Christmas is the time for donations. For many years, it has been a tradition at Memmert in the Christmas season to think about those who are not living in prosperity or who even fell victim to devastating disasters. Millions of children in Africa do not have enough to eat and even in comparatively rich Germany, many underprivileged young people need our help. Shortly before the holidays, we would like to give you a short review on how the 2010 Memmert Christmas donation of 40,000 € to SOS Children’s Villages has been used.
In 2011, East Africa was for many months severely affected by the worst drought in 60 years. And so it was a matter of course for Memmert to donate 20,000 € for SOS Children’s Villages aid projects at the Horn of Africa. For 20 years, this charitable organisation has been running a hospital in Mogadishu, which also supports a field clinic in a refugee camp since July 2011. Every day, almost 250 patients, about 100 of them children, receive medical treatment there.
Even though the wet season started in November, people in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia are still in a desperate situation. There is a lack of relief supplies, food and medicine. Particularly severely malnourished children are not adequately provided for, and diseases such as malaria and diarrhoea are spreading in refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. In early October, UNICEF again urgently appealed to the world to donate in order to save the lives of countless children at the Horn of Africa. We strongly support this appeal. Please help as well! Accounts for donations can be found at UNICEF or SOS Children’s Villages International.
Memmert used the other half of their 2010 Christmas donation for a one-year sponsorship of an SOS shared apartment for teenagers in the metropolitan area of Nuremberg/Fürth/Erlangen in Germany. Teenagers from difficult family backgrounds get the possibility to graduate in a protected and supporting environment, to take their lives in their own hands and to rearrange the relationship with their parents. Six to eight teenagers between the ages of 16 and 22 live together in this SOS assisted shared apartment. We are confident that our support will help these young people to build up their confidence and develop a positive attitude towards life and their future.
