We celebrate an anniversary: 100 years of ASB foreign aid

On November 4, 2021 ASB´s foreign aid celebrated its 100th birthday. Exactly 100 years ago, on November 4, 1921, ASB’s first humanitarian mission abroad began. Let’s celebrate the anniversary together and come with us on a journey through time. We will take you back to the year 1921, when ASB saved people from starvation with its first foreign humanitarian aid mission in Russia.

Click on a link below and take a look back with us at other milestones: ASB’s aid in the Balkans in 1991, the mission in September 2004 after the tsunami in Southeast Asia and the severe earthquake in Haiti in January 2010. On our journey through time, you will also learn more about International Samaritan Cooperation (ISK) and our FAST team, our rapid response team abroad.

https://www.asb.de/en/foreign-aid/100-years-of-ASB-foreign-aid

ASB’s aid is directed at all people, regardless of their political, ethnic, national or religious affiliation. This applies in Germany as well as to the humanitarian aid missions abroad.

Today, ASB is active in around 30 countries. ASB’s foreign aid has focused on three main areas: the inclusion of vulnerable groups, i.e. those in particular need of assistance, helping people to help themselves, and the sustainable fight against poverty. This focus runs through the 100-year history of ASB foreign aid – from the first humanitarian missions in Russia and the Balkans, to disaster preparedness after the tsunami in Southeast Asia, to today’s climate impact adaptation measures in Central America.

1991: ASB launches its humanitarian aid mission in the Balkans

After the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991 and the beginning of the Yugoslav Wars, the ASB launched one of its longest humanitarian aid missions abroad. The ASB helped refugees, set up outpatient medical facilities and organized aid convoys. The first humanitarian convoys that went to the besieged city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992 wore the logo of the ASB.