Aid projects from our region: where the donation franc is in good hands
It's cold and uncomfortable outside. René Hofmann stands in the door of his family home in Safenwil and asks for a warm living room. Here Marcel Hauser sits at the dining table and looks at photos from Ethiopia on the computer. The Zofinger recently made them on a trip with René Hofmann. Hauser's son Julien (13) was also there. "He wanted to see Ethiopia and learn how people live there," says Marcel Hauser. The independent organizational consultant was with René Hofmann for the first time in the world's most populous landlocked country five years ago. The two men know each other through the Safenwil Association Aid Project Ethiopia. "The Reformed Church Oftringen has been supporting these projects for several years," explains Marcel Hauser, who works as a social deacon on a part-time basis. The 59-year-old is impressed by the wide-ranging commitment and direct help: "We live here like in the land of milk and honey, while the majority of people in Ethiopia have nothing." Hauser tells of the trip and the capital Addis Ababa.
In the shadow of luxurious hotels and shiny high-rise buildings, thousands live in the slums on the brink of existence. One-room corrugated iron huts often serve as homes for entire families. Not even that had a widowed mother, who lived with her four daughters on the street makeshift under a small tarp. Unprotected from violence and against cold nights and rain. "She was so friendly, calm and never asked for help," recalls Hauser and continues: "Thanks to René Hofmann and the association, the family now lives safely in a modest apartment." Like this family, many people in Ethiopia lack adequate access to drinking water and there is no sanitation or sanitation. Most are also excluded from state health care.
Helping people help themselves
The aim of the Safenwil association is to help people to help themselves. Since 2006, the focus has been on the construction of toilet facilities that improve the hygienic conditions of hundreds of people. The construction of wells and wells also guarantees hundreds of people access to clean water and helps reduce child mortality.