Current News
September 28, 2023
READATHON in Aussenkehr I Namibia
This reading marathon is all about books, reading and writing for a week
The "Readathon" is an annual nationwide reading week in Namibia initiated by the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture and organised by the Namibia Library and Archives Services (NLAS), during which children and young people in their schools undertake to read various quantities and types of reading material in order to improve their reading skills. The project week is often accompanied by a colorful program of creative activities, games or plays. With a variety of read-aloud activities, the aim is to awaken the children's fascination for books, their stories, and for books as a source of knowledge. For many students, this intensive practice provides an important boost to a fluent reading flow and also motivates them in the long term to have a positive approach to books.
An initiative that is entirely in keeping with the spirit of our foundation! After all, we see the promotion of reading for children and young people as our central foundation purpose. We are pleased to see that the education and cultural authorities in Namibia are paying so much attention to this important topic and that the children at our cooperation school in Aussenkehr had so much fun at this year's Readathon. Our special thanks go to Hilka Malakia, our long-term volunteer and trained librarian, who organized these project days with a lot of passion and commitment for the students in Aussenkehr.
One more motivation for us to work together with our partners in Germany and Namibia for a new library for Aussenkehr. If you would like to support this project in terms of content, material or personally, we would be happy to hear from you. Donations can be transferred directly and easily via our betterplace.org donation account. Thank you very much!
May 14, 2023
4th Stakeholder Meeting in Außenkehr (Namibia)
Constructive exchange, groundbreaking discussions and warm encounters
On May 11th our annual project conference took place in the Norotshama Lodge in Außenkehr Farm. More than 20 participants from Namibia, South Africa and Germany accepted the invitation of our foundation in person or via video call to find out about the developments of our commitment on site, to critically examine it and to develop new forward-looking ideas and visions. In addition to reports from the project work, the two topics "Construction of a new library" and "Life Skills" were the focus of our workshops this year.
We would like to thank everyone involved for their time and their interesting input and look forward to being able to draw many valuable ideas for our work with the children and young people on site.
May 14, 2023
4th Stakeholder Meeting in Außenkehr (Namibia)
Constructive exchange, groundbreaking discussions and warm encounters
On May 11th our annual project conference took place in the Norotshama Lodge in Außenkehr Farm. More than 20 participants from Namibia, South Africa and Germany accepted the invitation of our foundation in person or via video call to find out about the developments of our commitment on site, to critically examine it and to develop new forward-looking ideas and visions. In addition to reports from the project work, the two topics "Construction of a new library" and "Life Skills" were the focus of our workshops this year.
We would like to thank everyone involved for their time and their interesting input and look forward to being able to draw many valuable ideas for our work with the children and young people on site.
March 14, 2023
Including tactile guided tours for the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
An innovative concept now also opens up an active and experience-oriented visit to the museum for people with visual impairments.
Like other museums in the state, the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart also offers special educational offers for people with disabilities. In addition to tactile and hands-on stations for children, young people and adults, more and more formats are being integrated here to give people with dementia, cognitive limitations or visual and hearing impairments access to art and culture.
Our foundation is currently supporting the State Gallery's inclusion offer with two free tactile tours: "Between ideal and abstraction - the human figure from classicism to modernity" using the example of works by Otto Freundlich and Henri Matisse - as well as the exhibition "Hello Oskar! Or: How does the Triadic Ballet dance?”. During the tour, people with visual impairments can experience the expressions of the works of art through their hands using specially made models and are thus given a chance to grasp the expressions of visual objects.
"With its inclusion concept, the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart impressively shows how museums can find ways and opportunities with creative ideas and great commitment to implement inclusion and accessibility and how people with and without disabilities can participate in an experience-oriented visit to the museum," said State Secretary Arne Braun on Thursday, April 2. March 2023, in Stuttgart. "I am convinced that the inclusive offers developed by the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart not only open up the way for as many people with disabilities as possible to the Staatsgalerie, but also motivate them to come back again and again."
September 12, 2022
Sincere condolences
On Sunday, February 19, 2023, our volunteer Natalie M. died in a tragic car accident in South Africa.
Natalie has been supporting our work in Paternoster since the beginning of January and was on a weekend trip with two of her teammates when, due to unfortunate circumstances, the car left the road and overturned several times. Any help came too late for Natalie; the other two young women were able to get out of the vehicle with minor injuries. Our sincere condolences and sympathy are with Natalie's parents, who came to Paternoster to understand this immeasurable stroke of fate and to say a fitting farewell to their daughter together with the children and staff of Paternoster. The farewell service in St. Augustine's Anglican Church also provided an opportunity for this. Our project manager Maike Reinhardt immediately traveled to Paternoster to be there for all concerns and to be the contact person for the parents and the volunteer team in this difficult situation.
We all mourn Natalie. She loved nature and people and came to South Africa to leave a positive mark in this world with her big heart. She succeeded.
October 4, 2022
Our contribution to the Namibia Conference at the PH Freiburg
The Außenkehr Volunteer Project as a successful example of German-Namibian cooperation
On October 1, 2022, more than 120 representatives from education, politics and development aid came together at the Freiburg University of Education to take part in the conference "Towards Humanizing the Future. Justice in the Shadow of Colonialism. A transformative learning approach" to exchange information about current developments in German-Namibian cooperation.
