Hifa Austria
| HIFA Austria | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Volunteer Association |
| founding | 1970 |
| founder | Adolf Paster |
| Seat | Rabenstein an der Pielach , Austria |
| motto | Association for development cooperation and aid projects |
| main emphasis | Development cooperation , humanitarian aid |
| Action space | Nigeria, Eastern Europe, Austria |
| people | * Uwe Kraus (President)
|
| sales | 181,183.44 EUR (sales 2017) |
| Employees | 3 (2019) |
| Website | www.hifa.at |
The HIFA Austria is an Austrian organization for development cooperation at club basis. It was founded in 1970/71 by the Nigerian priest Aaron Ekwu (1936–1989) and the Austrian publisher Adolf Paster (born 1930). The focus of the project-based development cooperation of Hifa is in Southeast Nigeria . Other project target areas are Romania and the Carpathian-Ukraine . The acronym Hifa stands for help for everyone .
history
The founding circumstances
At the end of the 1960s the Nigerian Civil War, which went down in West African history under the catchphrase " Biafra conflict", reached its climax. Apart from the hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by direct fighting and mass pogroms, the civilian population in particular suffered from supply shortages and, as a result, from famine. The horror images of the starving and dying “Biafra children” went around the world and called for support from civil society in the West. Even before the final military defeat of the Biafra regionalists, aid operations began, which, however, only reached the needy in exceptional cases due to the politically confusing situation and the completely collapsed infrastructure. At this point in time, Adolf Paster, who worked for a Catholic weekly magazine, initiated a fundraising campaign for the Nigerian crisis regions, which, due to the precarious circumstances, hardly promised any success.
Adolf Paster contacted the Nigerian priest Aaron Ekwu, who was active in pastoral care in Vienna-Favoriten , in order to be able to provide direct and concrete help on site. The aim was to create a monetary platform from Austria with which aid projects could be implemented in Nigeria's civil war regions. From the beginning there was no doubt that these projects had to address the most urgent problems of the people concerned and serve as an impulse for self-help. Therefore, Aaron Ekwu and Adolf Paster decided to set up a kind of model farm, which should initially guarantee food supply on a subsistence basis and subsequently jobs and finally regional added value.
Since Aaron Ekwu had to return to Nigeria on episcopal instructions in March 1970, it was agreed to lay the foundation stone for the farm project in Owerre Ezukala, in the priest's home parish, which is located in one of the core areas of the former Biafra.
In 1971 Hifa-Austria was officially entered in the register of associations, and two years later Hifa-Nigeria was founded. Even though there were only around 1000 euros in liquid funds available when the farm began being built, Hifa was able to cover around 10 percent of the total costs, which were estimated at around 400,000 euros, with donations within a short period of time. The establishment of a poultry farm and the expansion of plant cultivation that accompanied the model farm encouraged Hifa to undertake further social tasks in southeastern Nigeria, which developed to a remarkable extent in the course of the 1970s and 1980s.
The beginning and the problems that arise (1971–1981)
What had started so enthusiastically with the model farm soon turned into a big problem. First of all, it was possible to invest 70,000 euros from 5000 Austrian donations in the farm development within three years and thus somewhat defuse the fatal nutritional situation in the community of Owerre Ezukala. The company was also able to offer employment to eleven permanent employees and around 750 day laborers until the mid-1970s. Because of the steadily deteriorating economic situation in Nigeria, which manifested itself among other things in a horrific inflation rate, because of the arbitrary administrative harassment of the authorities, the ever increasing ecological problems, not least because of the lack of identification of the local population with the farm project, had to come from an economic one Direction of the company should be abandoned as soon as possible. Only a few years later, thanks to the insights into the mechanisms of action of global finance capitalism, Hifa succeeded in better understanding the development context and in aligning further projects with a more promising strategy.
Keeping in mind the idea of establishing the Hifa as a self-help instrument as quickly as possible, a sponsorship program began in 1973 to promote schooling for Nigerian children and young people. While Hifa-Austria served as a contact point for sponsored parents and their donations , Hifa-Nigeria took on the role of mediation hub and program controller. A sponsor from Austria could finance a year-long school education for a little more than 200 euros per year. Starting with 30 children from Owerre Ezukala, who were sponsored by the sponsorship program in 1974, this venture expanded to four Nigerian states with a total of almost 500 sponsors by the mid-1980s.
