4 questions for... TARGET board member Sophie Weber

In this series, we introduce you to people who are working with TARGET e. V. to end female genital mutilation and to protect indigenous peoples and the rainforest. On social media and our website, we will answer the four questions you have asked us most frequently. We start the round with Sophie Weber. She is a board member and head of the Brazil projects.

Thank you for your great interest!

And now here are Sophie's answers! This time there are even five of them...

1) What does your day-to-day work look like?

As a board member, I have to deal with all projects and areas of the association: Finances, planning and implementation of projects, donor support, human resources and much more. So every day is different. What is special about us is that we manage the projects directly from within the family, i.e. as the Nehberg family united as the board of TARGET e. V.: That's my mother, my brother and me. Our stepfather Rüdiger Nehberg passed away in April 2020. We are carrying on. TARGET is always on our minds, from morning coffee to evening campfires. We are fully committed as a family and live TARGET 24/7. You can't "switch off". We don't call it work either, it's the Nehberg lifestyle.

I am in charge of the Brazil projects for indigenous protection. That means constant communication with our partners, with the Waiãpi themselves and with the Brazilian Ministry of Health. And it also means developing new projects, including for other indigenous peoples that we would like to help.

2) Where do you find your motivation?

Firstly, in our projects. When I see the people who benefit from our help, their gratitude and the positivity with which they meet us, my heart opens up. And my motivation increases in a flash!

Secondly: in Rüdiger Nehberg. He was always so full of energy, in action every day, never bored. You can sense this in his books - and in the sayings that motivated him. A year ago, we published the "Genialer Fremdgrips" series specifically for this purpose: a selection of sayings created by Rüdiger himself that motivated him in his work. You can find them on Facebook and Instagram under the hashtag #genialerfremdgrips. My favorite is Rüdiger's own saying: "Let's fetz. The rest of your life starts today!"

3) Which project is closest to your heart personally?

All TARGET projects are projects close to my heart. Because all projects are particularly challenging and if you don't put your heart and passion into them, you won't last. We are involved around the clock. If there's a problem, we can't let it go - we try to find a solution straight away. We are also physically challenged: up to 50 degrees in the Danakil desert, where TARGET's gynecology and obstetrics clinic for women suffering from the consequences of genital mutilation is located. Then in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, 35 degrees in a hot, humid tropical climate - body and mind are constantly put to the test.

Carrying out projects at and with the Waiãpi for the preservation of the rainforest is also a personal realization for me. The Waiãpi are our family. Our parents have been taking my brother and me into the rainforest since 2002, we practically grew up with the Waiãpi. As teenagers, we would never have imagined that we would now be promoting environmental protection projects with our "sandpit" or rather "hammock" friends from our early jungle days in the 2000s. I was twelve, my brother 17. Today we know that this is precisely the crucial point: the friendly, family-like basis of trust and connection with the Waiãpi since childhood are a powerful key to our commitment.

But it is also the girls and women of Africa who have captured my heart. As a woman, I can once again empathize with the pain and agony that female genital mutilation must entail. And more recently, as the aunt of a girl: I would do anything to save my niece from something terrible.

4) How can you support TARGET beyond donations?

We want to reach as many people as possible and live the Rüdiger motto together: "No one is too small to change the world." Everyone can do something. Together with us, alone or in the neighborhood. The main thing is to get started!

To keep our projects alive in the long term, we naturally also need permanent donations. We invite everyone to support TARGET e.V. regularly as a reliable partner for the people in our projects. This helps us to plan with confidence.

We are also happy to help with the preparation of fundraising campaigns: Baking with cake sales, donations instead of presents for birthdays or anniversaries, or for the boss's birthday, a sporting circumnavigation of the world with an appeal for donations or an adventurous hike with mileage donations - there are no limits to creativity. Just give us a call or send us an e-mail. You can also support us via our website and follow us on Instagram or Facebook. The more people know about our cause, the better.

5) What is your favorite food

Annette Nehberg's potato soup with apple cakes (very Baden, homely) - I've traveled a lot and embarked on all kinds of culinary adventures. But this Nehberg dish is my favorite - and I get to enjoy it every time I return home after project trips.