NAK-Humanitas is building a new children’s home

In 2016 the revenue of the Swiss foundation was exceptionally high. This is reflected in the annual report. The amount of unrestricted donations of just under 1.24 million francs is roughly the same as in the previous years, as is the case with the amount of restricted donations at about 84,000 Swiss francs. However, the charity also received a bequest of exactly 1.2 million francs. NAK-Humanitas put a little more than this amount aside thereby increasing its capital to well over 5.2 million Swiss francs.

Expenditures for the year 2016 amounted to 1.34 million francs. Of these, 80,000 francs were spent on administrative expenses and 1.26 million went towards projects. This amounts to the equivalent of approximately 1.34 million US dollars or 1.1 million euros.

Active around the world

The smaller portion of the total expenditures went to 39 projects in Switzerland. The charity cites the following examples:

• the purchase of a wheelchair accessible van for the Association Transport Handicap;
• funding of short-term holidays for severely disabled children and young people at Casa Farfalla;
• support for families of people suffering from mental illness through the Rheinleben Foundation;
• a week’s holiday at Insieme Lucerne for children and young people with severe disabilities;
• work placements and individual training in sheltered workshops for young welfare recipients run by the Dreipunkt Foundation.

The greatest portion went to 29 projects in South-East Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. The annual report cites the following examples:

• relief aid for the victims of Hurricane Matthew on Haiti;
• health and nursing care for elderly people in Bulgaria;
• emergency aid for displaced families in northern Iraq;
• assistance for people on Mindanao (Philippines) living in drought-affected areas;
• support for the foundation’s own children’s day care centre in Moldova.

A big heart for children

The opening of the day care centre in the small town of Razeni, which has 8,000 inhabitants, was the absolute highlight in the year under review, Bishop André Kreis says in the report’s foreword. He is chairman of the foundation’s board. “The care and support of children from socially deprived families in Romania and Moldova is a heartfelt desire for us.”

The financial situation of families in the rural regions of Romania and Moldova is bad, and nearly every second person lives below the poverty line, NAK-Humanitas reported already the year before. The effects are hopelessness, alcohol abuse, and violence, under which the children suffer the most.

That is why the foundation’s board decided to carry out its own projects and opened a first day care centre for 25 to 30 children in Zabrani (Romania). The focus is on education, intellectual development, helping children to build motor skills, as well as on a balanced diet and hygiene.

The charity’s day care centre in Razeni in Moldova is modelled on the one in Zabrani. Construction in Razeni began in April of 2015. At the beginning of September 2016 it was inaugurated and will accommodate 35 to 40 children.

A perspective for the future

The next project has already started: a new children’s home is being built next to the day care centre in Zabrani. An adjacent property was acquired, including the house on it. Planning and fundraising campaigns are in full swing. The goal is to open the home in 2018 and provide care for 20 to 24 children.

“We are aware that a small charity such as NAK-Humanitas can only do so much,” Bishop Kreis writes in the charity’s annual report for 2016. “But Christian love and the fear of God is driving us to use the means at our disposal to help those who are among the weakest in society, to create tolerable living conditions, to motivate them, and to give them a perspective for the future.”