…..how it all began…….
I travelled to the African continent for the first time on a trip to Kenya more than 27 years ago, and since then I have been infected with the “Africa virus”.

Over the years, countries such as Namibia, South Africa, Gambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Senegal, Zambia, etc. followed….
The black continent fascinated and captivated me from the very first second, with its colourful and spirited people, the unique flowering and barren landscape, its variety of animals and its unique smell of burnt wood. Everyone who immerses themselves in this world and surrenders to the African spirit – returns.
Openness, warmth, joy of life are the characteristics that first come to mind when I think of Africa. I have encountered these attributes everywhere on my travels.

During all these trips, however, I also got to know the dark side and dealt with it. Hunger, poverty, lack of prospects, lack of education and lack of health care are just some of the problems that people have to struggle with. For this reason, it was important to me to do my part to support the local people on all my travels. Be it through clothing donations to orphanages, or, for example, through a city run in South Africa, which was used to invest the entry fee in shoes for children (“Bobs for Good Foundation”) and to personally distribute these to the children. Pens, notebooks, and soap were a constant companion in my luggage and served as “souvenirs” for children.

Back in Germany, I looked for organizations that I could support, but above all, that in my eyes also provided real help for self-help.

My focus was on smaller organizations where I had the feeling that 100% of the money really got through. In addition, in my opinion, the large organizations have a larger influx of people through the media and often celebrities, so that the original idea sometimes takes a back seat and a huge bureaucracy swallows up a lot of money. It was also important to me to think that the local people should neither be proselytized nor converted to German standards. And so I became aware of this project through a blogger who was reporting on the Midnight Sun School.

And what can I say, I did some research and found this project great straight away!!!

My curiosity was aroused, I contacted Sabine Valentin, who, to my surprise, was even available for a personal meeting straight away.

I was very lucky that she had just returned from Ghana and was able to give me current pictures and impressions first hand. I was impressed by how much love and enthusiasm she showed in talking about the Midnight Sun School. The many pictures and descriptions from Ghana convinced me at the time and I would have loved to go to Africa straight away to get involved. Another thing that particularly impressed me was that the project is not only initiated but also managed by local people. Richard and his wife Lamisi are responsible for everything themselves and, with the help of many other local helpers, are setting up unimaginable things. After that evening, it was clear to me that I wanted to support this project and help everyone involved to achieve something great.
I launched an appeal to friends and acquaintances via WhatsApp, told them about the project and asked for donations for the Midnight Sun School. It was impressive to see the response to the appeal, even sponsorships were arranged. I was extremely happy when I was able to transfer the sum of €380 to Sabine. What made me personally overjoyed were the pictures of the teacher Belinda with her new bike. Our donations had made a great difference and the bike was just one example. That showed me that everyone can really make a contribution so that people, wherever they are in the world, are supported and, above all, their work is appreciated. At this point I would like to expressly thank all my supporters who followed my appeal and donated – THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU – without you this would not have been possible.

I wish the project many supporters from the bottom of my heart, continued courage, confidence and great new opportunities!!! And maybe one day I’ll even be able to get involved on site myself…..

“Many small people,
in many small places,
doing many small things,
can change the face
of this world.”