Horgen

Susanne Zurbuchen has been a member of the fepa board since the eighties, and has been co-president since 2022. Her commitment to Africa goes back to her student years. A study trip to Tanzania with a stay in one of the Ujamaa villages made her wish to live there for a longer period. Sent by Mission 21, she stayed in rural Tanzania from 1978 to 1981in close contact with the local women, whose energy and autonomy she admires. She takes a keen interest in the path of the states of East and Southern Africa out of colonial dependencies. As a Secondary School teacher of English and history, Susanne has brought Africa, its history and its resilience, closer to her students. She is also interested in languages, literature and culture in general. She still practices Swahili by reading and discussing novels with other lovers of this language.

Zürich

Ethnologist, former Managin Director of Medicus Mundi
Co-President since 2022, Board Member since 2014

Helena Zweifel is a specialist and consultant on development issues, especially in the health sector. She worked for the SDC in India.

Horgen

Pastor and writer
Board member since 2021

Katharina Morello lived with her family in Zimbabwe from 2001 to 2002. Since then, she undertook various project and research trips in South Africa and Zimbabwe, resulting in books and short stories.

Katharina Morello is also involved in the autonomous school of Zürich and is president of its supporting association Bildung für Alle (Education for All).

Basel

From 1990 to 2015, Barbara served as the executive director of fepa, and since 2015, she has been a member of the board. However, her heart has long been devoted to Africa. Since the 1970s, she has been an activist for southern Africa. She believes in Africa’s future and its young, dynamic population and wants to help overcome the still-colonial relationships with our part of the world. The friendships she has formed through this engagement are especially important to her. For a long time, she has followed the political and social developments in Zimbabwe with great interest. Additionally, she is fascinated by African literature and art. Despite her commitments, she always finds time to enjoy outdoor activities, whether it’s walking, swimming, or cycling.

Contact Barbara via e-mail

Bern

Mickness was born and raised in Tanzania and has been living in Switzerland since 2016. She joined the board of fepa in 2021, following the start of her fundraising career in 2019, when she helped fepa raise funds for an economic project supporting rural women in Zimbabwe. This experience highlighted her ability to raise funds for causes she is passionate about, particularly in Africa. Since then, she has been a dedicated and passionate fundraising consultant, specializing in empowering non-profit organizations across Africa, Europe, and North America. With a blend of strategic thinking and a heart for impactful causes, she thrives on turning fundraising visions into reality. When she’s not busy raising funds, you can find her reading, video-calling her family in Tanzania, teaching Swahili to her multilingual son, or enjoying karaoke with her husband and friends.

Get in touch with Mickness via LinkedIn or her Website.

St. Gallen

Rita Kesselring has been a board member since 2012, having interned with fepa a few years earlier. Her connection to fepa began during her studies in social anthropology at the universities of Zurich and Cape Town, where she focused on South Africa for her thesis. Ever since, she combines her academic work with her commitment to fepa. After earning her PhD from the University of Basel, for which she spent two years of research on apartheid victims in South Africa, she moved to Zambia to write her habilitation thesis on life in a new mining town. Throughout her career, she has been dedicated to highlighting the connections between Southern Africa and Switzerland, both during the apartheid era and today, as Switzerland is a major hub for commodity trading. Since 2022, she has served as a professor at the University of St. Gallen. Her years in Southern Africa have also been a personal journey, confronting issues of privilege and commonality. Rita likes to read widely, to run, preferably in forests, and to swim in lakes across the globe.

Contact Rita via LinkedIn

Bern

Roger Morgenthaler has been a board member of fepa since 2018. During his studies in Environmental Engineering, he spent four months in 2016 with fepa’s partner organization, Participatory Organic Research & Extension Training Trust (Poret) in Zimbabwe, where he collaborated with local farmers to develop low-budget drip irrigation systems. Upon returning to Switzerland, Roger connected with fepa, initially serving as a consultant on agroecology before becoming a board member. During an extensive journey through Central and South America, Roger gained valuable insights into the challenges faced by countries in the Global South, which continue to shape his commitment to fepa’s mission. Professionally, Roger specializes in environmental construction supervision and soil management oversight. He is also an active volunteer leader for nature conservation projects with WWF Bern. Roger lives in Bern, where he enjoys spending his free time with his family or cycling.

Zürich

Christian has been on the board of fepa since 2021. He has had a deep connection with the Southern Hemisphere for decades, whether through his work in the environmental and natural sciences (in Colombia, Zimbabwe, Bolivia, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana) or through his commitment to education, where he raises awareness among students about the impact of colonialism and post-colonialism in Africa and Europe. Various visits with friends and acquaintances in southern Africa and other parts of the world keep him informed about the challenges and developments of different nations as they navigate the 21st century. In many places, he witnessed more “renewal” and “hope” among young people than he had expected – qualities and trends that fepa has long been committed to fostering and supporting. Amidst all this engagement, he still finds time for hiking in the mountains, climbing, or cycling trips to remote corners of Switzerland.

Bern

Silvia joined fepa as an intern in 2009 and has been an active member of the board since 2012. Since her youth, her heart has beating for Southern Africa. After studying ethnology, she worked in the fields of migration, human rights and in particular indigenous rights, in research, in administration and in non-governmental organisations. During several extended stays abroad, she gained unforgettable experiences and was able to look beyond her own horizon. She was able to realise her passion for documentary films with a Master’s study programme in Chile. She also enjoys photography and loves travelling with family and friends. A visit to the partner organisations in Zimbabwe made her realise how empowering it is to support civil society engagement on the ground, where so much heart and soul is invested. Supporting people in their initiatives for a better life and social justice motivates her commitment to fepa.