Another important point of our efforts are social activities.  Our special concern is to get help directly to the recipients ('grass root projects'), instead of using official organisations; we want to remain in control of our help and make sure it doesn't end up in non-transparent channels.
Another important aspect is active participation of those in need - if you give a hungry men a fish he has a meal for a day; if you give him fishing tackle he can care for himself...  The major fields are health care and education.
On the educational sector we have provided school uniforms for all students of a primary school near Mt. Popa and furthermore paid for repairs in the school building: New cement floor and fixing broken windows.

Here, too, the costs are rather low: 50 children in a village school can get a full lunch for US$ 20.- or less; a school uniform costs only US$ 3.-; nevertheless, many parents cannot afford it, especially if they have a greater number of children, as usual in the countryside. Besides that we sponsor the purchase of school books, pencils and copy books.

Other possible fields where help is welcome are support of disabled people, local ambulances and construction of bridges. We welcome further suggestions from our clients and even more financial contributions. However, one always has to keep in mind that outside help, especially from foreigners can be a rather touchy issue for the local authorities: Not a few well-meant initiatives have badly backfired! © 2008 Axel Bruns