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April 2015

International Project Aid, Bederstrasse 97, 8002 Zürich, Phone +41 (0)44 381 20 24, Fax +41 (0)44 381 20 25, email: info@project-aid.org, www.ipa-project-aid.org; for UK see p. 7

Dear donors, dear mem-bers! When you are active in development work, you are regularly confronted with the unscrupulous deeds humans are capa-

ble of in order to make others suffer. Sad-ly, we have become used to that. Howev-er, it is particularly difficult to digest the abysses of human greed for power and money, above all in poor countries. Drinking for China In Malawi, a large number of men and children are addicted to drink. “Double Punch” is only one type of hard Chinese industrial alcohol and sold in small plastic bags at extremely low prices. People drink it, get dependent, are dismissed from school, become violent, turn their backs on their families – or even worse. This is a double punch to their own future! The Malawi government has tried to inter-vene and stop these imports, but to no avail. The country has debts to repay to China and the great power in the Far East defends its economic interest, unim-pressed by the misery in Africa. So Mala-wi is forced to look on helplessly as its own population gets poisoned and young people are destroyed – for the benefit of China. Cheers to the achievements in the Far East!

Nicole Delavy Managing Director IPA

Gjirokastër, South Albania A project for young artists – and more For the first time IPA has supported a project at an art college. What to some people may sound like “nice to have”, makes sense in various ways.

Ermelinda Bixhaku was not quite satisfied yet with her performance. This was more than understandable. She had only been attending the “Feim Ibrahimi” art college for two months and then there were those Swiss visitors who had unexpectedly inter-rupted her singing lesson. But her teacher, opera singer Xhehal Angoni, quickly eased her embarrassment, sang the melo-dy in his strong voice himself and then ac-companied her on the piano.

IPA had visited the college once before, in April 2013. The school offers its students an A-level course with a focus on the arts. They are able to choose between the sub-

Dreary and cold: the studio in the basement before the heating was installed

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ject areas of Music and Arts. However, so far they have been confronted with quite a number of obstacles in their education. Musical instruments, sheet music, paints and brushes – there was a lack of every-thing. But the most painful restriction was the fact that there was no heating. “The fingers of our youngsters sometimes al-most freeze“, said Bujar Dudumi, the school director. You are hardly able to practise with numb fingers, least of all on an old instrument, which is out of tune. The

students suffered most in winter, when they had to work with wet clay – a real tor-ture.

A cultural renaissance

So there were certainly good reasons to support the college with a project. Looking at the cultural life in Gjirokastër, it’s easy to discover some more. The town has a long tradition as far as artists and thinkers are concerned. And today? “Our cultural life is practically non-existent”, says Bujar Dudu-mi. There are no concerts, no exhibitions, no theatre performances, not even a cine-ma. Now the aim of the project was clear: central heating was to be installed and money raised to buy musical instruments, as well as materials for the arts depart-ment. A small fund would provide the means to finance concerts and exhibitions. This led to several results: the education of the students was improved and the cultural life, both in the town and the whole region is actually enjoying a kind of renaissance.

Motivation without end When some members of IPA visited the school last October, they noticed certain changes even before they entered the school building. Outside the main en-trance, some students were practising their instruments, beaming with joy. Others were rehearsing in the classrooms, in the corridors, even in the director’s office. This of course proves that there is still an acute lack of space in the college, but neverthe-less the students experience a momentum of motivation. “A dream is coming true”, says Dudumi, the director. Now, exhibi-tions and concerts in the districts of

Lack of space forces the students to practise out-doors

More materials – more fun

Bujar Dudumi in front of the new central heating

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Gjirokastër, Përmet and Delvinë are being planned. This not only encourages young-sters, it also stimulates the cultural life in this part of South Albania and last but not least, it is the best possible publicity for the school.

Only a few days after the Swiss visitors had interrupted her singing lesson, Ermel-inda Bixhaku sang in a concert for the IPA juniors – with tremendous success! She is already looking forward to her next appear-ance as a young artist and a representa-tive of her school.

Gamak and Ouazzang, North Came-roon / Hombrechtikon, Switzerland

Water wells in Cameroon – and a promotion prize for young Swiss students

A class of secondary school students in Hombrechtikon asked for permission to work together with IPA. In the end 1,400 people had access to drinking water, and the students were awarded a pro-motion prize.

“Could we also do something like that?” Noemi Hunkeler was standing in front of her class teacher, and on behalf of the whole class, asked her to contact IPA. The youngsters had been told by their friends in Bonstetten that it might be possible for them to tackle their own project under the guidance of our organisation. It actually is, if the teacher is as enthusiastic as her class and if the school authorities support the plan.

