You are listening to Herzenssache, project whispers with Madamfo Ghana, the podcast that takes you to Ghana.
Christine and Bettina tell moving stories, chat about their personal experiences and share them.
Come with us on this special journey. Let's go!
Yes, hello everyone. Great to have you back and tuning in.
I am Christine. I am Bettina. And we are pleased to be able to
I would like to present a new topic , because I actually thought
Yes, we had already heard something about inside and toilet construction in the PIVU.
And then we already heard something right at the beginning with these
Projects on how this is realized and schools are also built.
But these are only two sohs, I call them pillars of Madamfo Ghana.
There are a few other large spectrums that you support.
Perhaps you would like to say something about that briefly.
Yes, ultimately, it all didn't happen overnight.
Just as you said , through my medical
My career was clear: medicine and health were my first priority.
That's what brought me to Ghana in the first place.
And then water, because that is automatically linked to health and then hygiene, toilet facilities.
These are all things that go hand in hand.
With health.
In addition, feeding programs were added, sounds now
so big, i.e. school meals, in the sense of good nutrition.
So clean water and healthy food somehow go hand in hand.
And then there were projects for human rights, which also sounds so big, so to take care of
that people are doing well and their rights are respected or protected.
So especially children.
Keyword: child slavery at Woltersee.
These were also projects that were added little by little, I would say.
Who actually came to you.
That's more accurate to say.
You didn't look for them on their backs, they came to you.
Yes, that's right.
It was the locals who always brought this to our attention.
Of course, these children’s projects also create partnerships.
Sure, and when you deal with children, you think about the future, you think about the environment.
Then we got projects for environmental protection.
So the keyword is nutrition.
How will we feed ourselves in the future when it gets warmer and drier?
And how do we protect ourselves?
Keyword: trees.
So you can say, there are these Millennium Development Goals, these development goals,
that we are active in this whole area, in principle in all project areas,
the villagers or locals who are the recipients of our projects,
or those who then apply to us.
I always say want to have casual.
So whether it is a health project or a hygiene project,
that's school meals, education, hospitals, we do all these things.
And we are very broadly positioned in this regard; our statutes allow this.
So as an association or as a non-governmental organization we need a statute.
And they're all in there.
We have health at the beginning, that is, health, education, water,
These are keywords that mean something to everyone.
And then we took refugees in with us.
At that time there was great unrest in the Ivory Coast,
we were active in the Bronga Haafu region,
that's in the middle of the Midwest, let's say, Ghana.
This borders the Ivory Coast.
So we have basically always developed in this direction,
as you said, what was brought to our attention.
We never went and looked, oh man,
this is here in the Agen or this could work better,
but we go there as Madamfo,
where we are called as friends, so to speak.
Exactly.
And that is a good keyword,
because at the beginning you have more so small small,
and then you have to look, where do I get my money from,
how everything has to pay for itself somehow.
And then, that you don’t stop there,
because you might have someone who says,
So I would actually have a little more money now,
but of course I would also like a donation receipt
and of course I want to make this tax-deductible.
At some point,
So, so to speak, now we have to somehow put this on a bigger footing.
Now I have to start this club.
And the next question would be,
and how did it come about that the club was called Madamfo Ghana?
That must be the name, it must have come from somewhere.
That’s a lot of questions at once.
Where do we start?
Yes, no, that's true.
It also plays a role,
that I went to Ghana and did not think
so I'm going there now
and I open something or I start something.
That was my own initiative,
because of what I have learned from my family,
especially by my grandfather, was simply taught,
or help other people, be there for others,
If you are well, please share it with us.
That was my first intention.
Then the encounter and the long time in APU,
in my home golf,
where I just lived with the people,
then one thing led to another,
clear, logical steps,
no clean water, you need clean water,
you have nothing to wash your hands with,
you have nothing to go to the toilet.
These were always just logical sequences of steps.
And ultimately, like the virgin to the child actually.
So that wasn't planned.
It was also not planned
that this will become a club
or a large organization or something like that.
I have destiny, fate,
whatever you want to call it
and what everyone believes in for themselves.
These projects that we just did,
fountain, toilet facilities,
Of course I took this information home with me,
brought home.
