News archive 2009

On Monday, June 8^th, 2009, the university group of Trier opened an exhibition of pictures in building B of the university. They are presenting pictures painted by children who are visiting Namibian primary schools of our volunteer programme. On Monday, the group also organized an information stand with various cakes; they collected 101€!

During the week there are two interesting reports. Firstly “Ways into development cooperation? – a former GTZ-worker reports”, June 10^th, 2009 at 8.00 pm in HS1. Secondly “GoAhead! a young organization introduces itself – voluntary work in Africa”, June 18^th, 2009 at 6.00pm in B20 of the university of Trier.

The exhibition of the pictures can be seen until Monday, June 15^th, 2009 in building B (in front of B15) of the university of Trier.

Finally we will be represented with a stand on the multicultural summer party on June 18^th, 2009.

After strenuous weeks of organization, the first official co-worker meeting of GoAhead! took place in Berlin from May 22^nd until May 24^th, 2009. Altogether 29 active members came from all parts of Germany. During the last weeks, the board members Johannes Hillje and Tilman Rodenhäuser had prepared a wide-ranging workshop, arranged reports and presentations and planned the organizational part of the meeting.

After a short introduction circle on Friday evening, the official workshop started early on Saturday morning. Hillje and Rodenhäuser talked at first about the history, the basic ideas and the structure of GoAhead!. After an intensive working phase within the individual working fields, the well-known media scientist Steffen Büffel spoke about the possibilities of Web 2.0 for GoAhead! Afterwards, we discussed the schedule for the coming year and ideas for further projects and events. Of course, the workshop should also help to strengthen the relationships between the co-workers, which had been successfully realized with a relaxed barbeque and camp fire in the evening.
On Sunday morning, after a big evaluation breakfast, all participants went back home again, highly motivated, to put the newly acquired knowledge and ideas into action as soon as possible. Altogether, the co-worker meeting was in every aspect a full success. Each co-worker could take with him/her personally or for his/her area new ideas or possibilities for realization. The increased knowledge of the structures and the thoughts behind GoAhead!, as well as the personal contacts among each other will be helping to do our work even more effective and successful in the future.

A special thank you goes once again to Steffen Büffel and his informative as well as inspiring report and to the team of the university in Berlin, which charmed the group with their delicious food during the whole weekend.

Due to an invitation of the golf club Tietlingen near Walsrode, a beneficial tournament in favour of GoAhead! took place on May 21^st, 2009. Thanks to the initiative of Mr. Spellmann and the support of president Röder, and vice-president Lasthaus, the tournament could be held on the grounds of the golf club. African jewellery and Zulu shields served as prizes.

GoAhead! was represented by Jan-Martin Frie and Maria Heimann. During a report, the work and aims of GoAhead! were explained and the future plans for the Learning Centre introduced. At the end of a successful day, GoAhead! was given a cheque over € 1.500, which will be applied for the Learning Centre.

GoAhead! would like to say a special thank you to Dr. Spellmann for the organization of the tournament.

[www.tietlingen.de]

On the 21st of May 2009 the chairman of GoAhead!, Jan Bildhauer, and two new members visited the Pastoral pre-school in Kliptown, Soweto. The visit could be called very successful for multiple reasons:

The auditing of finances, which had to be postponed due to time constraints during the last tour, was completed and the result was very positive. In the week prior to the visit, the pre-school had also received the external financial audit report for 2008, which showed no shortcomings.

In addition, a sponsorship sign reading "Go Ahead! - Supporting Education in Africa", sponsored by the company BVS, was delivered and installed.

Finally, Jan Bildhauer was able to announce to the Pastoral pre-school that GoAhead! would provide the requested funds for repairing the floor in the classroom of the three- and four-year-olds. Almost 1000 Euros will be needed to renew the floor and insulate it from moisture and cold temperatures, as the children have to take their afternoon naps on it. This will be especially necessary, given that in South Africa the winter is now starting. For this purpose GoAhead! donations will be used - thank you to all supporters!!

