At a glance: Germany

Real lives

‘1,000 wishes’ for the children of the world

Make a wish. It’s something children love to do. In Germany, children have even designed them – literally. In UNICEF Germany’s unique ‘1,000 wishes’ campaign, kids from all over Germany have painted their wishes for the children of the world on large pieces of cloth that have been sewn together. 

The more than 5,000 participants in this project have created a huge tapestry of wishes measuring about 450 square metres. Some popular wishes on this giant ‘carpet’ are “to live in peace,” “have enough to eat,” “good health” and “the chance to go to school.”

Celebrating an anniversary

UNICEF Germany launched the ‘1,000 wishes’ campaign to mark its 50th anniversary. At celebrations on 30 June in Berlin, Germany’s First Lady Christina Rau, patroness of UNICEF Germany, and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Sabine Christiansen, presented the huge collective tapestry.

In September, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder presented the ‘wishlist’ at a reception in New York to mark Germany’s 30th anniversary as a member of the United Nations.

The enormous tapestry is now travelling around the world to meet some of the world’s children and get their input.

From New York, the ‘1,000 wishes’ will go to Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Tokyo. Children in the respective countries will be able to add their own wishes through a multilingual ‘wish box’ which will be a part of each individual exhibition. The global tour is being conducted with the support of Lufthansa City Centres, a group of 500 travel agencies in 110 German cities and German TV station, WDR/ARD TV.  The TV station and its international network of correspondents plan to put together a documentary of the entire trip.

An Olympic finalé

Athens will be the final destination on this heart-felt journey. The ‘1,000 wishes’ will be handed over to the Japanese representative of the Olympic Committee in the Greek capital, where it will be put on public display before the start of the Olympic Games in August 2004.

And for the final act: numerous children of all nationalities will show the tapestry in the Olympic arena as part of their appeal for a better future for children – a truly Olympic initiative by children, for children.