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History ERIKS Development Partner was founded in 1967, but the history of the organisation started far earlier. The founder of the organisation, Erik Nilsson, was born 1929 in the region of Småland. Suffering from haemophilia since birth, Erik was bedridden and hospitalized during reoccurring long periods of his childhood. When Erik was hospitalized he realized that he was not alone, there were many other children who also suffered from serious diseases and had to spend long periods at hospital far away from family and friends. Instead of feeling pity for himself, he started to encourage other sick children through letter greetings and small gifts. Erik received names and addresses for children who were in hospital and in need of encouragement through a national radio programme called “Children´s postbox”. In order to be able to record as many names as possible, Erik wrote to the programme host Sven Jerring asking if he could read a little bit slower. When the radio profile

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