The SIP Scootershop has made a generous donation of €5,000 to the Humanitarian Aid Association. The SIP team received a message from Dr. Soeren Gatz, who is working to save the life of a seven-year-old boy, Alan Christ, with a congenital heart defect (pulmonary stenosis, atrial septal defect) in Foumban, Cameroon. Dr. Gatz had presented the boy’s findings to Prof. Ewert at the German Heart Centre in Munich and was able to secure an early date for the operation. So far, only €7,000 of the €12,000 needed had been raised, and the operation date was getting closer and closer. In order to raise the missing €5,000, Dr. Gatz asked friends and relatives for emergency help. Thanks to the donation from the SIP Scootershop, the missing amount for little Alan’s operation was made available, and the team is now keeping its fingers crossed for a successful operation.
Photo: Humanitarian Aid e.V. Dr. Gatz
Why Humanitarian Aid e.V.?
Dr. Soeren Gatz was a senior consultant at Landsberg Hospital for 34 years before retiring ten years ago to make his dream come true: to bring medical aid to the Third World. As a founding member of the association “Humanitäre Hilfe e. V. Landsberg, Partner für Gesundheit und Bildung”, he and around 100 members are committed to humanitarian work. The association was founded in 2005 by doctors and nursing staff from the hospital in Lechstadt and, in cooperation with local NGOs and the Evangelical Church (EEC), supports eight hospitals and several schools in Cameroon. Support from the German government, sponsors from industry and the NGOs Bon Secours and World Mercy Fund (WMF) plays an important role in the association’s projects. The training and further education of local staff is the focus of their work, and Dr. Gatz still remembers the words of a doctor from Cameroon: “They not only gave us fish, but also taught us how to fish.”
