who is...

Wolfgang Helmeth and EDEJU

Wolfgang Helmeth is the founder of the International Institute for the Promotion of the Developement of Youth e.V. He characterises his own personal development as the one of a tinkerer and loner. He went to kindergarten only for one day, instead being curious of the world of grown-ups, following them along such locations like building-sites. After wasting eight years in school, he became an apprentice of precison mechanics and moved in 1964 to Paris, working there as a lock-smith and as a radio- and television technician. In Paris he met Ernest Akpa from Côte d’ Ivoire. Without formal qualification he continued to work as a technician of electronics in Hamburg and as a ingenieur in Freiburg. In 1973 he travelled to Cote d’ Ivoire, and through observation of children, the idea of the promotion of the developement of youth came up; he moved with his family in 1990 to Cote d’ Ivoire, where he established the network. Since then many students and volunteers who participated in his projects spread the idea to other countries and continents. In 2001 he found the “project “Denzlinger Cleverle” (engl. “Denzlinger Smarties”) in order to develop the idea further.

Soon you will find some illustrating pictures.