Our foundation participated in this forum with a 90-minute workshop, which was based on our commitment at the Außenkehr Primary School and here in particular the focus on "Teaching life skills through volunteers". To get in the mood for the topic, we were able to use the recently produced, at the same time emotional as well as informative documentation of Namibian television about our Aussenkehr Volunteers Project. Four of our former volunteers then reported vividly on their experiences with the children and colleagues on site. In the third and last part of the workshop, the participants were invited to discuss the following topics in small groups: Which LifeSkills are there that influence our lives? Which reward systems have proven to be performance-enhancing? And what approaches are known or conceivable for supporting children with learning delays?
In addition to many exciting discussions and results, one life skill stood out because it was mentioned particularly frequently: cooking! Overall, the topic of life skills stimulated extensive discussion, which we took as an opportunity to open a discussion forum. In this way, everyone involved can also collect exciting ideas for their work at our project schools afterwards.
September 12, 2022
Beginning of a new collaboration
With the "Swellendam Project" we welcome another cooperation partner in southern Africa.
The combination of social commitment with an already recognized learning experience is the common feature of the existing programs that were set up with the support of our foundation in Paternoster/South Africa and Außenkehr/Namibia. It builds on the cooperation with some educational institutions in Germany, South Africa and Namibia.
The two students, who will be developing an environmental education program in Swellendam from October 2022, are part of a network of students working across southern Africa, sharing their experiences through joint briefings and sharing best practices as part of an alumni network can complement each other in the future.
We wish the activities in Swellendam every success and look forward to the first reports, which we will also take into account in our media communication in the future.
April 29, 2022
Our foundation celebrates its 10th anniversary
Greeting from the founder Christian Neuber:
When I decided ten years ago, in 2011, to set up the foundation “Promote children – create a future”, I had no idea what a Herculean task I was getting involved in. We started very small, built up our reading promotion program "LeseAlarm" with little means, supported the development of the "Youth Non-Fiction Prize" and the groundbreaking scientific work of Prof. Dr. Jürgen Belgrade on the subject of “promoting reading through reading aloud”. All projects that are manageable in terms of time and finances. Then, in 2005, I sold my shares in the publishing house and used part of the proceeds from the sale to increase the financial means for the foundation´s work.
The aim of our foundation work has always been to give something back to those with whom I had earned my money in my entrepreneurial activity as a publisher of childrens magazines and childrens books: the children. And then Jaco, a friend from South Africa, got in touch and made it clear to me that the children from Africa shouldn´t be forgotten in this foundations purpose and that we could best start in Paternoster/South Africa.
That was the beginning of the "Paternoster Volunteer Project". In this project, students from the teacher training colleges in Weingarten, Freiburg and Heidelberg, the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University and students from the University of Stellenbosch/South Africa accompany children in paternosters in academic programs lasting several months. They help them in and out of school so that they don´t lose touch and they receive an education that allows them to stay in their home country and finance their own livelihood there. A concept that knows at least two winners: On the one hand, the children in Africa who receive extraordinary interpersonal and sustainable support from young people. On the other hand, these young people themselves: the now more than 100 students from Germany who, in the final phase of their studies on another continent and in a foreign culture, can gain practical experience in the social and educational field, which will only be to their advantage in their future professional practice can suffice.
This is how our foundation developed from a small, contemplative reading support program into an ambitious academic support project. And finally the time came when politics and industry recognized and promoted our extraordinarily pragmatic and highly efficient approach. The Ministry of Education, Research and Science from Baden-Württemberg, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Porsche AG, to name just a few, became important partners and sponsors. And that in turn meant that the projects became more and more complex and extensive.
In the meantime, students no longer just go to South Africa for a few months because of our idea, no, we have now extended the project to Namibia. There we apply everything that has proven to be successful in South Africa and in this way we are now also giving many children in Außenkehr/Namibia the chance to plan a promising future.
Since we have been appointed as a training partner by the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University, which is a great honor for us, we are now able to offer an international course. We have created a training program in which particularly talented children from Africa are offered an apprenticeship in Schwäbisch Hall, including accommodation and meals. This offers them the opportunity to learn a trade which they can then practice after their return to their home country and thus finance their livelihood.
We are currently in the process of building a small, modern and well-equipped library in Außenkehr/Namibia in cooperation with the University of Windhoek.
READING IS AND STILL REMAINS THE CENTRAL TOPIC OF OUR FOUNDATIONS ACTIVITIES!
We are therefore particularly pleased that the “LeseAlarm” mentioned at the beginning is becoming ever larger thanks to the great voluntary initiative of Anja Engel and is now also attracting attention throughout Germany. So, within the last ten years, the delicate little plant of a small foundation has grown into a complex, highly efficient and cost-conscious foundation system that achieves a great deal with little staff.
I would like to thank all those who worked so hard. First and foremost Maike Reinhardt as project manager. Then the advisory board members Dagmar Freitag, Johannes Hauenstein, Dr. Fritz Wehrle and Prof. Arnold van Zyl, the board in Paternoster, the supporters of the universities and ministries, the Wolfgang & Gudrun Eichler Foundation from Karlsruhe and the numerous supporters from the citizenship and industry who regularly support our work.
It fills me with pride what we have achieved here within ten years and I look forward to being able to celebrate this with you!
