by Josephat from Tanzania I once had a thrilling vacation of my volunteering period when I visited Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Hamburg during the winter of 2020. It was a dream trip that eventually made me feel a bit tired and really ‚homesick‘. On my way back from Hamburg I looked outside the window of the Bus, saw a couple of houses and said to myself,“ I really miss home, I can’t wait to get back Home“. In my mind I tried to imagine and feel the special warmth of the Volunteers‘ House.

by Hannah from Chenai, India Ever since I heard the news that the volunteershaus was shifting, there has been a void in my heart. During my time in Germany, the Volunteershaus was our comfort zone. Though it was very very far from the city centre, the house was just perfect for us volunteers. The big garden where we played volley ball, sat on the pool during the hot summers eating cherries. The always noisy and loud kitchen, which sometimes had the most pleasant aromas from around the world and most of the times a burnt pizza. The living room filled with our beautiful images and movie nights. Volunteershaus was the best place a volunteer could ever get. I was lucky enough to have spent a year and a half to have live there.

Time flies. It’s has been nearly a year since I was in Dortmund. Knowing from Carolin, the International volunteer house is moving. Boxes are piled up along the corridor. The most memorable place, our big garden, unfortunately can’t be packed up. Star-gazing, tiny little swimming pool, playing volleyball, drawing, sleeping, sunbathing, picnic. It is the first time in my life living in a house a garden, a huge one.

I would like to take the opportunity of this little article and say a huge thank you to all of you throughout the Evangelical Church District. Thank you for the wonderful, pleasant and funny two months in which I was able to live in your cozy volunteershouse. I felt very comfortable in this house and it was good for me that everything was at my disposal. There is complete freedom in this house because I was not only allowed to go in and out everywhere but also to use all the furniture and objects there. The volunteer house was like family to me.

by Carol from India So, its been almost a month now that I am in India. I have missed my family a lot and I am extremely happy to be back here in India. Sometimes I could not imagine that I am truly back in India because in Dortmund I had to wake up every morning to go at work. I always dream that I am in Dortmund and I have to go to work in the morning. I miss Dortmund and I miss all the lovely people. My body is still adapting the change, I guess my mind is still in Germany.   One year was a long time but I feel like I am a different person now. Germany has made me a better version of myself. In the beginning it was hard

by Abdoulaye from Senegal On 17 October we organized a creative night in the volunteershouse. We invited some friends and neighbors to join us. We started at 5 p.m. and after a short time everyone was already busy with a creative task. First, like my roommate Carol from India, I made a red dream catcher. I almost didn’t make it because it was my first time to make a dream catcher. But that’s probably how it is with creativity. Then it becomes normal. Then I painted a tree. This tree is huge, the largest tree in Senegal, called „caïcedra“ in French, and is located in a popular little village.

by Hannah from India I am interested in the topic “ Educated Women not wanting to have Children” and I am therefore happy to write about it today. This bar chart gives us information about the educated women who have no children. Although this is a very interesting topic, I wonder why I never see statistics with educated men who do not want to have children. The first thing that strikes me is the percentage of 43 % of West German women with university or college degrees. I can well understand why they do not want to have children. In my opinion, these women want to concentrate more on their work. Compared to this number of German women who have a main degree, women who don’t want a Child are relatively low at 16

by Louis Purba from Indonesia, Louis Purba from Indonesia will be the next international volunteer in the Kontaktstelle Evangelische Jugend. She is currently waiting to fly to Germany – and is preparing to try out recipes from German cookbooks. I love food. But I am not really good at cooking. Especially to cook Asian cuisine because it contains a lot of spices and it takes a lot of time to prepare. Asian love rich flavor that contains bitter, sour, spicy, sweet. While European cuisine focuses either salt or sweet. That is why I want to try to cook European cuisine before my flight to Germany. Because it is so different. And most importantly, European foods favor wheat, while Asian foods tend to use rice frequently. So that, when I arrive in Germany I already

by Louis from Indonesia Louis Purba from Indonesia plans to do a voluntary service at the Kontakstelle Evangelische Jugend in the church district of Dortmund. Entry to Germany has already had to be postponed several times – this is the case in times of a global pandemic. The original entry was in April 2020, then in May, then June, then July, then postponed to January 20201, and now April 2021 is targeted. In the meantime, however, Louis has regular contact with the contact point (as the name suggests). Here she reports on a joint video phone call: „On September 28, 2020, I had a very nice conversation with Lisa, Jenny and Melina. We talked about zoom.  I was a bit nervous because this was my first time meeting Jenny and Melina in person. Over

by Carol from India, After the summer break, global ecumenical hangout is back again. On 24/09/20, we had our 8th global ecumenical Hangout,