Story

Building walls to tear down barriers

Henkel employees build a house for families in need in Macedonia

Commitment Employees / People Responsibility Culture 14 Sep 2018

In Macedonia, more than 15 percent of all housing is in urgent need of rehabilitation, and about 70 percent of living quarters are insufficiently insulated. At the beginning of September, 22 Henkel employees traveled to the second-poorest country in Europe for a week to help build an apartment block for families in need with the aid organization Habitat for Humanity.

Difficult living conditions and lack of prospects

On the bus ride to Veles, located about 60 kilometers southeast of Macedonia’s capital, Skopje, the challenge becomes painfully clear: Endless rows of tumbledown houses and scantily built huts line the streets. Over a fifth of the country’s more than 2 million inhabitants live below the national poverty line. Almost half of all young adults under the age of 25 are unemployed. In this country where harsh winters are the norm, energy consumption is four times higher than in industrial nations and gobbles up a huge portion of household incomes. Affordable housing that provides people with decent living conditions is the proclaimed goal of Habitat for Humanity, an international aid organization that has already supported over 13.2 million individuals throughout the world, with approximately 1.3 million construction projects completed since it was founded in 1976. Without decent shelter, according to Rilind Jegeni, a volunteer coordinator with Habitat for Humanity in Macedonia, families are stuck in a vicious circle that has negatively impacts their health, education, environment and sense of self-worth.

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22 volunteers, 1,600 bricks – one mission

The foundations of the 12-apartment building were already laid by Henkel colleagues last year. Over a five-day period, the new group built on these and worked as a team to construct countless inner and outer walls and prepare the concrete beams for the next story as well as the wooden structure for the roof. Although many of the jobs felt unfamiliar at first, soon enough the construction site was busy as a beehive and revealed quite a few hidden talents.

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Die 22 Henkel-Kollegen sind zwischen 24 und 63 Jahre alt und arbeiten in verschiedenen Abteilungen an den Standorten Düsseldorf, Krefeld, Hamburg, Heidelberg und Garching.

Die 22 Henkel-Kollegen sind zwischen 24 und 63 Jahre alt und arbeiten in verschiedenen Abteilungen an den Standorten Düsseldorf, Krefeld, Hamburg, Heidelberg und Garching.

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Wissam Kreidy

… und Wissam Kreidy aus der Waschmittelproduktion in Düsseldorf

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Julia Banner, Legal Assistant

Julia Banner, Legal Assistant

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Markus Herzog und Christopher Plante (von links)

Markus Herzog und Christopher Plante (von links) von der Werkfeuerwehr

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Klaus Piepel

Klaus Piepel aus den technischen Werkstätten

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Jutta Franklin

Jutta Franklin, Chemotechnikerin bei Beauty Care

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Alex Bach

Alex Bach, Sicherheitsingenieur am Standort Heidelberg

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Anna Henze

Anna Henze, Vertriebsingenieurin bei Adhesive Technologies

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Sean Jung und Holger Endres (von links)

Chemielaborant Sean Jung und Holger Endres (von links) aus der Produktentwicklung von Adhesive Technologies

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Thomas Stoffels und Bettina Mehr

Technischer Leiter Thomas Stoffels und Bettina Mehr, Ausbildungsleitung und Assistenz Standortleitung Hamburg

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Helmut Beuster und Arnd Felbeck (von links)

Helmut Beuster, Chemotechniker in der Analytik, und IT-Berater Arnd Felbeck (von links)

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Klaus Intemann

Klaus Intemann, Betriebsleiter Fragrance-Produktion Krefeld

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Susanne Groehn

Susanne Groehn, Chemielaborantin bei Beauty Care

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Harald Neuhaus

Projektingenieur Harald Neuhaus

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Hans-Jürgen Lauer

Servicetechniker Hans-Jürgen Lauer

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Sebastian Vonscheidt

IT Consultant Sebastian Vonscheidt

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Rabea Laakmann und Ann-Christin Wohlfarth (von links)

Rabea Laakmann und Ann-Christin Wohlfarth (von links) aus der Unternehmenskommunikation

At the end of their trip, the Henkel team visited a family who lives in one of the five apartment blocks that have already been completed, and whose living conditions have improved significantly since they moved in.

What remains is a sense of gratitude: for having made a small contribution to improving the life of a person in need in the long term. For enabling social participation. Building walls to tear down barriers.