Two years ago, on the 26th of May 2007, GoAhead! was founded by a group of 6 very motivated volunteers and since then the team has grown to comprise more than 30 volunteers working for the young aid organisation. In addition, seven local groups have been founded at universities in Germany and even in the USA. Within mere 24 months we gained over 300 members all over the country and were able to raise and transfer a six-digit amount for our project partners in Africa in the second year. Last year we focused on a Learning Centre in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal which aims to provide a safe learning environment for 400 children. Since the foundation of GoAhead! we were also able to give 130 children the opportunity to attend a preschool through our Early Education Program and find a private sponsor for 27 more.

Another big success has been the "Homes for Hope" project. For the fourth time now we have led a group of young people from Germany to Africa over the summer to work in a development project during their semester break. Looking back, the last two years have meant a rapid and very successful expansion of GoAhead! The budding young initiative has become a countrywide-operating NGO with a solid support base of members and volunteers that have already achieved significant successes. We would like to thank all our supporters, sponsors and members without whom our work and these achievements would not have been possible! In the coming years, we hope to build upon the past successes and thus be able to expand support for our projects in Africa.

On Saturday, April 25th, 2009, GoAhead! could take the opportunity to present itself during the African Days in Friedrichshafen and to introduce GoAhead! to interested people. The one-hour report about "future through education, old problems and new perspectives in South Africa" was met with a warm reception and made the people sensitive for this subject. Afterwards, many of them showed up fascinated at the GoAhead! information stand and were interested in passing on the idea of GoAhead!. GoAhead! would like to return thanks to namibiakids association for the invitation and wishes all the best for the upcoming house building project in Namibia.

A big thank you goes as well to the five GoAhead! members who initiated the information stand.

Since last year, GoAhead! is significantly supporting the building of a learning centre in KwaZuluNatal. Last week GoAhead! met again with the management of our partner organization Heartbeat, to make a formal evaluation of the last six month, since the project started in October 2008. Following the plan of general project reporting, we were talking about the progress as well as the financial situation of the project. The Learning-Centre-Project meets our expectations fully and, apart from some smaller delays during the implementation, there were no problems at all. On one hand, the delays concerned the logistics and are due to the poor infrastructure of the region, on the other hand the elections of the coming week caused a slowing down of the political processes.Based on the information in hand, GoAhead! decided to financially support the Learning Centre in KwaZulu-Natal sponsored by us for another year.The decision of the board is entirely following the GoAhead!-idea of long-term supporting.

Projects we have taken up must be safeguarded financially as well as concerning the organization, especially during the period of implementation, before they can be handled by the community itself.To make sure that this will be working on a long-term basis, Heartbeat already made first contacts with the „Department of Social Development" (DSD). The DSD is interested in a cooperation and would like to visit the project as soon as possible. In accordance with our idea of long-term supporting, Hearteat and GoAhead! would retire from the position of the main financing organization at a suitable time (usually after three years). The assistance and training programmes of Heartbeat would of course be carried on.We are hoping for active support of all members, friends and co-workers of GoAhead! regarding this decision. More information you will find on our homepage.

„Mission accomplished", one could say, looking back to the altogether successful Homes-of-Hope-Project in Uganda in March, leaving a community house, ready to move in. Together with a highly motivated group, GoAhead! could, besides the already rented building, also complete another building nearby in Nsambya, a district of the capital Kampala for the organization Rainbow House of Hope Uganda. The progress of the construction work as well as our free time activities, have been constantly published in the weblog.

During these four weeks, we have not only built a very pleasant house; all participants also had the opportunity to get to know the very hospitable people in Uganda and their beautiful country. Finally we all flew back home - full of impressions and experiences and of course with the burning wish to come back as soon as possible.Therefore, we are happy to be able to accompany another group of young people to Uganda in August 2009, to build for the same partner an accommodation for further helpers on the recently acquired ground.

