Skrevet af: Margrethe Primdahl, Executive director
During most of the years at AC International Child Support Tove
Vase has been working as country manager and deputy director,
respectively, and in recent years her work as senior consultant has
been an indispensable asset to our organisation.
Tove began working for AC International Child Support in
December 1971, when the organisation - known then as Adoption
Center - had only a couple of years under its belt. It had
originally been founded as an offshoot of "Glemte Børn" ("Forgotten
Children"), an aid agency which together with "Mødrehjælpen", a
private humanitarian support institution for mothers and families,
had provided family placement and adoption services in the post-war
years.
Tove has contributed significantly to all AC International Child
Support's focus areas throughout the organisation's long history.
It all began with the efforts to help abandoned children in Germany
and other European countries in the wake of World War II. The focus
of the work then shifted to help abandoned children in Korea after
the Korean war and was later extended to help children from all
over the world who for various reasons were deprived of a safe
childhood in their own countries and for whom adoptive families
therefore had to be found.
"Missis Tove" - an institution in Ethiopia
Tove's remarkable efforts have been instrumental to the current
success of AC International Child Support. Tove is sharp and
hard-working like few others. In addition, she is both humble and
inclusive in her approach to global differences. Thanks to these
personal qualities, Tove has been able to establish a host of close
and crucially important relationships in our partner countries -
Korea, China, Thailand, Burkina, Nigeria, Colombia, etc. However,
the country which is probably closest to Tove's heart - and where
her name remains indelibly carved in the memories of those who have
ever worked with her - is Ethiopia, where the chant "Missis Tove"
sounds again and again at the orphanages and among the project
partners in AC International Child Support's network.
The good forces will prevail
A long life in the service of AC International Child Support has
only reinforced Tove's unwavering vision that also little people
have their rights. All the injustice of the world has never been
able to shake Tove's firm belief that the good forces "will
survive" as long as we maintain an equal, inclusive approach to all
people and to all our partners around the world. Tove's
fundamentally optimistic view, however, has not taken the edge off
her straightforward, direct style of approach, and all her
colleagues recognise her loud and distinctly American-sounding "Oh
God!" - when yet another complex and difficult challenge hits her
desk.
Dear Tove - the children as well as your colleagues at AC
International Child Support would like to extend our sincere
congratulations on your anniversary and thank you for your
outstanding efforts for the organisation over the past 40
years.