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BreakTheCycle – The education solution is the motto of our annual campaign to educate the public in Germany, running November 18th to December 1st (world AIDS day). Our goal is to inform young people about the viscious cycle of HIV / AIDS, poverty and lack of education in southern Africa.

Unfortunately, the campaign website www.BreakTheCycle.de is only available in German. We are happy to answer questions at BreakTheCycle@goahead-organisation.de.

South Africa, KwaZulu Natal, Valley of Thousand Hills, Inchanga. 15 minutes from here is where Go Ahead!'s engagement started, and for a good reason. It is here that the HIV / AIDS pandemic has the most catastrophic consequences.

In the impressive short movie "Ubuntu - I am because we are", GoAhead!'s partner 1000 Hills Community Helpers documents their work and the impact AIDS has on the communities. 1000 HCH was founded by South African Dawn Leppan and is run by a small group of highly motivated South Africans. A large part of their work is funded by South African parishes and other donors. GoAhead! collaborates with 1000 HCH to facilitate the education of primary school teachers, and to feed children in the nearby Imbaliyezwe pre-school.

Click [here] to watch the video on YouTube.

After a joint preparation weekend with Go Ahead! and our partner organisation Weitblick in May, and intensive donation collection during the past weeks, we can finally announce the kick-off of 'Homes of Hope'(HoH) for 14/08/2011. 12 participants of our partner project 'Furaha Community Center' in Kenya are going to construct a class room during the next four weeks. An adventure full of new impressions, experiences and views about the world we live in awaits the group. These experiences will be described in a blog by all participants on a regular basis.

The application phase for HoH begins in October for the project's March 2012 starting date. Apply now!

For the second time in a row, many of our friends followed our call and supported Go Ahead! with their votes on CharityStar. After an exciting online campaign, we managed to gather more than 200 votes for our learning centre project and thus won 1000€ for the HIV orphans in Jozini, KwaZuli Natal, South-Africa. For more information, please visit the current project page.

CharityStar is an initiative carried out by several fashion and shoe labels that have put up boxes for used clothes and shoes in their shops. For every kg donated, the companies donate 2 cents. As soon as the fund reaches 1000€ - which equals 50000kg of donated clothing - the project with the most votes on CharityStar.com in that particular moment is awarded 1000€

We would like to thank everyone who supported us and spread the word on twitter, facebook, via mail or by smoke signals!

Since our collaboration with the Crafcor and #9 pre-schools ended at the end of 2010, Go Ahead! now has excess funding for pre-school programme. We found a new partner in South Africa: The Imbaliyezwe school and nearby pre-school in KwaZulu Natal, in co-operation with their partner organisation 1000HCH. In this region, as a consequence of political violence and the wide-reaching impacts of HIV/AIDS, many children have become orphans. Their lives have been marked by hopelessness and violence.

More than 800 children from pre-school age to fourth grade attend the Imbaliyezwe school. The integrated school complex is home to approximately 140 children who are looked after by four supervisors. In addition to offering the children one warm meal a day, we prepare them for primary school subjects such as basic English, reading and writing. The public funding, however, does not cover the costs of lunches which puts this program in jeopardy. Therefore, Go Ahead! has decided to take over the costs for lunch besides paying an adequate salary to the two local cooks. We are delighted about the cooperation with the Imbaliyezwe school and grateful to all donors who have made this engagement possible!

Do you feel like getting involved in a young and motivated team for a good cause? The fundraising department is looking for a new director by the end of September.

What does this job entail, and why is fundraising important? The department is responsible for the implementation of new and existing concepts for collecting of donations. Their staff approach companies, organisations, associations or individuals and try to get them financially involved in GoAhead!'s work. In addition, fundraising helps other departments or projects within GoAhead! with the development of small-scale fundraising concepts. Within this framework, the department supports events and launches campaigns on various occasions during the year, like GoAhead!'s Christmas campaign. Besides good organisational and communication skills, creativity is a necessity as well.

Please contact Verena Ommer by July 31st at v.ommer@goahead-organisation.de.

Commemorating the 35th anniversary of Hector Pitso's death, the college group at Mainz's Johannes Gutenberg University set up an information booth on their campus. The South African student became a symbol of the protest movement against the apartheid government when he was shot on June 16th, 1976, at the age of 12 during a peaceful student demonstration in Soweto. The reason for gathering of more than 15,000 people in the suburb of Johannesburg was the education reform that had been autocratically implemented and that was to establish Afrikaans as the official teaching language in everyday school life. It was the language of the white leading class that many African students did not speak. This would have led to a massive inequality in opportunity within the educational system. The demonstration walk was bloodily suppressed by authorities. Over 600 people died, amongst them many children and youngsters.

