Over 200,000 students in German schools participated in the Social Day in support of educational projects in South-Eastern Europe on 19 June. German schoolchildren performed little jobs to raise funds for the project “Living Together”, which promotes reconciliation between the youth of southern Serbia, Macedonia and Kosovo. The money collected during the day (estimated at around 2.1 million euros) will also be used to fund social projects already launched in the former Yugoslavia. The idea of the day called “Schüler Helfen Leben” (SHL: pupils help life) dates back to 1992 during the war in the Balkans, but the first annual event was held in Schleswig-Holstein in 1998. The fund-raising event has been held throughout Germany since 2006. “SHL has been active for almost fifteen years and has already raised over 15 million euros – says Till Cordes, the twenty-one-year-old chairman of SHL – no one would have expected this from a school charity. And the wonderful thing is that a single day’s work helps other young people for life”. Many of the organizers themselves are students or are completing their period of civil service as volunteers. “We have never had so many sponsors from the business, political and media worlds or such a massive participation of schools”, stresses Cordes. The Social Day has been held under the auspices of the President of the Republic Horst Köhler since 2006.
