By Josephat Seleman Hema from Tanzania

On the evening of 16 th June 2019 we were gathered at the Protestant Church Congregation Hörde with the international guests from Africa, Asia and other parts of Europe for an evening service at the Luther Church before the schedule of the next day was disclosed. When the schedule was announced we were all excited! The next day three workshops would take place: Sailing on the Phoenix Lake with the Sialing Boats of Sail Together e.V., a Bicycle tour and the so called “sky walking”. The word “Sky walking” grabbed my attention and stocked my interest. I was even more convinced to join that workshop because we were to climb up the upstairs of the old steel industry in Phoenix West and that the keys to the gate that leads to the upstairs are not usually easily accessed. So for me it was a golden opportunity and hence I joined the craze of Sky walking.The next morning the workshop started with a short tour around the neighborhood of Dortmund Hörde and finally arriving at the targeted destination, Phoenix West.

With the history of Steel and Coal industry of the Dortmund City, the Phoenix West old industry plays a role as a major landmark. PHOENIX West is an area of 115 hectares in the South of Dortmund. For over 160 years, the industrial complex of Phoenix West was an icon for both the city and the Ruhr area whose local economy was based on coal and steel.

Mr. Woelki from the City of Dortmund, who was our guide, told us all detailed, mind-blowing and interesting facts of the industry, its success and challenges. Steel production in Dortmund ended with the closure of this factory in the year 1998 and of the neighbouring Phoenix East area in 2001. Most of the machinery and buildings were dismantled and sold off, many to China. Today, Phoenix East is transformed to a beautiful lake (where one can go Sailing for example), and the Phoenix West area. Today, some big landmarkes of the old steel factory are still there: a few halls, the blast furnace complex, a gasometer, and two cooling towers.

All these happened as we climbed the up and downs of the industry side through the stairs and corridors. It was when we were over the top most corridors when we could get a clear view of the Dortmund city. The highest position gives a beautiful panorama of the television tower (Florian tower), Signal Iduna football stadium, the Phoenix Lake and the city center undisturbed view. It depicts all the epic features of the fascinating city with a very heart soothing view. People were excited and took so many pictures on the way and so the tour guide had to stop explaining so many times to wait for all people to get gathering in each newer site we were approaching. I took many
pictures too, thanks to Dika and Rachel and Carolin who had good digital cameras.

It was such an amazing experience to be once a Sky Walker.