In order not to overstrain the willingness to donate, a circulating financing system - called a revolving fund - was devised at the beginning of the 1980s. A loan pool was to be created from donations, from which founders of craft and commercial enterprises, but above all vocational school students , could draw an interest-free loan , which flowed back into the fund with a ten percent repayment rate from the income after successfully completing school and employment or after successful company accounting . From this the Hifa wanted to issue new loans. Until well into the second half of the 1980s, the Revolving Fund enabled the establishment of five farms, the purchase of a cassava mill and the opening of a commercial cooperative. However, the expenditures far exceeded the means of the financial returns. In 1984 the loan volume was almost 50,000 euros. The burden on the fund also reached its limits with the galloping inflation of the Nigerian national currency, the naira . When monetary devaluation soared from 15% to 35% in the early 1990s, it was hardly possible for farmers and small business owners to repay the loan from their naira income. The attempt on the part of the Hifa to support the fund with a complementary currency system failed once again due to the resistance of various authorities or the lack of understanding of those who would have benefited from this financing method.
The Hifa suffered an irreplaceable human loss with the accidental death of Aaron Ekwu in 1989. For a long time, the Hifa-Nigeria had almost been run by him alone, which demanded an enormous amount of work from this person. When the “father of the poor”, as Aaron Ekwu was called in Nigeria, was buried, 1,000 southeast Nigerian priests, 12 bishops and several thousand mourners were present. For some time now, the Archdiocese of Vienna and the Nigerian parish Akwa have been beatifying Aaron Ekwu at the suggestion of Hifa.
Social projects based on self-help strategies (1981-today)
Under the impression of the first 10 years of development cooperation, Adolf Paster began to realign Hifa epistemologically. This required numerous training courses, major events and intensive journalistic activity. The efforts were rewarded insofar as the Hifa was able to prove its suitability as an instrument for raising public awareness. The number of members of the association increased noticeably, and its total assets had exceeded 130,000 euros at the beginning of the 1980s. Hifa-Nigeria was also modernized in terms of organization and logistics. Only on the basis of local or regional development concepts were new projects targeted, which were carried out in close planning coordination with the operators and with greater personal responsibility.
Since the Nigerian central government invested the income from the oil business in questionable industrial projects instead of looking for a sustainable agricultural supply base, the Hifa was forced to support various farms and agricultural initiatives again. The new farms were designed to be smaller, however, and the overall project was broken down into sections in order to keep the financing more targeted and manageable.
In the course of the 1980s, various commercial operations emerged in several states of the former Biafra , including a soap production, a gravel extraction company and a carpentry cooperative. Although the persistently poor economic situation and the recurring administrative obstacles also affected these projects, ultimately the production and workplaces, run as family or cooperative businesses, proved to be economically viable.
School education was another focus. Here, Hifa only supported Southeast Nigerian educational institutions that had a vocational and practical focus in their curriculum or offered training for those returning to school, disabled people and women. By the end of the 1990s, the number of school sponsorships had already exceeded 11,000. Scholarships also came into play, which enabled Nigerians to pursue an agricultural, craft or even university education in Austria. The latter turned out to be particularly promising in the medical field, especially since the trained returned to Nigeria after graduation and were able to put their profession at the service of the local population. For this reason, Hifa also let a lot of donations flow into the medical equipment of the hospitals or participated in the establishment of new health care institutions.
The water supply also proved to be a priority . In order to give public facilities such as hospitals in particular almost perfect access to water , a separate hydraulic engineering program had to be started, which in the course of the 1980s and 1990s kept regular donations available for the purpose of buying water or building wells.
In addition to the further development of the projects that have already been initiated, Hifa is currently trying to convert electricity generation for various drive machines and building equipment from diesel operation to solar energy for reasons of energy efficiency and ecological considerations. The amount saved by the shutdown of the diesel generator sets is transferred to the revolving fund.
The expansion of the Hifa project work
No sooner had the Hifa gained a foothold in the state of Anambra , in which the municipality of Owerre Ezukala is located, than there were requests for help from other regions of Nigeria. Over the decades, the Hifa expanded its radius of action to almost the entire south-east Nigerian area. There were also connections to Tanzania and Latin America, along with the corresponding support activities .
Hifa experienced the most sustained expansion in the 1990s, when Eastern Europe was also able to participate in the aid projects after the collapse of the communist regime . With the establishment of Hifa-Hungaria, initiated in November 1994 and carried out in 1995 and headed by Ilona Pintèr as president, the target areas extended from Vojvodina, through Transylvania, to the Carpathian-Ukraine. Here, too, the proven projects in Nigeria for disadvantaged regions were used and targeted support for training centers, agricultural and handicraft businesses with generous donations in kind and money. In Vienna , a “relief goods center” was set up specifically for this purpose, from which heavily loaded trucks with the necessary supplies reached the project locations every year . In the event of natural disasters or the widening Yugoslav civil war at the beginning of the 1990s, Hifa stepped up its relief efforts and, apart from regular donations, provided the affected regions with essential products as much as possible.
