Limited Edition of 40 bottles sold at a charity auction from March 31 to April 13 2008 at olbutikken.dk

Democracy for Children charity auction

The cause
MS Mozambique wants to strengthen and develop the teaching of democracy in Mozambican grade schools in order for the idea of democracy and self-determination to take root in the poor country in the southern part of Africa.

Democracy needs to be a part of children’s every day life. That is what is the idea behind MS’s Mozambican project, ‘Civil Rights in Grade Schools’, whose objective is to make democracy a way of life in Mozambique in the southern part of Africa, for generations to come. “Children need to understand and exercise democracy in their daily lives, if the seed is to grow and flower in the long run in Mozambique,” says MS Mozambique’s director, Ulla Strøbech.

The first democratic election in Mozambique was held in 1994 after almost 500 years of Portuguese colonialism and 17 years of civil war and violence. Since then, Mozambicans have been to the ballot boxes in 1999 and 2004. A proportionately high percentage voted at these elections, which proved that the citizens of this poor country had learned how to vote, but besides that Mozambicans are very bad at exercising their democratic rights.

MS Mozambique wants to change that. “We envisage boys and girls, women and men becoming better prepared to take an active part in local government”, emphasises Ulla Strøbech.
MS Mozambique’s project, ‘Civil Rights in Grade School’, which is a part of MS’ s overall vision of strengthening and building up local democracy, aims

• to produce more handbooks and instructions about democracy for teachers by the end of 2008.
• to start a pilot project in the Gaza province, which focuses on teaching democracy in southern Mozambique by the end of 2008.
• that students, teachers and parents at 15 schools in southern Mozambique have been taught the principles and practices of democracy by the end of 2010.
• that teaching material about democracy is developed, tested and promoted to be used in the national educational system.
• that the school board can plan their own budget for their schools and control that the money is spent in the right places, by the end of 2010. MS Mozambique collaborates with two local organisations, UDEBA and FECIV which have many years of experience in teaching about civil rights in Mozambican grade schools.

All the money from this auction goes directly to this project in Mozambique.

The auction
Mikkel, head brewer and owner of Mikkeller and Michael and Jeppe, owners of Denmark’s most specialized beer store Ølbutikken, conceived the brilliant idea of brewing a special beer to be sold at auction to raise money for this project. So they created a special, 8 month sherry cask barrel-aged version of Mikkel’s rare and delicious X Imperial Stout brewed exclusively for the beer festival in Valby, Denmark in May 2007. This is a one-time, very limited edition - only 40 bottles (75cl champagne bottle) are available! Each bottle has been numbered and signed by brewer Mikkel, and 100% of the proceeds will go directly to the school democracy project in Mozambique.

Thank you,
Mikkel, Michael & Jeppe