How much most of us are looking forward to the coming Christmas holidays. For many, they are a longed-for
time-out, a break from an overcrowded and busy everyday life. Finally, time for togetherness
and fellowship.
For others, these dark days around the solstice are more, they are an annual source of strength. The light wins
against the darkness. Reflection and new beginnings. The thought that there must be more to life is
reawakened.
Christmas
Over 2000 years ago, the world, and us Christians in particular, were given a man who turned the world of faith and its values upside down. I, Dr. Christian Gruber, am a doctor, not a theologian. Nevertheless, the clarity and radicalism of his message, his “lived” life story, seem to me to leave no questions unanswered. Jesus was a revolutionary, became an opponent of the ruling political and religious class of the time. In the end, he paid for it with his life. So if you celebrate Christmas, as a Christian or non-Christian, you celebrate: “Love your neighbor as yourself”, you celebrate: “What you have done to the least of my brothers and sisters, you have done to me”. In the Christmas spirit, we all try to leave selfishness, envy, hatred and greed behind us. Human characteristics that we all know, but which can also be overcome. Overcome? With what consistency? – So that we ourselves, but also the rest of the world, are better off.
What does all this have to do with the Austrian Doctors?
Our humanitarian aid, i.e. helping regardless of religious beliefs, political views, skin color and much more, includes all people, and even more, all living things in our world. In our commitment, there are always new and exciting opportunities to do something, to contribute to this world. From our purely medical work with direct help for the sick, other projects have emerged. School education and healthy meals for children without opportunities, kindergartens for children without parents, vocational training, scholarships with university degrees for girls, sustainable development of infrastructure with the creation of important foundations for an autonomous life with water through solar wells, cultivation of fields, safe opportunities for livestock farming. Self-sufficiency and self-sufficiency for our local partners and friends. None of these initiatives is too small, none is pointless.
Back to Austria: In June, schoolchildren performed a play in the Gollinger Burghof for the benefit of Austrian Doctors and their African classmates at the Eroret School in Kenya. Full of joy and pride in working together for this one world! The spirit of Christmas, the spirit of Jesus of Nazareth is here.
Merry Christmas 2024
And thank you for all your activities and support!
Dr. Christian Gruber
Co-founder and Deputy Chairman of Austrian Doctors
