Cap Anamur
written by Martin
What is Cap Anamur?
Cap Anamur is a
Charitable Aid Organisation which was founded by Rupert Neudeck. In 1979
because of the Vietnam War lots of people which came to be known as boat
people, fled their home country Vietnam because they were not able to live
under the Communist Regime.
They fled in small boats
across the South China Sea. These boats were often not seaworthy.
(We have recently seen
similar pictures of Cuba and Albania). Therefore Rupert Neudeck and his fellow
campaigners decided to rent the boat Cap Anamur to help these people in
distress at sea. 12.849 Vietnamese were brough to Germany against the will of
the German Government Today 200 of these people still live around Troisdorf and
they meet the other rescued people every two years. In 1999 this will happen
again, when Cap Anamur will celebrate ist 20th anniversary.
As another reminder of
this time one of the lifeboats which belonged to the ship Cap Anamur today can
be seen in downtown Troisdorf
Main points of work
Cap Anamur is a medical
aid organisation now, which informs the general public by means of newspapers,
press conferences, exhibitions and other means about current crisis points. One
of the exhibitions takes place in Bonn on April 3rd. On the other hand Cap
Anamur helps the people in the Third World. This help is given on the ground,
by air, or by sea, depending on the situation.
The most prominent
programme of this group is to eliminate the mines in Bosnia.
Although its beginnings
were small it is today world wide operating organisation.. Inspite of its
influence there is only one person in ist Cologne Headquarters who gets a
regular salary. (The private home of the Neudeck family in Troisdorf had become
too small for the ever encreasing tasks). All other people are working on a
voluntary basis to save as much money as possible for their work