And as I said, back then, back in 2000,
for everyone who is now under 20,
very difficult to imagine
there was no internet,
I couldn't post anything,
I couldn't WhatsApp anything.
Then I came home and told
so lectures were given,
in Hagen, in the Sparkasse I was allowed to tell
and on many other occasions.
And then people just noticed it.
I have to go too, what are you doing?
That sounds great.
And then it came to every fate,
taft night, in the general hospital,
my former employer,
has night shift
and took care of a patient,
together, so medically I have
cared for him of course with a doctor,
but he came from the correctional facility,
So, how do you say it correctly,
that is a staple or someone who,
yes, a locked up person, how do you call it?
So a stapler, a prisoner.
He just wasn't feeling well
and he needed, but we needed, police protection.
Yes, and if you then spend a whole night
is just taking care of a patient,
Of course, he doesn’t have to sit next to you all the time,
depending on what he has,
the policeman who just came along,
I then used him as a supervisor,
I then talked to him.
And such a night shift can
especially between 2 and 6 a.m.,
this can be quite long.
And then I, so we talked
and he told me he was once a Cameroonian
and so one thing led to another,
I just told him in the Fongane.
And what we have already experienced,
So it’s clear that anyone who listens to the episode about the well drilling
that was quite exciting.
And back then nothing like that,
what you've always heard somehow.
And he had a very good friend
and he is with the press in Hagen,
i.e. as a journalist.
And he basically told him that
and so the first newspaper article came about
about my commitment you could call it that.
And this newspaper article was in the so-called front section.
This is the outside part of a magazine,
is therefore distributed nationwide and appears nationwide.
And that probably read at the breakfast table
the chairman of the Bonita Foundation
today the Education and Welfare Foundation in Hamm-Minkel.
And he has from this model shop,
and he then called me at the hospital.
And then I almost fell over backwards and died.
Sure, fear.
So this foundation called me and said,
You read this and it sounds very worthy of support.
And then they invited me,
or no, they even came to my house.
So the chairman of the foundation with his wife, yes, that's right.
I was so excited that I became the chairman of a foundation.
I haven't had any contact with that yet.
He came to my house and was now interested
for this mini-engagement of the in-game.
That was basically the first big leap.
And then they said, that’s great,
They want to support that, but they are a foundation.
Of course, it simply has to fulfill certain rules.
So it makes sense, you don’t have to overregulate it,
but certain rules and legal requirements are there
and you just have to fulfill them.
And then the club was the key point, so to speak, where he said,
well, we can work with them,
but then we would need an official partner.
We cannot work with Bettina Landgrafe,
because we are a foundation.
But we can work with an association.
That was then said and done, because of my dear grandpa,
who knew the right people, as I said,
that's how it should all be.
Again, someone who knew this and who could help.
Then at some point someone came with hospital beds,
that we need.
There was always one coming out of the hole somewhere, I guess.
Because someone knows someone who knows someone who knows someone.
A child and then he helps.
It all came together.
It was never that I said , now sit down.
Now we have to plan the next step.
Now we have to go up to the step.
That always happened.
And then the solution always came from the other side.
In this case, the foundation.
Because of course, a toilet facility, a fountain,
I left that for now with all the now empty pockets.
The friends of my grandparents and family and my empty pockets
and friends no longer realize.
Then she just had to get to the next level somehow.
And so we have, on this basis, one must simply say,
very pragmatically, founded the association,
so that one is a legal entity,
with which a foundation can simply give money to those people.
And the name, yes, this club foundation,
Of course that took a while, it wasn’t a week,
it took three months.
Then in the meantime I went back to Ghana.
And then of course that was an issue in Ghana,
because I said, guys, everything we did was great.
So sat with Emanuel in ABU,
and now also with Victor.
Victor was Emanuel's very good friend, best friend.
And then we sat in ABU and talked about it,
I said, okay, this is going to be more professional now.
So now we are not only making my personal commitment,
but in Germany we are now founding an association,
so that we can get money, officially, from people who donate it.
I have a problem with the tax deductibility
and all the advantages, which is okay.
And then of course it was clear that we needed a name.
That was already the case in Germany with the lawyer,
yes, what name, your name must be in there.
Bettina Landgrafe, Foundation for EV is not so great either.
Just as.
