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www.dhbw-stuttgart.de/zik

SOZIALE ARBEIT GRENZENLOS

Foto vorne: Rumänien, Annette Rachinger

SOCIAL WORK WITHOUT BORDERS

Special Editio

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in English

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Every year I take great pleasure in reading the new edition of ‘Soziale Arbeit Grenzenlos’, with the fabu-lous accounts of students’ experi-ences in such a wide range of different environments.

The exchange programme is a real tribute to the efforts of the DHBW and their capacity for forging new relationships whilst gently nurtur-ing old ones. The link with my own organisation, the University of Sunderland in the North East of England, has grown from strength to strength. We have enjoyed a number of stimulating teaching exchanges and I now look forward to welcoming what will be the 8th set of incoming students. In turn, we have the opportunity to send our community and youth work students to undertake a practice placement in Stuttgart – a much valued aspect of our degree pro-gramme. Most of our students have very limited foreign language skills and we appreciate each host agency’s ability to ‘make space’ for them, both literally and metaphor-ically.

Although international work is sometimes regarded as an ‘add-on’ or an ‘optional extra’, reading the students’ accounts it is easy to see just how far reaching the impact of international links can be.

Initially of course some students face a number of personal chal-lenges. But every year I am im-pressed by the energy and enthu-siasm with which students, outgoing and incoming alike, manage to make themselves at home and embrace a new culture within what is actually quite a short time span. The personal growth element is often consider-able and leaves a positive mark on their professional development too.

All the UK agencies have com-mented on the real contribution the German students have made and they are remembered with respect and affection in equal measure. Colleagues have enjoyed the lively debates as students are grappling with understanding

GRUSSWORT

„Soziale Arbeit Grenzenlos“ – a contribution from our academic partner in Sunderland (UK)

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different working practices, policy frameworks, funding environ-ments and the social realities that shape our work.

More subtle perhaps, but crucial and meaningful, is the develop-ment of critical thinking skills that go beyond a mere ‘problem solv-ing’ approach. Working in differ-ent environments has the capacity to stimulate a fundamental curios-ity that helps to go beyond ‘the taken for granted’. This curiosity is the basis for developing a profes-sional criticality that encourages students to (re)connect with some of the core values of working within the social professions, to look out for what makes for ‘human flourishing’. To be able to do this we need to not only learn ‘how to do the work’, but also have the time and space to ques-tion ‘why we do the work’. In a similar vein, over the many years of our collaboration, we have cer-tainly got better at how to organ-ise an international programme; however, talking to students and reading their reflections quite

powerfully reminds me of why we are doing it in the first place.

So my thanks go to all the stu-dents we had the pleasure to meet, to all the host organisations and to all the people behind the scenes whose commitment to internationalism is second to none.

Dr. Ilona Buchroth

Senior Lecturer in Community and Youth Work

University of Sunderland, UK

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Liebe Leserinnen,

liebe Leser,1

mein Studium an der DHBW Stutt-gart liegt heute schon einige Jahre zurück. Als Student entschied ich mich damals schnell für ein drei-monatiges Praxissemester im fer-nen Kenia und konnte so „soziale Arbeit grenzenlos“ hautnah erle-ben. Bis heute wirkt dieser stu-dentische Auslandsaufenthalt nach. So gründete ich nach mei-ner Rückkehr 2005 zusammen mit anderen Studierenden den Verein „UHURU e. V. – Gemein- sam für Kinder in Kenia“, für den ich mich als Vorsitzender insbesondere auch für den fach-lichen und interkulturellen Aus-tausch mit Kenia engagiere. Ein wichtiger Bestandteil dieser Akti-

1 Der vorliegende Text bezieht sich glei-chermaßen auf männliche und weibliche Personen. Alleine aus Gründen der bes-seren Lesbarkeit wurde auf die zweifache Schreibweise verzichtet.

vitäten ist die Entsendung von Studierende der Sozialen Arbeit nach Kenia und der regelmäßige Besuch des kenianischen Projekt-leiters Davies Okombo in Deutsch-land.Für den gesamten Prozess eines solchen Auslandspraktikums steht den Studierenden der DHBW heute das ZIK (Zentrum für Inter-kulturelle Kompetenz und Spra-chen) als kompetenter Ansprech-partner mit Rat und Tat zur Seite. Einen solchen Ansprechpartner hätte ich mir 2004 auch ge-wünscht, als ich mich auf die Suche nach einer Praxisstelle auf den geheimnisvollen afrikani-schen Kontinent machte. Damals folgte der gesamte – heute vom ZIK begleitete – Prozess dem Zu-fallsprinzip; angefangen bei der Auswahl einer geeigneten Praxis-stelle, der Planung und Vorberei-tungen für den Auslandsein satz, der eigentliche Durchführung bis

hin zum Erfahrungsaustausch mit anderen und der abschließenden Reflexion. Den Kontakt zu der kleinen loka-len Kinderhilfsorganisation Uhuru Community Development Project (UCDP) in einer westkenianischen Provinzhauptstadt Kisumu bekam ich rein zufällig über einen Dozen-ten und die Zusage für die Stelle erhielt ich knapp drei Wochen vor Praktikumsbeginn. Zeit und Infos für eine adäquate Vorbereitung: Fehlanzeige! Der (Kultur-)schock war groß, als wir drei DHBW- Studenten in unserer neuen west-kenianischen Lebens- und Arbeits-welt landeten. Kein Wasser, kein Strom und um uns herum ein lautes und buntes Treiben. Wir waren in einer traditionellen kenianischen Gast familie unter-gebracht – mitten in einem Ar-mutsviertel am Stadtrand. Afrika hautnah! Auch von den Anfor-derungen an die Soziale Arbeit vor Ort waren wir zunächst über-rumpelt, dann überfordert und schließlich beeindruckt. Bei den Waisenkindern, den Jugendlichen auf der Straße und den Familien im Slum ging es um die Existenz und Davies, unser kompetenter Anleiter vor Ort, machte uns schnell klar, dass man als Sozial-arbeiter ohne ein uns bekanntes staatliches Wohlfahrtssystem im Rücken einen ganz schön umfang-reichen „Zauber kasten“ benötigte.

Grusswort1

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Auch aus der Perspektive der Ent-sendeorganisation sehe ich das ZIK als großen Mehrwert. Das ZIK ist als Anlaufstelle und Kompe-tenzzentrum ein wertvolles Binde-glied zwischen den Studierenden, den Entsendeorganisationen und den dualen Partnern im Ausland.Auch dieses Jahr haben sich die Studierenden des dritten Semes-ters wieder die Zeit genommen, ihre fachlichen und kulturellen Grenzerfahrungen in den unter-schiedlichsten Teilen der Welt zu Papier zu bringen. Die vielfältigen persönlichen Erfahrungsberichte sollen das Potential solcher Aus-landseinsätze aufzeigen und da-durch vielleicht den einen oder anderen Leser ermutigen, sich selbst einmal auf ähnliche grenz-überschreitende Erfahrungen ein-zulassen.In der Hoffnung, dass sich viele Leser durch die Auslandsberichte in dieser Dokumentation vom „Fernweh“ anstecken lassen: Viel Freude beim Lesen!

Jonas PuhmAbsolvent DHBW Stuttgart &

Vorsitzender UHURU e. V.

Dear reader,

Nine years ago I met social wor-kers from Stuttgart during an in-ternational conference in Limuru, Kenya and I explained to them the importance of professional and cultural dialogue between Ger-many and Kenya. The following exchange created an opportunity of partnership between our local organization, Uhuru Community Development Project, and the DHBW. This particular coopera-tion with the ZIK of the DHBW’s faculty of social work is helpful in a number of ways.First, it has created a room for professional exchange. The stu-dents have demonstrated exemp-lary skills in social work which they have generously shared with the local partners. As a matter of fact, the first group of students from the DHBW not only shared their invaluable knowledge but also founded UHURU e. V. in Ger-many which has been the princi-pal financier of the work in Kenya. Second, there is broad exchange of culture as the students find the chance to live in an African tradi-tional family which consists of more than five members at any given time. The students integrate into a totally different and foreign culture. This cultural experience prepares the students to work in any parts of the world, and parti-cularly in areas where basic facili-

ties like piped water is missing.In conclusion, I would like to con-gratulate the management of the DHBW Stuttgart for supporting the mutual cooperation, and we are proud to be associated with you and the students of DHBW Stuttgart.

