55 years of HIFA – Help for all
This year HIFA celebrates its 55th anniversary. This is a milestone and a good moment to look back. HIFA was not founded at a desk, but in the midst of one of the greatest humanitarian catastrophes of the 20th century. During the civil war in Nigeria, a story began in 1969 that still gives people hope today and seeks to enable them to live a life in dignity.
What began with concrete aid for starving people in the war region developed into the organisation HIFA – Help for All in 1971. From a modest beginning, a small chicken farm, an organisation grew over the decades that has been able to realise numerous development and aid projects in southeastern Nigeria and beyond.
An encounter from which help emerged
At the beginning of HIFA stood the encounter of two people: Rev. Fr. Dr. Aaron Ekwu († 1989) and Adolf Paster († 2022). As early as 1969, they began working together to support the starving population of the war region during the civil war.
Aaron Ekwu was known in his homeland as the “Father of the Poor”. He was a man of great compassion, deep sense of responsibility and tireless commitment to people in need. His humanitarian work in the war region contributed significantly to the survival of thousands of people.
Even in the face of the most difficult conditions and recurring setbacks, Ekwu and Paster did not allow themselves to be discouraged. What united them was the conviction that every human being has a right to a life in dignity and to a future full of hope.
Conviction became a life’s work
In 1971, Adolf Paster and his wife Martha Paster founded the association HIFA. Adolf Paster was president from 1971 to 2013 and remained honorary president of HIFA until his death.
Together with his family, he made an extraordinary decision at that time: he gave up his profession as a publishing manager in order to devote himself entirely to helping the “poorest of the poor”. For a year, the family lived entirely without income. Even afterwards, Adolf Paster gave up the good earnings he had had before his commitment.
This decision was more than a professional step. It was the expression of a deep personal conviction: Help begins where we are ready to take responsibility for one another.
Help towards self-help
HIFA – Help for All – is a Christian-oriented association for development cooperation and aid projects. The organisation is financially independent of state and church, but seeks close cooperation with local partners in the areas where it operates.
The projects are developed and implemented together with the voluntary responsible persons on site in Nigeria and Uganda. The local boards propose projects and sponsorships, which are then reviewed in Austria.
The team in Austria continuously accompanies and supports the work. Through regular trips to the project areas, developments can be verified personally. In addition, HIFA regularly receives monitoring reports from the independent supervisory bodies on site, which are directly subordinate to the Austrian team.
This is how a connection is created that is particularly important to HIFA: People in Austria help people on site – together with them and not over their heads.
26,000 annual school sponsorships and countless projects
Thanks to the generous support of many donors and the commitment of countless people, HIFA has been able to enable around 26,000 annual school sponsorships over the past decades.
In addition, numerous projects in the areas of medicine, crafts, education, clean water and agriculture have been developed, accompanied and successfully completed in Nigeria, Uganda and Tanzania.
Behind every number are people and their personal stories: children who gain new opportunities through education; families who can secure their nutrition through agricultural projects; and people for whom medical help or a professional perspective enables a more self-determined life.
With new strength into the future
At the 2025 General Assembly, Dipl.-Ing. Festus Imarhiagbe from Prottes was elected as the new president of HIFA.
Festus Imarhiagbe completed a degree in agricultural economics with a focus on agricultural production and management at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna. His solid education laid the foundation for his professional activity in the field of sustainable agriculture and humanitarian development work.
With his many years of experience in agribusiness, HIFA is once again placing a special focus on agricultural projects. At the centre of this is the HIFA guiding principle “Help towards self-help”: people should not only receive short-term support, but in the long term be given the opportunity to improve their living conditions through their own efforts and to create food security for their families and communities.
A legacy that lives on
More than five decades after the beginnings during the civil war, the idea of HIFA lives on. What once began with a small chicken farm and the wish to help starving people has become a far-reaching network of people who take on responsibility and shape the future together.
The legacy of the founder Adolf Paster remains alive: “Talking alone will not fill anyone’s stomach.”
That is why HIFA helps where help is needed – with heart, with responsibility and together with the people on site.
HIFA – Help for All – We Together.
