Social projects

All around the globe, we support a large number of social projects. Please read on for detailed information on just a few of them: the “Sternenbrücke” (Bridge to the Stars) children’s hospice in Hamburg, the “quarry children” of Yeleswaram, India, and the music school project “Escuela Popular de Artes” in Viña del Mar, Chile.

The children’s hospice

A bridge to the stars: The children’s hospice in the Rissen district of Hamburg

For several years now, tesa has supported a facility in Hamburg that provides help and support to terminally ill children and their families. The founding of the children’s hospice “Sternenbrücke” (Bridge to the Stars) established a place where patients can die with dignity, bidding a peaceful farewell from loved ones, and grieving relatives have the space and time they need.

Professional nursing staff, physicians, and palliative care specialists give the terminally ill children comprehensive medical care and a sense of being safe and secure; teaching staff, social workers, and counselors support siblings and parents during this difficult time in their lives.

The children’s hospice, which was founded in May 2003, relies on volunteer work and donations to ensure that it can carry on its much-needed work in the future as well. Instead of Christmas cards and presents, tesa gives the “Sternenbrücke” financial funds every year. Among other things, tesa’s assistance has been used to purchase an urgently needed ventilator.

The “quarry children” of Yeleswaram

Schooling instead of exploitation: the “quarry children” of Yeleswaram, India

For wages of just three euros per month, children as young as five toil in the quarries of Yeleswaram, in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh – alongside their parents and siblings, with whom they typically live in tiny adobe houses.

There are no protective clothing or safety precautions there; injuries occur as a matter of course. To give these children an opportunity to have a future, tesa sponsors a class of about 60 boys and girls through the “Chancen für Kinder” (Opportunities for Children) foundation.

With the help of the funds donated, they can attend the school truly built by the organization for quarry children, and in addition they receive medical care, food, and clothing. So that the children can escape the vicious cycle of poverty and exploitation, financial support is also provided to the parents, who depend urgently on their children’s income.

Musical Education

Music against misery: the “Escuela Popular de Artes,” in Chile

The “Escuela Popular de Artes,” in the poor district of Viña del Mar, on the Pacific coast of Chile, offers over 200 students aged six to 29 a musical education.

While some students pay tuition on a sliding scale based on their parents’ income, about 110 children and young people receive full scholarships made possible by sponsors such as tesa.

In Viña del Mar, more than 65 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. Debts, housing problems, and unemployment have devastating consequences, especially for the children.

With the project, which was officially started in 1997, the founders created a place that paves the way for many neighborhood children to escape social misery. Over the intervening years, the music school project has become one of the most innovative, most successful cultural centers in Chile – far beyond local borders.