Since 2008, GoAhead! is organizing volunteers for the Usakos Needy Children project. There, young people help the 30 poorest children of a township in Usakos with their homework, promote their sense of hygiene and are, among other things, responsible for social care for example during physical education lessons and games.

The latest care delivery of namibiakids e.V. contained also sponsored school bags for the project, which were an appreciated attraction. Many of those bags included the address of the child who gave it, so that the children in Usakos could write letters to the German sponsors. Those letters have already arrived in Germany and are maybe the beginning of some German-Namibian pen friendships.

Would you also like to be a volunteer at Usakos? Then please contact us.

For two weeks, the 12 members of the GoAhead! study tour travelled through South Africa. Central points were the meeting with the responsible people of our partner projects, the intercultural exchange with people of the same age as well as discussions with representatives of the development cooperation in South Africa.The group was visiting the supported early learning centres (Pastoral, Sekhethimpilo, Crafcor and Number 9) as well as the GoAhead! partner organizations (Heartbeat, God´s Golden Acre and Zimele) and also possible new project partners, with which there was no contact so far.

In addition to the tour programme of the group, which consisted mainly in visiting the projects and the intercultural exchange with children and young people, the two board members Jan Bildhauer and Tilman Rodenhäuser met with the managements of the partner projects. They spoke about the current situation and cooperation, the personal contact was intensified and they made an examination concerning money donated via GoAhead!.

Additionally to the annual external financial report, who is before GoAhead!, both board members could certify the partners an appropriate use. On request, members can have a look at the financial reports.
The impressions, the whole group had during the tour were terrifying and in a positive sense overwhelming at the same time. Terrifying with regard to the even now tense situation for the people there. Especially the AIDs orphans are still very badly affected. In the course of the making of the film documentation showing the situation of AID´s orphans, we were visiting several Child-headed und Granny-headed Households.

We made good experiences with regard to the fact that our mutual efforts already bear fruit and that we found acknowledgment for our work and all our efforts. Thanks to everyone who was part of these efforts.

A detailed description of the tour can be found on our Weblog, the results of the visits of our partner projects are filed in a Final report (pdf) (in German) of the tour.

Although they have spent their whole life in Namibia, only a few of the children of the Mphe Thuto school ever had the possibility to watch the wild animals of their country. Most people in Namibia cannot afford travelling to and paying the entrance fees for a game park. Thanks to the volunteers Heike Stilgenbauer, Christoph Pauli and Fabien Olsem, the leader of the GoAhead! group in Trier and also to further sponsors from Germany, 16 children of the Mphe Thuto school could for the first time in their lives watch lions, leopards and crocodiles in the Harnas game park. For all of them, it was an incredible experience to finally see all those animals for which Namibia is so popular.

GoAhead! co-worker Barbara Scharfbillig also spent one week in the Mphe Thuto primary school. Together with teachers, helpers, volunteers, sponsors and pupils she was evaluating the current programme for the assistants. Especially the pupils had a lot of new ideas and suggestions. For the year 2009 the school is looking forward to have six volunteers, who want to assist teachers and pupils during the lessons. Furthermore, GoAhead! is looking for volunteers who could give a hand to the hostel of the school, would help with the ill children and be of assistance with cooking and homework.

Are you interested? Please contact Barbara Scharfbillig (b.scharfbillig@goahead-organisation.de) or visit the Website of the school www.mphethuto.de. Mphe Thuto is part of the GoAhead! Volunteering Program

Beginning of March (March 1^st to March 15^th) the GoAhead! studytour will take place. At first, the board members Jan and Tilman had planned a private journey. However, during the last months, a whole group of GoAhead! members and supporters came together and decided to pay a common visit to our partner projects in South Africa, together with a South African social worker. The central point will be the meetings with the responsible people of our partner projects, the intercultural exchange with people of the same age and discussions with representatives of the common work in the development sector in South Africa. The intention of visit of the projects is to deepen our relationships and at the same time to ensure the correct use of the donations transferred by our organization.