That was quite a discussion,
I still remember it vividly,
It cost me some separation and nerves,
because it was simply clear that this is you now, Bettina.
Currently, it is you, you flew to Ghana,
you are our transmitter here, that is how I still call myself.
I am the transmitter between there and here.
My boys know exactly what they have to do.
And I mediate between there and here.
So here is Germany at the moment Munich.
And then somehow, then we sat and thought about it
and of course with words, as one does,
anyone who has ever done something like that.
Brainstorming, who somehow founded something
and looking for a name for a child or something, then think
and back and forth.
And we just sat there, you have to imagine that,
in this village, in this courtyard, of our compound house.
And it went back and forth and discussed
and the people listened, every now and then someone walks past us.
And then the chief came and said, what are you discussing here?
So what's going on?
And then, well, I certainly didn't translate it to tea,
So Emmanuel or Victor, one of them then said,
we are looking for the name for our organization.
So we boast about founding a club, he then explained to him
and then he says, how can that be as clear as his name?
Madamfo, you are our friends.
Also Ashanti Tee, one of the local languages ​​in Ghana is Tee
and the word Madamfo means friend, friends.
He came by, another coincidence, and said,
Yes, of course, you are our friends, you are Madamfo.
That’s why Madamfo Ghana is the friends of Ghana.
This was not well received in Germany at first,
because of course, if you take.
Because the Madamfo, also with Madam, the woman,
with the French, that will probably also
maybe often misspelled.
So I always need a little explanation,
That's what I want to say, go to the site Madamfo
and then they enter that, the Madame and fo
Then of course that doesn't do anything.
Exactly, we always have to explain that a little bit.
We really have a lot of fans and are famous
and many don’t say Bettina either,
but Mrs. Madamfo to me, be that as it may.
This initially gave rise to quite a lot of discussion,
because of course we also have our club, just for your information,
is really a mini-club in terms of membership,
because it's not about being a club for us.
So there are clubs whose purpose is the members
and sports club where the children can do gymnastics and so on.
Our purpose is also set out in our statutes,
that advertising of funds for this then in this case
to be spent on projects in Ghana.
And the last thing we wanted was a huge apparatus in Germany.
That is exactly what we did not want, but it was really about the legal form,
this is all watertight and correct.
But the purpose is to raise donations
and we always say Madamfo, so when people write to us now,
just 22, 23 years later, you are a Madamfonenfreund,
can be anyone, I don't need a membership card
and many people feel so well looked after because they have nothing,
because she doesn't have to sign anything, you don't have to commit yourself.
You are a friend, you know, and this is this picture,
that we have, a friend gives a helping hand when needed.
It doesn't ask why and how and where, but rather as Madamfo.
How did that get there?
Exactly, come on, we have to work together and help.
Hence Madamfo Ghana, the friends of Ghana.
And the projects that I have listed were of course
little by little, so that is simply my life story now,
but also the history of the club
and the organization in Ghana,
who simply wants to know more, because of course that is important,
simply if you want to know where your money is going and so on,
listen to episodes 1 to 3.
There is Madamfo Ghana eV in Germany, which is a registered association.
A lot of people know that, that was the adjuster, whoever hears that,
in a sports club or whatever.
And then we have the Madamfo Ghana Foundation in Ghana,
so that the money from Germany can be transferred legally, even these larger sums,
which we now have available can be transferred correctly and legally.
And as an organization it can and may be issued.
And small subordinate clause,
The fact that we are registered in Ghana enables us to communicate with the government
officially work together and, for example, get staff for projects.
So that in such a small subordinate clause.
Exactly, so everything will turn into a good shoe again,
a complete shoe.
A complete shoe, even a whole pair.
Because being alone is also difficult.
Yes, exactly. Well, that was today's episode.
I hope it was interesting for you again
and just write to us what interests you
or what we should focus on in more detail
or maybe a completely new topic.
We are always looking forward to your messages at follow the address.
podcast@madamfo-ghana.de
check out our website,
just enter Madamfo Ghana or my name,
find us, stop by, join in,
Let us know, write us an email, we would be very happy.
Exactly, every kind of criticism has come warmly,
because you only grow with your tasks.
So see you soon, see you next time, join us again.
Bye, ciao!