New South-North volunteers begin

13 young people from Latin America, Africa and India are preparing for their voluntary service in Hermannsburg.

The new South-North volunteers arrived in Hermannsburg at the end of February. The 13 young people from Argentina, Brazil, Botswana, South Africa, Eswatini and India are currently preparing for their voluntary work in various volunteer centres of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and Diaconia. "The preparation is about practical matters such as separating waste and using the train app, as well as dealing with prejudices and intercultural challenges," reports Katharina Rausch. Together with her colleague Cecilia Lopez - both are ELM officers for the South-North volunteer programme - she developed the programme for the ten-day introductory seminar. Two former North-South volunteers are helping to organise the programme.

"I came up with the idea of doing this voluntary service because I met volunteers from Germany at a children's home run by the Lutheran Tamil Church," says Dayana Deva Selvi Dollorduraisingham from India. She will be working in a Protestant kindergarten in Braunschweig and hopes to be able to contribute her skills there, but also to learn from the teachers.

Karabo Dibutle from South Africa will also be working in the educational field. The trained teacher will work at Philipp Melanchthon Gymnasium in Meine. His passion for his profession will drive him to work hard, he says. But there will certainly be no shortage of fun either. "And the work in Germany after the year will help me to strengthen those I left behind in South Africa," he adds.

Hilen Martínez will be looking after people with disabilities at Lobetalarbeit in Celle. "I think this will help me grow as a person and it also relates to my medical studies. I also think it's important that everyone knows about disabilities so that they can eliminate the stigma associated with them," says the young woman from Argentina.

The volunteers will continue to exchange ideas with each other at seminars and reflect on their work and life in a foreign culture until their departure in February next year.