Davies Okombo Project Director / Social WorkerUhuru CommunityDevelopment Project (Kisumu, Kenia)

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OFFENE KINDER- UND JUGENDARBEIT

Rebekka Marschall

ENGLAND

Southwick Neighbourhood Youth Project

The day I found out I was accep-ted at DHBW Stuttgart to study Social Work in a dual programme that included one semester in a different work place setting, I knew I wanted to go on an ab-road learning adventure. I have always been drawn to foreign places and the different ways of

people’s lives. By doing some research I learned about the University’s Erasmus partnership with the University of Sunderland in the northeast of England, UK. When I also found out that this wonderful place was right by the seaside and that I would get to meet students from there in the

spring before I would leave in autumn, I was even more excited. The last few weeks before depar-ting to Sunderland were extre-mely busy: Exams needed to be taken, suitcases needed to be packed and good-byes were said. When the day finally came I flew into Manchester where I was very warmly welcomed by the stu-dents who had made their way to Stuttgart in the last spring. We were so happy to see each other again and since it was early in the morning they took me to Wether-spoon’s for a typical English breakfast. In a pub!

The following day I finally met Ilona Buchroth, who is one of the initiators of the exchange bet-ween Sunderland’s and Stuttgart’s universities. She explained to me how Social Work in England is

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Especially communication with the young people at SNYP was frustrating at times because even if they made the effort to talk to me, they gave up after the second or third time I asked what they had said. Also the young people in Southwick live under very dif-ferent circumstances than people in Stuttgart Zuffenhausen, where my German placement is. Even though both communities are considered poor, from what I ex-perienced, the Southwick people do face greater difficulties and so-cial issues than the Zuffenhausen

people. During the next weeks I could observe this even more as I tried to become part of the SNYP community and experienced how much of a great team spirit and cohesion the project shows.

Of course, the first few weeks were not always easy. Although everyone was just lovely and made such a big effort to welcome me to Sunderland, I sometimes felt very lost and had a hard time understanding what was said to me since the accent was so much different from what I expected.

different from what I knew: At the University of Sunderland three individual courses are offered, Youth and Community Work, Social Work and Health and Social Care, whereas in Germany all of these are combined into the single course of Social Work. After sorting this out over a cup of tea (I love how much tea the English drink!) I went to my placement Southwick Neighbourhood Youth Project (SNYP) located in a nort-hern part of Sunderland for the first time. Again, tea was offered and a nice chat was held where I learned that the project co- ordinator and two other emplo-yees were former students of Ilona. Later I also learned that most of SNYP’s employees used to be young people who took part in the project and then grew up and studied to become a youth worker there. Whereas this is slightly frowned upon in Ger-many because some people think former clients can’t be as profes-sional, I thought this was proof for an excellent and well working network between the University, the youth workers and the young

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one of SNYP’s youth workers and visited an alternative education centre at a secondary school which teaches young people who are not in school any more out of behavioural issues. Other than that I was invited to the project’s Halloween party, went to a recor-ding studio with the Junior Club, an Ice Skating Centre, a firework display and went out on the streets on Outreach nights to talk to the teenagers who spent their nights outside in the neighbour-hood. I also attended a meeting with different youth projects from the area including the local autho-rities, which I thought was espe-cially interesting since the part of Stuttgart that I work in does not have anything like that. I learned how important and successful it could be towards community work to have a network with other projects and companies in order to inform each other about what current issues among the people in the community are.

Throughout my time at the youth project I was able to experience a great number of interesting and fun events: I attended the regular session such as the Drop-In (for ages 11-16), the Junior Club (for ages 8-11), the Girl’s group, the Lad’s Group and the Newspaper Club. I also went to an after school activity once a week with

people. Luckily, there are other forms of communicating than using language! But as the days and weeks passed by, things and processes began to seem more normal to me, and the young peo-ple became used to ‘the German student’. I thoroughly enjoyed the moments in which the children and teenagers asked about where I come from and how things are in Germany. I also cherished the small moments when I realized that I had made a connection with one or more young people, when I realized they liked me, and what I used to do at SNYP.

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had German students before and they know what difficulties they face. That way they can react very well towards their needs. Also, I felt as though SNYP was a great place for a defining learning experience since their understan-ding of youth work is different from what German students may have experienced at that time in their studies. I am very sure that I learned to be even more open and accepting of my clients’ ways of life and not always apply my measurements of how life should be attempted. I am thankful and truly delighted to have chosen Sunderland for my abroad stay. Everyone I met was so welcoming and nice to be around. I tho-roughly enjoyed the English cul-ture, the tearooms, the informal way of conversing and the friendly and polite manner. If you get the chance to spend three months of your life in Sunder-land – do it! It will be more than worth it.  â

students I worked with and initia-ted intense and interesting discus-sions as much as it let us become friends. When it was time to say good-bye everyone spoke very touching words and hugs were given. I encouraged everyone, as I had many times before, to think about being an exchange student at DHBW next spring.

Overall it has been the perfect decision to go to Sunderland for my placement from October to December. I was very lucky to be a student at SNYP since they have

Besides working at SNYP I was able to attend a lecture on Fridays at the University of Sunderland. It was very interesting to learn about new bills being introduced by a newly formed government that, once passed, will influence youth work and the young people and families very much. I even took part in a group work assign-ment about analysing the sugges-ted Housing Bill and compared it to current German housing laws and issues. This process was in-deed challenging but it also brought me much closer to the

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Yipworld

SCHOTTLAND

OFFENE KINDER- UND JUGENDARBEIT

Jasmin Haller

A wee trip to Scotland (wee = scot. für klein)

I love to travel, so I decided to take the chance to go abroad and work somewhere else. On the 4th of January, right after the winter hol-idays, I started my unforgettable trip to Scotland. The first thing I saw in Scotland was my lovely host family that picked me up from the airport. Through the kindness of Janice Hendry, the development director of Yipworld, I was able to stay at a host family, instead of a B & B like most of the other students before. This helped me a lot handling the situation going to a foreign country on my own and leaving behind my family and friends back home in Germany. When we arrived in Auchin leck, where Linda and John

(my host family) live, I had my first traditional meal, steak pie.

The next day was my first day at work. The development director Janice Hendry introduced me to the staff of Yipworld and showed me the facilities. There is a recep-tion, an I. T. room, a lounge, a meeting room, two offices and one main room where the DZone takes place. The DZone is an out of school care programme. The child care is for kids aged 4 to 16 years. During my time in Scotland I attended the Senior Drop-In for children aged 12-18, the D-Zone for children aged from 4-16, the youthwork in schools, the youthbank, UBER groups and youth groups in different towns. I was also given a short introduc-tion to the recording studio. At the beginning it was essential for me to read the handbook, i. e. including the risk assessments. So there were a lot of new impres-sions for me on the first day. In the first week I got a lot of infor-mation about the different and diverse projects. Yipworld is com-parable to a German youth club.

Before the Senior Drop-in took place in the evening, I was taught on how to do the risk assessment. We checked every room if the ex-tinguishers, the lights, the emer-gency exits and all the furniture

were ok. After that the staff was assigned to different rooms, which switched every hour. At the begin-ning I was in the I. T. room. The kids were playing games or surfing the internet. After that there was a game planned for all children. The name is “Dragons’Den” (com-parable to the TV show “Höhle der Löwen”). So we had a lot of fun with the kids.

