Friedel Knipp — a friend indeed of the poor in Bangladesh

Nur Ahmed and Matiur Rahman :
Today is his second death anniversary of Mr Friedel Knipp, who came far from Germany, overwhelmed with the green canvas of this small land, rivers, seas, hills, and above all, the history of the liberation war of Bangladesh. At the same time, he was amazed and shocked by seeing the struggling daily life of the countless poor people of this country. He firmly believed that in a country where ordinary people become happy with little things, the development of that country is inevitable. A great philanthropist and a true friend of Bangladesh’s poor, miserable people, Friedel Knipp, died on October 12, 2020.
He was in profound love with the poor people of this country. His human compassionate mind inspired him to do something for this country’s poor, helpless men, women and children. He worked tirelessly to improve the livelihood of the poor people of this country until his death. With a vow to “transform human deprivation into humane development” for a long thirty-five years-he used to come to Bangladesh every year, far away from Germany, with a helping hand to improve the living standards and uphold the dignity of the poor.
Friedel Knipp was born on March 3, 1927, in the German city of Engelskirchen near Cologne. In 1983, Friedel Knipp and his beloved wife Mathilde Von Lüninck Knipp officially formed the charity organization ‘Bridge of Light’. Mathilde became the Chairman, and Friedel became the Executive Director. A year later, in 1986, they first visited Bangladesh. From then on, they started visiting Bangladesh every year. Inspired by them, the partner organizations in Bangladesh began to form one by one – DIPSHETU, BACE, SSF, B, ADAMS, BGS, MSUK, ANANDO, TARANGO, and SHAPLA.
Friedel Knipp preached ‘human love’ throughout his life, world brotherhood and the message of peace over religion. Religion has never been an obstacle to human welfare. In Catholicism, God-believing Friedel “conquered life through action and gave up his life.”
There was a strange kind of childish simplicity in Friedel. Every time he came to Bangladesh, he travelled from one end of Bangladesh to the other for 3/4 weeks. In the project area, ordinary people, children, older people, teenagers and women could be quickly adopted.
However, he could not speak any language other than German, and language did not hinder him from expressing his thoughts. From slums to villages, rejoicing with small children and cuddling them expressed his love. He used to present German rhyme, songs, poetry, etc., so the children would be overwhelmed with joy. Giving poor children this joy and love was part of his development philosophy.
With his extraordinary hypnotic powers, Friedel could inspire people with his speeches. Be it in the church or a ‘project visit’ to a gathering of poor people. This hypnotic power he acquired was never conventional self-promotion, which was an impenetrable goal of achieving success from the depths of the mind. Friedel Knipp and her staff, comrades and volunteers used to sell calendars for the poor people and children of Bangladesh in the cold winter air in three to four churches on Sundays in different cities, sub-urban areas, and villages following a specific interval.
Before the sale of this calendar, he used to tell the story of the miserable people of Bangladesh after the church’s prayers. The participants listened in amazement. When they went out, they would extend their hand of cooperation by buying calendars or with various collaborations. This rule has been in force for 30 long years, and it is still in force.
The priests and fathers of the church had sympathy for Friedel, and they thought Friedel and Bridge of Light were working for God’s children. Increasing love among people to help people was another basis of his philosophy. Looking at those small coins selling calendars, Friedel would see that this money would be a book for a poor child in Bangladesh, a one-time meal or a piece of cloth, or a mother’s malnourished child would get some milk.
The beaming idea of organizing an annual workshop in collaboration with various local organizations using the same donor’s help was developed by People’s Economist Prof. Dr Abul Barkat (Honorary Trustee of Bridge of Light in Bangladesh). This idea enthralled Friedel Knipp and his wife Mathilde both.
Today it has earned recognition as an essential platform for enhancing mutual solidarity and unity among implementing partners, exchanging knowledge about each other’s programmes and reaching a consensus on formulating future projects. The workshop was first organized in 2000 at the beginning of the 21st century. Since then, 20 annual workshops have been organized during the lifetime of Friedel Knipp.
Friedel Knipp dedicated his entire life to the more significant cause of humanity, especially helping Bangladesh’s poor and ordinary people. He had a vast, open mental horizon. Every year he visited the project in Bangladesh, he listened attentively to them, tried to realize the problems, and pondered their sufferings and implications.
After returning to Germany, he worked tirelessly to raise funds for their welfare. They visit a church every Sunday morning and evening and sell calendars, candles and newsletters. They used to communicate and meet with various donor groups in Germany and tell them about the misery of the poor people of Bangladesh. They worked unwearyingly day and night to raise funds for the welfare of Bangladesh’s poor, needy and helpless people.
Friedel Knipp’s unspeakable simplicity, incandescent beauty and sanity of mind glowed everywhere and mesmerized millions of ordinary people of Bangladesh. The unforgettable personality of Friedel Knipp gradually became the epitome of his courage and humanitarian activities. In the world of thought of the late Mr Friedel Knipp, the welfare of the people always existed, especially the poor, helpless and needy people of Bangladesh. He has worked without any fatigue for their welfare.
Friedel Knipp and his organization, Bridge of Light, have been working with the cooperation of local partner organizations to improve the overall living standards and well-being of the poor, marginal, helpless and deprived people of Bangladesh. It is his magnificent work and financial assistance through which innumerable deprived, needy and impotent people find their livelihood, shelter, education, medical treatment and employment. We pay profound respect to this great man on behalf of them.
Though Friedel Knipp is not among us, we sincerely have to carry out his development philosophy to show authentic tribute to him. We humbly pray to the Almighty God for the peace of his disembodied soul.

[The writers are, respectively Organizational Development Adviser (ODA) and Credit Monitoring Officer (CMO) of Bridge of Light Germany in Bangladesh].