Peace Village International: Ongoing Patient Reports?

Column " Once upon a time there was a small village... " This is the beginning of many stories about brave and virtuous people that usually end with the sentence, " and they lived happily ever after. " The " fairy tale " that is going to be told here has not come to an end yet, although many people work and strive for it. Surprising? No! Let the story be told from the beginning. Once upon a time, more specifically in the year 1967, there was a small village named Oberhausen-Schmachtendorf. It is located in western Germany in a region called " Ruhrgebiet. " It happened that upsetting news stories and pictures from the Six-Day War and the Vietnam War found their way into the living rooms of many German families also in Oberhausen. That is how people learned about children who were wounded in these wars and who could not receive any medical care, which meant that many of them died or suffered greatly. Many people were affected by these pictures and thought that someone should help these boys and girls. There also was a group of men and women, including the former mayor of Oberhausen, Protestant and Catholic clergymen, and other citizens from all social orders, who did not just think but also acted. Their idea to help those ill and wounded children took shape in an organization that was named Peace Village International, initially planned to exist temporarily until the wars were over—this was 46 years ago—and it still exists today! The founders of Peace Village had the opinion it was not enough to patch up wounds; they wanted to stand up for a more peaceful world. These thoughts have built the base for the three divisions of Peace Village's humanitarian work that have been established during the following years.