Rüdiger Nehberg †

Already on April, 1 Rüdiger Nehberg passed away at the age of 84. Nicknamed
" Sir Vival" after long distance marches through wilderness without supplies he
must be considered a truly remarkable personality leaving behind plenty of
achievements and a tremendous legacy concerning humanity.

When still at an very young age he was drawn into the wide world, yet finnished
an education as a baker and established a successful bakery afterwards. When he
became aware of the struggle of the Yanomami indians he decided to give his
life more spiritual depth and profoundness. So he sold his bakery and devoted
the next twenty years to support the Yanomami in their tussle against the ever
marauding gold diggers. To draw attention to a wider public he even crossed  the
Atlantic Ocean with a pedal boat. When the Yanomami finally gained their peace
and a territory free of gold diggers, Nehberg organized the construction of a small
hospital in the rain forrest and then figured it is time to move on.

His next encouragement was devoted for a campaign against the female circum -
cision, an archaic and gruesome practice popular in many Muslim states in Africa
and the Middle East to strip females of their sexual lust leaving them as physical,
psychologic wrecks afterwards. Nehberg and his partner had a mountain to climb
to convince the locals to drop that cruel habbit by convincing religious leaders to
abbolish the practice executed mostly by elderly women. After some tireless work
a Fatwa (legal jurisdiction ) has been proclaimed and the practice forbidden by law
in most Muslim countries. This means many thousand girls were spared from
enormous torture.

I just finnished reading Nehberg's biography " Courage Has Grown No Danger "
and it is an enthralling read. Rüdiger Nehberg was truly one of the greats.


Here is the webpage for TARGET, the organisation he founded to help collecting
funds.