The group will be accompanied by a team of the film academy Babelsberg. Under the direction of Silke Kaiser there will be shoot a short documentation on the work of GoAhead! as well as a report about the social consequences of the AIDS pandemic. The main question will be which consequences AIDS has for the lives of children, for young people who are already heads of a family and for grandmothers who care for the children of their late relatives.

The journey and the experiences of the group can be daily pursued in the corresponding Blog on the GoAhead! homepage.

On February 4th and 5th, 2009, GoAhead! was able to realize for the second time a workshop at the Zinzendorfschulen in Königsfeld with the subject “South Africa, poverty and AIDS – problems and chances. During this workshop, 15 students and six GoAhead! members could very intensively focus on poverty and HIV/AIDS in South Africa. We were very excited to see that all students were extremely interested in the work of GoAhead! They were especially enquiring about personal experiences concerning voluntary engagement.

At the end of two days full of exchange of ideas and information, we invited other students, parents and interested people from outside the school. The students took the opportunity to present what they had learned and acquired with posters.

We are very happy about this repeated cooperation with the Zinzendorfschulen. A special thank you goes to Brother Fischer, who made it possible for us to draw the attention of young people on political development.

On February 5th, 2009 more than 600 guests came to the sold out auditorium of the education centre in Nienburg to enjoy an entertaining evening full of music. The rotary clubs Schwarmstedt Aller-Leine Tal and Nienburg had invited to a benefit concert for the GoAhead! Learning Centre. For this event, rotary was able to win „the probably best German Big Band at present”, the Bundeswehr Big Band. Both rotary clubs were responsible for the compete organization of the evening, as well as for the catering of the enthusiastic guests.

GoAhead! was represented by the university group of Bremen and the board members Jan-Martin Frie and David Steinacker. They were able to inform many interested guests about GoAhead! and made new contacts. It was a special pleasure to see that a lot of GoAhead! members and supporters from the northern part of Germany, especially from Walsrode and surroundings, found their sometimes very long way to Nienburg and again promised to support us.

A special thank you goes to Jürgen Niemeyer, Karin Hardekopf and the whole rotary club Schwarmstedt Aller-Leine Tal and Nienburg, as well as to the Bundeswehr Big Band and their leader Christoph Lieder and of course to our group at the university in Bremen.

The “African Times” newspaper, founded in 2008, reports in its edition of February on GoAhead! The detailed article appears under the rubric “Bridge Builders” and is also available as PDF (page 22) from the website. The “African Times” is published among others by Bartholomäus Grill, Africa correspondent of the ZEIT magazine, and produced in Berlin. However, it is mainly distributed in countries of southern Africa where it is supposed to reach the governments, politicians, diplomats and NGO´s. The newspaper´s focus lies on political development and cultural subjects. Numerous renowned journalists, politicians and scientists are writing regularly for the paper.We would like to thank the “African Times” sincerely for the efficient publicity for GoAhead! and for our projects and recommend this interesting paper to everybody.

[download African Times article]

On February 10th, 2009, our co-worker Tobias Maaßen was invited by the Rotary Club Soltau and introduced GoAhead! to the present Rotary members. In his introduction, he described the situation in South Africa and spoke about the efforts of GoAhead! in Germany and South Africa, the development of the “Learning Center” project in 2009 and the new “Youth Ambassador Program”.  Afterwards, there was a lively discussion. The members were quite interested and impressed by the endeavours of GoAhead! and its development in such a short period of time.

We are indeed very glad about that possibility offered by the Rotary Club and would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to Mr. Jürgen Niemeyer, Mr. Andreas Bock and the Rotary Club Soltau. A special thank you goes to Mr. Bernd Piorunek, who – spontaneously – picked up our co-worker by car: due to construction work, some trains were late, which normally would have made the report impossible.

If you are also interested in information about GoAhead! in your club or organisation, please do not hesitate to contact us – we are looking forward to meeting you!

