With a result far exceeding the company’s expectations, Frogster concluded its Christmas charity project to benefit children and adolescents in Bhutan in January. Yesterday, the publisher of online role-playing games was able to hand Save the Children Germany e.V. a cheque in the amount of 82,000 Euro thanks to the overwhelming support of the gaming community. Compared to a similar promotion last year, Frogster was able to more than double its previous charitable contribution. In addition to setting up so-called ‘Remote Classrooms’ in the isolated mountain regions of Bhutan as originally planned, the world’s largest independent children’s rights organization can now implement further aid projects in the country.
The ‘Remote Classrooms’ project is not just about building schools. Save the Children will ensure that children and adolescents receive good education and healthcare. At the same time, families will be educated about the problems adolescents are facing. Additionally, Save the Children will train 40 pupil advisors to be involved in three-day workshops for adolescents held by the children’s rights organization at higher education institutions throughout the country. Thanks to Frogster’s donation, two editions of a youth guidebook will also be published. The guidebook will provide the youths with information about career prospects and other topics. Furthermore, Save the Children will establish two youth centres as well as employ and train two caretakers for adolescents.
Due to its position in the middle of the Himalayas, Bhutan was largely isolated from the rest of the world until recently. Kathrin Wieland, German Executive Director of Save the Children, visited the country two years ago and knows the problems there: “In Bhutan, there are suddenly children surfing the Internet and zapping through 400 television channels. Their parents, on the other hand, are people who haven’t learnt to read or write. They have never in their lives been bombarded with advertising. In other words, what we have here is a clash of two ages of civilisation.” With their on-site projects, Save the Children will assist children and their families in this transformation process, reducing the by-products which negatively affect the living conditions of adolescents, such as pollution, drug abuse, and crime.
Frogster started the charity project in mid-December 2010. Until the end of the promotion in January, players of Runes of Magic and Bounty Bay Online could purchase exclusive virtual mounts and a ship cover from the shops in the online role-playing games. All proceeds after VAT and fixed third-party costs are now funding the projects of Save the Children in Bhutan. Runewaker, the Taiwanese developer of Runes of Magic waived its share of the sales for the mounts to support the charity effort on their part.
On handing over the cheque, Seth Iorio, Member of the Executive Board of Frogster Interactive Pictures AG, commented on the outcome:“We have been impressed and inspired by the work of Save the Children in the mountain regions of Bhutan from the beginning. We are very happy that, through the support of our players, we can significantly extend the scope of our cooperative projects.”
Kathrin Wieland, Executive Director of Save the Children Germany e.V., was surprised and delighted at the great generosity of the computer game players: “I am very happy about the engagement of Frogster and its players, which allows us to clear a path for these children to a positive future.”
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