Project work started in August 2013. The IPA tutor, who joined the class for a double lesson every week, encountered a particu-larly motivated group. They had decided to commit themselves to a project in Came-roon.

Cholera in Gamak The class had previously discussed five different applications for projects. Finally, they had chosen the project in Gamak. The inhabitants of the village, situated on the northern edge of Lake Maga, could only get water from two sources: a soiled well or a pool, fed with water from the lake, de-pending on where they lived. The result was always the same: diarrhoea, bilharzio-sis and a cholera epidemic almost every year. Surrounded by a crowd of villagers, the village chief told the IPA representa-tives how many children were doomed to die at an early age. “A single well supply-ing clean water would help a lot when the cholera comes back”, he said.

Ermelinda Bixhaku and Xhelal Angoni are practising

In Gamak: the specialists have hit water

The fees for the water supply are collected

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In the end there were three wells This statement impressed the students in Hombrechtikon very much indeed. The budget added up to CHF 18,100. “Will we ever be able to raise that sum?” Sarah Weilenmann, the class teacher, asked. “We certainly will”, answered Tarik Gan-ther. “Why?” “Because we are a good class”. It can sometimes be that simple. They came up with lots of fundraising ide-as: helping out in a restaurant, picking up fallen apples for a farmer, a lunch for future college students, the sale of home-made cakes, even a big Zumba-party and a flea market, sponsored by the dancing studio Moveplace, were part of the programme. They also presented their project to the village council and they were interviewed by two journalists from the Zürichsee Zei-tung, the regional newspaper. It was an interesting and intense time for all of them. “One day I will tell my children about this”, Jan Wendler wrote in a letter to Pietro To-masini, the leader of the project, almost a year after the end of their cooperation.

Since a well cannot provide water for more than 500 people, there was actually need for two installations in the village. The Swiss students had opted for a new well. Now the local authorities in Maga, who are also responsible for Gamak, were carried away by the initiative and promised to add a pump well to the well. And because the Swiss youngsters had managed to raise much more money than they had originally planned, another malfunctioning well in Quazzang, a village with 400 inhabitants, could be repaired. Today, thanks to the help of the students from Hombrechtikon, 1,400 people in two villages in North Cam-eroon have access to clean drinking water.

And last but not least, a big reward was waiting for the young people: the Lions Club in Stäfa, a neighbouring village, awarded them with a promotion prize. With the money they are allowed to plan a short trip. It will be the grand finale of an unfor-gettable cooperation. Vranjt, Northeast Albania

Lessons inside a real school building

For the youngest pupils in Vranjt there was not even a proper school building. Being taught in a dilapidated and aban-doned private house was problematic. Today the children can enjoy their les-sons in a completely new environment.

It was one of those visits that still moves you deeply, even after being involved in development work for twenty years. In their despair, the inhabitants of Vranjt had

Clean water means safety

A complex project – a mindmap helps

IPA supervises the young adults intensely during the process

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turned to IPA. The building housing the upper school was in a wretched condition. But things were even worse for the preschool and primary school children. They had to sit in a run down building, where the community had rented a few rooms that were still fairly safe to be used. Lessons always meant being confronted with large restrictions and difficulties.

A lot of solidarity in the village

It was a big relief when IPA, after a thor-ough investigation into the project and sup-ported by the Medicor Foundation, was able to find a way to finance the erection of a new school building. At the same time

the community was willing to provide the necessary building land free of charge. However, it was not that simple. “The site for the new building is too far away, above all in winter”, one of the villagers said, speaking on behalf of many parents. What followed were numerous informal talks and official meetings. But finally, one family made a generous offer. They gave the school 400 square metres of their own, private property. The only condition was that the school campus had to be fenced off from the remaining plot of land. The venture brought the whole village together. The villagers worked extremely hard, exca-vating and carrying water to the site. In the end, as had been agreed, they mounted the fence. The community, although hard-pressed for money, not only supported the initiative, but played an active part when it came to installing water pipes and electrici-ty in the new building, once more free of charge. The occasional problem turned up during the construction phase, but in Sep-tember 2014, the school was able to be opened, just in time for the beginning of the new school year.

