The movie gets under your skin. It shows children living in war zone areas and in poverty. Boys who handle weapons and haul rocks they can barely carry. Girls who are not even 10 led into forced marriages. Wherever poverty and misery are present, the children suffer most.
The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Germany with headquarters in Weiterstadt wants to counteract these issues through various projects and campaigns. Among other things, ADRA will highlight a recently announced worldwide campaign locally by circulating posters in Weiterstadt and the surrounding area.
The film, with its depressing scenes about children’s circumstances, is part of the campaign. ADRA sees this as key to a better world.
The importance of education cannot be overestimated. Education remains an important tool in raising people out of poverty.
“This is a human right and thus a children’s right,” said Christian Molke, managing director and press spokesperson of ADRA Germany.
“If all girls graduated from high school, there would be less early pregnancies, lower infant mortality, fewer child marriages, and higher incomes than for women without education,” Molke explained. To provide access to education for every child in the world, it is necessary to build schools in disaster areas and in developing countries.
“Every Child. Everywhere. In School” is the name of the current campaign that the worldwide ADRA organization has already launched in many countries in its global network to bring attention to this need.
ADRA is also concerned about vocational training and care after a disaster. The organization is building 12 educational institutions in Somalia alone as part of an ongoing project. ADRA, which has presence in 140 countries around the world, is also engaged in educational projects in Albania, Thailand, Serbia, and Ethiopia.
No donation link is displayed on any of the campaign posters. “But isn’t the campaign supposed to help build schools?” Molke asked. “Our projects are also funded with donations. But first we want to create an awareness of the problems. Only when people realize how well off they are and what real misery exists in the world, and understand that we have a lot of advantages here and opportunities to help, only then will the world be a better place.”
At ADRA, a better world begins in the mind.
“It is our mission and our long marathon, which we willingly take,” Molke said.
ADRA in Germany received more than 24 million euros in 2018. The largest source of funding was the German Federal Foreign Office, with 8.7 million euros, closely followed by Europe Aid and the European Commission’s Development and Cooperation Office.
