May 2023: A special kind of school opening ceremony
Andrea and Ingo Grusa have made it possible to build a school in Malawi. The Baak School is a full primary school for grades 1-8, where 769 children are taught. They traveled to Nakonya, Malawi, with family members, friends and employees for the inauguration.
„It was an unforgettable day that we will all look back on for the rest of our lives.“
Andrea Grusa, Managing Director of Baak
On 23.05.2023, the plane took off for Africa and a delegation of 25 people made their way to Malawi. Many hours by plane and car later, the travelers arrived at the hotel and, together with Rainer Meutsch, were looking forward to the school opening the next day.
On the bumpy road to the school, you could see from the people along the way that they were very happy to see the visitors. Shortly before the school, we were certain that we were on the right path. Hundreds of people came singing and dancing towards the buses and accompanied them to the school. The teachers, parents, local chiefs and many children welcomed the guests. The principal had already taught children in the open air and was now particularly proud to present the school.
The children joyfully presented a program of songs and dances. Andrea and Ingo gave a speech and encouraged the children to develop their talents in line with the Baak slogan, “unbox your nature”. With the help of Intersport Dorenkamp, Borussia Dortmund and SV Nienkattbek, gifts were presented for the children to play with: Frisbees, skipping ropes, jerseys and balls. A few days after departure, we learned that the school had shared the 40 or so footballs with 12 surrounding schools, true to the African motto, UBUNTU – no me without us.
“That’s exactly the impression we have of these people. Where they have the least, they share the most,” says Andrea Grusa.
Ingo adds: “It was absolutely a meeting at eye level, because the way the people deal with their very poor economic situation and the joie de vivre they still radiate is deeply touching. We can really learn a lot from that. We are happy and grateful that we were able to experience these goosebump moments with the group.”
Origin of the school project
In summer 2019, Andrea and Ingo flew to Tanzania with the FLY & HELP organization to attend a school opening ceremony. “Once you’ve experienced it, you can’t let it go,” says Andrea, describing her impressions, which quickly led her and Ingo to the plan to collect enough donations together with family, friends and colleagues so that a school can be built in Nakonya, Malawi, in 2021.
1st school building
Full primary school for grades 1-8 with space for 520 children
2nd school building
Extension of the school building, additional space for 250 children
Various purchases
Solar system, toilet block and a further 40 tables
Education
Why Malawi?
Due to the population development, there is a great shortage of schools in Malawi. 35% of school-age children & adolescents have no school at all. Others learn without a roof over their heads and sit on stones. Millions of children, especially in rural districts – are therefore unable to attend school or have to walk 5 to 8 km each way to school. The routes to school are dangerous for the children because there are also repeated attacks on girls, so that parents do not want to send their children to schools far away.
The existing schools are all completely overcrowded and sometimes 150 children sit crammed together in one classroom. This makes learning impossible. With the construction of new schools in Malawi, we want to achieve that a maximum of 50 children are taught in one class. And that the children no longer have to walk for hours to and from school every day.
The village of Nakonya has a Christian population. In the district of Mulanje, 88% are Christians. The village, together with the surrounding 6 neighboring villages, consists of 4,500 families and has a Christian congregation served by a priest from the neighboring village of Namungela. The nearest school is in Muonekera and 6 km away. This means a round trip of 12 kilometers on foot per day for the children. For this reason, only a few children from the village go to school.
The chief of the village has already selected a flat and easily buildable plot of land for the construction of the school and has made it available free of charge. A new school building with 4 classrooms, office, storage room and toilets is to be built here. The Ministry of Education has promised to send the principal and necessary number of teachers in time. Some residents will do simple and skilled work on the construction from the beginning of the construction and will be paid for it by our master builder. In this way, they will also be trained and will be able to carry out later maintenance work on the building themselves.
Support
Why FLY & HELP?
The main objective of FLY & HELP is to promote school education in developing countries. To date, more than 650 school projects have been initiated with a total funding volume of approximately 34 million euros. The new buildings will enable many thousands of children in Africa, Asia and Latin America to attend school and lay the foundation for a self-determined future. The goal is to implement at least 50 new projects each year.
The experience and the selection criteria were decisive for us to implement the project together with FLY & HELP:
- Foundation staff personally research, review and select eligible projects.
- Each project has a trusted person on site.
- The progress of the construction work must be regularly verified by project reports.
- The project-related use of the donations must be disclosed on an ongoing basis.
- The projects are based on the basic idea of “helping people to help themselves”.
- Sustainability must be guaranteed (e.g. government recognition and financing of teachers’ salaries).
- All donations flow 1:1 into our educational projects, as Reiner Meutsch pays all administrative costs of the foundation privately or these are taken over by sponsors.
Ingo Grusa
„Wir hatten schon länger den Wunsch, neben unseren Sponsoringaktionen in Straelen und Umgebung, auch ein langfristiges, soziales Projekt zu unterstützen”
Die BAAK-Schule
Weil alle Kinder eine Zukunft brauchen.
Unterstütze mit Deiner Spende unser Schulprojekt, damit Kinder eine Zukunft haben!
Alle Spenden kommen 1:1 den Projekten zugute, da alle Kosten der Stiftung von Reiner Meutsch privat getragen oder durch Sponsoren abgedeckt werden. Alle Spender über 50 Euro geben bitte im Betreff ihren vollständigen Namen und die Adresse an, um eine Spendenquittung zu erhalten.
Alle Spender, die mit dem Kennwort „BAAK Schule“ spenden, sind damit einverstanden, dass die Stiftung FLY & HELP Namen, Anschrift, Datum und Beträge der Spenden der Firma BAAK GmbH & Co. KG mitteilt.
Spendenkonto:
Reiner Meutsch Stiftung FLY & HELP
IBAN: DE94 5739 1800 0000 0055 50 | BIC: GENODE51WW1
Kennwort: Baak Schule
Westerwald Bank eG
„Suche immer zu nützen, suche nie dich unentbehrlich zu machen.“
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach
Miteinander
Unterstützung von sozialen Projekten und Vereinen
Cooperation
Support of social projects and clubs
City of Flower
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
Architects in Ghana
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
Charta der Vielfalt
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
Fußballvereine Walbeck, Auwel-Holt
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
Flutkatastrophe
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.