News Release

AIDA Cruise & Help: Nine new schools at the start of the year

After just four months of the new year, AIDA Cruises announces the next school projects for 2023 as part of the AIDA Cruise & Help initiative at the end of April. In order to provide sustainable support for children around the world, the construction of nine schools with a total of more than 1,200 places will start in the coming weeks to give numerous more children access to education.

"AIDA Cruise & Help represents our vision of not only traveling the world together with our guests and crew but doing good at the same time. In many regions of the world, there is a lack of school facilities, yet it is education in particular that paves the way to a self-determined future for children in emerging and developing countries. The fact that the AIDA family has now been able to initiate nine more school projects makes me proud and grateful," says Felix Eichhorn, President of AIDA Cruises.

Last year, AIDA Cruise & Help was also strongly committed to building schools in poorer regions of the world. By the end of 2022, the initiative had already implemented 37 projects in countries such as India, Indonesia, and the Philippines in cooperation with the FLY & HELP Foundation. Actions like the 2022/2023 holiday raffle on board the AIDA fleet and the joint events with FLY & HELP founder Reiner Meutsch on AIDAmar during the last world cruise have now made it possible to finance schools No. 38 to 46.

A new elementary school along with a kindergarten is being built in the village of Mulia, Indonesia, where 200 students will find a safe place to learn in the future. Residents of the Madagascan community of Ambatomboahangy can look forward to a new school for the village's youngest members with space for a total of around 160 children. A new school building is also being created in Nepal, in the small village of Lotanti. The next project is based in the town of Sorocoba, Brazil. A new social and educational youth center for around 50 children is planned here. The construction of a new preschool in Oruhona in northern Namibia will soon allow many children to attend classes there as well. In addition, new elementary schools in Africa are being built in Benin, Malawi, Senegal, and Zanzibar.

Since 2019, AIDA Cruise & Help has united all of AIDA Cruises' charitable projects. The initiative is committed to better educational opportunities in emerging and developing countries and thus to improving the prospects of children in the poorest parts of the world.

More information on AIDA Cruise & Help's engagement and details on how to donate are available online at www.aida.de/cruise-and-help.

Rostock, April 27, 2023