Edi & Conny Schmickl
BG/BRG Klosterneuburg building
Austrian Friends
Racketlon Federation Austria took a collection from the players and spectators at the International World Cup and donated enough for us to make necessary masonry repairs to the primary block. While the mason was at the school, repairs were also made to the walls of the library where the wiring was put in. A couple more children were added to our breakfast programme and a water hygiene project supplying children with their own drinking cup was started. They also sent some sports equipment for the students to use!
Edi and Conny Schmickl of Klosterneuburg, Austria have helped us tremendously!
They collected donations from themselves, family, and friends to pay for our librarians' salaries for the 2011-2012 school year.
Conny & Edi approached Racketlon Federation Austria and raised enough money for DSDO to make necessary repairs to the existing primary block, put a couple more children on the breakfast program and started a water hygiene project providing Class 4 with personal drinking cups.
Edi and Conny returned to Dekpor with another generous donation from family, friends and Racketlon Federation Austria. This time, the construction of 40 one-piece desks, improving the soccer field, and contributing to the future volleyball court were funded.
Together with Racketlon and donations from friends, Conny & Edi have made our teachers very happy! The 6 desks that were at the school have been properly repaired, 18 new desks have been purchased, and 31 chairs have been made. Up until now, most staff did not have anywhere to sit!
Dekpor residents were happy to welcome Conny and Edi for another visit! This time they raised 2400 euros (thanks to Brigitte, family, friends, and Racketlon Federation Austria). With those funds, Brigitte's 1000 euros will be going toward our next water reservoir; and with the balance, a projector and stabilizer were purchased, a library bookshelf was built, 3 tables and 4 benches for the computer lab were made, and 20 benches for the library extension were constructed by Weta Secondary School students.
In April, Conny and Edi were at an exhibition and spread the word about DSDO and raised 160 euros while they were at it!
Both Edi and Conny have visited Dekpor 5 times and have brought sports equipment, school supplies, shoes, clothing, medical supplies and an assortment of other items.
This year Edi and Conny brought their friends Ulrike and Andreas for a visit! They presented us with a cheque for 2000 euros — money that was collected from friends and acquaintances, and also brought some goods for the students. Our school soccer team received jerseys and shorts, while the junior kindergarten class (approximately 90 students) received either a pair of shoes, an article of clothing, or a toy. They also brought an assortment of items for the school.
The donation was used to:
- repair the volleyball court
- do crack repairs on buildings
- put in 13 flower beds in front of classrooms
- purchase 4 library tables
- help with the costs of installing 4 security lights on school campus
BG/BRG Klosterneuburg Gymnasium in Austria first heard about us through our friend, Edi Schmickl, and they started fundraising at the beginning of the 2017 - 18 school year to help our food programme. Keen to learn as much as they could about Ghana, they immersed themselves in every way possible.
Eva and Matt, two very dedicated educators, spearheaded all of the activity at Klosterneuburg Gymnasium and started a group called The Future Makers. Their intent is to continue to assist our projects in Dekpor.
In June, Abraham and Linda spent almost the full month in Austria, with much of their time doing workshops and learning sessions with the Klosterneuburg students. Linda and Abraham were impressed right from the get go as they were greeted with the Ghanaian national anthem, and then throughout the rest of their stay by the genuine interest in learning even more about traditional culture and crafts. Take a look at the album to see some of the cool things they did together!
Through a variety of methods, the students managed to raise 4000 Euros over the past school year! A portion was directed to our bike repair kitty, and the majority is to help maintain our food programme. The Austrian students also collected cell phones, prescription glasses, and sunglasses for our Dekpor students.
We are so grateful for your support! A huge thank you to the staff, students, and parents of BG/BRG Klosterneuburg!
