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Help for Kyrgyzstan: Hanns Werner Hey receives the Federal Republic's Medal of Merit

2021-07-23T04:24:39.569Z


Kyrgyzstan is one of the poorest countries in Central Asia. Hanns Werner Hey from Münsingen has been involved there for 16 years. He has now been honored for this.


Kyrgyzstan is one of the poorest countries in Central Asia.

Hanns Werner Hey from Münsingen has been involved there for 16 years.

He has now been honored for this.

Münsing

- Dr.

Hanns Werner Hey from Münsing has been awarded the Federal Republic of Germany's Medal of Merit by District Administrator Josef Niedermaier for his many years of service.

For 16 years the retired dentist has been doing voluntary work in poor countries around the world, especially in Kyrgyzstan.

"Of course, I'm incredibly pleased that my commitment is recognized in this country," says Hey.

Born in Kulmbach in 1939, he studied dentistry after graduating from high school.

In 1971 he opened a dental practice in Munich, which he ran for four decades.

As a pensioner he could have put his hands on his lap and spent his free time at home in the beautiful Ammerland with walks, swimming in Lake Starnberg, good food, art and other things.

But he says: “I wanted to give something back for what our country has offered us.

Anyone who has looked around the world knows that the people of so many other countries envy us for our social security systems ”.

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Impression from Kyrgyzstan: The landscape with the typical yurts is barren, but charming.

© private

In 2005, Hey, together with his wife Karla, traveled to Ladakh in northern India for the first time, where doctors were being sought for a new dental treatment station. This was followed by further assignments in Ethiopia for Karlheinz Böhm's organization “People for People”. In 2006, the Hey couple set up aid to Kyrgyzstan with the support of the Wolfratshausen contractor Reinhold Krämmel and under the umbrella of the Bayerische Ostgesellschaft. At that time, Krämmel was the honorary consul of neighboring Kazakhstan; today he is honorary consul of the former Soviet state Kyrgyzstan.

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The Kyrgyzstan Aid brought a large number of medical devices for basic diagnostics such as EKG, sonography or X-rays, medical instruments, disposables, hospital beds, wheelchairs, walking aids as well as 16 complete dental treatment places to the country on the Silk Road.

In addition, around 2000 moving boxes with warm clothes and shoes.

While the medical equipment was brought to various hospitals in the country, especially that of the uranium-contaminated city of Mayluu-Suu, the Heys and other volunteers distributed clothing and various aids in the prefabricated buildings in the capital Bishkek and to families in need in the central highlands.

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Hanns Werner Hey's Kyrgyzstan aid brought a lot of medical equipment into the country.

People benefited a lot from that.

© private

Since 2011, the Kyrgyz women's organization SEZIM has been supported by the Upper Bavarian organization with the maintenance of a women's shelter called NUR (“Light of Hope”) - the only one in the country.

In 2020, Kyrgyzstan Aid was able to buy a building and thus secure the NUR project - an absolute concern of the Heys.

You have collected around 100,000 euros in donations for this.

Women who are threatened by their husbands and their children find shelter in the house for six months and receive psychological and legal help.

These women then still have the opportunity to build their own existence with an interest-free small loan.

Also read: International Understanding in the Krämmel Forum

In a third project, Kyrgyzstan Aid is helping impoverished elderly people with a mini pension of 20 to 50 euros a month.

"With a donation of 20 euros a month, we can actually contribute from here to keeping someone alive," Hey appeals to his fellow citizens in Germany.

The Ammerlander has summarized his experiences from 15 years of medical and humanitarian aid in numerous films as well as in the book "Vom Walzen habeniges Steine", which was published in 2020.

In this he does not ignore the enormous problems in the relief operations: corruption, customs harassment, arbitrariness by the authorities, lack of support from the government.

But he also writes about the encounter with impressive people, strong women and the grandiose high mountain landscape of Kyrgyzstan.

Also read: Ammerland: Empire for a summer

In summary, the 82-year-old says: "Problems lose their weight through the happiness of meeting people who do not surrender to problems and overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles." For reasons of age, Hanns Werner Hey and his wife Karla (78) have left the active help withdrawn;

but they want to continue to provide support.

Tanja Lühr

Info


Further information can be found on the Internet at www.kirgistan-hilfe.de.

Hanns-Werner Hey's autobiography “Vom Wälzen haben haben sie Steine”, published by Neopubli GmbH.

The price for the paperback is around 15 euros.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-07-23

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