Support to Humanitarian Purposes

To enhance humanitarian purposes means broadly speaking, to consciously work to the benefit of other people - especially people in need and in need of humane care.

Humanism is a new phenomenon in the history of human kind and in world history - only a couple of 100 years old. Prior to humanism’s gain in importance - in the end of the 1700’s, around the American war of independence and the French revolution, the human was looked upon as a gregarious animal, not as individuals. You had to be in the middle of the flock because there was no space, you could not afford it and you would not be strong enough to stand out and make an image as an individual with own personality and own dreams.

To be in the middle of the flock was not something you chose, on the contrary, it was an expression of necessity mirroring the hard living conditions which were the fate of the majority of the people of the time. Only as being a part of the flock you would have a chance.

This is still so as far as many people in the world of today are concerned - and is still so because of need. In our western and northern regions of the world we are well off, and each of us is an individual and a special person that we regard ourselves to be. But the majority of the people of the world are difficult to recognise as single individuals. They primarily appear as a mass of people who are toiling against an all encompassing struggle against poor conditions - a struggle for survival and in order to better the fundamental living conditions. Often this is a sisyphos-task.

However, people’s understanding of the human being has changed lately - during the last 30 years. Thus, the future will not be like the past. In certain places in the world of today people have started regarding people as people in their own right. Humanism emphasises the individual and its right unhindered to seek happiness. Slowly but surely this view is becoming widespread.

Thus, many people of today are humanists and have the understanding that any person has the right to a life in safety, with safe material conditions and with access to realise his/her potentials as a human being.

But, as the world stands today, it is hard work to be a humanist. There is plenty to be done before all human beings who need better living conditions actually are included and embraced by a humane atmosphere - in spite of all good intentions and efforts.
And be it a big task to be a humanist when confronted with a person in need, the task is even bigger when it comes to render the work which is necessary in order to organise the world in such a way that all single individuals actually will be able to realise a life in freedom, given enough space and good material standards.

Poverty is a main problem on our globe - despite its many riches and the fact that it has enough resources to create good living conditions for all its creatures. In addition to poverty, people are experiencing natural catastrophes, floods, typhoons, earth quakes, volcano eruptions, in addition to the humanly created problems of war and destabilisation. Not to mention the modern plague, HIV/AIDS, which is spreading at violent speeds to all corners of the world and is on its way to overtake the Black Death in numbers of dead and infected.

Consequently, there is a great demand for humanists: People who consciously are putting their efforts into benefiting other people, especially people in need; people who have a surplus and the will to reach out in the world to the many who are in need of help, who need to learn something new and who need the Munchhausenlike power to pull themselves up by their hair. And who can only do this, if others reach out and give of their good hearts and their surplus, and if they can acquire input in the form of ideas, systems, structures, materials, solutions and money ... and first and foremost in the form of human solidarity.

It is this call from the many people in the world that has caused the Foundation to do its share under the Humanitarian objectives: to do its share and live up to our objectives, namley that we, as contributors to the Foundation, have been so fortunate as to grown up in wealthy surroundings: A wealth of care and material conditions, a wealth of education and possibilities, a wealth of all the things which many people in the world do not have. This wealth, of which we have such a surplus, we have seen as our duty to share, in the name of humanity, to the benefit for the many people in the world who are in need.

The Foundation has concentrated its efforts, according to rules and regulations, and according to a deep humantarian tradition, to support the fight against disease, more specifially in connection with the modern plague, HIV/AIDS - which holds a very real and extensive threat against many people's lives, as well as for whole societies and their situation, their future and their possibilities for progress.

In addition, the Foundation has in certain concrete emergency situations, contributed with humantarian aid to people who through no fault of their own have been hit by catastrophes of one kind or the other.

Both areas are decisive, and the humanitarian efforts as a result will humanise the world. It helps to raise the individual, give him a face and a shape, and it helps to give us who give and those who receive a sight of what the future could look like.

The Foundation has done its duty, and contributed to making the world a bit better than it would have been if the Foundation had not given its support to these places.