The information booth of the HSG Mainz offered a wide range of information, illustrating one of the darkest days of the Apartheid regime.

Do you want to get involved in one of our college groups? Just send us an email to goahead-mainz@googlegroups.com , we are looking forward to meeting you!

kickHIV! - under this slogan and with the promotion of celebrities Phillip Lahm, Mesut Oezil and Cosma Shiva Hagen, Go Ahead! ran its Germany-wide campaign to support pedagogical sports programs. Nearly ten months after its successful completion, those involved feel re-affirmed. The results indicate a positive trend regarding AIDS awareness.

Our goal was to demonstrate to participating children how to prevent the spread of HIV by taking personal actions for protection against the endemic disease,' summarises head co-ordinater Johannes Hillje. The sports camps implemented by our partner organisations give children the opportunity to spend their free time practicing sports in a safe environment. The enormous popularity of football in South Africa provides a playground for combining physical training with education about HIV/AIDS and values such as fairness and team spirit.

A total of 165 youngsters seized the opportunity to spend some holiday time with a playful approach to the highly sensitive topic of HIV/AIDS. Evaluations paint a positive picture: the number of children unable to distinbuish between AIDS and HIV was reduced from over to only 7%. The share of children who were unfamiliar with the transmission of the disease due to unprotected sex decreased by 75%.

In the name of GoAhead!, we would like to thank all members of KickHIV! who contributed to the positive outcome of the initiative! In the future, we will support the concept of Umzingisi to use the tool of sports for educating about AIDS. Information about the campaign can be found on [kickhiv.de].

"What an amazing project!" praised radio host Lena Reinheimer during her broadcast for the "Namibian Broadcasting Corporation" (nbc) in Windhoek. Barbara Scharfbillig, director of the GoAhead! volunteering program, had been invited to the studio. In March and April 2011, Barbara had organised the Homes of Hope (HoH) in Namibia and now talked about renovation projects, volunteers and the cultural differences between Namibia and Germany. Barbara has spent five years volunteering at Namibian schools and student homes in the Omaheke region of Namibia. She takes care of the volunteer programs and school projects.

During our Homes-of-Hope expedition, the pre-school classrooms of the Mphe Thuto school and the student dormitory in Eiseb were renovated and painted by German and Namibian volunteers. A new canal system and a new kitchen were built. "How can we support you in Namibia when you come back? ", asked Lena at the end of the broadcast. "You can work as a local volunteer for Homes of Hope. You can help with the on-site planning or as a language teacher for the German volunteers, organize a language class or cook for the volunteer group. Everyone has a talent that they can bring to Homes of Hope. That is the only way for us to learn from one another," Barbara concluded.

In Namibia, Homes of Hope has been a great success and received praise and recognition from everyone.

If you are interested in working in Namibia as a volunteer, please register with our volunteer program. At the moment, an internship or a voluntary participation are possible in three of GoAhead!'s partner institutions in Namibia.

On June 16th 1976, a picture went around the world and became the symbol of the black resistance against the white, South African apartheid system. It shows dying Hector Pieterson, carried by a young man and his desperate sister. The 12-year old boy, along with 15000 other black students, took part in a protest in the township of Soweto in 1976. The Sunday Times of Johannesburg later described the events as "the bloodiest Wednesday of our history".
What provoked all this was the decision of the white government to introduce Afrikaans as the official language of instruction. The black students hardly spoke the abhorred Boers' language and saw themselves humiliated one more time by the racist education policy. The students decided to defend themselves against the privation of their educational opportunities and in doing so, to fight against the whole Apartheid system. They marched through the streets and expressed their anger through slogans such as "Down with Afrikaans!".

The police force was totally overstrained with the huge crowd and started using tear gas without warning. They set fierce dogs on the crowd that was peacefully demonstrating.

Shots were fired. The demonstration that had started peacefully became a bloody insurgence. According to the government, the shots had been the answer to a student who had allegedly thrown a bottle on a policeman. Contemporary witnesses reported on the unfounded brutality of the police force, which caused 575 victims.

The news about the insurgence in Soweto led to unrest throughout the country and lasted till 1977. Pictures such as Hector's one went around the world and led to tightened sanctions against South Africa. At the same time, many youngsters joined the black resistance movement and intensified the pressure onto the white government. Thereupon, the government abandoned the decision of introducing Afrikaans as the language of instruction.

