We think the unique commitment of the association is great and asked Gundi Behrens, who founded the organization together with her husband Jörn Bernhardt, our three questions.

1. What was or is your motivation behind Edget Baandnet?

The project developed during our four year stay in Ethiopia. We come from the educational field and our motto is "education is the key for the future". Both the children in the street children's home and the girls and students from the girls' scholarship program take this motto very seriously.

2. What do you advise our readers: What can you do specifically for a better future?

Above all, one should support organizations that enable people to help themselves. At Edget Baandnet, for example, we work together with our local partner in Awassa, Ethiopia. We are a small association in Hamburg and have supported our partner in acting strongly and confidently in order to acquire funds locally and in other countries.

3. How do travel and sustainability fit together for you?

A difficult topic, actually it doesn't go together. We generally reject trips through Ethiopia and especially to the indigenous peoples and ethnic groups, especially visits to the Mursis. It breaks a lot, destroys social structures, etc. If you do want to travel to Ethiopia, you should only consider staying in the capital to get an impression and see one of the numerous world heritage sites such as Lalibela, Axum and Gondar which are currently inaccessible due to the war; Lake Langano, the lakes in Arba Minch and our project site Awassa are also worth a trip. Before every trip you should definitely Foreign Office pages which provide information about the security situation. Because Ethiopia is not a travel destination for beginners!

You can find more information about Edget Baandnet here