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Photo: Alexander Rausch


we_special_/ 

tags > Benin, development aid, self-organization, West-Africa, Aledjo

Helping People
to Help
Themselves
Interview by Astrid Ramge

Astrid Ramge Alexander Rausch Ulrike Reinhard

Astrid Ramge was in charge of Corporate Alexander Rausch works as a consultant Ulrike Reinhard, founder of we-magazine.
Communications at MetaDesign in Berlin, and system coach. His motto is to help Trained as an economist. Since she left
Germanys leading Corporate Identiy and people to help themselves no matter if the university, she has been self-employed in
Branding agency, during the last ten years. problems are private or business related. various fields.  she had her first
Now she is getting involved in various He serves a wide range of people within e-mail account at The Well. The past ten
projects concerning Web . and political, our society – unemployed poor families as years she has travelled the world extensi-
cultural and business changes. well as succesfull business people. vely, always looking for better ways to
think and act. She is deeply committed to
the network she inhabits.
 we_special_/

“We support Benin” (WeBenin) seeks to provide unbureaucratic effective


assistance to people and initiatives in Benin, helping them to empowerment
or self-responsibility and self-determination. WE spoke with the initiators
of WeBenin, Ulrike Reinhard, freesoul and founder of we-magazine, and
Alexander Rausch, creative coach and trainer, always on the look-out for new
forms of moderation and group work, about their experiences and the lessons
learned from this project which they started in . The two of them hit on
Benin because it’s one of the poorest countries in Africa but also because of
the personal bonds tying them to the land: the late father of Ulrike’s son came
from Benin. WeBenin is not an association or foundation but has consciously
chosen a “formless” kind of outreach that relies on voluntary helpers, trust,
donations, and campaigns and harnesses the power of networks.

In  when you started your Initiative you spent two weeks in Benin and
you returned there again in . What are conditions of life like there and
what challenges do you meet in Benin?

Alexander >

Benin is one of the poorest countries on earth. The Schools in rural areas are few and far between so
cities are teeming with people who’ve escaped the only children who go to school are those whose
from the countryside in search of a better future. In parents can afford to pay bus fares. Or children who
the rural areas you find those typical African round can walk around  km a day to school and back.
huts with straw roofs and village wells. There’s no This means that education is a luxury beyond the
kind of infrastructure. Then you have the smaller reach of most people. The level of education
towns most of which have an Internet Café and a throughout the country is very low and the majo-
power supply. The bigger villages like Aledjo have rity of people can neither read nor write.
at least a rudimentary infrastructure with a few Language is another big problem. A legacy of the
public telephones but electricity only for a number long period of French colonialization is that French
of houses or huts and then only at certain times of is the official language of the country. Yet the rural
day. Water comes in a bucket from a well. And areas and villages have a great number of very dif-
Internet access – when it’s there – is comparable to ferent dialects which often creates major language
the time of the first modems in Europe. barriers.
we_special_/ 

When you started your WeBenin project in , that this kind of option was a complete no-go. And
your networks here in Europe began collecting it’s for similar sorts of reasons that we’ve had to put
computers, cell phones and money to pass them other international projects which we’d have loved
on to people and initiatives in Benin. All this was to realize with the Internet on ice for the time being
under the slogan “Help people to help themselves”. – like exchanges with people in other poor parts
How has your projected shaped up to present and of the world.
what kind of experiences have you made? But cell phones are common in Benin as they
are throughout the whole of Africa. And with the
Alexander > various different networks operating in the regions,
people in Benin very often have several phones. We
Our vision is to network the people in the country had no difficulty in distributing our cell phones
so they can give one another mutual support and even though our phone campaign was only a drop
assistance and develop their OWN problem-solving in the ocean! But it’s still true that the cell phone in
skills and abilities, and their OWN ideas and pro- Africa does indeed offer a viable – and very often
jects which they can then share and pass on yet the only – alternative for implementing e.g. educa-
further. So that the country can awaken to new life tional projects.