There was the possibility of us pick-ing up kids from school if their parents wanted to. When the kids arrived they could have a little snack and then join some different activities like crafts or painting. They could also use the I. T. room or play pool. There was a topic each month to improve the kids’ skills. In the afternoon the program took place from 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. I also got in touch with a girl who needed individual care. This was a new and valuable experience for me.

The youth work in schools is for pupils who struggle at school. The school workers work with “work-ing books”. There are a lot of dif-ferent activities in these books which they go through. The aim is to improve the social skills of the pupils such as confidence and self-confidence to prepare them for the time after school. At the end they receive a certificate about their skills.

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alone. That way I didn’t have the slightest opportunity to speak Ger-man at all. After 3 weeks I was used to the accent. Sometimes my working hours were until 9 or 10 p.m. and sometimes even on the weekend. But at the weekends we planned some trips like going to Glasgow or Edinburgh with all the staff.

Unfortunately I received some bad news from my family in Germany, which made me go back home earlier than expected. It’s a pity that I could not see and experience more about Scotland and Yip-world. But all in all it was worth working and living in a beautiful foreign country, even for only a month. Janice and all of the staff from Yipworld and my host family were really friendly and lovely people. They helped me a lot de-ciding whether to go home or not.

I also kept contact with my “Stu-diengangsleiter” and with Doris Kupferschmidt from the ZIK. It was no problem to go back home quickly. I’m really happy that we found a solution and that I was able to finish my placement in Germany.  â

nearly every girl took part in this dance.

The youth groups are based in different towns around Cumnock. I had the possibility to do a pro-ject on my own, so I decided to do some German cooking.

Before I went to Scotland I received a timetable for my 3 months at Yipworld. In the first weeks I gained a valuable insight into Social Work in Scotland. At first I had some problems with the Scottish accent, but all the people around me were really kind and patient with me. It was also a good experience to travel

The Youthbank is a project about becoming a “grant maker”. I took part in a trip to Wiston Lodge where the kids from the Youth-bank group took part a course. During the course the kids had to do some group work and they pre-sented their results about an area in East Ayrshire. It contained the „goods and bads“ and what they would like to improve when they’ll get a grant for it. The staff from Yipworld and I had to ob-serve all of the kids while they were working on it. We assigned 3 children to one adult to observe them. The focus of this particular training was about the skills and roles needed by a person who wants to apply for a grant. It was also important to teach the kids how to use argumentations prop-erly, when they want to fund a project.

The UBER group is especially for girls. It’s like a “Mädchencafé” in Germany. I took part in two different groups. There I could do a wee dance with the girls to the song “bills” by “LunchMoney Lewis”. We all enjoyed it and

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KINDER- UND JUGENDARBEIT  |  DEUTSCHLAND

PROJEKTMANUFAKTUR

coming and friendly people were in the office. Every Friday Frank’s wife would come in and cook us all a meal which gave me the chance to sit together with all the staff and have really interesting discussions about how the Eng-lish culture differs from the Ger-man culture! This was also when I first tasted real, German food!

Since Projektmanufaktur supports a big variety of social projects I was able to attend a lot of differ-ent events and work with many different organisations within youth and community work of Esslingen and Stuttgart. That way I was given the opportunity to work with Lokstoff, a theatre association, and helped prepare their performance of “Revolutions-kinder”. I met a lot of amazing young people and experienced how much work and effort was put into the performance. Simi-

When I, a British exchange stu-dent, arrived in Stuttgart to live, work, and go to university there for three months I was really anxious and did not know what to expect! Little did I know it would be the most amazing expe-rience of my life!

Although I had trouble under-standing the train system and getting my head around the dif-ference between the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn, I arrived safely at our accommodation (However, that is not to say I did not get on the wrong train, because I definitely did!) and I could not believe how nice the apartment was. I quickly made a lot of friends there who showed me around and intro-duced me to the German delica-cies (Some of which were not to my taste!). It took me a while to get used to the potato salad here, as it is completely different

to our version in England, but I soon grew to love it!

Since I shared my German adven-ture with two of my fellow stu-dents we all went to the Inter-national Office on our first, full day, where we were given lots of information to make our stay even more enjoyable than what it already was. There are many activities and clubs to take part in to fill up any of your spare time when you do not have plans!

But now I will tell you how amaz-ing my placement was in Stuttgart: I was working in Projektmanu-faktur, an organisation that sup-ports social projects financially and helps to carry out many so-cial projects in the Stuttgart area. Frank Baumeister, who was my amazing supervisor, runs it. I felt so supported throughout my stay and could not believe how wel-

Alexandra Armstrong

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gardens of Stuttgart, which were all astonishing. My friends and I were also given the opportunity to go to a concert at a youth house to see Jesper Munk whose music was so good! The atmos-phere was incredible and I really enjoyed this experience.

I can’t explain how beautiful Stuttgart is and how much I have enjoyed my time there. The food is amazing and the people are even more amazing! I will defi-nitely be returning to Stuttgart in the near future, and must recom-mend to everyone reading this to visit Stuttgart, or if you live here, to tell you how lucky you really are to live in such a beautiful place!   â

larly, I worked at Fellbach Youth House during their “Theaterfrüh-ling” also a theatre project, where I got to witness some incredible performances by amazing young people of different ages and abili-ties! I also got to tackle my fear of heights, as when I first arrived I was asked to put up black cur-tains which hung from the ceiling! It was so scary for me but I did it! Furthermore I worked with “aus:sicht”, a group of people whose wish it is to promote the awareness of visual impairments. This is where I learned how to walk with a blind stick or a guide dog, and completed activities blindfolded and went into an awesome dark tent where you could not see a single thing! Get-ting to try what it feels like to be blind for a while was a very sensitising experience. Within the field of working with people with disabilities I was also able to at-tend an event, which gave me the chance to try out wheel chair basketball, which was amazing! In addition to that I spent some time in a youth house called Villa Jo. This is where I met even more amazing workers and young people who made me feel so wel-come! I was able to take part in

activities with the young people, including games of football and board games and also sit and share my dinner time with them, trying food I have never tried be-fore. The young people thought my reaction was funny when tasting Maultaschen!

On top of that I would meet every Wednesday at DHBW to have dis-cussions with Professor Faßler, Mrs Kupferschmidt and other international exchange students from all over the world, which really helped me to understand different cultures. For example it was different for me to greet eve-ryone with a handshake even if you do not know him or her. But however, I learned this was a normal and polite thing to do in Germany.

Although the working aspect of Stuttgart was brilliant, the social aspect was also amazing. I was able to experience once in a life-time things, like going to the spring festival and a visit at the cartoon festival. I even joined in a protest at one point, which was a brilliant experience for me. More than that I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery, the zoo and botanical

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activities offered every day by various staff members. These activities included all kinds of contests, such as dance contests, target practise or decorating the recreation room for special occasions such as Halloween or Christmas. The first day was over in a breeze.

The following weeks I’ve gotten insight into various fields in which Yipworld operates. There is the employability programme, where people of all age are being helped in order to find a job by creating CVs together or filling in applica-

Yipworld Diary

As my second semester started I noticed that it was time to search for an organisation for my work placement. I’m a big fan of travel-ling so it was clear to me that I wanted to spend that time abroad. After doing some research on the DHBW website I had decided that I’d like to go to Scotland. The pro-gramme at Yipworld looked very varied with many different aspects of social work. After a few e-mails I got the confirmation that I could spend my placement in Scotland. I was thrilled. After chatting via e-mail and making sure to orga-nize everything well in beforehandit was time to meet the Develop-ment Director of Yipworld JaniceHendry, who came to visit Stutt-gart for a week at the end of thesemester. It was great to meet upbefore I left, as it gave me a betteridea as to what I’d be expecting.Now all I had to do was pack mybags and get prepared for the journey.

After some trouble with flight con-nections on the way, I had finally arrived at Glasgow airport. I made my way towards Ayr, the place I’d be living at for the next three months and where I was wel-comed by Janice, who took me to my guest house. I used the follow-ing day to explore the seaside and the town. My first impressions

were just wonderful: Friendly people, sun-shine, temperatures at around 20 °C and great hosts.

