By Nisha Parera from Sri lanka

 

Hello you,
I hope all of you are doing fine and enjoying the summer!

Last week (April  24th – 28th) all the volunteers from UEM who are currently in Deutschland participated in the first in-person seminar at LidiceHaus in Bremen!

There were 13 of us; myself, Daniel, Ruben, Eliza, Phaskal, Michellvin, Gratien, John, Isaac, Eva, Melina, together with Julia who is our coordinator and Chantal who was a former North-South volunteer. We had zoom meetings with Lisa and Thea from UEM in which we introduced ourselves.

It was the first time all of us met each other in person and I think we all accept ourselves to be one big family regardless of our ethnicities and backgrounds. Throughout the activities we developed our team spirit and also shared the grief of one of our volunteers who lost her father. We all prayed for her and we still continue our prayers for her and her family.

According to the seminar plan we engaged in many activities. We identified and understood our super powers and also our fears while discussing how we can overcome them. Chantal was also making it an unforgettable experience with her music! Daniel, who was an former South-North volunteer, joined with us on our last days to exchange about ‘expectations’ and how to deal with them through some activities. Also we shared our opinions and practices in our motherlands in comparison to the culture in Germany and I think we became more open-minded about many things. We had a discussion about politics and church in Germany and later Dorina took us on a tour in the Bremen city explaining about some church buildings and sharing with us the folklore of Bremen Town Musicians! I would also like to thank my mentor Birgit for reading a story book about the „Stadtmusikanten“ and explaining to me the story line by line when I said I’m going to Bremen for the first seminar.

The food we had at LidiceHaus was wonderful and truly German! The environment was fascinating and peaceful. Our last night there we had a little party in which we danced to songs from different countries while following others‘ lead in dance moves and also freestyling!

Overall, we were able to acquire a lot of experiences in Bremen and I think all those lovely moments and memories will forever be in our hearts…