Historians described June 16th 1976 as the beginning of the end of the Apartheid system. No other picture than the one of dying Hector shows in such a clear way the consequences of that day. "This picture tells a story of pain and brutality. That's why Hector's name became a synonym of repression" (Hlongwane, curator at the Hector Pieterson Museum).

Generous fifth graders donated their earnings from the Game and Science Show for children, "Tigerentenclub", to GoAhead!. The 5a and 5b classes of the Zinzendorf secondary school in Königsfeld gained 600€ at "Tigerentenclub". Now all of it will benefit GoAhead!.

On May, 23rd, the pupils went to Göppingen for the recording of broadcast in the SWR studios. On site, the four candidates Thiana, Maris, Lissi and Michael competed and won against the opposing team in several games. A dancing game, an obstacle course, a knowledge quiz and the decisive rodeo were part of the program. In the end, the high school students were able to win the game thanks to the courageous commitment, the competence and the knowledge of the young players.
"Tigerentenclub" with the successful pupils will be broadcasted on October 9th, 2011 at 9.00 on ARD. There will be reruns on October 15th and 16th on Kika and SWR.

GoAhead! says many thanks to the generous young donors!

To start the new term, the University Group Mainz of the GoAhead! Organization welcomed the students of Johannes Gutenberg University (JGU) with an uncommon information booth. Two oversized paper planes suggested that there was more to do here than just take some informative brochures. Interactivity was the motto.

Indeed, a 3-day flyer wave had preceded the information booth of May 5th 2011 on the JGU campus and presented a different brochure to people. The flyer, designed under the HSG's own initiative, can be transformed into an aerodynamic flying object after some very simple craft stages. And that's just the beginning. Each time he folds the flyer, the student in his class room discovers important information about South Africa, its policy and one of the biggest challenges of the Rainbow Nations, the HIV/ Aids pandemic. After the successful construction of the flying object, whoever answered a quick quiz about facts and data at the information booth and was able to prove the flightworthiness of the flyer, was rewarded with a GoAhead! info bag that also contained information from the National Agency for Civic Education and from the Coalition for Action against Aids. Thank you very much for providing us with materials.

Furthermore, the HSG Mainz welcomes 13 new interested people and is looking forward to a successful cooperation. You are interested in joining our University Group? Then send an email to goahead-mainz@googlegroups.com - we are looking forward to meeting you!

On April 6th in Germany, the Living Proof campaign, a joint project by ONE and the Bill& Melinda Gates Foundation in Germany, was launched. Living Proof's objective is to present the success of development cooperation: although the fight against poverty and avoidable diseases clearly progresses, the press usually gives negative examples.

In Germany, the central part of the campaign are the 20 ONE young ambassadors including the GoAhead! member, Julia Broska, from HSG Mainz. The ambassadors' task in the coming 3 months is to tell as many people in their area as possible about the success of development cooperation within the framework of their own project ideas.

The sponsor of this program is Federal President Christian Wulff who received the ambassadors together with Bill Gates at Bellevue Palace where both men gave a motivating speech and emphasized the significance of a civil-society involvement in development policies.

In the afternoon, the program included a workshop for the ambassadors, that was supposed to prepare them for their mission. After that, they went to the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development where State Secretary Hans-Jürgen Beerfeltz answered their questions.

"The day in Berlin was so exciting. I can't wait to start with my project idea. I want to create a development policy guided tour for schools. And I would like my HSG to get involved in the implementation", Julia said.

In 2009, within the framework of the big study tour throughout South Africa, GoAhead! supported the filming of Silke Kaiser's movie "Lost Generation", about the destiny of Aids orphans in the country. The result was an impressive documentary film about people whose life became a diary fight because of HIV/Aids. At present, the movie is to see on the screens of several film festivals throughout Europe. It last received praises in Paris.

"Lost Generation" [www.lost-generation-film.de] tells the story and destiny of 6 people who have one particular thing in common: a silk thread that separates life from death. GoAhead! accompanied the film team for its shootings, arranged for contacts and brought them to places where GoAhead! commits itself for Aids orphans.

Through her movie, Silke Kaiser managed to give a face to the affected people. We are happy that the movie makes GoAhead!'s still necessary commitment available to a broader public.

At this point, we want to thank again Silke and the film crew for the amazing cooperation. We greatly appreciate the fact that "Lost Generation" became such an authentic documentary. We are happy to be able to show the movie within the framework of our activities at schools and universities.

