When chickens mean the world

Created: 05/28/2022, 06:52

By: Christian Schaefer

Groundbreaking for the chicken farm.

Adrian (2nd from right) with his friends Chris (2nd from right) and Lukas (3rd from left) © private

Adrian Bonnetsmüller from Ebersberg and his friends are building a chicken farm in Ethiopia to give disadvantaged children a good education.

A story of how small things can create great things

Ebersberg – Once upon a time there was a farmer whose hen laid a golden egg every day.

The farmer soon became a rich man.

This is how the French writer Jean de La Fontaine tells it in his fable "The Hen with the Golden Eggs". But the story does not end well - for the farmer as well as for the chicken.

This story here isn't about golden eggs, it's about ordinary ones.

And yet, for some children, these eggs can be currency for a better life.

A story with a good ending.

Actually, Adrian Bonnetsmüller takes care of personnel plans, toys and the frog or ladybug group.

He is head of the St. Benedikt kindergarten in Ebersberg.

A lot to do.

Nevertheless, he was tempted to think outside the box, specifically to the African continent.

But it shouldn't be a beach vacation in an Egyptian beach resort, Adrian wanted to get to know the real Africa.

With his friends Lukas and Chris, whom he knows from the boy scout days, he decided to go to Ethiopia for a month - and to make a difference there.

The three friends traveled to the outskirts of the capital Addis Ababa to live and work on a school campus there.

"In Ethiopia, every second person is under 18 years old, it's teeming with children, it's wonderful," says Adrian

500 chickens finance the school fees for three children

Basically, Ethiopia has a good infrastructure for children, there are kindergartens and schools everywhere.

But there are clear differences.

Adrian and his friends taught at a private school, the children can get excellent degrees there and find a way out of poverty for themselves and their families.

"The world is open to the children after they graduate," says Adrian.

But of course this doesn't come for free - parents have to pay school fees for their children, which usually only people from the middle class can afford.

"Our plan was to create something sustainable," says Adrian.

"Something for needy families to give their children a good education." And that's how the chickens came into play.

In Ethiopia, every second person is a child.

"It's teeming with children, that's wonderful," says Adrian Bonnetsmüller © private

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The school campus already runs a small chicken farm, and the money raised can be used to pay the school fees for three children.

"We thought it would be great if we could make it much bigger and give 15 children a school career from kindergarten to high school," says Adrian.

However, there was no money for this, the three estimated 8,000 euros for the expansion of the system.

So they started a fundraiser on social media.

In order for this to succeed, of course, a catchy slogan had to be found.

Based on the Fridays for Future movement, they named their project "Chicken for Future".

And it worked.

"We received donations from acquaintances and strangers, from friends we hadn't seen for years," says Adrian.

Within 15 days they had reached their fundraising goal and of course "everyone was over the moon".

And so it can start now, building materials and craftsmen have to be organized, permits have to be obtained.

Adrian and his friends have managed to secure a good future for children with the simple idea of ​​a chicken farm - and they have also created jobs.

"And if you then tell a child whose father died of Corona and the family can no longer afford the school fees that they can continue to go to school and you see the gratitude, then it can be quite emotionally overwhelming," says Adrian.

His trip was a lasting experience for Adrian.

"Some of the people live in corrugated iron shacks and are still happy," he says.

"I worked a lot there, but I came back satisfied." sc

fundraiser

Anyone who would like to support the sustainable project "Chicken for Future" can do so here: www.gofund.me/2895d102