Close-up action medeor

Good things don’t just happen. You have to make them happen. Today, we’re sharing three pieces of good news made possible by donations like yours:

Ukraine: A deep connection

If you want to catch our press officer Markus Bremers at his desk in Tönisvorst, you’ll need some luck—he’s often on the road in our project regions, reporting from the ground. His most recent trip to Ukraine left a lasting impression. “It was still very cold at the time. And it was hard to see the conditions people were enduring,” Markus recalls. “In the villages near the front line, many homes are damaged. Heating, electricity and water often don’t work. In many houses it was just as cold inside as it was outside. But fortunately, we didn’t come empty-handed and were able to change that.”

Thanks to your donations, we equipped around 1,000 households with stoves, fuel, and other relief goods last winter. We also restocked the mobile pharmacy and provided hot meals to children and elderly people—for example at the Mykolajiw warming center.

“Many people have managed to hold on to a hope that is stronger than the horrors of war.”

Markus Bremers
Press Officer, action medeor

During the distributions, Markus spoke with many affected individuals and heard moving stories. “One couple told me how their small village had come together. Neighbors who once were at odds now share everything.” He also experienced how deeply people appreciated the help from Germany: “An elderly man thanked us for several minutes and said how wonderful it was that people in Germany hadn’t forgotten them. That there is such a deep connection, even though we live thousands of kilometers apart. In the end, he had tears in his eyes—and so did I.”

Nepal: Water, soap and hope

Getting from Kathmandu to the remote mountain villages of Nepal takes stamina: seven hours over bumpy roads, then three more hiking uphill along steep trails. “That’s why other organizations prefer to stay in the valley,” jokes Sarah Weiß. Sarah, who oversees the Nepal projects for action medeor, is happy to take on the journey: “When we first came here four years ago, the villages had neither clean water nor proper latrines. Now, at the end of our joint project with partner organization ECCA, the progress is visible everywhere.”

“It’s impressive to see the transformation this project has sparked in the villages.”

Sarah Weiß
Program Officer for Nepal, Syria, and Bangladesh

Now children and women no longer have to trek for hours into the valley to fetch water. And diseases caused by contaminated water and poor hygiene have dropped significantly. This is thanks to durable water filters distributed to many households. The villages also received support in developing new sources of income: “One group of women was eager to start producing their own soap,” Sarah recalls. “The ECCA team worked with them to develop a soap that’s easy and eco-friendly to make. Sales are going so well that they can now help finance some of the measures themselves.”

DR Congo: The saved relief shipment

Marc Hitz expertly packs pill bottles into boxes and stacks them carefully onto pallets. He’s worked in the action medeor warehouse since 2014 and has prepared countless shipments for crisis and disaster zones. But the life-saving delivery he’s currently working on almost didn’t happen. Our partner organization had secured USAID funding for a shipment to eastern DR Congo—only to learn that the US government had frozen all aid.

“Knowing that these packages will soon help people get healthy is deeply moving. It reminds you why you do this job.”

Marc Hitz
Medical Warehouse Staff

“That’s why the shipment was about to be cancelled,” Marc explains. Even though the antibiotics, bandages and other supplies were urgently needed in this conflict-stricken region. So action medeor decided to cover all the costs itself and save the shipment. “It’s amazing that we’re able to step in like this—and that we actually do!” says Marc.

Your donation is priceless—it makes more good news like this possible. Please help again today!