Photo: C.Niem
Markus Freund at his home in Bonn
From Volunteer to Manager A man behind Cambodia TB reduction Author: Chheng Niem
M
ost students who finish high school or university are highly interested in voluntary work. Engaging in this type of activity gives them a chance to get to know the real labor market, contribute to society and gain valuable experience. In a wintry December afternoon, Markus Freund, 35, is wearing jeans, a jacket and a scarf neatly wrapped around his neck. He is about to pick up his son Lyon from kindergarten and take him to the Bonner Christmas market. In the evening, he will spend time reading German stories and folktales to Lyon before
letting him go to bed. His current life seems to be similar to that of his fellow countrymen. But there is one thing that makes him different: He spent almost ten years working as a volunteer in Cambodia. His long journey to the Southeast Asian country turned him into an independent manager even before he started his academic studies. It can be said this happened to him by chance. The 35-yeard-old did not have a future plan as a child nor does he remember having big dreams. But there is one thing that was always clear to him: He did not want to learn how
was getting there: “During that time it would take you twelve hours to travel the 600 kilometers from the capital city of Phnom Penh.” Once on site, Freund worked as a manager and a nurse in the hospital’s tuberculosis department. In addition to his daily activities, he encountered language barriers since 80 percent of the residents of Ratankiri speak in their native languages which are different from the official Khmer. “They don’t have a writing system. So it is hard to explain to them what tuberculosis actually is,” he said. The fact that Freund had to overcome these challenges on a daily basis gave him a certain amount of self-confidence. Over a decade has past; he has learnt a lot from his voluntary work. Not only has Freund grown on a personal level, but also his project has been very effective. Freund has seen a steep decline in the number of tuberculosis patients ever since his first arrival. After transferring skills and material to local staff, he returned to Germany in 2010. However, he is still an active fundraiser. In addition, his group organizes different activities such as selling food and products at the flea market many times a year. His life remains multi-faceted: He is presently the deputy director of “Vor Ort e.V.”, a student of business administration at the University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg and a farther of a six-year-old son. Now he has a dream: Because of his project and his marriage to a Cambodian woman, he wishes to go back and live in Cambodia in the near future.
“You do not want to learn how to kill people”
TB is an infectious dis the bacillus Mycob ease caused by acterium tuberculosis About 60% of the cases are in South-East Asia and the Pacific an d 24% are in Africa. About US$ 1 billio n per year of inter national donor fu nding is needed for TB care and control Between 2013 an d 2015 up to US$ 8 billion per year is needed in lowand middle-incom e countries Cambodia has se en a success sto ry. 690 people out of 100,000 were affected with the disease in 2011 compared to 1244 cases in 2002. Robin Larbi: “It is a kind of as tonishing that he has already been to Cambodia and he has a lot of experiences. He also establish ed a small business or social wo rk in Cambodia. The second point is that he is also handling his fam ily besides his study. Markus is a very open-minded guy. He seems to be very focus and determined. The fact that he is a smoker and I am not a smoker , that might caus e a small barrier, bu t it is not a problem. When he ta kes a cigarette, I might not be arou nd.”
Photo: C.Niem
to kill people. Freund began his voluntary work in 1996 after finishing high school in Cologne, in the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia. He was given the choice of either being conscripted or becoming a social service volunteer. It did not take him long though to make his choice: “The only reason accepted in Germany for not joining the army is your ethical opinion. You do not want to learn how to kill people.” Until 2011, all male Germans 18 years of age or older were required to either join the military service or do voluntarily work in social services. As long as the latter took place in Germany, the young men could count on some financial support from the German state. Those who refused to take part in either service had one last option: “You were allowed to complete your service abroad in a development project. At that time there were some projects acknowledged, but you didn’t get the support of the stat and hence didn’t get any salary or insurance. We had to organize that by ourselves,” Freund explains. With the support of then Christian organization “Brühl helps Cambodia”, Freund went to Cambodia for the first time to work as a volunteer. While working in a countryside hospital in the province of Ratanakiri he learned the language and got to know the people and the culture. However, his high school education did not enable him to properly fulfill his nurse-like duties, especially when dealing with diseases such as tuberculosis. Nevertheless, instead of being put off, he embraced the challenge and returned to Germany, where he completed nursing school in Brühl. ‘May 23rd 2001’ is one of those dates that will remain branded on Freund’s mind. This was the day when he and six others founded the organization “Vor Ort .e.V”, whose mission is to prevent tuberculosis and cure patients in Cambodia. “When the project started, it was one of the happiest moments of my life. It took us a long time to get the funding, but it was a great achievement when we hired our first local employees,” Freund says. Once his project got started, he set off on his second journey to Cambodian, only to face even bigger challenges. The first big hurdle
Facts about be rculosis according to Tu World Health Organation (W HO)
www.vorortev.org www.who.int/publications/en/ Robin Larbi, 22, Markus Freund classmate