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Origins
In the logbook of Breitling Orbiter 3, Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones wrote:
"It is difficult to understand why we, up there, were so lucky. During our three weeks flying along in the comfortable environment of our capsule, there was no truce in the suffering of countless people on this planet, which we were gazing down on with such awe. Surely we can do something to relieve a bit of this misery? This is the cause that the acclaim we are heading for should be made to serve.”
Feat gives birth to commitment
09.09.1999 - Launch of "Winds of Hope" Foundation with capital of one million Swiss francs.
On 21 March 1999 at 6:00 GMT, the two balloonists Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones landed aboard Breitling Orbiter 3 in the Egyptian desert. After three weeks of what has become an historic expedition, they had just accomplished one of the most significant achievements of the late twentieth century, the first nonstop round-the-earth balloon flight, thereby accomplishing seven world records and the longest flight ever - for both distance and time - in the history of aviation.
When they returned to earth, they carried out their promise to go even further on the ground too, by dedicating their adventure to the world's children and devoting the proceeds of their success to fighting against their suffering and the forgotten or neglected diseases that afflict them.
So it was that - with the Budweiser Prize of a million Swiss francs their achievement had earned them, complemented by a donation from Breitling - they created a foundation whose name neatly conveys the hope that the wind can carry to the children of the earth. That was how the "Winds of Hope" Foundation was born on 09/09/1999.
For more information on the balloon flight, see the following websites:
Bertrand Piccard : www.bertrandpiccard.com
Brian Jones : www.orbiterballoon.com
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale : www.fai.org
Encounter with noma
Noma, emblematic of little-known diseases that can be controlled effectively with limited resources.
Once established, the Foundation set about identifying causes that were worthy of support. Marie-Hélène Leclercq, Head of Noma in the World Health Organization, and Edmond Kaiser, founder of the Swiss NGOs Terre des Hommes and the Sentinelles, encouraged the Foundation to choose the scourge of noma as its first target for action.
Bertrand Piccard’s encounter with a young noma patient undergoing treatment in Switzerland was crucial. This terrible injustice against innocent children convinced the co-founders that they had found the first cause for them to defend: noma, a devastating necrosis that destroys the faces of thousands of children and is a symbol for all forgotten and neglected diseases that can be controlled effectively with limited resources.
Initial activities
The purpose of these initial activities was to train one health worker in each village in prevention and early detection.
Very quickly, Winds of Hope signed its first partnership agreements with Altran (engineering company), De Rahm (real-estate brokerage) and Victorinox (knife manufacturer).
In 2000, the Foundation made a grant of $100,000 dollars to the WHO’s national campaign against noma in Niger, which until then had never been able to kick off, for lack of funding.
In 2001, direct assistance was given to three humanitarian organizations engaged in the fight against noma in three different provinces of Niger: Sentinelles (Switzerland), Hilfsaktion Noma (Germany) and Campaner (Spain).