It all started in 1999 with a letter
When Burkhard Varnholt, the founder of Kids of Africa, received a begging letter from Uganda in 1999, he replied with a small cheque to alleviate the plight described in the letter.
This unexpected contact developed into a pen pal relationship. In order to better understand the situation, Burkhard travelled to Uganda, visited the sender of the letter, his school and learnt a lot about the country, its history and its future prospects.
When the sender of the first letter was unable to find work despite having completed his training as a civil engineer, Burkhard decided to buy land outside the Ugandan capital Kampala. On this land, he enabled the young man he was supporting to build a few simple, functional family homes.
Kids of Africa and the power of commitment
While the construction work was progressing well, Burkhard founded the non-profit organisation “Kids of Africa” in Switzerland and Uganda and shortly afterwards brought in the land and the houses. A short time later, the children’s village was opened with dedicated foster mothers and a great deal of idealism and commitment.
The special story of how Kids of Africa came into being shows us that every person can throw a pebble into the water and it will travel in circles. We can never fully estimate where these circles will go. But it’s worth throwing the pebble, giving it a try and making the world a little bit better!
His reasoning was simple: the construction project would enable several people to find meaningful employment. Ideally, it would also serve as a reference project that would help people become self-employed later on (which it actually did).
In addition, he planned to transfer the land and the houses as soon as possible to a charitable organisation yet to be founded, which would also support future generations of Ugandan children in need.
While the construction work was progressing well, Burkhard founded the non-profit organisation “Kids of Africa” in Switzerland and Uganda and shortly afterwards brought in the land and the houses. A short time later, the children’s village was opened with dedicated foster mothers and a great deal of idealism and commitment.
