Student Initiative Rahel

The Student Initiative Rahel (SIR) (German: Rahel-Bildungsprojekt) is a project of the Institute for World Church and Mission (IWM) (German: Institut für Weltkirche und Mission) which is a part of the Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen. The nonprofit organization supports in a scholarship youths - mostly young women - in Adigrat in the north Of Ethiopia, who are disadvantaged for various reasons, and accompanies them financially and ideally during their studies at a university or their education. The project is funded mainly by current and former students at the university. It is largely funded by donations.

The idea for the educational project was developed in 2010 during a research trip on the subject of AIDS by the then head of the IWM, Albert-Peter Rethmann. It was in the context of a research project of the German Bishops' Conference (German: Deutsche Bischofskonferenz) in Adigrat in Tigray Region in northern Ethiopia. In this region, many young people have no access to higher education due to lack of family support, many are AIDS orphans. Young women are particularly affected by this situation through discrimination. An initiative of the Adigrat Diocesan Catholic Secretariat (ADCS) of the Ethiopian Catholic Eparchy of Adigrat has already supported ten young people with micro-scholarships for obtaining a university entrance qualification and at least one bachelor's degree in their own country. One of the sponsored students was the AIDS orphan Rahel Hailay.

The result of the journey resulting from the trip was an international initiative of students for students in the age of globalization as an overall project.

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