Photos: Alexander Rausch

from the inside and under its own steam, and so And we did have our first small successes. In Aledjo
that the people themselves can live autonomous we were able to set up a computer room where
lives of the kind they want, of the kinds that match children, young people and adults too could make
their own reality. their first steps towards computer proficiency. And
Even so, the lack of infrastructure I’ve just talked we could also establish the Internet to a certain
about meant that an Internet-based project of the extent through “mobile sticks”. We’re optimist that
type we’d originally thought about was realizable the Internet problem can be solved – development
only on a very small scale. Another factor we had continues apace and the sticks are only the begin-
to take into account was the very high illiteracy rate ning.
in the country which meant that any Internet work Another milestone was the support we were able
would have to be limited to videos or podcasts. to offer through our donations to the women’s
But videos and podcasts need fairly high data trans- organization ADRIA in Aledjo in setting up a regio-
mission rates – and they’re simply not around!! nal project. We bought a quantity of sacks of ferti-
All this wasn’t what we’d imagined and it certainly lizer which ADRIA then distributed in the regions
wasn’t what we’d been hoping for. It would have using a system of micro-loans. Another idea we had
been great, for instance, to set up some form was to transfer ADRIA’s micro-financing model to
of partnership between schools in Germany and the neighboring locality of Massi. So watch this
classes in Benin. But it was immediately obvious space!
Photo: Alexander Rausch
In line with our guiding principle “Help people to volunteers – which will force us either to become
help themselves” it’s paramount for us to get entangled in bureaucracy and take us association
people in Benin to provide mutual support and status or to strike out in new directions. This is a
assistance for one another. No matter whether it’s rather unfortunate situation for us but it does serve
the women of ADRIA who pass on their knowledge to show once more how thinking on both sides –
to other women, or individual computer experts both people in poor regions and aid volunteers –
like the “village admin” who develop their own still remains deeply colored by the dualism of
skills and abilities and train others, the important “You’re rich and have go to help us” versus “We
thing is to have a multiplication effect in the out- know what’s best for you”. We need to do a great
reach. deal more work to persuade people out of these
Generally speaking, our greatest challenge was and ruts.
still is education and building up networks and the
Internet in a country where the conditions on the Personal relations, personal initiatives and
ground aren’t particularly auspicious. Yet Benin personal relationships are very much at the
does have the great advantage of being a politically forefront of your project. Can’t that sometimes
stable country with a government which is very also be an impediment when you’re trying to
receptive to receiving outside help. In this sense we support people and trying to act in an equitable
see great opportunities for driving our project for- and impartial manner?
wards through continuous development of the
technology and partnerships with other projects Alexander >
which have dealt with similar sets of circumstances.
WE wanted to do something in Africa and we chose
Ulrike > Benin because that was where the father of Ulrike’
son Tim came from. So right from the beginning we
From the word go we didn’t want to adopt any “top had a personal connection with the country. And
down” approach and appear as the clever know-it- we also involved the family in Benin – Tim’s uncle
alls. What we wanted to do was to listen, to identify accompanied us for the most part of our travels.
the actual pressing problems and then motivate Then as now, what we wanted to do embody and
people to use their own steam and their own sense live out our principle “help people to help them-
of personal responsibility to help themselves. selves” through our own personal relations so that
In summer  our initiative was able to place two the people on the ground would understand this
volunteers from Germany in Aledjo, two young spirit and carry it forward.
women who after graduating from high school took Obviously justice is a very difficult thing to guaran-
a year off for voluntary social work. I brought the tee but it’s got nothing to do with personal relation-
two of them to Aledjo last summer and helped them ships. The big NGOs can’t guarantee justice either.
get their bearings. They are now supporting Mme But our project had the vision that personal bonds
Abibai on the micro-credits program and working and network building would somehow result in
as German and French teachers at local the school. more justice. Because when a network widens,
Unfortunately it quickly became apparent here that more and more people have the chance to take
it’s not at all easy to familiarize volunteers and part in it so that ultimately everybody can benefit.
Europeans with just what “Help people to help Powered by self-responsibility and people’s own
themselves” actually involves. Even volunteers have actions, it will have an impact over and beyond
a very highly ingrained sense of security and a hier- local boundaries and inspire people to take their
archical way of thinking. So, on their own initiative, own futures in their hands. Established NGOs often
these two young women sought out the local export their own view of things with what they
branch of the German Development Service (DED) believe are the proper courses of action to be taken.
in an effort, as it were, to get the official blessing WE on the other hand want to get to know the per-
and authorization on their current positions. This sonal connections, the individual worlds in which
was a move that we certainly hadn’t planned for people live, and work from inside to motivate them
and which will probably lead to the projects we’ve to autonomous action.
started in Aledjo being staffed in future by DED
What have you learnt about the needs of people
in Benin? In the light of your present experience,
what is the best way to support them?

