YOUTH SUMMER CAMP FROM THE DIFFERENT CHURCH COMMUNITIES IN HIMMELSFELS by Georges from DR Congo If youth knew, if old age could. However, young people can, but they do not know. This is why young people from different church communities here in Germany were invited to take part in a camp which was organized in Himmelsfels by old sages in exchange for experience. On a certain Sunday, dated 01.08.2021, we had traveled for a summer camp from 01 to 05 August 2021 in Himmelsfels, here it is in the North of Hessen. When we arrived, we had first of all passed to a registration on a paper, sort of an identity document (Reisepass) and a piece of paper on which we wrote the first name, and this we often wore like a badge, to

By Louis Purba from Indonesia On Saturday 24th July, the volunteers house had guests from Kassel, they were Berly (now South North Volunteers from Indonesia) and Sonya (South North Volunteers from Indonesia in 2018 and currently doing practicum in Kassel). At the moment there are 4 people living in the Volunteers house, Esperance (South North Volunteer from Congo), Georges (South North Volunteer from Congo), Abdoulaye (Student, currently living in Volunteers House) and myself. Sonya and Berly arrived at the Dortmund Hauptbahnhof at 10pm. We didn’t spend much time that night as they were very tired from working all day and traveled to Dortmund which took 2 hours. The next morning at 9 am, we gathered together in living room to eat our breakfast and planned our trip. We decided to visit Cologne and Düsseldorf.

by Ida from Dortmund, Germany The Global Youth Faith Event 2021 was an eventful week both online and offline. In addition to the online services and workshops, meetings were helt in the Volunteershouse from Monday to Friday, where we could try out the daily activities such as sports, art and cooking together. The GYFE was a great opportunity to get to know the volunteers personally and to learn a lot about their homeland and the first impressions of Germany, the language and the people. I also met people there for the first time that I had previously only known from zoom meetings. And of course I was also very happy about all the well-known faces!

Adelia Putri from Indonesia should actually start her voluntary service in Dortmund, in the Lydia community, in April 2020. Then Corona came and everything was delayed. The planned entry in March 2021 did not work either, the visa process took longer … what the last few weeks for Adelia looked like, and how German proverbs help her, she describes here: By Adelia from Indonesia, Hello everyone! I’m Adelia Putri, a South-North Volunteer who hasn’t yet arrived in Dortmund. I would like to tell you about all problems and how I find strength waiting for my time to come to Dortmund. I remembered that when I was supposed to go to Germany on 6th of July, I was having some difficulties with the tight Indonesian regulations that required me to acquire a vaccine (which I

by Georges from the DR Congo These days, the Olympic Games are being held in Tokyo, Japan. Marie Branser, born in Germany, is now playing for the Congolese national team. It becomes a source of inspiration for us Congolese … Especially at home in North Kivu / Kivu / Rutshuru the people of the Great Lakes celebrate Marie. For the people in this area, race and origin are more important than nationality – but Marie shows us that, despite race and origin from Germany, she can wear the colors of our flag. The Congolese law says that only one person with a Congolese father and a Congolese mother can become president … Marie defends the DR Congo, even though she comes from Germany.

By Louis Purba from Indonesia We met digitally and stay connected while being physically apart in nine different countries. GYFE is encouraging young people on a global level to still put hope in this pandemic situation. I think this digital event is the right thing to do in this time because feeling socially isolated makes a lot of people feel stressful including me. Spending time together brought a new joy and happiness to me. On GYFE, we spent a week together to do some activities. We used Padlet to share the information about the activity each day and also sharing our thoughts. We also used Zoom to meet in some activities. All things became easier because nowadays we live in a digitally connected world. We did lot activities, for example Bible sharing, cooking, writing,

by Espérance from DR Congo One week, with people from nine different countries, Germany, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Namibia, with different time zones, different activities but on one sky and one objective. The Global Youth Faith Event 2021 (GYFE2021) was organised and supported by an international team of youth officers, volunteers, pastors, musicians and ecumenical officers with the text from Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 10, which says: “do not be sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength”. This event was a blessing for me and I am so grateful for being a part of that. The event was online due to the global pandemic COVID-19, but it had his particularity being connected with others the same time and we couldn’t feel being far away from

by Georges from the DR Congo The Global Youth Faith Event made me very happy during the whole week we spent together from July 4th to 11th, 2021. During this time, we carried out various activities in the volunteers house in Dortmund with young people from Dortmund and other young people from different countries in Africa, Asia and Europe – online and offline. The biggest thing for me was that we got together digitally in harmony with others every day from 5 p.m. in the volunteers house. There we cooked different recipes from the different countries of the above mentioned continents. We have cooked food from Namibia, Zambia, West Papua, Germany, Kenya and other countries. I was very happy because I had the opportunity to try different dishes on site in Dortmund. Thanks to