A schoolbook, a few exercise books and a bit of support – it sometimes doesn’t take much to enable a person to break the vicious circle of poverty. Rainer Reissner, Managing Director of the Rittal Foundation, and Dietmar Roller, a development expert and CEO of the International Justice Mission (IJM), have often seen this when working on development tasks together. Along with a team based in India, they are continuing to expand the projects of the Debora Foundation there. They are also looking at where and how the aid is growing and having an impact.

Founded in 2019 and named after Debora Loh – the wife of Prof. Friedhelm Loh, owner and CEO of the Friedhelm Loh Group – the Foundation’s vision is to enable children and young people from poor backgrounds to receive an education. After all, many have no qualifications whatsoever, can’t continue their education because of their family’s financial circumstances, and end up doing menial work or – worst of all – unemployed. Girls are particularly badly affected. This is where the Foundation’s work starts. Besides providing ongoing emergency aid, sewing courses and tutoring, the big vision is to build a school – and this goal is getting ever closer. A plot of land has been purchased and the concept for the school is being developed.

BUILDING ON TRUST

“We are essentially building a model school – in the sense that this type of educational concept doesn’t exist in India yet,” says Reissner. Based on his many years of experience, Roller also comments: “Enabling poor people to stay in education for longer is revolutionary.” This is why the team working with Reissner, Roller and Thomas Rajkumar, who runs the Debora Foundation’s projects on the ground, is receiving academic support from Christ University in Bangalore during the concept development phase. This has included jointly setting up a feasibility study involving local people in the villages, for example. Questions are being put to the people directly affected – parents, children and teachers from the villages around Doddaballapur.

As Reissner explains, the concept has been adapted again as a result, and the original idea of building a secondary school that would include a great deal of practical work in addition to teaching subjects such as English and maths has been expanded further. “During our work here, it is becoming clear to us that support is needed at an earlier stage,” he says. The plan is now therefore to establish a type of school that incorporates both primary education and the possibility for gaining qualifications for accessing higher education. “We want to start with the very youngest school-age children and potentially educate them for a full twelve years – in other words, we want to cover a pupil’s entire school career. Gifted pupils who want to obtain qualifications for accessing higher education will be able to do exactly that, but there will also be the option of vocational training after year 10.” This is a concept that takes individual needs into account – with the aim of achieving a sustainable impact. This aim of sustainability applies not only to education, but to the actual building, too.

• Cooperation with the Baptist Hospital

  Besides the construction of the school, emergency aid and projects such as the sewing schools are still ongoing. The collaboration between the Debora Foundation and the Baptist Hospital is a new initiative. Doctors from this hospital go out to the villages and offer free medical care. During the first pilot project, 500 children in 15 villages were examined and provided with any medicines they needed.

   

• The principle of “sewing schools for hope”

  Hope is turning into reality. With support from the Debora Foundation, Majaa and Nilay (names changed by editors) were able to take part in one of the sewing courses set up by the Foundation. These courses teach participants skills with the aim of ‘helping people help themselves’. Many women have already acquired vital opportunities to earn an income by completing one of these courses. “ A small return on investment, as it were,” comments development expert Dietmar Roller. During his visit, he and Reissner met women who have completed one of these courses and found out a great deal about their current situation – at their very own clothes-making business. Majaa and Nilay have set up independently and, in addition to school uniforms and blouses, they also make typically colourful saris. “Seeing that women are joining together and setting up businesses, that children are making huge progress at school thanks to our tutoring, and that life is going in a different, positive direction, really touches you,” says Reissner.

   

GREEN IS THE COLOUR OF HOPE – THE SUSTAINABLE SCHOOL

“We are planning to build a green school,” explains Reissner. In practical terms, this means the building is being created in collaboration with architects and geologists and will be run using a sustainable irrigation, ventilation and energy system – making use of rainwater and generating electricity from photovoltaic installations, for instance. What’s more, it is envisaged that only building materials from the region will be used. In early September, the Indian government granted the Debora Foundation the much-desired licence that will enable it to repurpose the purchased plot of arable land for development and then use it for educational purposes. “We are optimistic that building work will commence in the spring.” The team is certainly impatient to get started. “This school has the potential to open up whole new worlds for the children. Education means access and opportunities for a life far removed from poverty.”