Togo-Förderverein Rheda-Wiedenbrück eV
who we are
During a private trip to Togo in 2001, it quickly became clear that our help was urgently needed there. There is hardly any clean drinking water, simple medical care or school education there. It quickly became clear that a lot can be done for the people of Togo with relatively little money. A well costs around €1,700 and supplies an entire region with drinking water. For €30 a child can go to primary school for a year. A simple drug can save lives. Under these impressions, the non-profit Togo-Förderverein was founded in 2001.
The Togo-Förderverein is a private aid organization that aims to help people in the rural cantons of Aouda and Adjengré in Togo. As a private organization, it provides direct and individual help, free from economic, party-political or church ties. The members work on a voluntary basis and help where hardly any large aid organizations are active. The association guarantees that 100% of donations and funds go where they are needed. The association has over 100 members. Many of them have now been to Togo themselves.
With our activities we want to create a basis for the people in Togo so that they can shape their lives better. We give priority to building vital infrastructure. The aid projects are mainly financed through donations, an annual subsidy of €5,000 from the city of Rheda-Wiedenbrück and a stand at the annual Wiedenbrücker Christkindlmarkt, which is run by the members with great commitment.
After more than seventeen years of active support in the cantons of Aouda and Adjengré and after many visits to Togo, we know that we are doing the right thing. Our help can now be seen and felt. The people in both cantons have become our friends, who are very grateful to the Togo association.
Welcome to the Togo-Förderverein Rheda-Wiedenbrück eV
Our story
Why Togo?
The reason for Rheda-Wiedenbrück's involvement in municipal development aid was a "Third World" campaign by the city's Protestant and Catholic churches.
In December 1975, after the 1976 budget had been passed, the city council decided to transfer 3,000 DM to a community in need of help in the "Third World" which had yet to be determined.
Johann-Heinrich Brüning, an agricultural engineer from Rheda-Wiedenbrücke who worked in development aid, helped in the search for a community in need. The agricultural expert has been working in the canton of Adjengré since 1973 on behalf of "Miserior" to promote the cooperative system of the farmers living there. Before that, he worked as a development worker in Madagascar for ten years.
Development worker Brüning recommended supporting various projects in Aouda, a neighboring canton of Adjengré. The reason the expert suggested Aouda and not Adjengré was because of the local chief, Yélébidjo Samke Badabou, an active personality with integrity who guaranteed the correct use of the aid funds. When the village was founded by the German colonial administration in 1909, his grandfather was appointed head of office by the governor Julius Graf von Zech auf Neuhofen. Adjengré's boss at the time had been ill for several years, and the canton was noticeably without leadership and divided into several rival groups. A new boss can only be elected by the residents if the previous incumbent has died or has been removed from office by the president after serious misconduct. For a new candidate, belonging to a respected family is a necessary condition for eligibility.
In September 1976, the city council decided to transfer the provided funds of 3,000 DM to the canton of Aouda. In addition, he announced his intention to provide financial support of this magnitude in the coming years and to develop contacts with Aouda.
The current incumbent Atchozou Akata, who was elected in 1984 after the death of the previous head of Adjengré, was able to end the differences in the canton and tackle several projects to improve living conditions. In 1986 Atochozou Akata approached the city of Rheda-Wiedenbrück with the request to establish a friendly, supportive relationship with Adjengré as well.
The city council complied with this request on November 10, 1986 and decided to also transfer Adjengré 3,000 DM annually.
On the occasion of an inspection trip in 2016, the forty-year partnership with Aouda and the thirty-year partnership with Adjengré were celebrated in the cantons.
Today, both cantons are supported annually by the city of Rheda-Wiedenbrück with 5,000 euros.
Since 1986, the student body of the Ems vocational college in Rheda-Wiedenbrück has built up a partnership with a secondary school in Aouda and since 2006 the Reckenberg vocational college. Funds are raised annually at Christmas time to support these schools.
In 1986, 1992 and 1999, the University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration in Bielefeld under the direction of Prof. Dr. Volker Lohse visited Togo as part of study projects. On these trips, the projects realized with the financial help of the city could be critically examined.
In 1999, for the first time as an official representative of the city, the then city director Helmut Löhner together with his then press spokesman Fritz-Wilhelm Held on a private trip led by Prof. Dr. Volker Lohse visited the two cantons in Togo to find out about the impact of municipal aid in the developing country. Impressed by the conditions in Togo, Mr. Löhner began to collect further donations for the people of Togo on a private level after this trip.
Already on a further fact-finding trip to Aouda and Adjengré in 2001, former city director Helmut Löhner and the chairman of the Wiedenbrück trade association, Heinz Dieter Brökelmann, were able to hand over substantial monetary donations. On this trip, the tour participants were able to see for themselves how little money can be used to effectively support the needy population of this underdeveloped country. Small aid projects are often just as effective as large aid programs of huge organizations. A lot of hardship can be alleviated and active help for self-help can be provided.
Against this background and the hardship experienced by the people in Togo, those involved in the fact-finding trip founded the Togo-Förderverein Rheda-Wiedenbrück eV on June 18, 2001 in order to supplement and intensify previous activities. The aid funds for Aouda and Adjengré that have been provided for in the budget of the city of Rheda-Wiedenbrück since 1976 have since been managed by the Togo-Förderverein.
Since then, many specific aid projects have been implemented in Aouda and Adjengré.
Mr. Helmut Löhner was the first chairman of the Togo-Förderverein until 2012. Due to Mr. Löhner's serious illness, Heinz-Dieter Brökelmann was elected chairman. He managed the fortunes of the association until 2022 and then passed the management on to Renate Erlemann.
