Kinderhilfe Afghanistan:
Bread and Education for All

KINDERHILFE AFGHANISTAN is a private initiative of the Erös family: Reinhard Erös, M.D., his wife Anette, and their five children Veit (31), Urs (30), Welf (29) and the twins Cosima and Veda (19). Since its foundation in 1998, the organization has supported Afghan children and women in east Afghanistan by establishing medical and educational units. Reinhard Erös worked as medical doctor with the German armed forces. He has more than twenty years of experience of humanitarian and emergency aid, working with UNO, NATO and other international aid organizations in India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Albania, Rwanda and East Timor.

The Erös Family and Afghan members of staff in 1988

Reinhard Erös has been a committed supporter of Afghanistan and its people since 1985.
In 1987 he took off several years without pay to move together with his wife and four sons to the Pakistani city of Peshawar on the border to Afghanistan. Erös worked as the medical head of a German aid organization in the Afghan war zone. More than 180 000 sick and
wounded were tended to annually in very difficult and dangerous war conditions.

A project is born: the Peshawar Peace School as a pioneer project

Annette Erös founded and lead the ‘European School of Peshawar’. At this ‘exotic German school’, as described by the German newspaper DIE WELT in 1988, children from four continents were taught by female teachers from five countries. Destitute refugee children from Afghanistan were taught together with children from the well-off families of employees of international aid organizations from Europe, the USA and Asia. Ten years later, the school developed into one of the best educational institutions for Afghan refugee girls in Pakistan.

In 1998, it was the Peshawar Peace School...

…and now: more and more schools in Afghanistan

After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the focus of KINDERHILFE moved to the eastern regions of Afghanistan, a particularly dangerous and difficult area. More than two dozen Peace Schools and basic health units have been built, furnished and equipped with teaching material and medical facilities. In addition to this, KINDERHILFE AFGHANISTAN provides a stable, regular income to the two thousand Afghans working for the organization.

Total commitment – but without pay

Reinhard Erös visits the projects several times a year to check the ongoing work and developments and personally pays the teachers, doctors, engineers, builders, carpenters and all others involved.
This is the best way to ensure that the donations are put to economic and efficient use.
Annette Erös and the adult sons Veit, Urs and Welf accompany Reinhard Erös regularly and support the work on location in Afghanistan. The 19-years old twins Cosima and Veda support
from home. They do office work and help preparing lectures and exhibitions. The family’s work for Afghanistan is entirely honorary: no salary, no expenses, no allowance.

Reinhard and Annette Erös inform the public in Germany and abroad about the situation in Afghanistan. They give lectures and seminars at schools, universities and other groups and associations. Since September 11th 2001, Reinhard Erös has given more than 2000 lectures to raise support for the aid that KINDERHILFE provides in Afghanistan.
KINDERHILFE AFGHANISTAN does not have paid employees in Germany. The organization has a small office in Afghanistan, in which three Afghan employees are paid the local salary (about 50 Euros per month) to take care of basic administrative issues. The projects
of the organization are financed solely through private donations. The organization has no administrative costs whatsoever. Since 2006, administrative tasks are dealt with by the Trutz- Erös-Trust. The Caritas Regensburg takes care of bank account- and bookkeeping.

Dr Erös in a cave clinic in 1989

Reinhard Erös at the opening ceremony of a new school