Now six weeks has already passed since the flood disaster and before I report on my current situation, I would first like to express my sincere gratitude.
My personal thanks go to all the helpers who came and still come here to the Ahr Valley from all over Germany to help completely unbureaucratically and above all unselfishly. Without the workers organized by Helfer-Shuttle, we would not have been able to remove as much mud and would not be nearly as far along with the core renovation of our house. They came with shovels, brooms, wheelbarrows or simply with their willing hands.
The contractor Markus Wipperfürth from Puhlheim followed the call of the horticulturist Wilhelm Hartmann from Fulda and started the day after the flood directly with a large tractor towards the Ahr valley and works his way to Walporzheim. Markus took the organization of the private helpers in hand, posted the achievements of the many volunteers on Facebook and thus, long, long before official measures, ensured a wide publicity. It was not until three days after the catastrophy that the ADD Trier, which is responsible for this, professionally regulated the help organizations consisting of the German Armed Forces, THW, Red Cross, Johanniter, Malteser and the many, many fire departments from all parts of the republic, which have, however, been making their indispensable contribution ever since.
Search dog teams were deployed to hopefully recover missing persons alive in the huge masses of rubble. Farmers came after the grain harvests with huge tractors to remove the mountains of garbage and debris. And many, many more helpers were and are still in action. I would like to thank them all from the bottom of my heart. Germany shows solidarity by: “don’t talk for too long, just pitch in”.
Help also came from other parts of the world. Like me, some had started appeals for donations on GoFundMe, but had written them in English and for the whole street. In this way, financial support also arrived from other countries. Likewise, the national fundraising campaigns led to small amounts of immediate aid.
In addition, a lot of donations in kind of all types have arrived in the meantime, which make it possible to rebuild an ordinary household
Experiencing all this support and solidarity not only comforts over the chaos, destruction and losses, it encourages to continue and rebuild, strengthens one’s own hope and gives a motivating and positive image on society.
This video montage shows impressively how much work still lies ahead of us all in the Ahr Valley and that unfortunately we will still be dependent on help and support for a while.
Sincere thanks for everything!