The following day I arrived at Yipworld early in the morning and got a warm wel-come by my new col-leagues. I was shown the different rooms such as the office, recreation room, the recording studio and the IT room. I was also shown the sur-rounding towns of Cumnock such as New Cumnock and Kilmarnock which gave me a nice insight to the com-munities that surround Yipworld. I got to experience many different aspects of the work at Yipworld, such as the Drop-in Zone which is an after school program for kids. We picked the kids up from the school across the street and took them to our youth centre where they could participate in different activities such as playing pool or Play Station, cooking all kinds of different dishes, drawing or foot-ball and hockey. They had the choice of what they wanted to do and could play on their own or in groups. There were different

KINDER- UND JUGENDARBEIT  |  SCHOTTLAND

YIPWORLD

Marius Polak

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gain confidence and social skills which are needed in order to find a job, as well as obtaining and maintaining a job with other skills such as punctuality. It was really interesting and I had a good time there. I also had the luxury of get-ting shown Edinburgh by one of my co-workers at Bridges Project, who knows a lot about the city and a few nice areas which many tourists don’t usually get to see.

Aside from the different kinds of work I was able to do and experi-ence the Scottish culture and land-scape outside of work. I was taken to the Isle of Arran for example, which is a beautiful island west of Scotland.

All together, I’d like to say: It was totally worth it! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time in Scotland, made new friends and gained a lot of experience in the field of social work, as well as language and general communication skills. Thanks to my co-workers I got to experience the culture as well as the stunning landscape. I recom-mend Scotland to anyone who’s thinking about travelling abroad for their work placement.   â

tion forms from different compa-nies. It was really interesting to compare the way the job search works in Scotland with how it works in Germany. And it’s not as different as I had expected it to be. Another part of the employa-bility programme was mock inter-views. In these we’d sit with a teenager or young adult and pre-tend to interview them for a job. After the interview we’d give the person our opinion on how he did, what went well and what could be improved. It was a lot of fun and a new experience working with people that are a different age than the children I work with back in Germany.

Every Wednesday I’d go to three different schools, together with a few colleagues to teach children about different things. We talked about their future and asked if they had any plans on what they’d do once they finish school and which further education or other skills they’d need to acquire in order to successfully pursue their career. We also talked about the topic of different kinds of bullying and whether they’ve experienced bullying or not and how to pre-

vent it from happening. During the last few weeks of my stay we’ve started working together with a new class on confidence build training.

One of the most pleasant expe-riences I’ve had during my stay was giving German lessons in a neighbouring town. I spent one month visiting the school once a week for 3 hours to teach Ger-man to three different classes with children at the ages from 8 to 11. They were really excited and eager to learn the language and I was asked many kinds of different questions about Germany, our cul-ture, landscape, the weather and, of course, the language itself. With the help of an interactive learning programme the kids managed to learn simple sentences such as telling their name and age or to describe some different weather conditions.

Furthermore I had gotten the pos-sibility of working outside of Yip-world. I spent four days in Edin-burgh, the capital of Scotland and worked at the Bridges Project, where they take care of teenagers and young adults and help them

iKinder- und JugendarbeiT  |  deuTschland

CaFe ratz – JugendhauS und kindertreFF

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Phillip, one of the Cafe Ratz team, arranged a ticket for me in my first week there. I was met outside the ground by Frank, the husband of the Cafe Ratz chief Sylvia. Inside the ground I sat with Phillip’s friends who again made me feel very welcome. I think the way not only the people I was working directly with welcomed me but also their family and friends illus-trates how friendly Stuttgart is.

In my early sessions Arno, my supervisor for my placement, helped me settle in and explained how Cafe Ratz worked and the ground rules; in particular the Youth House where I would work most of the time. My role was to spend time with the young people attending and get to know them. I also worked behind the counter serving food, drinks and sweets to attendees. This was a great oppor-tunity to improve my German lan-guage skills, although most people spoke some English. The young people attending the club also ac-cepted me and I got to know them really well. I liked the informal ap-proach to face to face youth work, which is how many of us in Eng-land would like to work. Make no mistake, Youth Work in Germany is very well organised and the structure of the organisation Cafe Ratz belongs to, Stuttgarter Jungenhaus Gesellshaft, is very

What a fantastic experience! I had no idea, when I was made redun-dant from my Reprographics Man-ager’s job in 2011, that three short years later I would be living and Working in Stuttgart for 12 weeks; and what a twelve weeks it was. I was welcomed at the airport by Katrin, a German Erasmus student I had met when she attended lectures in England at Sunderland University, where I am partici-pating in the Ba Hons Community and Youth Work Degree course. Katrin helped me find my way to, and into, my accommodation. We then went to buy some essentials and get some food and a beer. The next day Rufina, another Erasmus student I had met in England, helped me navigate my way around the city and the paperwork I had to complete. This support in the early days, and that from the International Office DHBW Stutt-gart, was invaluable and I am looking forward to returning the favour for the next Erasmus stu-dents coming to England.

As part of my Degree course I have previously completed place-ments at Youth Provisions both within the charitable sector and the state run sector. It was with great enthusiasm then, that I accepted the opportunity to com-plete my third placement at Café Ratz Jugendhaus und Kindertreff

in Stuttgart. Again, I was made to feel very welcome from the first moment I stepped into the build-ing. Being 47 years old, I am not a typical student and certainly not a typical exchange student, but after the initial novelty wore off for us all I was treated the same way as everyone else and quickly felt part of the team. Being a football fan, I had decided before arriving that I would like to watch a game here in Stuttgart. My home team, Mid-dlesbrough, had played here a few years ago in the EUFA cup; but I didn’t come to that game. Imag-ine how happy I was then that

aKevin Bullock

similar to organisations in Eng-land. However, the culture of in-formal education through relation-ships, built on trust, is prevalent in Cafe Ratz; and the needs of the young people attending are at the forefront of everything they do. I had some great supervision ses-sions with Arno and we talked at length, comparing English and German youth work and the mixed backgrounds and cultures of the young people in the commu-nity Cafe Ratz serves. We began to focus a little on Identity, as we had some very interesting conver-sations with young people who were born in Germany after their parents had migrated there. Some-times families had moved several times and some of the young peo-ple still had a clear idea of who they were and where they were from. I think this is a very interest-ing time for the young people of Europe. There are some amazing opportunities that come with the freedom of movement we cur-rently enjoy. However, I am also a little concerned for those young people who do not cope so well with the impacts of this. I hope to study this further in the future. I also spent some time in local schools, speaking English to local

children during their English les-sons. Again, I was made to feel very welcome and I met some very interesting young people from all around Europe and hope-fully helped them as much as they were helping me.

Outside of work, I found the whole experience very liberating. I found the time spent outside my own culture very interesting. It gave me the time to reflect on the issues we have at home and, in particu-lar, a rest from the influence the media has on our daily lives in England. I also attended a Cultural Exchange Discussion at the uni-versity, with students and staff from DHBW along with some fellow exchange students from Egypt. This gave me an insight into the little everyday differences we have that can mean so much, such as how we say hello and shake hands; people shake hands a lot in Germany! I was also “in-vited” to many social occasions. In England an invite is simply that, an invite. In Germany, however, I found it meant not only was I in-vited to attend, I would not be al-lowed to pay for anything as the host pays for everything. I liked this idea, although I was never

allowed to “invite” anyone as I was a guest in Germany. I hope to return the favour when they visit me in England, which I hope will be soon. I also enjoyed the many small encounters that occur over twelve weeks. From the regular visits to the local Kebab shop, Stuttgart has the best Kebabs, to the broken German / English con-versation with the local Lotto café owner, who not only sold me a credit Top Up for my German Handy, he also rang the appropri-ate number for me and input the code. I also had a very interesting time trying to describe to the ”Hausmeister”, for my accommo-dation, that my door key wasn’t working properly; and how I man-aged to explain to one of the house keepers that the Tumble Drier wasn’t working I’m still not sure. However, in both cases, we got there in the end.