You will find more information about the movie as well as upcoming events on:
[www.hffpotsdam.de/de/filmeprojekte/filmarchiv/detail/lost-generation.html]

The new college group from Paderborn, which was founded last year, is looking forward to its first event. On Tuesday May, 17th a poetry slam will take place in the lecture hall of the Paderborn University. But it won't be a common poetry slam. The college group from Paderborn was able to convince 5 popular professors of their college to participate for a good cause in a poetry slam against professional poets. The academics will be represented, among others, by the President of the University, Professor Doctor Risch. Among the professionals, the incumbent German Champion, Patrick Salmen, will hold the microphone.

The revenues of the entrance fees and of the drinks will be allocated to the Learning Centre. We are excited about the way professors and professionals will struggle and about who will win this battle of words.

Tickets are available at the box office. On Monday and Tuesday, tickets in advance will be offered at University of Paderborn for the live transmission.

Location: Lecture hall, University of Paderborn

Admission: 7pm; start: 8pm

Box office: 7€

Live transmission (lecture hall C1): 2€

Within GoAhead!'s project "Homes of Hope" (HoH), nine German volunteers travelled to Namibia in March and April 2011 to renovate the ailing student's hostel of a primary school. Under the supervision of Barbara Schelling, the HoH participants Anna-Lena Hillje, Benedikt Funke, Christoph Eibach, Elisabeth Rose, Judith Schneider, Corinna Kleier, Yumin Karal and Bastian Thumm, spent one month working in the Omaheke region in the desert of Kalahari.

The volunteers' first place of action was the primary school in the desert community of Tjaka. The preschool class of the Mphe Thuto Primary School was renovated and colorfully painted. After that, they started with the key project of this HoH and went to Eiseb. Eiseb is a small, remote desert settlement close to the frontier with Botswana. Together with Namibian volunteers, the German group renovated the student's hostel of the Eiseb Primary School. This included a freshly poured concrete floor, new Plexiglas windows, a new ceiling to insulate the building from heat, two relocated waterholes and waterpipes as well as uncountable painting activities. Within two weeks, the voluntary helpers managed to offer the 100 preschool children in Eiseb completely renovated and safe dormitories in a child-friendly atmosphere. The renovation was sponsored by GoAhead!, Komeho Namibia and the Schinzler foundation.

However, the HoH was not only characterized by work. It was also created to be an educational trip for intercultural exchanges. The German participants had already visited the "Gesellschaft für Internationale Zummenarbeit" (GIZ) in Windhoek as well as the Namibian national gallery. In addition, the group had the opportunity to be within arm's reach of the Namibian fauna, within the project for renaturalization "Harnas Wildlife Program".

The staying in Eiseb was particularly characterized by cultural events in addition to the renovation activities. The community presented a traditional Herero wedding in a theater performance. The German volunteers also had the opportunity to get to know the San life world through a visit to their settlements. Last part of the program was a soccer tournament and a netball play. The HoH participants and the many volunteers from Eiseb thanked for the warm welcoming into the community life and did it, of course, in the Herero language: Okuhepa (thank you)!

The first HoH ever carried out in Namibia was successfully concluded after having sealed new friendships.

In the last few years, online fundraising has become one of the most important ways of collecting money for organisations such as GoAhead!. Collecting donations via internet - this also attracted the attention of communication experts. Students of the Osnabrück University launched the "Campus for Education" project. The communication managers themselves describe their project as follows:

"To do something good and to talk about it, that is what we learn in our communication management classes. Why can't we escape from the theory and achieve something practical? That's what we thought. That's how "Campus for Education" was born.

Communication managers learn how public relations work. The ability of moving the broad masses for an idea through a campaign is also part of it. We want to use our knowledge for a good cause. Our goal is to launch a cost-effective campaign by ourselves. That's why we went on internet with this action in order to reach even more people than we already do through the wide student network.

With "Campus for Education", we wish to raise awareness about the fact that education is a privilege that is not equally available for people. That is why we collect donations for an organisation that fights for education in Southern Africa. 100% of every single euro goes to the GoAhead! organisation that was also founded by students.

To fill our idea with life, we plan a promotional stand at the open day of the Osnabrück University ("Campus Visit"). We will attract attention and create contacts through prize draws and a photos action. However, one day is not enough for us. That's why we will maintain the donation action during an entire month.

Our project is being strongly supported by our university. This goes even that far that it agreed to generously round up the sum of the donations at the end of the campaign. If that is not an incentive! So, do something good - and talk about it!"

Support "Campus for Education" at betterplace or Facebook.

