Mandl and Msafiri: Gerasdorfer Reuniton in Tanzania, Eastafrica

"If you want to make a difference, you look for ways!" – Aidan Msafiri from Tanzania worked as a priest for three years in Gerasdorf, the hometown of Austrian MEP Lukas Mandl. Now Mandl and Msafiri met for official talks during a cross-party working visit of the European Parliament to Tanzania.

A special reunion took place at the end of February in Dar Es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. Austrian MEP Lukas Mandl paid a working visit to the East African state in his capacity as the chief negotiator for development cooperation for the European People's Party (EPP) Group. Mandl was part of a delegation including members of the European Parliament from several parties.

"If you want to make a difference, you look for ways!" – Aidan Msafiri from Tanzania served as a priest for three years in Gerasdorf, the hometown of Austrian MEP Lukas Mandl. Mandl and Msafiri now met for official talks during a cross-party working visit of the European Parliament to Tanzania.

Professor Aidan Msafiri completed his studies at the University of Vienna with a doctoral thesis on "The African Environmental Crisis as an Ethical Challenge: A Tanzanian Perspective." Today, Msafiri is the founder and director of a civil society organization for environment and development. The organization also engages in practical activities, planting tens of thousands of trees, "according to the motto: Trees are the lungs of the world," as Msafiri says. – Aidan Msafiri is also a Catholic priest and served as a priest in Mandl's hometown of Gerasdorf for more than three years from 1999 to 2002.

Mandl says: "Although Aidan, as everyone in Gerasdorf calls him, has visited our town several times since then and even organized pilgrimages in Europe. But meeting him now as a contact person for a delegation from the European Parliament is a special joy and shows how true the old saying is: The world is a village. And it's important that we stick together for common values."

Msafiri explains: "My motto in life is: I am because 'we are.' That's an African proverb. My principle is: When good people do nothing, evil multiplies. And my experience is: If you want to prevent something, you look for reasons. But if you want to do something, you look for ways!"