As you can see I had a great time in Germany. There were many good experiences, and the prob-lems I overcame, that make a valuable experience. It is a time I will cherish and the growth I have experienced during this time will stay with me for the rest of my life. Thank You!   â

1915

(see http://dumfries-house.org.uk) but fortunately found my way back. All in all it was a great expe-rience and I’m really glad that I decided to go abroad, to be more precisely: I’m glad that I decided to work at Yipworld. I was able to increase my English skills and my knowledge of Scottish culture and of course I learned more about dif-ferent ways of social work. I’m sure that I will transfer some of the Scottish methods to my work in Germany. I always felt as a part of the team and the staff really went out of their way to involve me and to make me feel comfort-able.

It’s up to you now. Do you want to be included in a great team? Are you interested in Scottish culture? Do you want to learn more about social work in other countries? And do you want to have a great time? Can you answer these ques-tions with a ‘Yes’?

Then it’s your turn to go to Yip-world. Cheers for a wonderful time!   â

Another highlight was the youth exchange. Young people from Po-land and Cyprus visited Scotland for one week in October. During this week we learned a lot about other cultures, did teambuilding activities, went to the capital city of Edinburgh and played our own Commonwealth Games. It was great fun and all participants vis-ibly enjoyed it.

Also outside my working time many opportunities were offered to me and my colleagues were always keen to keep me busy. One colleague invited me to her graduation. Janice (my supervisor) took me to a trip to Edinburgh and with two other girls I visited the Burns Museum close to Ayr. I went to Ayr and Kilmar-nock a few times and to some of the garden centres for a cup of coffee or tea.

Another highlight was the Christmas Party on 14th De-cember where I got invited

on my second working day courte-ous of yipworld. It was an abso-lutely fantastic night: Delicious dinner, crazy dances, and a lot of laughter and of course we had great fun.

During weekends and my free time I went to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. I got lost on my walk to Dumfries House, which is an ancestral home owned by Prince Charles situated only three miles from Cumnock

bJennifer Becker

k

Kinder- und JugendarbeiT  |  schoTTland

YiPworld

in sound production workshops as a part of their school work. Another advantage is that Yipworld employs people with various qualifications and capabilities (IT, Art, Music) who get involved in the programmes to provide a practical learning oppor-tunity to the existing programmes. I think that it is really good for the children to gain many positive and different experiences. It was also possible for me to bring in my knowledge and my abilities. I ar-ranged a little two-week programme with different German activities. I prepared German food like Leb-kuchen, Bratwürste and Brezeln which the children really liked. We also made some German Christmas cookies and celebrated Nikolaus Day. It was lovely to see the chil-dren enjoying the different activities and to answer all their questions about German culture and German Christmas.

Exams, moving back from Stuttgart to Reutlingen, packing my bags, goodbye to friends and family and then off to the airport – these were my last 72 hours in Germany. ‘A lot of stress – will it be worth it?’ I asked myself. On the way from Glasgow airport to my accommo-dation (a small Bed & Breakfast in Mauchline) – which was quite ex-citing because I had to take the train and buses and I didn’t really know where to go – I already noticed: ‘Yes, it was worth the trou-ble!’ I was not only impressed by the helpfulness but also by the kindness of the Scottish people.

The next day I went to my new working place: Yipworld. The fol-lowing three months I ought to be part of different programmes. Whilst my time in Scotland I attended the Senior Drop-In for children aged 12 – 18, the D­Zone for children aged 4 – 16 and the In-spiring Scotland 14:19 programme.

D-Zone and Drop-In are compara-ble to German youth work in youth centres. The Inspiring Scotland pro-gramme takes place in schools for children who, for instance, have problems with school, problems at home, problems with bullying etc. The programme offers different workshops with topics like drug and alcohol misuse awareness, the rights of the child, equality and di-versity, numeracy and literacy amongst many others.

Generally I gained a good insight of differences and similarities of Ger-man and Scottish youth work. Furthermore I realised how multi-faceted Yipworld is. Besides the programmes I was involved in, there were other activities taking place. For instance support in job hunting or the Recording Studio which offers local bands the oppor-tunity to record their songs profes-sionally as well as offering young people opportunities to participate

20

KINDER- UND JUGENDARBEIT

CAFÉ RATZDEUTSCHLAND

DEUTSCHLANDDEUTSCHLAND

of acceptance and was made to feel a part of their already formed team and family. During my 3 months in Stuttgart with Café Ratz I got to experience so many different elements of their youth work programme, Brunch days (with the amazing freshly made German food) Gig box nights, and XXL parties just to name a few.

Due to my limited ability to speak and understand German, my role in the Youth house was restricted at the beginning to being a “Sponti” but this was later expan­ded to working behind the bar, and having a few wonderful sessi-ons with the young kids in the kids area. My normal everyday role was being a “Sponti” where it was my job to engage the young people in local activities such as football, table tennis, pool and board games to name a few. Due to Café Ratz’s busy and well orga­nised time table I found myself al-ways busy and contributing to de-veloping an activity for the young people, which was a quiz; which they seemed to enjoy.

Although I spent a lot of time in Café Ratz I also got to travel around Germany and see other sites like Munich, Berlin and Hof to mention a few. In all these places I wanted to experience what made Germany so special

My name is Ross Cooper; I am a student studying at Sunderland University. From my background of Youth Work in Northern Ireland I decided to study Community and Youth Work at the University of Sunderland. After my fi rst year placement at A690 Youth initiative I got to do so many things to im-prove as a person and a youth worker, it was here that I fi rst found out about the fantastic and unique opportunity in Stuttgart, Germany.

After meeting the German stu-dents who were in Sunderland I decided that this was the second year placement I wanted. After applying and going through the process I found myself in Stutt-gart, Germany. Although I arrived at 6pm within my fi rst 12 hours in Germany, I had made several new

friends and seen the beautiful city (and nightlife) that Stuttgart has to offer. The following day, I met the international offi ce, and some members of the amazing culture connection group!! Both groups made my trip to Stuttgart enjoya-ble and educational. My accom-modation was exactly as what I thought of Germany, it is basic, smart and does exactly what it’s meant to. This was shown to me on many different occasions. On my fi rst day at Café Ratz I met my supervisor, a man of unbeatable passion and creativeness for the people he engages with. Before arriving, I felt nervous and wor-ried that I might have made a mis-take coming to Germany. This was quickly removed within a two hour meeting with Arno, my su-pervisor. From the fi rst moment I stepped in Café Ratz I got a feeling

ROSS COOPER

21

and give me a sense of why it was like this, for this reason when in Berlin I did a lot of sightseeing which helped me understand so much about how disempowered people can react to different events. Although I only stayed in Berlin for 6 days, I fell in love with the culture, acceptance and the nightlife this city has to offer!!

The last part of this is going to tell you about the amazing people I met!! Even though all were busy, I was able to enjoy St. Patricks day (twice) with my work colleagues and university friends, I saw the

cup match when Stuttgart got into the FINAL and most important whenever I had free time someone was always welcoming!

I would tell ANYONE AND EVERY-ONE to come to this fantastic country and share in the experi-ence!

