My Name is Anita Vogler
I am an entrepreneur and have run my own company for 14 years. In recent years, meaning has become more and more important to me in my work. Many of us in the so-called First World work like crazy and accumulate more and more money: for security, for the kids, for sometime later. But life happens now and the last shirt has no pockets either. I started to look at my values and figure out what has the highest value for me in my life.
The urge to go out, discover the world and look for new fields of activity did not take long. True to my values “love of experience—discovering and effecting playfully in freedom”. The family liked the idea of going on a world trip for a year and a short time later I sold my shares in the company. It felt good to be so free. A huge playing field opened up in front of me.
Our world trip turned out differently than expected: Shortly after we set out, the Corona pandemic took us—and the whole world—by surprise. But that’s another story … The pandemic led, by necessity, to slow travel, which in turn led to more attention to the little things. We saw and experienced a lot, it was dreamlike—despite the pandemic!
The first 9 months we spent in Central and South America, then we changed continents and flew to Tanzania. What moved me the most during the whole trip was the visit of a Primary School in Karatu / Tanzania, where we were welcomed extremely warmly. We were allowed to peek into every class, the children were happy and sang. The teachers informed us about the situation of the school and the students. At the end we handed over two soccer balls that we had previously bought for the school. The children almost “freaked out” with joy and immediately started playing games.
I was very touched by the happy and extremely satisfied impression the children made, despite the very rudimentary equipment of the school. There was a lack of teaching aids, teaching materials, school uniforms and even teachers. Many classes were completely without supervision. Unceremoniously I asked my friends and family for financial support for the school, which I got a little while later. So with relatively little effort and funds we provided food for the students, electricity for the school and all kinds of materials like chalk, exercise books and pencils.
Wow, that was great! After our trip I taught at the school for a few weeks and supported the school and the students with further financial resources. Because I fell in love with the country and the people and gave my creation and work a meaning that was significant to me. At the end of 2021 we built this beautiful little lodge with the intention of empowering and supporting needy people in Tanzania.