by Daniel from Zambia

One year seems too short for me; I state so because of the fascinating and thrilling environment around here of course not forgetting the beautiful family, community and associates I am surrounded with here in Dortmund which is my new home.

Firstly, my trip from Zambia which is my home country was so great and interesting though tiresome. I arrived on the 7th of April, 2022 in Berlin, I spent a night there and the following day 8th april I proceeded with my journey by train. I reached Dortmund around 18.10 hours. I was well received and welcomed by Dirk, Georges and Marc.

Furthermore, my impression of Dortmund was so true and factual Dortmund is a big city beautifully endored with many interesting places to go for leisure for instance phoenix sea, the U museum which gives a clear top view of the city and during summer just there on top of the museum chairs are put for people to at least have a good time viewing the city while sited. And when we talk of sports: for soccer fans Dortmund is a home to the very famous Football club Borussia, Dirk took me round the stadium as we were coming from the station going home and that gave me a feeling of having reached Dortmund.

Continually, we arrived at the volunteershouse: a pretty cool place to be called home. So well organized, everything in place with a beautiful garden at the back yard where one can easily catch some fresh air while reading for those who enjoy doing it like me.

However, a home is a place where you feel safe and secure; a place where you experience emotional warmth and feel yourself surrounded by love and affection, I must admit that I have found all this in the volunteershouse with my fellow volunteers namely Frida, Marc and Georges who is a former volunteer.

Morever, as a volunteer I work for “Bahnhofsmission”, honestly speaking I must admit that it gives joy to see that one’s quagmire is cut short and it also makes me feel complete that I am part and parcel of the great team at the Dortmund main train station where we help troubled people who are faced with different life circumstances of which the homeless, refugees, the drug addict are on a list and many others just to mention a few. The work is all about rendering our charity or rather help to the people around us.

As a new resident of Dortmund the language Deutsch is different from where I come from. During my off days I attend my Deutsch lessons in order to make it easier for me to interact with people at work, church and anywhere else here in Germany.

Well, so far I have attended church services more than once, my first service was good Friday and then Easter Sunday. It was all good and interesting to worship in a different environment  looking forward to attend more church services during my stay here.

In a nutshell, so far my experience in these few days that I am here is super smooth a lot has been experienced but for now that’s all.