There was great interest and a corresponding demand in Eastern Europe for Adolf Paster's writings, in which the free-economic theses presented for Hifa and its INWO branch were conveyed. There were translations into Hungarian and several extensive lecture tours that carried the relevant ideas as far as the Ukraine.
Hifa foundations in Romania in 2000 and in Germany in 2011 also reflect the expansion in organizational terms.
Hifa is currently financing 22,000 school sponsorships, 600 commercial and agricultural vocational training courses and 18 community wells in Nigeria and the other project areas.
Guiding principles and ideological orientation
Adolf Paster grew up in an agriculturally and technically dominated family environment in Upper Austria's Mühlviertel. The traditional catholic orientation due to the milieu, especially the solidarity lived in the family - the father, experienced in legal issues, acted e.g. B. successful as legal advisor to the destitute rural population - shaped social sensitivity very early. Even as a teenager, Adolf Paster saw in the biblical revelations not only lifelong spiritual edification reading, but also concrete mandates for action.
Adolf Paster experienced another decisive mental formation from his wife Martha, who in the course of the 1960s succeeded in building up the so-called “ Fraternity of Sick and Disabled People” in Austria. The declared goal of the “fraternity”, which was founded by the French priest Henri François (1897–1986) in 1945, is to establish an image of man in society that reflects the value of every person not in a socio-economic useful calculation, but in terms of sees its existence justified.
The second half of the 1970s brought some serious setbacks to the Hifa project work, which contributed significantly to the fact that Adolf Paster now increasingly grappled with questions of economic theory. In accordance with his basic religious attitude, Adolf Paster discovered the written material of German-speaking social Catholicism, which in particular in its social reformist, fundamentally anti-capitalist form, which in Austria with Karl v. Vogelsang (1818–1890) began to exert a strong influence on the analytical and practical working methods of the Hifa. Encouraged by individual personalities from the social-Catholic camp critical of capitalism, such as Johannes Ude (1874–1965), Johannes Kleinhappl (1893–1979) or Ernst van Loen (1911–1996), the intellectual bridge to the predominantly agnostic, libertarian-socialist free economy movement was finally built.
Both worldviews have in common that they define capitalism as an interest-demanding debt money system which, in its effect, results in exploitation and ultimately the total destruction of societies. While Social Catholicism persists in a condemnation of the interest rate practice, an interest ban and the demand for a reform of attitudes, the free economy according to Silvio Gesell (1862-1930) promises a circulation secured and therefore exempt from interest and the socialization of land ownership, provided with private, rights of use subject to compensation, a complete overcoming of capitalism. In the numerous Hifa memoranda written by Adolf Paster, the role model function of social Catholicism and free economics is explicitly emphasized and, based on Johannes Ude's work, a synthesis of both schools of thought into a far-reaching socio-political reform program is called for. As a consequence, the Hifa established connections with the International Free Trade Association operating in Switzerland and Germany and from 1992 onwards created an Austrian offshoot of the Gesell movement with the INWO (“Initiative for a Natural Economic Order”) with a strong emphasis on the social-Catholic tradition of values. Under the Hifa presidency of Adolf Paster between 1971 and 2013, these efforts were implemented with the establishment of the “Fraternity-Hifa-INWO Working Group”.
The project work of Hifa must therefore be seen and judged from the perspective of the fraternity's image of man, the uncompromising social-Catholic criticism of capitalism and the free-economic reform program.
The project work
When Hifa's project work started in south-east Nigeria in the early 1970s, there was an almost obvious need for action, but above all those responsible for the project were under enormous time pressure. In the country destroyed by the civil war, people went hungry, because of the poor living conditions a rapid rural exodus set in, and the complicated property and clan structures did the rest to make development work more difficult. The Hifa was aware that the main problems of the country, namely the nutrition and education situation, had to be dealt with quickly. However, there was a lack of experience, cooperation with established aid organizations did not come about for several reasons, and even strong-willed and committed people like Aaron Ekwu reached their physical limits under the abundance of tasks.
Structure and working method of the Hifa
When the decision to found a model farm in Owerre Ezukala was made, Adolf Paster gave up his job as a publishing manager in order to be able to devote himself exclusively to hifa activities in the future. An administrative office was set up in the 20th district of Vienna , from which the association coordinated development cooperation with Southeast Nigeria. Adolf Paster wrote the necessary information on a mechanical typewriter, copied the data by hand and sent the stapled pages to potential donors. This association-internal publication tool, called "Hifa-Kurier", was replaced in the mid-1970s by a four A3-page fold-out brochure, which was published at least ten times a year until the 2000s under the title "Zeitschrift der charity" ("ZdN"). appeared in print form with a circulation of up to 9,000 copies per issue and became the association's most important communication medium. In it, Adolf Paster, as editor-in-chief, not only presented the current projects and advertised them, but also commented on general development trends or developments affecting the association, wrote background analyzes and reviewed books and events on relevant topics. Meditative texts referring to the Christian annual circle rounded off the magazine. The Christian spirituality of the Hifa should also be expressed through the newspaper logo, a seven-petalled rose that surrounds a motherly preserved germ of life. In the second half of the 2000s, the print version of the “ZdN” withdrew more and more in favor of various “social media presentations” such as YouTube, homepage or Facebook appearances, until it was finally completely replaced by these.
