Our previous project manager Clara Wiest recently left Dentists for Africa due to relocation. We would like to thank her once more for her dedicated work and send her our best wishes for the future. On 1 July 2023, Anne-Kristin Henker joined the DfA Team as her successor and we are happy to introduce her with a couple of questions:

Anne, what have you done professionally so far?

Originally, I come from the TV industry. After my studies in Media Culture, I worked for several years as a journalist and editor for KI.KA – the children’s channel of ARD and ZDF, developed and implemented TV programs and was on location myself with a film crew as an author and director. After a trip around the world, I was self-employed as a biographer and most recently deputy head of social services in a nursing home. My curiosity about people and their (life) stories was the linchpin of my work.

How did you get involved with DfA?

I first volunteered as a journalist for UNICEF in Rwanda in 2008, and two years later for German Doctors in the Philippines. I visited school projects, accompanied rolling clinics, sat with the “ordinary people” in their huts and listened to their stories. That moved me a lot. I wrote reports for newspapers, magazines and television and realized that my heart really beats for working in a humanitarian organization. DfA’s headquarters are located in Weimar and because I also live there with my husband and two children, I became aware of them and, during my time as a journalist, I reported for a local paper on a member’s mission. Originally, I planned to volunteer at the Widow‘s Cooperative St. Monica. When the opportunity for the project manager position came up, I didn’t hesitate to apply!

What is your job as project manager?

The range of tasks is manifold: On the one hand, I am the link between the board of directors in Germany and the project partners in Kenya, communicating with both sides on a daily basis, organizing conferences, making sure that decisions are implemented, amongst other things. In addition, I work in the area of fundraising, make applications for grants, implement the projects together with the Kenyan colleagues and write reports. The third area of responsibility is public relations. Keeping an eye on all this for our three project pillars – the dental project, the sponsorship project and the widows’ project – is demanding and versatile.

Why did you decide to work for Dentists for Africa?

I enjoy the variety of responsibilities, the communication with a wide range of people, but above all the opportunity to really make a difference. Seeing how the projects and missions positively influence the lives of patients, both large and small, sponsored children and widows in Kenya, and how they have a lasting effect, for example with the Educational Fund, makes me deeply happy. I am very much looking forward to getting to know the people on site during my first project trip in October. Of course, I will report about it on our social channels 😉 .