22

KINDER- UND JUGENDARBEIT

SOUTHWICK NEIGHBOURHOOD YOUTH PROJECTENGLAND

basis. Kids can decide on their own in which programs they want to get involved and where they want to help. Offers ranged from leisure time acitivites like playing pool or card games to doing arts and crafts work, learning new music instruments, doing cooking sessions to support a healthy liv-ing or environmental work in the neighbourhood. Also the SNYP colleagues regularly went on de-tached work, where they would walk through the neighbourhood and talk to young people, offer them advice, tell them about new activities at SNYP or just have a smalltalk. During my three months at SNYP I always had the feeling of being treated as an equal colleague. The team was really friendly, always open to my ques-

I have always felt connected to the english language. As a student at the DHBW Stuttgart I was told that the faculity of social work is or-ganizing an international discus-sion group managed by the ZIK. So I decided to join this group and got involved in great discussions about social work abroad. A lot of former students who had spent a semester abroad shared their experiences and made me really want to go abroad. As the DHBW Stuttgart has an ERASMUS ex-change program with the univer-sity of Sunderland I decided to apply to be part of this program. Apparently I got the opportunity and was ready to discover Sunder-land, work for a youth work place-ment and have a glimpse at uni-versity life in England. My placement was called 'Southwick

Neighbourhood Youth Project' or just the short form 'SNYP'. It is located in a great, old house in Southwick, a part of Sunderland and offers all kinds of youth work and all of them on a voluntarily

JORG REINHARDT..

23

ENGLAND ENGLAND ENGLAND 

tions and gave me a lot of possi-bilties to try out and organize dif-ferent programs for the kids. I really appreciated working for and with SNYP. You were great! Con-cerning my own leisure time I can just state that it felt like I used it well. The north of England is a great place to be. Not only are you extremly close to the sea and to great landscapes in the area but you also have tons of great cities

and villages to discover. Newcas-tle, Durham and York are all in perfect traveling range and even a weekend trip to Scotland can al-ways be considered. And if you should be interested in football I highly recommend to watch a game either at Newcastle or in Sunderland. English football really brings up a totally different atmos-phere compared to german foot-ball. See it for youself! Last but not

least I want to thank Ms Buchroth and Ms Kupferschmidt for beeing such a great help. Ms Buchroth for her great support during our time in Sunderland and Ms Kupfer-schmidt for helping us prepare the trip. Thanks. People if you have the chance to go abroad absolutely use it. It is a great personal and working experience you will al-ways think back to. I would not want to miss it.

24

SOZIALGESUNDHEITLICHE DIENSTE

CARER`S CENTRE SUNDERLANDENGLAND

know everyone. Unfortunately for my English, there are a lot of Ger-mans in Clanny’s!

My first day in Sunderland Carers’ Centre started pretty bad and I was ready to give up: I was up early enough, went to the bus station actually feeling pretty confident. Maybe too confident, as I got on the wrong bus on the wrong side of the road and only noticed on the other side of town that I must be wrong. Thankfully people in the North East are very nice, friendly and helpful, and the bus driver told me, which bus I should use. So I arrived at work an hour late. What a great start!

Still I was welcomed and shown around very nicely by Eibhlín and welcomed by the whole team. Un-til I needed to use the bathroom…. where I set off the emergency alarm for the disabled. I think by that time they must have thought “what a bloody nuisance this Ger-man is”. Even though, they were still very nice taking a lot of trou-ble in order to give me a good overview of their work.

Looking back now on this dreadful start and how my three months with the Carers’ Centre unfolded I can say that it was a very amaz-ing and valuable three-month experience:

The time in between filling in forms and waiting for a response to find out which placement we will be in whilst juggling the exams was really stressful.

One Sunday morning we met at Stuttgart Airport to start our jour-

ney still brainwashed from the ex-ams. At Paris Airport we had to change planes to Newcastle. Paris Airport is a disaster and after los-ing nerves, sweat and tears – and nearly each other – we all agreed to never fly via Paris ever again.

When we arrived in Newcastle we were welcomed by typical north eastern weather. Personally I thought it was lovely, I think the others were a bit shocked. Ilona Buchroth, our academic contact and Senior Lecturer in Community and Youth work at the University of Sunderland met us, welcomed us to England and – after somehow squeezing our suitcases into the car – took us to her colleague Chris’ house for a very generous cup of tea and a lovely dinner. When we got to Clanny House (the student’s residence) at last, I think we were all pretty happy to unpack, settle in, have a wash, and lie down.

Clanny House is very well main-tained. The medium room – which I chose – is small, but I wouldn’t have needed any more, as I barely used the room. Clanny House con-sists of mostly international stu-dents. To some extent that makes it very warm and welcoming, be-cause everyone is in a similar situ-ation, and even though we arrived a week or more later than the oth-ers, it didn’t take long to get to

SONJA LANGFORD

25

ENGLAND

I met the staff of the Carers’ Cen-tre; I was part of their team. Even though they are all so busy they always tried their hardest to be ever so mindful.

The Young Carers’ Development workers took me to a home visit, which was really interesting, see-ing that life in Germany might not be so different from life in England and that the problems might be quite the same. The weekly groups were inspiring. I met wonderful kids with the most amazing and touching life stories. Life stories that I expect can be found in Ger-many, as well – but just don’t seem to be picked up on in Ger-many: At the moment there is

only one Young Carers’ Group in Germany. This I fi nd shocking, knowing that those kids need sup-port so badly and in England they can get so much out of what is of-fered to them.

Eibhlín, my supervisor, took me to many meetings and conferences. All of this got me interested in pol-itics, getting to know big bits and bobs of the English health care and welfare system.

I also joined some of the mental health groups on Tuesday morn-ings. It was great, especially get-ting to know how people cope when they have a partner or a loved one, who has a mental

health issue. What impressed me most is the dedication those carers have towards the people they look after. I think one can only under-stand the impact, when one is ex-periencing it.

My time in Sunderland and in my placement with the Carers’ Centre was extraordinarily worthwhile and very benefi cial for me. I can only recommend it to everyone. I experienced and learned an awful lot, met wonderful people, both on the professionals’ and on the cli-ents’ sides, gained a lot of insight, broadened my horizon and gained awareness about some of the things that are really missing in Germany.

26

NEPAL

Namasté!

Both of us ­Miriam Geib and Jas­min Böker- are extremely inter-ested in foreign cultures and have a huge passion for travelling. Due to this the idea of working three months abroad sounded awesome. Therefore we both applied to spent our forth semester internship with the AHSA-School in Nepal which Mrs. Doris coordinates.

For a few months we tried to get prepared which was diffi cult be­cause neither of us knew what to expect. We never could really im-agine how it would be to work in Nepal and to live within this cul-ture until we were actually there. The only thing we could do in ad-vance was to get all the important vaccinations, organize warm sleepingbags and talk to others who had already been there. On the 3rd of January we fi nally

hopped onto a plane and started the adventure.

Now, there is loooads of amazing stuff we could write down about the time we spent there, such as the people we met, what we did and what we learned, but we try to stick with the most signifi cant things. After all you would have to come to Nepal and have your own experience to really understand certain things.

At our arrivel in Kathmandu we were warmly welcomed from the kids and staff at the hostel, our new home, as well as the head-master Mr. Annupendra and his assistant Surash-Sir. The welcome in the school itself, well, that was quiet a party. There was never one moment when we felt uncomfort-able or not welcome and so the working atmosphere was perfect. We also found out that Nepal is

the country of spontaneity. It seemed as if nothing was impossi-ble. When we arrived we thought that there would be two weeks of school holidays. People then told us, that they had postponed the holidays, so that we could get to know the school fi rst and get set­tled. This is something that would never happen in Germany.

Our task at the school was to write a concept and rebuild one of the Kindergarden classes, which turned out to be a mixture of pre-school and grade one. In addition we built a bouldering wall for the playground at the school for all the students.

We also spent a lot of time with the children at school and at the hostel playing games, chasing each other around or teaching them new things like e.g. new games. They were absolutely adorable!

The conception for the new class that we developed includes, be-sides a new pedagogical system, a new conception of the room. We designed furniture and chose, to-gether with the teachers, suitable wall paint. The painter and the carpenter then built the room as we had ordered it. The new con-ception also included a change from mostly traditional classroom

ELEMENTARPÄDAGOGIK

ASHA PRIMARY SCHOOLNEPAL

MIRIAM GEIB UND JASMIN BOKER..

good, when we fi nally fi gured out how it worked. Here’s an example: The Nepalese People say yes when they move their head from left to right and not like us up and down. To be precise it is an ear-to-shoul-der, not a nose-to shoulder move-ment. Something else we had to get used to was the three-times-a-day-rice&curry meal, called Dhal Bhat, which is quiet delicious after a while.

teaching, into a Montessory-based learning-by-doing and playing teaching method.

