Human Help Network

Human Help Network e.V. (HHN) is a German, internationally active aid organisation whose stated goal is to sustainably improve the living conditions and future prospects of disadvantaged children worldwide. Registered as a voluntary association (eingetragener Verein) and headquartered at Walpodenstraße 10 in Mainz, it was founded on 13 March 1990 by Ewald Dietrich, who financed the association and its first project from the proceeds of a puppet theatre. The organisation is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) financed through donations and, in part, public grants, and it supports sustainable development-cooperation projects and the fight against the exploitation, trafficking and abuse of disadvantaged children in more than ten countries. HHN operates a worldwide children's aid network built on an international web of partners and supporters. More than 800 members and several thousand donors make the financing and delivery of its worldwide support for children and young people possible. Its key partner organisations include Strive Foundation Rwanda (SFR) and the Human Help Network Foundation Thailand, alongside a large number of further organisations and projects that HHN supports. A major supporter is its long-standing project partner Aktion Tagwerk, a Mainz-based association that grew out of an HHN school fundraising campaign. The organisation's work spans child-protection centres, street-children centres, support for child-headed households, scholarships and school materials, vocational training and emergency relief. In Rwanda, where HHN has been active since its founding, it works with Strive Foundation Rwanda to support child families, street children and single mothers, and it runs two street-children centres in Kigali City and Nyamagabe District. In Thailand, it supports the Pattaya Orphanage and the Child Protection and Development Center (CPDC) in Pattaya. In Germany, HHN coordinates all activities from Mainz, works closely with Aktion Tagwerk, administers the Treuhandstiftung Tapfere Kinder (since 2013) and organises the annual charity hike "24 Stunden von Rheinland-Pfalz". HHN's history is closely tied to major humanitarian crises: it supported refugees of the Rwandan genocide between 1994 and 1997, assisted a refugee camp in Tirana, Albania, during the Kosovo War in 1999, organised aid for flood victims in Mozambique in 2000, and coordinated Rhineland-Palatinate's tsunami relief after 26 December 2004. Over the decades it has expanded its partner-project network to countries including Nigeria, Burundi, Angola, Sudan, India and Uganda. Ewald Dietrich remains the honorary chairman of Human Help Network Germany.

