PROMINENT SUPPORTERS
WE SUPPORT BURUNDIKIDS
Burundikids e.V. receives prominent support. TV presenter Bettina Böttinger, actress Ulrike Folkerts, presenter Anne Will and war and crisis photographer Ursula Meissner regularly promote the work of the organisation.
BETTINA BÖTTINGER
She is one of the organisation’s first supporters. Right from the start, Bettina Böttinger agreed to host BURUNDI KIDS events free of charge, such as the opening of the exhibition ‘Ten Years of War and Crisis Photography by Ursula Meissner’ in a Cologne gallery, a vernissage in Euskirchen town hall, the ‘Euskirchen Volunteer Day’ and the benefit concert in the Cologne Philharmonic Hall. In 2012, she visited the projects in Burundi together with a camera team for Westdeutscher Rundfunk.
In 2005, the actress Ulrike Folkerts (known for her role as ‘Tatort’ detective Lena Odenthal) accompanied us to Burundi. Since then, she has been helping to publicise Burundikids e.V.
She writes about her experiences in Burundi: ‘Now I’ve been there myself – in Burundi, in the heart of Africa, as the kids there call it. Children in the home, children in the street children’s project, children full of hope and expectation and energy – despite civil war, despite trauma, despite poverty, illness, death… I am deeply touched and moved.
When I meet these children, play football with them, listen to them play the drums, watch them dance, eat with them, make fun of them, laugh and we walk hand in hand through their village, I realise that they have a right to a chance in life.
Verena Stamm, the woman who looks after the individual fates of her war and AIDS orphans on a daily basis, made a deep impression on me with her tireless commitment and personal care. People who achieve so much need support! Help give the children in Burundi a perspective!’
URSULA MEISSNER
Photojournalist Ursula Meissner has been travelling to war zones and crisis areas with her camera for over 20 years. From Afghanistan to Sierra Leone, from Kosovo to Iraq, she has given a face to the victims of armed conflicts and humanitarian disasters – often under adverse conditions and dangerous circumstances. Her pictures tell a haunting but never voyeuristic story of people’s struggle for survival in chaos.
In 2002, our founder Martina Wziontek accompanied the war and crisis photographer Ursula Meissner to Rwanda and Burundi – the beginning of our commitment.
