After three years, it was time for Franz Hehenberger, as managing director of “Sei So Frei”, to visit Uganda and Tanzania again. Those were years when people in the rich parts of the world were preoccupied with themselves and hardly gave a thought to development cooperation. It is all the more important that work continues. “We see that the people where we are and work have prospects again and stay there,” says St. Petringer, citing Kate Mayea as an example. After the help of Sei So Frei, the 72-year-old is successful as a pig breeder and thus generates a modest but secure income.
challenges enormous
Nevertheless, the challenges remain enormous: “The population is exploding. We have to talk to people about their family planning and we do that,” says Hehenberger. Approval comes mainly from women. “For the men, it is still the case that the reputation increases with the number of children. Unfortunately, they keep forgetting that they also have to feed the children,” says the experienced development specialist.
This is precisely why education is a crucial key to a better future. “During Corona there was no school. Due to a lack of technical equipment, distance learning was of course out of the question. Now the education system is slowly starting to pick up again,” says the Mühlviertler (see report on the right). But building schools alone is not enough. “You always have to get politicians on board so that the schools are preserved and the teachers are paid.”
hope through tourism
The people of the Mühlviertel can tell you a thing or two about the fact that it’s not always easy. Above all, however, he has high hopes for Tanzania’s new President Samia Suluhu Hassan: “Tanzania is such a beautiful country and now wants to open up more to tourism. That holds a lot of opportunities for the future.”
Ultimately, it is precisely this perspective that can prevent people from fleeing. “We have to help. Because by looking the other way, we only produce streams of refugees that nobody wants and that we can’t even cope with,” warns Hehenberger. (fur)
Source: Nachrichten
