After losing several family members in the civil war and fearing that he, like some of his friends, would be recruited as a child soldier, Aravinth fled Sri Lanka alone at the age of 14. He spent ten years in exile as a refugee, where he faced systematic discrimination. After the war ended, Aravinth returned […]
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The lack of perspectve for well-educated young people on the African continent drove Yanick to Germany at the age of 18. Alongside his studies, he worked here as a rubbish collector, warehouse worker and bouncer to keep his head above water. His persistence paid off: Yanick earned a doctorate in economics at the University of […]
Due to a progressive retinal disease, Sabriye became completely blind at the age of twelve. Her love for Tibet and desire to learn new things led her to develop the Tibetan Braille script in 1992. Sabriye traveled Tibet on her own in 1997 in order to explore the possibility of establishing a school for the […]
As a committed teacher, courageous principal and passionate school reformer, Margret has constantly pushed the boundaries of the German school system. In one example, she encouraged her pupils to run a refugee café and started an award-winning school garden initiative. She used her biology and chemistry subjects to raise pupils’ awareness of global environmental challenges […]
During his work for UNESCO and as an international consultant for UNICEF, the World Bank and USAID, Manish came to the conclusion that the existing education system neither provides students with relevant skills, nor promote their personal development or contributes to the sustainable development of local communities. In search of alternatives, Manish and his wife […]
After financial constraints forced Nomawethu to abandon her studies in sports management, she began volunteering in her home township of Khayelitsha in Cape Town. She developed a passion for community work and used her own experiences and perspectives to inspire and support young people. She quickly became a role model for others. Soon after, Nomawethu […]
Etienne grew up in Berlin and came to Uganda for the first time at the age of 19. He worked there for a year as a volunteer at a Children’s Home. Soon he realized, that the orphans were not receiving any further education after primary school, so he founded a non-profit organisation that awarded scholarships […]
Silja is the founder and president of the Hochschule für Gesellschaftsgestaltung (HfGG) in Koblenz. She comes from a family of entrepreneurs in Hamburg and studied technical chemistry, economics and philosophy in Berlin and Tokyo. She spent many years researching intercultural philosophy in Germany, Japan and the USA, aiming towards renewing economic thinking across the boundaries […]