Helmut Hempt

Photo by Nigel James



Giving Back the Beat


Helmut Hempt is busy providing help for the old and the needy in Rumania. Thanks to him and others, too, this winter may not be so hard as many of the previous ones.

Winter is a time of great need. It is cold; and when the temperature sinks, the things that are normally missed, although only basic, are missed even more. For it is the simple things of life that can often mean the difference between severe hardship and survival in a more-or-less comfortable way. And the people who suffer most of all from the shortages of the basics are normally the old and the sick.

Looking east from Vienna, Rumania isn’t too far away; but the differences between the two countries are enormous. Rumania, after having thrown off the mantle of dictatorship is still very much struggling to come to terms with a world that it was never prepared for, and certain things aren’t as they should be. Amongst them are old people’s homes and hospitals.

Help is at hand and it is coming from Austria. In June of this year (2009), Helmut Hempt got to know Wolfgang Achtsnit at a meeting in Vienna. Helmut Hempt was deeply impressed with Wolfgang Achtsnit’s engagement for the less privileged in Rumania, and, in particular, his very real “hands-on” help.

It was Wolfgang Achtsnit’s many organized transports of urgently needed medical equipment, much needed medicines and other basic necessities to Hermanstadt that were of particular interest to Helmut Hempt. In fact, so-much-so, that, out of this meeting of last June, an immediate cooperation was born and put into action.

In July their first transport was warmly received in Hermanstadt; others were to follow, and more are being planned.

Maybe it is the music that is within him that moves Helmut Hempt to reach out and breath hope into the desperate lives of the suffering. Good music, like the jazz that he loves, succeeds because of its rhythm; and life without warmth is like music that is missing its beat!

But helpers need help too. If you are interested in helping by contributing items such as blankets and other things such as mattresses, etc, that could be of use in hospitals and old peoples homes, then, I’m sure that Helmut Hempt would be delighted to hear from you.

For some people, a warm blanket is a very happy Christmas. Helmut Hempt and Wolfgang Achtsnit, and many others as well, are trying their best. The rest of us could do something too!

Helmut Hempt can be contacted at, helmut.hempt@kwp.at


Language Assistance -

Providing - liefern
Needy – bedürftig, notleidend.
Previous – vorherigen.

More-or-less – mehr oder weniger
Suffer- leiden
Shortages – Knappheiten.

Enormous – riesig.
Mantle – Mantel.
Struggling – ringen.
To come to terms with – mit etwas zu Recht zu kommen.

Impressed – beeindruckt.

Urgently needed – dringend gebraucht.