To reach this goal the biggest chal-lenge was to enable the teachers and staff to create and communi-cate their own ideas for this class. Empowerment was our main method to work with the staff and the teachers. From the various ideas we had collected from the

staff, the teachers, the headmaster and from ourselfes we created the new conception. Soon we were able to launch the newly designed class with a big party, like it is the custom of the nepalese people.

During the three months we spent there we got in touch with many customs of the Nepalese. To be able to live in Kathmandu we had to adapt and adjust, which was

28

Our stay in Nepal was fun and all the people around us, many of them we can call friends now, helped us a lot. We laughed and goofed around with them and ranted together about the local goverment, the eletricity shortage and strikes. We also worked to-gether by the way : ).

Everyone was taking care of us and made sure that we would feel comfortable. We had everything we needed to work and implement our conceptional work and ideas.

Despite the 6 days work a week there was also plenty of free time that we used to explore Kath-mandu and its temples, markets, views and food (delicious!). We were also able to do some trips to see what else Nepal had to offer, like the peaks of the Himalayas or the Elephants in the Royal Chit-wan National Park.

To put it all in a nutshell the three months in Nepal were amazing, welcoming, dusty, sunny, dy-namic, cheerful, cultural, tasty, adventurous, cooooold, outdoorsy and perfect.

Thanks to everyone who made that journey possible as well as to all the people who were a part of it!

Since starting my BA (Hons) Com-munity and Youth Studies Degree at the University of Sunderland in 2010, and upon hearing of the chance to have my second year placement in Stuttgart, Germany, I had been counting down the days until I was able to apply to travel abroad and work in Germany. I couldn’t describe how happy I was to have the opportunity to work in a German youth house and also to represent England and the University of Sun-derland as an ambassa-dor of Youth work in England. After working at my first year place-ment, Headland Fu-ture, I was excited to see the differences bet-ween Germany and Eng-land when it came to Youth Work. Headland Future is a youth project situated

29

around 20 miles from Sunder land, where I work as a Youth Worker, working in a team of four to run Drop In nights and summer activi-ties for the young people of Hartle-pool.While in Germany I stayed in a student accommodation in Unter-türkheim, home to the best kebab shop in all of Germany. At first I was really worried about living alone abroad but help was at hand as Lisa and Isabel, the two Ger-man students that had visited England last winter, lived close by and helped me settle in perfectly. What also helped a lot were the English discussion groups held at the DHBW which made me feel right at home by allowing me to query everything and anything I needed to know about Stuttgart, Germany and its youth services.

As I settled into the accommoda-tion and thought it couldn’t get any better, I started working at Cafe Ratz, where I felt as though I slotted in as the last jigsaw puzzle piece and was helped to feel part of the team by all members of staff. It was also nice to be intro-duced to other international stu-dents with the help of DHBW’s in-ternational office where I got to meet Australian and Egyptian stu-dents.At Cafe Ratz I was never short of things to do and spent my 3 month placement working at Brunch Days, Gig Box nights, the XXL Party and the Schülercafé where I worked as a “Sponti” which meant that I was able to en-gage with the young people which helped me to improve my German speaking skills. My work also allo-wed me to work with the young people on activities such as pool, table tennis, boardgames and to socialise with the young and talk to them about life in Germany and my life in England. The language barrier that I thought would be a major problem when coming to Germany turned out to be not such a big problem as the young people either spoke good English or where able to understand my (terrible) German. In other cases members of staff helped translate

Kinder- und JuGendarbeit

Kinder- und JuGendHaus CaFÉ ratZdeutsCHland

DANIEL FRENCH

30

what I and they were trying to say. I noticed that at Cafe Ratz they have a very busy events calender which kept the young people both happy and engaged. They were free to participate in the activity, make their own acti-vity or just chill in one of the many areas at the Cafe Ratz. Ano-ther great activity at Cafe Ratz was their health week which made them change the prices for the sweets and food at the Schülercafé according to their calories. So for example a Twix with 226 calories would cost € 2.26 instead of € 0.60. This gave the young people an in-sight into how much calories they were eating and how healthy or unhealthy their life style was.

While in Germany I also became a lifelong supporter of VfB Stuttgart. Being free on weekends I was able to take in the sights of Stuttgart. One weekend led me to the Merce-des Benz Arena where I was able to watch VFB Stuttgart play foot-ball. I ended up spending most of my money going to watch Stutt-gart play on the weekends and loved every minute of it. The pas-sion of the Stuttgart supporters reminded me of my home team “Newcastle United” which meant that I always had something to do on the weekends. I was also able to travel and see Heidelberg, have St Patricks Day in Karlsruhe and wander around the beautiful town of Esslingen.

I would recommend traveling ab-road to anyone, as it changed me as a person for the better, making me a more organized and indepen-dent person. It allowed me to meet many new and friendly people and see amazing places that I wouldn’t normally have been able to meet and see. Seeing how Cafe Ratz worked also allowed me to put forward ideas in the youth project where I work which will hopefully allow it to improve and hopefully one day be as big as the one at Cafe Ratz.

“Ready for takeoff”, sounds raspy through the loudspeakers and the aircraft starts to fly. Now I realize that I’m really going on a three month journey to live, study, and work in another country. Mixed feelings come up. On one hand I’m full of anticipation and on the other hand I’m nervous, because I

don’t know what will happen. But thinking positively I said to myself after arriving: “Welcome to Sun-derland, England – here we go!”My Placement in Sunderland is part of an ERASMUS-exchange program with the University of Sunderland and the DHBW Stutt-gart. That allowed me to attend University every Friday and join lectures in Social Policy. I very much appreciated the opportunity to see English University life.My placement is called A 690. It is a Youth Initiative named after a road which divides two different areas. A 690 works on both sides of the road, because the aim is to solve the conflicts between these two areas and to bridge the gap. I got involved with different sectors of face-to-face work. My colle-agues were very friendly and they

told me a lot about social work in England. I got in touch with young service users in different ways, e.g. in the streets during detachedwork, in youth clubs and duringlunch breaks at school. In the eve-nings I joined the special needsgroups and played different gameswith them and talked to themabout Germany. During the schoolholiday there was a neighborhoodprogram for kids and their fami-lies. Moreover we painted fences,mowed lawns, built birdhousesand collected rubbish from thestreets. This project was aimed toencourage young people to docommunity work. As a rewardA 690 invited the young volunteerworker on a canoeing trip for aweekend. I really enjoyed the out-door events of A 690. Specialevents were a Halloween and

Kinder- und JuGendarbeit

a 690 / uniVersitY oF sunderlandenGland

LISA-MARIE KRESS

31

32

Christmas Party with the young people from the special needs groups. It was fun to celebrate with these kids.

In addition to my work at A 690 I visited a special needs class and talked to the kids about my home country and we compare growing up in Germany to growing up in England. Here my work meant being an ambassador of my coun-try and discussing prejudices and cultural stereotypes.

Last but not least three months are plenty of time to visit different places on weekends. I stayed with Isabell Ultes in Sunderland and we managed to see cities like Birming-ham, Liverpool, York and Durham. Apart from these cities there was also pure nature to explore. We walked along the Hadrian’s Wall and took trips castles such as Alnwick and

Dunstanburgh. Sunderland is loca-ted next to the sea so we also loved to hike along the beach.I would like to say thank you to everyone who helped me and gave me the chance to have such a good work and study experience.

the DHBW Stuttgart who answe-red all my questions. All of this support was fantastic and I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone. Before I left Germany I got an e-mail from the organization “Gen-too” where I was about to startworking which included a perso-nal timetable for the next threemonths. On the 2nd of October we(Lisa, the other German exchangestudent and I) flew to Edinburgh /Scotland where we took the trainand got to see some of the beauti-ful countryside. In Sunderland,Danielle who I already knew fromthe international discussion group,picked us up from the station totake us to the student accommo-dation.