Linda and Abraham were thrilled to welcome teachers, Eva Strotzka and Philip Schaeffer, along with student, Tobias Rauch, to Dekpor. They had a quick visit to Ghana that included sight-seeing, village tours, and time spent at Dekpor Basic School. Donations of clothing, shoes, sunglasses, school supplies, learning materials, and ICT equipment were gratefully accepted. While Eva was busy training students how to use several new materials for the classrooms, Philip was busy setting up both headmasters and the computer lab with a total of 9 Raspberry Pi 3s, (each with mouse, keyboard, monitor, cables) and other ICT equipment. Jonas, a student from the school in Austria, sent a prosthetic arm for John, a man who lives in Dzodze! Incredible! We thank BG/BRG Klosterneuburg for their generosity, and to both Eva and Philip for their personal donations.
Philip Schaeffer of Austria just spent a week in Dekpor and he is giving our computer lab a face lift! Philip personally purchased and brought 10 brand new Raspberry Pis with him, and then was able to find all the peripherals necessary for set ups in Ghana by using funds from BG/BRG Klosterneuburg!
And then, in anticipation of the next visit when more Raspberry Pis will be delivered, Philip got another 12 of everything (monitors, keyboards, etc.) — again funded by BG/BRG Klosterneuburg.
What a difference this will make!
Philip, a teacher, also took the time to help some of our ICT secondary students (who just happened to be home in Dekpor) get excited for their futures by involving them and teaching them how to choose good items and how to set up!
Philip, we are extremely grateful for all you have done to improve our computer lab!
When Edi Schmickl visits Ghana, he always brings good news from Austria! The Rotary Club of Klosterneuburg donated 1000 euros and the staff and students of BG/BRG Klosterneuburg raised 2000 euros! We're so excited about how we've been able to use these donations.
The funds have been used to:
- provide uniforms for 60 students (we purchased the fabric and hired our seamstresses in training!)
- purchase teacher notebooks
- help maintain our food programme
- purchase an electric drill and bits
- buy SD cards to power the new Raspberry Pi units
- buy dry erase markers
- install an AV system in the library hall
- install a secure, barred replacement window in the headmaster's office
- repair desks, doors, shutters at school
BG/BRG Klosterneuburg has continued the incredible face lift of our computer lab by sending even more Raspberry Pi computers and all of the peripherals needed! We have hoped for some expert assistance for years, and we are absolutely thrilled that the wish is being fulfilled! A special shout out to Philip, Max, Eva, and Lori for their leadership at their school and their efforts to help make a difference!
The 5th grade team at BG/BRG Klosterneuburg is incredible! They have set up a lovely Ghana display table on three occasions, and have sold products to the parents. They raised $1100 CAD, which is AMAZING!!!
A very special shout out to the three wonderful educators who made this possible: Eva Strotzka, Pia Fuchs, and Lori Renna Linton.
And a thank you to the fifth grade students who looked after manning the tables: Valentin Binder 5A, Konstantin Reiter 5A, Tim Zalcmann 5A, Fabian Schrattenholzer 5D, Adrian Huber 5D, Laurenz Gschweidl 5E, Benedikt Ecker 5E, Fabian Schweitzer (TGM).
We are very grateful for your hard work and commitment to helping the children of Dekpor!
We are blown away by the 4a Class of BG/BRG Klosterneuburg for making an incredible €2500 donation! These brilliant students won the top prize in a national MINT competition in Austria for a physics project that their wonderful teacher, Markus Gruber, did with them last year! Instead of going on a class trip, the students remarkably chose to donate to help the students of Dekpor instead! The money has been directed to the Combat COVID fund to purchase soap, bleach, set up tippy tap hand-washing stations, and to purchase materials to make facemasks. We are so touched by the generosity of Class 4a!
To see their project: https://www.biohist.at/physik/projekt-lawbreakers-4a
We are blown away by the $4526.60 donation from Kadapi Entwicklungs Projekt via Ute Glawischinig! A huge thanks to all involved. We were asked to put the funds toward our food programme, which will happily help a lot of children. Thank you so much for this incredible donation Kadapi Entwicklungs Projekt!