Ulrike >

Given the staggering poverty there, it’s quite certain


that % of the population are involved in a bare
struggle just to survive from day to day. For women
every day at sunrise this means trudging the long
way to the fields with a child on their back, anot-
her in their hand and a heavy weight of “baggage”
balanced on their head. Day in day out without the
slightest hope of change or improvement.
It wasn’t the poverty that shocked me in our travels
through the country. No, the people might be chro-
nically poor but they have a tremendous zest for
life – something that is lacking in us here. What
depressed me and what depresses me still is that
there are countless numbers of people there who
simply don’t see any chance of a better future.
They’ve almost resigned and accepted their lives as
they are without the slightest hope for the future.
We’ve been into schools and gazed into faces that
I shall never forget for as long as I live: emptiness,
emptiness, sheer emptiness. Not a trace of pride or
dignity. Possibly just the hope that when whites ap-
pear they might be given a handout. But that is pre-
cisely not the way to do it! These people don’t need
handouts and they don’t need someone to show
them or tell them how they can best survive in their
own country. They know that already!
We have to reawaken to new life everything that
has been destroyed by long decades of develop-
ment work and the behavior of the former colonial
masters. We have to restore these people to their
dignity and recognize them and view them as our
equals in the ecosystem of the earth. We can help
them sustainably and for the long term – if we only
let them be themselves.
My dream is to hear more people in Benin saying
“Yes, we can!” and to see more people like Mme.
Abiba take control of things with her own two
hands and get them done. You can help them to
find their own way but then you have to let them
go it alone. And that will only happen on a broad
basis if WE say to them “Yes you can do it!” If we
give them back their dignity and treat them with
respect and are willing to learn from them the
whole host of things that they can do and we can’t!
 we_special_/

And it is important – even if it’s very hard when you ting in the region. The idea is to start with a group
look into the empty faces of the poorest of the poor of about  women in Aledjo and to work out a way
as an affluent European – it’s important to say to with them how they can best teach the other inha-
them “We haven’t got any handouts for you. You bitants of their villages to read and write.
have to do it by yourselves – and you can do it!”
That’s the only way we’re going to make a perma- Do you have any connections now to similar
nent change for the better! projects in other countries?

