In 1996, German soldiers in Bosnia and Croatia came up with the idea of not only guaranteeing military security for the population, but also providing humanitarian support. A small private initiative became the non-profit association Lachen Helfen e.V.
Soldiers and police officers supplement the work of aid organizations in their free time, especially in regions that cannot be reached by them. Hundreds of projects have been successfully completed in more than two decades of the association's work. In addition to smaller emergency measures, these include longer-term planning and construction measures.
In south-eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, numerous boys' and girls' schools and kindergartens have been built, orphanages renovated and schools for the disabled and daycare centers financed.
In recent years, police officers from North Rhine-Westphalia, such as Heiko Lammertz from Mönchengladbach and Toni Kirchmair from Cologne, have implemented outstanding children's aid projects in Mali, Sudan and South Sudan. In Dafur (Sudan), they have built a children's hospice for thirty children and a school for 850 children. The children's hospice was named after our colleague Yvonne Nienhaus from Viersen, who died in the line of duty. In South Sudan, a shelter was built for orphans who otherwise live on the streets and are abducted at night as child soldiers in the Central African Republic.
A colleague from NRW is currently in Mali and is planning to build several small schools in refugee camps with the support of Lachen helfen.
A detailed interview with Heiko Lammertz on the topic can be found on the NRW police YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/PS4aN2N74Ss.
In total, Lachen Helfen has raised more than four million euros in donations over the last 24 years. A large proportion of this has come from benefit concerts by the Bundeswehr Music Corps, the Federal Police Orchestra and donations from German businesses.
Prominent sponsors include the association's patron, the Minister of Defense Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer as patron, the Minister Presidents Stephan Weil (Lower Saxony) and Winfried Kretschmann (Baden-Württemberg), as well as the Ministers of the Interior Herbert Reul (North Rhine-Westphalia), Joachim Herrmann (Bavaria) and Roger Lewentz (Rhineland-Palatinate).
The commitment is worthwhile and there is still a lot to do. What Albert Einstein said more than half a century ago still applies: "There are neither great discoveries nor true progress as long as there is still an unhappy child in the world."