Whenever the political situation in Nigeria allowed, Adolf Paster inspected project operations in Nigeria every two years, or the Nigerian committee representatives came to Austria to report on the current status of the project.
Up to three permanent employees and dozens of volunteer helpers handled the office and shipping work. In addition, the Hifa attempted to increase the awareness of the association by establishing so-called “basic, prayer and action groups” as well as through numerous special events and thus to expand the donation base.
The most serious turning point in the club's development was the founding of a working group, which, with the Hifa as a family tree, now also incorporated the branch organizations "Fraternity" and "INWO" that had been developed either before or in parallel. This was preceded by a reorganization of Hifa-Nigeria through the hierarchization of a committee (= "Board") structure.
At the beginning of the 2000s, the Hifa office was relocated from Vienna to Rabenstein an der Pielach , St. Pölten-Land district, for reasons relating to the Paster family and for administrative logistical reasons . In 2013, Adolf Paster resigned from the Hifa chair due to health reasons and has since acted as honorary president and occasional publicist of the association. The Hifa Presidium currently consists of five other members with DI Uwe Kraus as President.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ HIFA balance sheet 2017. (PDF) Retrieved on August 1, 2018 .
- ^ Association: Presidium. Retrieved January 16, 2019 (German).
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↑ See e.g. E.g .: civil war in Nigeria. In: DIE ZEIT No. 28, July 14, 1967 (DIE ZEIT - Archive); accessed on July 13, 2015.
Just pray. Biafran genocide. In: DER SPIEGEL No. 34, August 19, 1968 (DER SPIEGEL-Online); accessed on July 13, 2015. - ↑ Heerten, Lasse: A for Auschwitz, B for Biafra. The civil war in Nigeria (1967-1970) and the universalization of the Holocaust. In: Zeithistorische Forschungen Heft 3 (2011) pp. 394–413; accessed on July 13, 2013 ..
- ↑ a b Karner, Christof: Ways of charity. On the history of Fraternity, Hifa and INWO Austria. BöhlauVerlag Wien u. a. 2007 p. 39.
- ↑ Karner, Christof: Ways of charity. On the history of Fraternity, Hifa and INWO Austria. BöhlauVerlag Wien u. a. 2007 p. 79ff.
- ↑ Karner: Ways of Charity P. 79ff.
- ^ Karner: Ways of Charity P. 85ff.
- ^ Karner: Ways of Charity P. 90ff.
- ↑ Ottawa, Barbara: Father Aaron Ekwu already revered as "saint of our time". In: Wiener Zeitung, November 8, 2000; accessed on July 15, 2015.
- ↑ Karner: Ways of Charity P. 99ff.
- ↑ Karner: Ways of Charity, p. 114.
- ↑ Hifa Homepage (www.hifa.at)
- ↑ Karner: Ways of Charity P. 114ff.
- ^ Association: History. Retrieved January 16, 2019 (German).
- ↑ Hifa homepage
- ↑ Karner, Christof: Ways of charity. On the history of Fraternity, Hifa and INWO Austria. BöhlauVerlag Wien u. a. 2007 p. 38.
- ↑ Karner, Christof: Ways of charity. On the history of Fraternity, Hifa and INWO Austria. BöhlauVerlag Wien u. a. 2007 p. 45ff.
- ↑ Karner, Christof: Ways of charity. On the history of Fraternity, Hifa and INWO Austria. BöhlauVerlag Wien u. a. 2007 p. 96ff.
- ↑ See e.g. B .: Paster, Adolf: How can a work-oriented, natural and just economic order prevail? In: Sustainable Society. Globalization and Monetary Reform, ed. v. INWO-Int. - Aarau 1999.
- ↑ Karner: Ways of Charity P. 131ff.
- ↑ On Aaron Ekwu cf. above all: Karner: ways of charity p. 121.
- ↑ Karner: Ways of Charity P. 117ff.
- ↑ HIFA (help for everyone). Retrieved January 16, 2019 .
- ↑ HIFA. Retrieved January 16, 2019 .
- ↑ INWO. Retrieved January 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Hifa homepage
Coordinates: 48 ° 3 '53.1 " N , 15 ° 28' 7.3" E