to make the world a more educated and interrelated one.