‘RTL – Wir helfen Kindern’: Donations for East Africa Reach One Million Euros

On Wednesday afternoon, Stiftung RTL – Wir helfen Kindern reported that it had received an impressive €934,269 in donations for the victims of the disastrous drought in East Africa. With another 100,000 Euro in emergency relief funds from the RTL Foundation, the total in aid provided to East Africa has now reached €1,034,269. A great interim total, but more is urgently needed. RTL’s partner CARE is using the money to provide life-saving aid to the refugees in the camps of Dadaab in northern Kenya.

Last week, RTL and other Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland channels had launched a series of TV commercials asking for donations for East Africa. “Viewers have already saved lives with their generosity, and my heartfelt thanks go out to them,” said Wolfram Kons, Head of RTL Charity. “Unfortunately, however, there is still a long road and much suffering ahead, so every euro continues to count. Our reporters, who travelled to the camps to see what is happening with the money, confirm that the local relief workers are working hard and making a big difference.”

The long-term nature of the famine has prompted the Arvato subsidiary Deutschland Card to offer the more than eight million participants in its rewards program a way to help the people in East Africa by donating their reward points. The value of the Deutschland Card points donated will be forwarded, without any deductions, to the victims in East Africa via the program’s partner “Stiftung RTL – Wir helfen Kindern.”

The RTL Foundation’s partner, CARE, is providing aid to approximately 400,000 victims of the chronic drought. Every day more than 1,000 new people pour into the camps in northern Kenya. 70 percent of the refugees, most of whom have marched through the desert for weeks before reaching the camps, are women and children. CARE says it has been working in Dadaab for nearly 20 years and is responsible for education, water and food distribution in three refugee camps (Dagahaley, Ifo and Hagadera). The CARE team ensures the distribution of clean water with water trucks as well as by installing new water pipes and repairing existing ones. In addition, CARE organizes the disposal of waste and provides hygiene training. Each day, about 15 gallons of water per person is supplied to 446,000 people. Refugees also receive water containers in order to safely transport the water - a canister costs $5. Newly arrived refugees receive ten liters of water per family. When they register with the UNHCR, new arrivals get a CARE basket containing wheat and maize flour, beans, oil, sugar, salt and a corn-soy mix, as well as blankets, plastic sheeting, mats, buckets and cooking equipment. CARE is the lead partner organization of the World Food Programme (WFP) for distributing these items.