From the very beginning you’ve relied heavily Ulrike >


on the mechanisms of the network, both for
those giving and those receiving. Calls for No, this sort of connection doesn’t exist in any phy-
donations on the Web, in blogs and so on. How sical sense even though it’s something we’re very
is your network now shaping up on both sides? much thinking about. We do think that projects that
have been successful in other countries – including
Ulrike > countries outside of Africa – could be transferred
to Benin. We don’t mean classical development pro-
For us the Internet is the key instrument, on the one jects but rather those initiatives mainly sponsored
hand for enabling education and on the other for by private individuals which start out on a modest
promoting and building up the networks internal small scale and which like we do subscribe to the
to Benin across the world. That is a vital basic “help people to help themselves” principle. Projects
requirement that’s needed if the people in all the which make people strong in their dignity and
countries of this world are to gradually build a form which put them into a position where they’re able
of life that makes life livable for all. This is a deve- to build something themselves – projects that I call
lopment that the governments of the world are “enablers”.
going to have to come to terms with over the next In particular, I’m thinking about the Cinema Jenin
few years. The Internet has turned the world into a project which is also discussed in this edition of we-
global village. magazine. So why not build a cinema with a media
In Benin we’ve created the first node. How this will square in Porto Nuovo or Naittingou? This would
develop in future depends solely on the people have the advantage that the partners in Jenin cer-
there and how relevant network content is to their tainly have all the know-how needed to set up a
daily lives. The network is tremendously useful for project of this kind in Benin and we can simply learn
our work in terms of donations and information, the lessons of what they’ve done in Jenin. Film in
and it also brings us into contact with similar kinds Africa is a huge topic.
of projects. As we’ve learnt, it functions extremely We’ve also been following a project in Winneba,
well! Ghana with very keen interest. Winneba is a town
about  km west of Accra on the coast where
And what does the future look like for WeBenin? what is known as a NIC or Network-Improved
What’s the next step you’re planning? Communities was set up with help from the Free
Radio Network from Berlin and an initiative from
Ulrike > Taiwan. The technical infrastructure comes from
Berlin while on the local level people are schooled
I intend to return to Benin in early August. With two in using PCs and networks by Taiwanese students.
main things on the agenda: firstly, we want to find The people who’ve had their training then go on to
out how we can use the Free Radio Network there train others so there’s a snowball effect.
to build a network infrastructure, and secondly we The Free Radio Network enables many small units
want to start preparations for building our library to share the low network costs which means they
in Aledjo at long last. If everything goes according can be connected to the Net. Such a structure could
to plan, the architects Johannes Hucke and Barbara be applied to Aledjo and enable communication
Quentin will be coming with me and we’re going between various localities without any of them
to talk with the people on the ground on how to being linked to the Internet backbone. When you
take further measures to promote reading and wri- think how hard it is for most people just to cover
we_special_/ 

the  km to the next village, it’s easy to see what didn’t just ask for donations, they also spread the
kind of benefits such a system would bring with it. news about us and this attracted more and more
Both Winneba and Nigeria too – in places where new “helpers” to swell our ranks. Ulrike too has had
these NICs are now part of everyday life – have seen a lot of instantaneous support and feedback per
a considerable rise in the living standards of the Twitter from Los Angeles and other parts of the
stakeholders in terms of educational level and world. To keep it short, this is the first time that I’ve
income. really understood the network principle on such a
huge scale and I’ve really “caught the bug”. Network
People everywhere are now seizing initiatives communication is ultimately the very best means of
off the beaten track and fighting for a better and helping people and of hopefully creating a better
more livable world. There’s an uprising among world.
the culturally creative. Would you label your- I always used to be aware that I myself bore sole
selves as such? responsibility for the kind of life I wanted to lead.
Webenin has now shown me that we can reach the
And do you see any signs of an emerging new whole world with the Internet and that by working
trend or movement comparable with the environ- together in networks we can slowly but surely take
mental movement? more control over what our lives should look like.
The opportunities it offers are breathtaking! Many
Ulrike > many people are now using them and their num-
bers are continually growing. Since Benin, all my
I don’t like being put in boxes! But I do indeed think thinking is along the “open tracks” of self-organi-
that you can speak of the formation of a movement zation, networks, the global village. So WeBenin
that bypasses the traditional channels of develop- has changed my life as a whole by changing my way
ment aid. In my view it’s exactly the same pheno- of thinking. It’s a wonderful feeling even though it
menon we can see in politics, education or in enter- does give you a very stark view of the degree of
prises: if something can’t make a breakthrough in (personal) responsibility you bear for the whole!
its proper system or just takes an incredibly amount
of time about it, it goes ahead and builds its own
system. And that’s much easier to do nowadays
than it was  years ago, thanks in great part to the
advent of the Internet. On the one hand having
access to the Internet means that people can now
clearly see and hear those previously unknown and
“oh-so-remote places”, while on the other new
media also enable the rapid and effective networ-
king of all those who want to get active.

To what extent has the WeBenin project changed


your outlook or your reality? Do you view the
world differently now to the way you viewed it
two years ago?

Alexander >

For me personally my view of things has changed


because I now know what it means to have lived
out Marshall McLuhan’s dictum “the world is a glo-
bal village” in my own person. The Internet and the
network have shown us that there are a great num-
ber of people out there ready and willing to give
immediate and “easy” help and support. The blogs
Photo: Alexander Rausch

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