The BVS Blechtechnik (sheet-metal products) company, directed by the Steiner family and one of the leading companies in Europe for 20 years, made it possible that GoAhead! is now making big eyes over its own logo-board.

Harald Steiner, managing director, was immediately ready to build metal boards with the GoAhead! logo in high quality. Those can now be used as sign-boards for our supported projects in Afrcia. During the coming “studytour”, we will be handing over one of these signs to all of our early learning centres and education centres.

In this sense we would like to thank the Steiner family for their kind support!

To be able to finance her participation in the “Homes of Hope”-Project in Uganda this coming March, GoAhead! staff member Maria Heimann is organizing a  benefit concert in the “Bärenzwinger” in Dresden on February 17^th, 2009.

After posters have been designed and printed, flyers distributed and the local media informed about this project within only a couple of weeks, “Rock for Uganda” is quite near at hand now. Maria Heimann is supported by the local bands “Polly & the Crackers”, “Analoque” and “botanic”. Besides the musical program, an information board about GoAhead! is planned. Doors open at 8.00 pm, price: 4,-- €.

[Flyer (.pdf, in German)]

Supported by the „Landesstiftung (foundation) Baden-Württemberg“  and in cooperation with our partner Heartbeat in South Africa, GoAhead! will be initiating the “Youth Ambassador Program” (YAP) in 2009.

Together with Heartbeat, GoAhead! has planned this program and is organizing a thorough preparation for the “ambassadors”. Thus we enable young South Africans to fight the problems of their generation for themselves and to communicate their interests. Those youth ambassadors, trained and promoted by GoAhead! and the foundation, will draw the attention in their communities and schools on everyday social problems and difficulties, and thus be advocates for the partly forgotten orphans. At the same time, they will be included in the work of Heartbeat and can be of assistance to adapt their help programs better and better for the benefit of the supported children. At the end of the year, one out of the twelve trained youth ambassadors will be chosen to be a board member of Heartbeat.

As an organization, lead by young people, we from GoAhead! are especially happy to be able to initiate this program. In this manner, young South Africans get the chance to bring themselves in and to form their society in the same way as we try it in Germany. The YAP is also a possibility to start a genuine cooperation between people of different cultures and social backgrounds. The exchange of ideas between young people of South Africa and Germany can contribute to mutual understanding.

[More information]

Unfortunately, all female board members and division managers were unable to attend

For the second time, the half-yearly appointed board meeting took place on January 10th, 2009 in Walsrode. Along with the board members, this time the division managers were also invited. After a financial report by treasurer Wolfgang Bildhauer, the meeting was opened with some less important decisions. There was an intense discussion concerning projects and aims for 2009. At first, the GoAhead! board evaluated the current projects. The continuation of the programmes for 2009 was settled. Our project of the year 2008, the Learning Centre in KwaZulu Natal, will be financially supported by GoAhead! in the future as well, the programme for the nursery school will probably be expanded and the Child Sponsorship Program will be strengthened through various specific actions.

In addition, we made plans for three projects in 2009 through which young Germans will be travelling to Uganda and South Africa for an intercultural exchange: Two "Homes of Hope" projects and one study tour. Furthermore, GoAhead! would like to develop its work in Germany: In 2009, the efforts of the University groups will have priority, and more workshops at schools will be realized. Besides that, GoAhead! wants to organize a meeting in spring with all co-workers and helpers, to discuss future aims.

On Saturday late at night, we had a discussion about how to use the manpower and facilities as efficient as possible in view of the intended projects. The year 2009 seems to become another exciting and busy one for the GoAhead!team. After more than ten hours of talking and discussing, all board members and division managers present were relieved to have a schedule for 2009. The ambitious and widespread aim of 2009 is to continue with the achievements of last year. GoAhead! would like to say thank you once more to the Steinacker family in Walsrode for their hospitality. We were also happy that it was possible for the board members who could not be present personally to take part at our meeting via telephone.