Vreni Frauenfelder

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Verena "Vreni" Frauenfelder (born October 10, 1927 in Neuhausen am Rheinfall ; † October 14, 2018 in Schaffhausen ) was a Swiss development worker from Schaffhausen. She founded the Afghanistanhilfe Schaffhausen (AHS) and provided start-up aid for the Shuhada Organization , which was temporarily the most important non-governmental organization in Afghanistan. In addition to hospitals and health centers, the two organizations enable girls' schools, orphanages and agricultural projects.

Life

Vreni Frauenfelder grew up in a municipality in the canton of Schaffhausen . After completing her compulsory schooling, she spent a year on a farm in western Switzerland, learning not only French but also a lot about dealing with animals and working in the fields. Back in Neuhausen, she trained as a pharmacy assistant. She then worked for 40 years in the Ritter Apotheke in Schaffhausen. After working for the aid organizations Shuhada and Afghanistanhilfe Schaffhausen for many years, she died in Schaffhausen at the age of 91. Most recently she suffered from dementia.

Working as a development worker

In 1975 Vreni Frauenfelder came to Afghanistan for the first time by chance . A bus driver in Istanbul persuaded her to continue to Ankara , after which she traveled on through Iran to the Hindu Kush . The extremely hospitable nature of the people and the rough nature cast a spell on Vreni Frauenfelder and never let her go.

Four years after their first visit, the Soviet Army invaded Afghanistan. The key experience with a boy mutilated by the war turned the tourist in Pakistan into a local helper and over time a development worker who worked for the people in Afghanistan until the end of her life.

In the mid-1980s, Vreni Frauenfelder met the Afghan doctor Sima Samar and began to support her. The Shuhada organization, which works primarily to empower women and children, was born. From then on, Vreni Frauenfelder traveled every year on vacation to Afghanistan and founded Afghanistanhilfe in Schaffhausen in 1988.

«I never wanted to give up. I always thought to myself: Öppis always brings it. " As a persistent helper, Vreni Frauenfelder was able to make a difference for many people in Afghanistan well into old age. What once began with sewing mattresses and organizing generators has developed into an aid organization that can invest between 600,000 and 800,000 Swiss francs annually in projects in Afghanistan.

Reporting (selection)

Filmography

  • Four women - four extraordinary stories (documentary; initiated 2007 by the Working Group on Women and Politics Schaffhausen (AFPS); directed by Michael and Faro Burtscher)

watch TV

  • Aid to Afghanistan , 10vor10 ( SRF ) on April 10, 2002 ( online )
  • Successful Afghanistan aid Schaffhausen , 10vor10 ( SRF ) on July 28, 2009 ( online )
  • Swiss woman opens clinic in Afghanistan , 10vor10 ( SRF ) on October 8, 2010 ( online )
  • Fighter with a heart - Vreni Frauenfelder helps in Afghanistan , Reporter (SRF) on February 2, 2011 ( online )
  • Vreni Frauenfelder , Aeschbacher (SRF) on September 18, 2014 ( online )

radio

  • At home in Neuhausen and Bamyan , People and Horizons (SRF1) on December 20, 2009 ( online )
  • At home in Neuhausen and Bamyan , People and Horizons (SRF1) on March 13, 2011 ( online )

Honors

  • 1985: Schaffhauser Prize for Development Cooperation
  • 2007: Honorary citizenship of Neuhausen am Rheinfall
  • 2016: Prize of the Dr. JE Brandenberger for her life's work

collection

In 2012 Vreni Frauenfelder donated her collection of 900 embroidered prayer shawls to the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich . The cloths serve the people of the Hazarajat region in the central Afghan highlands as identifiers and are used for praying. As a thank you for the help received, many Hazara families gave Vreni Frauenfelder numerous such prayer cloths over the years.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andreas Isler: Verena Frauenfelder in memory (10.10.1927 - 14.10.2018). Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich , December 13, 2018.
  2. ↑ Caspar Heer: «Mad Vreni» and love for Afghanistan | NZZ . May 8, 2011, ISSN  0376-6829 ( nzz.ch [accessed on February 6, 2019]).
  3. ↑ Four women - a documentary film about the development worker Vreni Frauenfelder by Michael and Faro Burtscher. Retrieved February 6, 2019 .
  4. ^ Founder of Afghanistanhilfe Vreni Frauenfelder dies | NZZ . October 18, 2018, ISSN  0376-6829 ( nzz.ch [accessed February 6, 2019]).
  5. ↑ a b Maria Gerhard: A woman who gave her life to help other people. Schaffhauser Nachrichten , October 18, 2018.
  6. ↑ Caspar Heer: «Mad Vreni» and love for Afghanistan | NZZ . May 8, 2011, ISSN  0376-6829 ( nzz.ch [accessed on February 6, 2019]).
  7. ^ Aid to Afghanistan: Aid to Afghanistan. Retrieved February 6, 2019 .
  8. ^ Aid to Afghanistan: Aid to Afghanistan. Retrieved February 6, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Thursday 27. September 2007MIX31Verena Frauenfelder becomes an honorary citizen. Mix, September 27, 2007, p. 31. ([Thursday, September 27, 2007MIX31Verena Frauenfelder becomes honorary citizen PDF])
  10. ↑ Brandenberger Foundation. Retrieved February 6, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Verena Frauenfelder in memory. Retrieved February 6, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Frauenfelder, Vreni
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Frauenfelder, Verena (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss development worker and founder of the Schaffhausen Aid to Afghanistan
DATE OF BIRTH October 10, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Neuhausen am Rheinfall
DATE OF DEATH October 14, 2018
Place of death Schaffhausen