First of all we would like to introduce ourselves. The private charity organisation "together - help for india" was established in 2003. In the year 2009 the organisation was divided into the sections Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Since 2021 "Together Liechtenstein" exists with the following members:
Katja Nigsch (Secretary), Andi Schädler (Accountant), Barbara Kind (Assessor), Christoph Stöckel (President),Tanja Wolfinger and Sonja Kindle (Assessors)
And here briefly the story behind "together"; how everything started and the main idea behind our organisation and motivation. The founders of "together" are:
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| Guido Lichtensteiger | Christoph Stöckel |
We first met in 2002 in India where we took part in an aid project in the federal state Madhya Pradesh. At said time it had not rained in this part of the country for four years and the people were still suffering from the remains of a famine, caused by a failed harvest.
Our task was to distribute food, clothing and other things for daily use and to take medical basic care of the needy and completely impoverished people.
Full of consternation for this poverty we kept contact after our return to Switzerland and thought about how we could carry on helping the people in India. Especially the extreme contrasts between the absolute poverty on the one side and our affluent society on the other side induced us to found an aid organization which should balance these contrast a little bit.
We all live in the same world that gives enough for all people. The problem is the distribution of the goods. As soon as we are ready to give a small amount of our abundance, it can do extremely good to people who are in poverty.
We would like to do something, together with you – TOGETHER
- Our motivation is based on the feeling of responsibility to share the goods we have in abundance with others. It is not in our interest to donate immense sums to giant organizations which sometimes use a great part of the donations for their administration or management. Both of us are working 100 % and do not earn a lot. But important is that we do something. Everybody can do something because every little amount counts and we can help with it. An example: A scrub-woman in Madhya Pradesh, working six days a week and walks from her village to her job in town, earns approximately Swiss francs 7 per month.
- We would like to help where neediness is high. In Switzerland the social system is very good and there are a lot of social institutions who are supported by government. Therefore we decided to help people who don’t have such a social network. We know that we have poor people living in Switzerland and Liechtenstein too but at least they do not have to starve and they get treatment when they are ill. In India, we saw children in India suffer and die from infectious diseases and many of them with signs of starvation.
- Although we support a Christian Mission we are independent concerning religion and politics. We put the people in the center of our interest and not their religious or political view.
- Since we do not have private fortune we are dependent on donations. In addition we try to collect money for India by giving lectures, information stands and search for sponsorships.
- Especially vital is the fact that 100 % of the donations get to India!We pay for all our costs (flights, travel and accommodation) from our own money. We visit India twice or three times a year individually or together for supervising the projects.
THANK YOU!
