Service -- Im Osten viel Neues*
*A lot happening in the east--This is a play on the German title of Erich Maria Remarque's well-known novel "All Quiet on the Western Front". The German title is Im Westen nichts Neues, or literally "Nothing new in the west". For our SSTers, however, there is a lot going on in the east!
Social Work in the City
On
Monday, June 18, Jack went to visit Megan and Dixie at their
new home with the Salvation Army (Heilsarmee) in Chemnitz,
known in the German Democratic Republic as Karl-Marx-Stadt. Like
many east German cities, Chemnitz lost a large number of citizens to
the west after the Wende in 1990 (in the late 1980's the population
reached approximately 315,000, now down to 260,000). A center of industrial
production (railroad and industrial machines) since the mid-19th century,
Chemnitz has been called "the Saxon Manchester"-the initial
comparison with the British industrial center (made in 1859) referred
mainly to the number of factories and foundries, the pollution and the
social problems. In the aftermath of the peaceful revolutions of 1989,
Chemnitz has struggled to find its way back economically and still has
a large rate of unemployment, especially among young people.
Megan and Dixie (pictured at left with friend Damaris) are primarily involved with youth ministry at the Jugendcafé: playing games with the youth who come, serving coffee and soft drinks, providing opportunities for conversation and cultural interchange. They work in the thrift shop Camila as well. Both were warmly welcomed by Lieutenant Frank Heinrich and his staff. Megan reports: "Dixie and I got here just fine Everyone here is very nice, but they all have lots and lots of piercings…." Dixie adds: "Ditto to the above-this place is a zoo-but a cool one!" They went on retreat with the Heilsarmee to Rostock and the Baltic Sea on the weekend of June 16-17 and experienced not only the brisk sea air but also the true German traffic jam (Stau) on the way.
- Megan and Dixie at home in Chemnitz
Same Place, Different View
On 19 June, we checked in on all of the Jena SSTers: Karl, Elizabeth, and Naomi. All have settled into new host families and are getting used to challenging, but by all accounts interesting and fun, assignments.
Elizabeth
is working at an organization called the Verband Alleinerziehender
e.V. that administers at least 5-7 different programs offering activities
and counseling for single parents, for families and/or children in crisis.
Elizabeth's first weeks were spent in the Kindergarten, where all the
kids are under 3 yrs. and where the day has a fairly strictly regulated
chaos. Elizabeth has been variously involved with the other projects
as well, observing and asking questions and generally exploring the
(sometimes overwhelmingly negative) changes that life after the Wende
has brought to families needing social services and childcare. She says
that the conversations with her co-workers are a highpoint of her day,
and that spending 6-7 hours with young children is teaching her to draw
upon reserves of patience she never knew she had!
Naomi
spends the afternoon and early evening at the Kindervilla, or
the KiVi (for those youth who don't want to be caught going to a "children's
house" for after school activities). We visited the KiVi on a field
trip during the third week of SST. As we noted then, the KiVi is situated
in a grand older home that has existed as a youth center since the mid-1950's.
It is currently owned by the city, and probably soon to be sold, and
provides Jena's youth (from elementary through high school age) with
various afternoon and weekend activities- in this regard, it functions
much like a Boys and Girls Club. Summer vacation programming promises
to offer 6 weeks of a trip through time, from the Stone Age to E.T.,
with stops in the Middle Ages and the time of the Industrial Revolution.
Naomi drew the design for the promotional pamphlet and is having a grand
time "on the trip." She and her little friend Claudia (shown
in the photo) are also tutoring one another in German and English.
Karl
has been amazed at the intense energy of the kids at the Christlicher
Integrativer Kindergarten, also known as the Arche Noah (or
Noah's Ark). The kindergarten is run by the organization of Lutheran
churches in the state of Thüringen and takes care of 60 children
from the ages of 7 months to 12 years. The children have varying types
and kinds of handicaps and the aim of the kindergarten is to integrate
them as much as possible into "normal" everyday activities.
Karl describes himself as a water-balloon-blower, swing-pusher, hand-holder,
shoulder-ride-giver and is (like Elizabeth) learning that you need a
particular kind of vocabulary to talk to kids--- and those words seldom
turn up in a college classroom!
- Elizabeth with co-worker
Christiane
- Naomi and co-worker Frau
Werner
- Naomi, Claudia, and Joel's tree: This tree was painted 2 years ago by SSTer Joel Miller in summer 1999. The Kindervilla is very proud of it!
- View of the Arche Noah Kindergarten
Congregational Organist in Berlin
Berlin
was the stop on July 1. Jeffery has been enjoying his time in
the big city of Berlin, though he did admit it took him awhile to feel
comfortable navigating the subway, trams, buses, and commuter trains.
He is working with a Protestant congregation in the Berlin suburb of
Schöneberg (an evangelisch-freikirchliche Gemeinde, which
is denotes an independent church in Germany, i.e. not state-Lutheran).
We made this contact through long-time church member William Yoder (pictured
with Jeff) -- father of a Goshen College student, who also happened
to have been Jeffery's roommate last year!. Bill graciously offered
Jeffery the spare room in his apartment.
At the church, Jeffery is playing the organ for Sunday services (trading off with the pastor, Michael Noss, who is also an accomplished pianist) and working for Hausmeister Oliver Neumann, who generally oversees the office, the cleaning, the technical direction for special activities, etc.
Jeffery has been taken on as a project by the youth group as well as by the adult singles group (over-40's) and has been so busy he reports that he hasn't had time to attend a concert at the Philharmonie yet. However, he is greatly enjoying the opportunity to work on connections between his interests in the church and his music studies.