The next day Ms Buchroth wel-comed us. I had the feeling that because of her I would never feel lonely during the next three months. Although I had a lot of problems understanding the local dialect, everyone seemed to be very kind. I was quite nervous for my first day at Gentoo. The institu-tion works with homeless youth aged 16 till 21. They offer three different kinds of help to the young people, depending on their personal situation. For example the youth can be provided with a furnished flat, counselling services and 24-hour support. During my placement I was able to organise my own projects. I did a German cooking evening, a quiz evening and a poetry session. I also got the opportunity to work with adults and was allowed to take part in some support worker meetings. Immediately I felt inclu-ded in the team. We did a lot of home visits. I also got the chance to visit the needle exchange one afternoon. I learned a lot about the misuse of drugs and alcohol and mental health. One day a week I attended the Sunderland University and went to the lecture “social policy”. Our professor was really kind and we learned a lot about Britain.

obdaCHlosenHilFe

Gentoo sunderlandenGland

ISABELL ULTES

When I started my studies in So-cial Work I knew from the begin-ning that I wanted to spend one semester abroad. In my first se-mester I joined an international discussion group organized by the ZIK of the faculty of Social Work. I met the Sunderland exchange student Danielle there and learned about the cooperation between the DHBW Stuttgart and the University of Sunderland. I knew immediately that this was some thing I would like to do, so I applied for an Erasmus scholar-ship, and got the chance to go to Sunderland and study and work there as an Exchange student. Through this cooperation I got a lot of support from people such as professor Ilona Buchroth from the University of Sunderland, who found a perfect placement for the three months and Doris Kupfer-schmidt and Dorte Süchting from

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During my three months in Eng-land, I also had the chance to tra-vel. Together with Lisa I went to Liverpool, Newcastle, Birming-ham, York and Edinburgh. Fur-thermore I was a member of the international volleyball team at the University which also meant to play and travel around England. It was a fantastic time. The three months I spent in Eng-land were very memorable for me and I would never want to miss this time. I would definitely re-commend this experience to other students.

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I had always wanted to experience some time abroad, but unfortuna-tely was not able to until I went to university to study social work. I heard about the opportunity to do a work placement abroad there. I

was interested in how social work is carried out in other countries and I wanted to improve my Eng-lish skills. Furthermore I wanted to make new contacts and gain a lot of new experiences.

I attended a ZIK information event and heard about yipworld.com in Scotland. Immediately many cli-chés came to my mind: men in kilts, bagpipes, whiskey and loads of mountains and castles – I thought that this sounded like good fun. When I finally started to work in Scotland, I was most impressed by the abundance of different services yipworld.com offers. I gained in-sight into the “Inspiring Scotland” program focused on young people

Kinder- und JuGendarbeit

Yipworld.CoM sCHottland

STEFANIE FALLER

that have problems with school. Some of the students skip school or lack self-confidence or are in-volved in bullying. The young people have to work in different workshops with topics like “what will I be in 5 years time” or “what a home means”. There is also a radio project delivered at one school where the young people produce their own radio show and I was involved in this project. I re-ally enjoyed working in the school and therefore consider getting some work experience in social work at schools in Germany. Also I worked with children aged 6 to 12, playing popular German games with them or explaining how the German school system works. I also worked with young people aged 13 to 18 a couple of

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times and even cooked a German meal with them. One difference between working in Germany and Scotland is the way people dress for work. The Scot-people are dressed very formal, for example they wear black trousers and a nice shirt regard-less of their occupation. I was able to attend a Ceilidh (a traditional Scottish dance) and en-joyed a Burns supper (a traditional Scottish meal) which was really fun. I also went to a theatre and visited the ‘Brownies’ in a town called Kilmaurs where we deco-rated heart shaped biscuits for the Valentine’s Day. I also travelled to a village called Wanlockhead. This is the village with the highest elevation in Scot-land. I was really impressed by the

gorgeous landscape. There is so much to see and do in Scotland and the people there are so open and friendly.The opportunity to work and live in Scotland was a great experience for me. I feel like I now have a better understanding of the dif-ficulties associated with working and living in a foreign country, which also allows me to relate better to the situation of immi-grants in Germany.

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It was a long-cherished dream of mine to visit and explore foreign cultures and ways of life. Africa,

in particular, has always fasci-nated me. In October 2011 my dream became true: I was able to spend three months in Kenya’s third largest city Kisumu. In order to stay in Kenya I needed to apply for a visa, get several vaccinations, had to decide whe-ther to take a malaria prophylaxis and much more.

After approximately ten hours of flying, including a stopover in Amsterdam, I arrived in Nairobi in the evening. Loaded down with thirty-five kilos of luggage I went to the arrival area and tried to find Davies, the social worker who

would be my supervisor for the next three months. Finally I spot-ted him among crowds of people, holding a sign with my name on it.Staying with Davies meant stay-ing in his home with his wife and his two sons. During the next few days we had time to familiarize

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ourselves with the sticky heat, taking showers from buckets, doing the laundry by hand, coo-king on fireplaces and power fai-lures because of the rain. More-over, the attention we got was a little bit unusual as every child on the street and also many adults shouted to us and wanted to know how we “mzungus” were. In the beginning this completely diffe-rent culture was unfamiliar but I got accustomed to it very quickly.

Although Kisumu is the third lar-gest city you cannot compare it to a large European large city. Po-verty is everywhere. You can see street children who are forced to beg for money or steal food to sur-vive. Many Kenyan families do not have enough money to enable their children to attend school. Despite their bad living conditions people are helpful, friendly and open-minded.

I learnt that Uhuru Community Development Project was founded in 2002 by Davies Okombo. The vision of the organization is a so-ciety where every child has a right to a live in a dignified way. It has established different programs, such as the UHURU kindergarten

that provides early childhood development and education for 40 children aged three to six. The children mainly come from Ma-nyata slums and their parents are too poor to afford public educa-tion. The organization provides meals for the children at lunch time, and they stay at the kinder-garten until 3.00 pm from Monday to Friday.

The organization also works with three women’s groups who recei-ved micro-credit to set up busi-ness in the local markets of Ma-nyata and Kondele slums. The profit from their business is spent on providing food and welfare for the orphans who live with them. A group of 20 girls benefit from a sewing class which equips them with skills to work as seamstres-

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ses. The organization also sup-ports 100 orphans providing them school uniforms and books. The organization is non-profit and therefore relies fully on donations from its partner organization, Uhuru e. V. in Germany.

Every Friday there was a staff-meeting with Davies, his wife Christine, the kindergarten teachers and the sewing teachers. We discussed different problems and took care of organizational issues. In the tailoring class we had discussions with the girls about different topics, such as early marriage, HIV or different reli-gious views. They were eager to learn and open to different ideas.

In spite of all the work, I had enough time for sightseeing. I made trips to the Kakamega Rain Forest and went on Safari in the Maasai Mara. Kenya’s capital Nairobi also isn’t too far away to visit and taking a warm bath in the Indian Ocean at Mombasa during Christmas time is also very pleasant.

However but there were also some critical moments during my stay like the war in Somalia and the bomb attacks in different Ke-nyan cities. Fortunately we had Davies who kept us informed and told us what places we should avoid.

The fact that I had the opportu-nity to stay with a Kenyan family gave me an understanding of many different problems in Kenyan society. The time with Davies and his family was a wonderful experience which I will always be thankful for. He was always willing to lend a sym-pathetic ear. It was certainly not the last time that I travelled to Kisumu and I can recommend it to everyone.

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http://www.yipworld.org/student-exchange

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http://www.bridgesproject.org.uk/work-with-us/internships/

Contact:Doris KupferschmidtPhone: 0711/1849-742Mail: doris.kupferschmidt@dhbw-stuttgart.dehttp://www.dhbw-stuttgart.de/themen/bachelor/fakultaet-sozialwesen/zik/