On Wednesday evening, the proceeds of last year's International Bazaar were announced, with three charities presented with cheques at the event held at the headquarters of BGL BNP Paribas in Luxembourg-Kirchberg, in the presence of a number of Ambassadors to Luxembourg as well as representatives from the various national stands present at last year's Bazaar.

The charity Petites Servantess des Pauvres in Benin was presented with a cheque for €25,000 intended to finance part of the cost of socio-economic self-sufficiency and to partially fund the annual cost of medical care and food for the people concerned; Un Nouveau Sourire piur notre Ecole in Lima, Peru, was presented with €22,000 to complete the urgent renovation of a nursery / primary school; and €20,000 was presented to a project in Senegal entitled La Maison des Enfants d'Awa to finance the installation of solar panels.

In addition, four charities based in Luxembourg received a total of €22,000, namely: Make-a-Wish Luxembourg, ALAN asbl in Bascharage, A.S.T.I Luxembourg abd ALUPS-BéBé. a total of €97,000 was awarded to a further 15 Luxembourg organisations which support projects in countries such as Burkino Faso, Ecuador, Laos, Nepal, Peru and Senegal. The remaining €414,000 was awarded to a lerge number of other organisations around the world, with a special emphasis placed on developing countries.

A total of 89 charities were helped from the proceeds of the 2014 Bazaar which totalled €600,000, up from the 2013 total of €590,000. More than 28.000 visitors had enjoyed this spectacular annual event which saw more than 70 stands in operation, of which 60 were national stands.

Marie-Hélène Erkhe-Harf, President of the International Bazaar thanked the committee and the teams' tireless and selfless efforts that achieved the International Bazaar's huge success.

The 2015 International Bazaar will take place on Saturday and Sunday 28-29 November 2015 at LuxExpo in Luxembourg-Kirchberg.

Photo by Geoff Thompson: presentation to the Petites Servantess des Pauvres in Benin, by Marie-Hélène Erkhe-Harf, President of the International Bazaar