Human Help Network e.V. was founded on 13 March 1990 in Mainz by Ewald Dietrich. Dietrich financed the association's founding and its first project, the INTIGANDA street-children centre in Butare, Rwanda, from the proceeds of a puppet theatre. The project was inaugurated a year later with the aim of offering Rwandan street children education and everyday support. In 1992 the Pattaya Orphanage in Thailand became the second project. In the following years the association established a partnership with the Salesians of Don Bosco, beginning with the Centre des Jeunes de Gatenga, a children's and youth centre with educational facilities in Kigali, Rwanda, and continued since then in further projects. Between 1994 and 1997 Human Help Network supported refugees of the Rwandan genocide. The campaign "Go for Ruanda", in which schoolchildren took part in a sponsored march for the civil-war-torn country, was carried out for the first time at all Mainz schools. The campaign later gave rise to the association Aktion Tagwerk, which continues to cooperate closely with Human Help Network to this day. From 1998 Human Help Network became involved in further countries. In cooperation with the Salesians of Don Bosco and the association Jugend Dritte Welt, partner projects were established and expanded in Nigeria, Burundi, Angola, Sudan and India, among others. When the Kosovo War caused a massive refugee movement within Europe in 1999, Human Help Network supported a refugee camp in Tirana, Albania, housing more than 1,500 people, together with the Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz and SWR. The following year it organised aid for the victims of the devastating floods in Mozambique, again in cooperation with the Salesians of Don Bosco, the Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz and Lufthansa Help Alliance. In 2001 the association began the initiative "Räder für Ruanda" (Bicycles for Rwanda), which was intended to enable boys and girls in Rwanda to train as bicycle mechanics. Between 2002 and 2004 the organisation initiated projects such as the donation of old Deutsche Mark coins after the introduction of the euro, and the coordination of Rhineland-Palatinate's flood-victim relief after the tsunami of 26 December 2004. In 2006 the organisation Human Help Network Rwanda was founded in Kigali; in 2008 the Human Help Network Foundation Thailand followed this example. In Rwanda, a merger process with the local organisation Strive Foundation Rwanda (SFR) began four years after HHN Rwanda's founding, and since 2015 Strive Foundation Rwanda has been the independent legal entity for all Human Help Network projects in Rwanda. Various local institutions are supervised and supported, including support for child households, street children and single mothers, as well as financial support for scholarships and schools. Because many children lost both parents in the Rwandan genocide, there is a considerable number of so-called child families — siblings growing up entirely on their own and organising their daily lives themselves. Human Help Network works to keep child families together and helps them cope with everyday life; they receive advice on generating their own income and psychological support, and the financing of school materials and uniforms is intended to enable them to have a normal school education. The child households are brought together into communities to promote mutual support and sustainable development towards independence. The association runs two street-children centres in Kigali City and in Nyamagabe District. In Germany, Human Help Network has its seat below the Kästrich in Mainz-Altstadt, from where all activities are coordinated. It works closely with Aktion Tagwerk, also based in Mainz. Ewald Dietrich is the honorary chairman of Human Help Network Germany. Since 2013 the association has administered the Treuhandstiftung Tapfere Kinder, a trust foundation whose goal is to sustainably improve the life chances and quality of life of young socially disadvantaged people; its funds support children and young people in Germany and Thailand in equal parts, and its patron is Reiner Calmund. Since 2013 the association has also organised the annual charity hike "24 Stunden von Rheinland-Pfalz" around the Hunsrück Schiefer- und Burgenstraße.

• Ewald Dietrich founds Human Help Network e.V. in Mainz, financed by puppet-theatre proceeds.

• First project, the INTIGANDA street-children centre in Butare, Rwanda, is inaugurated.

• Pattaya Orphanage in Thailand becomes the second project.

• HHN supports refugees of the Rwandan genocide; the 'Go for Ruanda' school campaign is launched and later becomes Aktion Tagwerk.

• HHN expands into further countries including Nigeria, Burundi, Angola, Sudan and India.

• HHN supports a refugee camp in Tirana, Albania, during the Kosovo War.

• HHN organises aid for flood victims in Mozambique.

• The 'Räder für Ruanda' initiative begins, training young Rwandans as bicycle mechanics.

• HHN runs projects including donation of old Deutsche Mark coins and coordination of Rhineland-Palatinate tsunami relief.

• Human Help Network Rwanda is founded in Kigali.

• Human Help Network Foundation Thailand is founded.

• A merger process begins between HHN Rwanda and Strive Foundation Rwanda (SFR).

• HHN begins administering the Treuhandstiftung Tapfere Kinder and organises the first '24 Stunden von Rheinland-Pfalz' charity hike.

• Strive Foundation Rwanda becomes the independent legal entity for all HHN projects in Rwanda.

Donation- and grant-funded German NGO running a worldwide children's aid network focused on sustainable development cooperation and child protection.

• INTIGANDA street-children centre, Butare, Rwanda

• Pattaya Orphanage, Thailand

• Child Protection and Development Center (CPDC), Pattaya, Thailand

• Street-children centres in Kigali City and Nyamagabe District, Rwanda

• Child-headed household support programme in Rwanda

• Scholarships and school materials for children in Rwanda and Uganda

• Bicycle mechanic vocational training ('Räder für Ruanda')

• Treuhandstiftung Tapfere Kinder trust foundation

1. 1Human Help Network e.V. – Wir helfen Kindernhhn.org
2. 2Human Help Network – Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3Human Help Network – Wikipedia (German)de.wikipedia.org