Enthusiastic schoolchildren

“During the first two weeks the children were very shy, it was as if they could not find their feet”, said Abdi Shehi, the head-master, when he was asked about the re-actions of the boys and girls. But after this adaptation phase, they really took posses-sion of the new school building and they love it. Their enthusiasm is almost seizable in each classroom. The rooms are simple, but appropriately equipped. It is warm and dry and there are even some toilets – something that can not be taken for granted in Albanian schools. A written

The old building: an imposition

The new school building under construction

Ready in time for the new school year Primary school children and ...

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agreement between the community and the parents‘ association guarantees the maintenance of the building. Now IPA can take a second phase of the project into consideration: the renovation of the upper school building would complete the new primary school in an ideal way. The Interview

Rosemarie Zambelli / What do you think of IPA?

“Good reporting and complete transparency” IPA has been supported by Chramschopf for a very long time. Can you remember the beginnings?

Yes, very well in fact. It all started with the transports of books. This was very nice for me. I was pleased that Chramschopf had enough surplus books to furnish two librar-ies in Albania. As time went by we paid for part of the transport costs and later we of-fered to support projects financially. My file is filled up with IPA correspondence and projects, and it contains many good mem-ories.

Was the shift in 2001 of the focus from hu-manitarian help to long-term projects the right step we took?

I think it was a logical second step, if you want to help a country, that is being rebuilt. What I particularly like about the projects is, first of all, the fact that IPA always em-ploys local craftsmen. So the population is given work and people can earn some

money. Secondly, I once worked in a school myself and there I realised that youngsters often have no idea of the prob-lems of the world. Therefore, working with young people is an additional plus for IPA.

IPA is one of the two main Chramschopf partners. Why have you kept up your co-operation with our organisation for such a long time?

I have always favoured continuity, this is true for all our assignments. When we are happy about our collaboration with a part-ner and there are further projects, we are also happy to go on working together. Consequently, this cooperation steadily improves and our partner organisations achieve a better planning security. All the members of Chramschopf do unpaid work, in order to raise funds for the assignments. That is also why good reporting and com-plete transparency are extremely im-portant. As far as IPA is concerned, we never ever had the feeling that people are “fiddling”.

In what sense is this honorary work enrich-ing?

Chramschopf has by now become a kind of meeting point. We are almost like a big family, whose members are bound togeth-er by their common work for a good cause. A large number of friendships have formed here and people talk about topics, which by far exceed their work at Chramschopf.

Rosemarie Zam-belli, 68, is married and has two grown-up children. She is the president of Chramschopf, a

thrift shop in Zollikerberg near Zurich. After several years in southern Africa, she worked for various organisations, among them an international school. The transport of books to Albania in1994 marked the beginning of her cooperation with IPA.

@ preschool children feel at home

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Logone-Birni, North Cameroon. The savings bank initiated and opened by IPA many years ago is expanding steadily. The concept of granting small loans to farmers and small businesses at fair condi-tions has proved to be successful. The bank already has branches in the region of

Hinalé. Now it has decided to extend its activi-ties Kidam; there seems to be a great demand as well.

Senican, South Albania.

The junior team 2014/15 wants to reach an aim that is at least as ambitious as the one of the preceding team. A combined project covering both health and education issues shall create new and promising perspective for the people who live in this moun-tainous region.

Nkhomola, North Malawi.

The secondary school girls, who come from far away to attend their lessons in Nkhomola, are housed in shabby straw huts, because the boarding school building is no longer safe to live in. A project work class at Kantonsschule Enge is currently working on a solution to the problem.

in a few words

• Swiss organisation for development co-operation with a branch in Beaconsfield, UK. Bulletin of ZEWO and supported by DEZA (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation) • Founded in 1994, since 2001 known and

active under the name IPA (International Project Aid) • Engaged in transitioning and developing

countries with focus on learning and edu-cation • IPA offers help for self-help, e.g. through

projects in the fields of food production and water supply as well as the issuance of micro credits • The aspect of the IPA brand is the inte-

gration of youth in the implementation of projects. Swiss students thus get the op-portunity to gain formative experiences • School classes and junior-teams define,

plan and execute their projects inde-pendently but are supervised by experi-enced IPA staff • All projects are inspected by IPA on lo-cation and, following completion, are con-trolled once more • IPA has received the Profax prize in

2005, and in 2007 was named “Swiss Charity of the Year” by Man Investments

Would you like to support IPA? As a member? Or a donor? Call us, we would like to tell you more: 01494 67 48 30 or by email: dianawallacedtw@aol.com. Bank details for donations: Barclays Bank Plc Beaconsfield Sort Code 20-02-06 Account no. 00391522 Would you like to donate online or by credit card? Go to: www.ipa-project-aid.org

Preview of forthcoming IPA projects