Our Association

Amasiko e.V. was founded in 2015 with the purpose of supporting a school and its local community ‚Hamukaka‘ in south-western Uganda.

Our History:
While touring around in Uganda at the turn of the year 2014/2015, the participants of the trip got to know the Amasiko Green School.
This was the start of an intensive contact and exchange…
The residents of this community had founded a school 2 years earlier as a private initiative, which received no support from the Ugandan state and had to be financed entirely by themselves. The parents wanted to give their children the chance of school education, which most of them never had. The walk to the nearest public school takes several hours, and the roads are often impassable due to the frequent heavy rainfalls. The children of Hamukaka were thus practically excluded from a regular school education.
We, the travellers from Europe, saw the inadequate equipment of the school, the poor hygienic conditions, the monotonous and not always sufficient nutrition of the children and the difficulties of financing the school by the parents. The income of the parents, who live from subsistence farming and at best earn an income as day labourers, is already barely enough for daily subsistence.
But we also saw very committed teachers and parents who consider the children’s education as a path to a better future and want to make it possible regardless of the difficult circumstances.
Deeply impressed by this strong will and commitment, but also by the catching joyfulness of the children, the idea of supporting the school by founding an association by the travellers was born.

On 11 July 2015, the founding meeting took place in Fulda / Germany, and on 25 October 2015, the time had come:
Amasiko e.V. was approved as a non-profit association and listed in the register of associations in Darmstadt / Germany, the city where the association has its headquarters.

Since then, an intensive contact has developed through further trips in the following years. In discussions with parents, teachers, children and community leaders, we also got to know better the neighbourhood and the village of “Hamukaka”.

Our goals:                                                                                                                                                                       We want to promote self-help locally so that they can improve their living conditions by their own efforts. School and education are an essential building block for this. The residents have taken the first step by founding their own school. We consistently support this path. We want to put the school in a position where it can become independent in perspective and no longer rely on support.

Our handling of donations:
Amasiko e.V. guarantees that 100% of all donations go to local projects. All members work on a voluntary basis and receive no expense allowance. Travel to the project site is also paid for by the travelers themselves. Costs for office materials, administration and public relations are covered exclusively by membership fees.

Principles of our cooperation:                                                                                                                                                 We are convinced that personal contacts are an essential prerequisite for the success of our work. We maintain a regular exchange by phone, email and messenger with our local partners. In addition, we strive to visit the school on a regular basis in order to exchange ideas directly with partners and stakeholders, to coordinate the measures to be promoted, and to take a personal look at developments.

 

Our Board:

 

 

 

 

from left to right:
Chairman Dr. Wolfgang Pfaff-Simoneit, Treasurer Monika Simoneit, Vice-Chairman Kunibert Bender

Our Members:

 

 

 

 

 

The general Assembly 2023 took place on 21 and 22 October in Aachen.