On April 13th, Christoph Schott became 24 years old. He decided to use this occasion to do more than only thanking his birthday guests for the presents and for coming. He wanted "to give something back". According to the idea that everybody may support GoAhead! in the way that best suits him/her, he did what he does better than anyone else: he wrote songs.

He underplayed his songs about the situation in Southern Africa and about the necessity of preschool education with video material of GoAhead!. The final product was presented during his party and he called on his guests to donate. By means of this action alone, Christoph collected more than 600€. He will donate a total of 1040€ to GoAhead!. He reached this goal within only a few days.

GoAhead! is not only thrilled by Christoph's willingness to collect donation for kids (for whom it's about much more than only the umpteen t-shirt in their wardrobe) instead of birthday presents but also by the creativity of his action.

That's why we say "thank you" for all the support and wish Christoph a happy belated birthday.

The Lions Club Oldenburger Geest shows some interest for GoAhead!'s aid projects. The club's president in office Lutz Roth invited Chairman Johannes Hillje to give a speech. Johannes Hillje reported about the creation of the organisation and the current projects in Southern Africa and Germany at the clubhouse in Kirchhatten, near Oldenburg. The 20 attending club members were impressed by GoAhead!'s results. President Roth announced a financial support for the near future. Shortly after the club made this announcement real by donating 20000€.

GoAhead! thanks Lutz Roth and the Lions Club Oldenburger Geest for the invitation and the generous donation.

Tim Schnorr has been living and working in the South African capital, Pretoria, since November 2010 already. This member of the GoAhead! college group from Mainz does an internship at the Heartbeat organisation within his psychology studies.

Tim is being mentored by the trained psychologist Ms Ruth Scott, R&D manager at GoAhead!'s partner organisation. During the first weeks, the objective for Tim was to gain a basic insight into the structures and the functioning of the organisation. Through on-site project visits, conversations with the members of staff and last but not least, research, he learned a lot about the situation on site and about the social and economic challenges, that GoAhead! and Heartbeat confront together in Africa.

In January 2011, the practical part of the job at Heartbeat started. After the elaboration of a wide project proposal, the 22-year-old intern initiated a training programme for staff members of Heartbeat in the Atteridgeville Township as well as in KwaZulu Natal in the the province of South Africa most hit by the Aids pandemic. Tim prepared the coordinator as well as two youth ambassadors of the local Afterschool Centre to organize debates for youngsters in their facilities and to manage them on the long term, "in order for the programme to operate even without me being present and so that the youngsters learn also in future to express their needs", the student said. From the end of April on, Tim Schnorr will hopefully get back to assiduously debate within the GoAhead! college group in Mainz. Until then, we wish him all the best for his internship and we look forward to seeing him again in Germany!

The band Jamaram from Munich has been collecting donations during their concerts for our pre-school program for more than two years now. Thereby the reggae artists especially support our South African partner Heartbeat, to give orphans in the region Katehong the possibility to attend a pre-school. Now, Heartbeat is willing to expand the program for the children in the neighbouring village of Vosloorus. There, two pre-schools take part in the Early Education initiative which assists the schools with their daily work. Besides offering workshops for teachers our colleagues at Heartbeat deliver food and learning equipment directly to the schools. Thus, Heartbeat enables an additional eight orphans to take part in the pre-school program. In this case the monthly costs exceeding 200 Euro are covered by the band Jamaram.

On behalf of Heartbeat and of the children in South Africa, GoAhead! would like to say a big thank you to the band and the fans who helped us with their donations at the Jamaram concerts!

As in recent years, the board members and programme directors of GoAhead! gathered in Berlin to review the developments in 2010 and discuss the annual strategy for 2011. The conference this year was attended by eleven board members and programme directors. Key points of discussion during the conference involved the implementation of an overall strategy for the upcoming year as well as the individual strategies for areas of operation such as the preschool programme and fundraising. Our goals focus on the sustainable growth of the organization and an optimal assistance for educational projects locally to the benefits of our associates in South Africa. Therefore, we are planning to hold various events in germany to raise awareness among the population about the current situation in South Africa.

At the meeting in Berlin, Sophia Merckens filled out her new position as the head of our 'ProActive!' initiative for the first time. Since January she took over the programme from board member Tobias Maassen. For the work with 'ProActive!', which deals with the assistance of college groups and people, who show their interest in engaging with GoAhead!, Sophia supports us with a great deal of experience. In her last position, she was responsible for managing the 'Dresdner Hochschulgruppe' and contributed to the team of kickHIV!. These developments, among others, in the organization make us optimistic for the next year. The support of all our donors and members are the crucial resource of our daily work with GoAhead!