12.05.2022

The Peter und Luise Hager Foundation supports the Afrikaprojekt Dr. Schales

The Peter und Luise Hager Foundation has been supporting the Afrikaprojekt Dr. Schales (Dr Schales’ Africa project) in Zimbabwe since the beginning of 2020. The association was set up by retired senior consultant Dr Hans Schales and his children Anne and Oliver Schales, who run the association. Oliver Schales is headmaster of the Gymnasium Johanneum Homburg/Saar in Germany. The main areas of focus of the Africa project are thus health and education. Both are important cornerstones for the healthy development of a country.

Health focus: St. Luke’s Hospital in Lupane
St. Luke’s Hospital helps disadvantaged people living within a radius of 400 kilometres. It has 250 beds and delivers around 3,000 babies every year. Courtesy of the Africa project, to which we have been donating since 2020, the hospital is in the process of expanding its infrastructure. Clean water and energy represent significant challenges. To address these, the hospital installed a drinking water network, wells and a larger drinking water reservoir. It also improved the disposal of wastewater, modernised its electrical systems, set up a diesel emergency generator and installed a photovoltaic system to power the lighting and cooling systems.

Donations are also being used to fund medical staff training, the procurement of medical equipment and medicines, renovations to buildings and hospital wards, patient food and ambulances. The medical services are diverse and range from infusions to follow-up care.

The donations from the Peter und Luise Hager Foundation are important because every year the hospital has to make up for a funding gap resulting from insufficient state support. To prevent an exodus of doctors and nurses from the hospital, a Top UP programme has been launched that, among other things, supports the children of employees.

Education focus: funding for 17 schools with 6,000 pupils
The educational project focuses primarily on modernising the infrastructure of 17 primary and secondary schools within the St. Luke’s Hospital catchment area. The funding will make a difference to around 6,000 pupils, who are looking forward to new buildings and renovations, educational supplies, sports equipment and playgrounds. Through a sponsorship fund, 600 and 700 children receive paid tuition, school uniforms, educational supplies, medical care and, in times of drought, food. The intention is to facilitate their journey from preschool through to a possible higher education course.