Last December, Ms Ulli Schark and the 3C class at BG/BRG Klosterneuburg did some wonderful fundraising to help sponsor one of our Dekpor children! The Austrian students held a bake sale on Parents' Day. Evidently all of the homemade cookies, cakes, and muffins were a HUGE hit! How do we know? They raised an incredible $780 CAD in one day! Wow!
There is no possible way to come up with the words to adequately express our extreme gratitude! Philip Schaeffer came back to Dekpor for a 3 week visit and has donated and prepared 9 more Raspberry Pi set ups. There are raspis, keyboards, monitors, cords, connectors, micro SD cards, multi sockets, adaptors — the whole shebang!
Now our computer lab at Dekpor Basic School has a total of 41! One is hooked up to a projector, and the others are student work stations. A very special thank you to those who funded this incredible addition: Philip, Teresa, friends, and the Klosterneuburg School community. Philip, you have changed the entire computer lab — we are excited by the possibilities and forever grateful for the hours you have given to help the people of Dekpor!
Well, here we are again, thanking friends in Austria!
Edi Schmickl and Philip Schaeffer arrived in Dekpor in August. There were some medical supply donations for the clinic (see the album). Edi's visit lasted only a few days, but he kept busy visiting students and playing handball and football! Philip, on the other hand, stayed for several weeks! With a financial donation from BG/BRG Klosterneuburg, Philip was able to make some wonderful improvements to our Dekpor Basic School's computer lab. Trunking, wires, cables, networking boxes, routers, clips, and more than we can keep track of was purchased. In fact, over half of a kilometre of wires and cables were used to network the 41 computers in our lab! Philip's expertise, over the last couple of years, is what has given us such a wonderful computer lab. This time he directed a group of our graduates to help get this huge undertaking complete!
Philip, himself, purchased the 3 antennae and a variety of other necessary items. We truly are in awe of what Philip has done… he is one extremely talented and generous volunteer! Thanks also to the students of BG/BRG Klosterneuburg, especially Class 3D for their 3D Smart Waves physics project!
Also, we had many new friends from Austria choose to step up to become student sponsors! Welcome to the DSDO family!
Edi Schmickl visited Dekpor for a couple of days and brought friends, Dr. Karin Haas and Dr. Robert Haas. Although the stay was very short, they gave goods to the kindergarten class, delivered items for the clinic, celebrated Karin's birthday, and held a dental session for our JHS 1 & 2 students! Edi delivered some monetary gifts to several of the sponsored students. And, we are grateful to Markus Gruber and BG/BRG Klosterneuburg friends for the 1400 euro donation! So many wonderful things happened!
See the album!
March 9, 2023 update
What a difference Dr. Karin Haas and Dr. Richard Haas made in their very short time in Dekpor! They came late on a Sunday night and left very early on Tuesday morning. Even still, they spent several hours on the Monday choosing to educate the junior high school students about dental hygiene, gave out dental supplies, and they screened for any potential problems. Indeed, of the 100 students who were examined, several of them desperately required treatment. Since Karin and Richard couldn't do it themselves without any equipment, they offered to cover the costs for the students to go to Sogakope with Linda and Abraham.
Today was the day to go!
In the album, you can see 12 of the students who are incredibly grateful to have their dental problems fixed!
A massive thank you to Karin and Robert for their generosity!
Once again, we are grateful to our friends at Klosterneuburg BG in Austria! This time they planned an event they called Bikeline--to encourage more travel by bicycle and less with motorized vehicles-- and funds were raised mainly by the parents holding very successful bake sales! 800€ has been allocated to our food programme! See the album!
Our wonderful friends at Klosterneuburg BG truly outdid themselves! They held an amazingly successful plant sale, sold more than 300 plants and raised an incredible $2400 CAD to help us with our Basics Kit Campaign! A grateful thanks to Mr. Markus Gruber for organizing and to the students and parents! See their link for more:
https://www.biohist.at/
Our friends at BG Klosterneuburg held their Bikeland and Climate Day fundraiser and donated $530 toward our Ghana Nourish Minds annual fundraiser. Wow!
