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Motivation: Compassion
Mitgefühl in Aktion e.V. (MiA) is an independent Buddhist relief organization founded in 2019, following an initiative of the Suttanta Community together with Bhikkhu Bodhi.
Together with our partner Buddhist Global Relief we support projects of development cooperation.
We work according to the principle of helping people to help themselves and sustainability and provide emergency aid in crisis areas. Our main focus is on fighting hunger and supporting girls and women through education.
The association is supported solely by its membership fees, which cover all administrative and transfer costs. Our promise is: Everything you donate to the aid projects flows 100% into the project work on the field and saves lives. The association is recognized as a non-profit aid organization based in Hamburg and currently has official 32 members.
Patron of MiA:
Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
"Mitgefühl in Aktion e.V. was founded as a sister organization to Buddhist Global Relief, USA, in order to contribute more effectively together to the global fight against injustice, hunger and people in need. Together we do much important work to alleviate the suffering of people around the world and give them the opportunity for a meaningful and fulfilling life."
Board:
Raimund Hopf, Chairman, Association management
"As a Buddhist, I have always been uncomfortable practicing for my freedom from suffering and only meditating without also working to alleviate the suffering of others. So when Bhikkhu Bodhi agreed to join us in 2018 on a visit to Hamburg to start a European relief organization along the lines of Buddhist Global Relief, I thought, wow, I would love to get involved in that."
Dr. Karla Henning, Vice Chair, Developing Cooperation
"When I heard about MiA, the desire to get involved in this work arose in me. This is where two facets of my life meet, my long professional background in international development cooperation and my personal Buddhist practice. A clear view of the situation in the world combined with compassion motivates me to take responsibility."
Oliver Büttgens, Treasurer
Being aware of the many crises in our world and the human suffering associated with them can make one feel chocked and paralysed. At some point, however, I realised that this doesn't help anyone - not me or others. I became convinced that active involvement in helping is a much more sensible response. With MiA, all help is directly visible.
Counsel:
Carol Lehmann, Project-Evaluation: carol.lehmann(at)mitgefuehl-in-aktion.de
This is the place where I feel that I can get involved in a hands-on way. Being able to help guard the dignity of people whose life circumstances have been more challenging than my own presently are, is a strong motivation. Being able to use my skills for something meaningful is greatly fulfilling.
Simpert Würfl, Adviser to the board
The idea of Compassion in Action and the associated vision of Bhikkhu Bodhi has deeply inspired me already in the founding phase. Even if objectively we only make a small contribution to alleviate hunger in the world, it is still an essential contribution for those our support reaches and for ourselves!
Staff
Katja Meyer-Rachner, Fundraising
katja.meyer-rachner(at)mitgefuehl-in-aktion.de
By working with MiA, I can turn my compassion into concrete action to support people in need, regardless of their origin. This corresponds to my deep desire to work for a fairer world and to enable sustainable help for self-help.
Monika Coenen, Accounting
monika.coenen(at)mitgefuehl-in-aktion.de
As part of a globally networked world with its power structures, in which my prosperity and the suffering of others are inextricably interwoven, I want to give something back. Expressing compassion through healing activity is something I find very much alive at MiA.
Katrin P. Baar, Social Media
media(at)mitgefuehl-in-aktion.de
Due to my studies of Indology and my years of religious life in Sri Lanka, I have known Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi since the 1990s. When he founded Buddhist Global Relief in the USA in 2008, I had the request for a German sister organization. I am very pleased to be able to work with MiA today.
Why one more charity?
Malnutrition is again a growing global problem. It will remain the greatest global need in the face of the climate crisis, the consequences of COVID 19, and the war in Ukraine.... So can there be too many relief organizations?
Why "Mitgefühl in Aktion e.V."?
For too long, Buddhist practitioners have associated 'compassion' primarily with a sublime feeling expressed in a purely benevolent attitude or experienced or developed in meditation. Compassion, however, is directly aimed at the welfare of others or their suffering. It therefore seems somehow incomplete if it does not also manifest itself in acts of selfless love or help.
With "Mitgefühl in Aktion e.V." (Compassion in Action) we therefore want to create an opportunity for even more European Buddhists and people of goodwill to get involved together and actively help others in need. We would like to show that we as Buddhists feel co-responsibility for the well-being of all beings.
"Mitgefühl in Aktion e.V." is a cross-traditional Buddhist aid organisation which, according to its statutes, does not finance religious projects. It supports humanitarian aid projects and sustainable development cooperation aimed at equal participation and healthy livelihoods. The association is open to all people who can identify with it. Compassion is a universal human ability!
We would like to invite not only Buddhist groups, organisations and people to join this goal and to set a cross-traditional sign of love and co-responsibility in a world, our world, where food and economic opportunities are so unequally distributed.
Generosity (Dāna) is the most fundamental of all Buddhist practices. Please help generously to enable sustainable and long-term relief projects against hunger and need. May all beings be happy and free from oppression!
Address
Mitgefühl in Aktion e.V. is a non-profit association registered in the Lübeck Register of Associations under 4774 HL, revenue Nr. is 17/450/10330
Mitgefühl in Aktion e.V.
Dorfstr. 5
21493 Basthorst
Germany