In 1998, I founded the non-profit foundation “Children for Tomorrow”. Our goal is to support and initiate projects that provide assistance to children and families who have become victims of war, persecution, and violence. Besides the support for refugee children and their families living in Hamburg we have 4 more projects in Kosovo, South Africa, Eritrea and recently formed a new branch in Uganda. Our aid project in Eritrea started in 2006 and provides kindergarten facilities for about 1000 children, counseling support, and education for nurses and teachers at the kindergartens.

Eritrea is country plagued by decades of political instability and riots. Shortage of building material and other delays has historically hampered our projects there. But finally in August 2007, the first kindergarten was ready to be opened in the city Asmara and so I traveled to Eritrea to follow up the progress of this wonderful project and to inaugurate the first of three planned kindergartens. The trip and the work on site were demanding, and we certianly had setback but at the same we achieved a great deal of what we set out to do.

The friendliness and joyfulnes of the Eritrean people is something to see considering their truly unbelievable conditions but I was still personally dismayed how much the children especially suffer from the economic problems of the country. For most children in the Western World, kindergarten is an assumed ritual in the early part of their lives. But in one part of the city of Asmara there are only 200 places available in a kindergarten for 6000 eligible children. We are proud of our efforts to support the country and the local children by the opening of the kindergarten.

Despite the unstable situation during our trip through the country, I was mesmerized by the beauty of the African nature and culture and took in every bit I could. During my trip I became aware of the importance to give my own children the opportunity to look and learn how children in other parts of the world live under the most difficult of circumstances. It is all about the children of this world and my hope is that we all can give our own children the sense of responsibility and the impulse to think for themselves and about others along their path.

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