Flooding Relief in Germany

Building trust, overcoming challenges, finding yourself 
again: riding therapy offers help children and their 
parents in a variety of ways.

Several alliance organizations of Aktion Deutschland Hilft 
have launched psychosocial support projects, such as ASB and 
Help.
 

Riding therapy in Mechernich

In Mechernich, a child sits upside down on a horse and 
laughs loudly. The other children on the farm in the middle 
of the countryside also seem relaxed, happy and completely 
absorbed in what they are doing: grooming, feeding or taking 
the ponies for a walk.

Riding therapy helps the whole family

“Horses simply provide security,” says riding therapist Isabell. 
Together with the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund (ASB), it supports 
flood-affected children in coming to terms with the experiences 
of the flood in summer 2021. As the children do their rounds on 
the animals, you can really notice how the children ignore worries 
and problems - and find new self-confidence.

Alexandra also has this experience. She works in the field of 
trauma education herself and, as a flood-affected person, regularly 
visits the ASB aid project with her two children. The positive effects 
can be felt by the whole family.

Her daughters were six and four years old when the flood came. 
The saying that children are tough is not true, she explains. 
Instead, the consequences of traumatic experiences often only 
became apparent later. “Every rain causes fear,” she says.

“Difficult times need joy to balance”

The riding therapy helps her children cope with the strenuous 
months after the flood. That's exactly what's important now, 
two years after the catastrophe: "Difficult times need joy to 
balance them out."

How Pony Merlin helps the little ones

Pony Merlin lives in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. Even on this hot 
summer day in July, several children gather around the gentle animal. 
The small riding arena is surrounded by hilly meadows where apple 
trees and daisies grow.

“We are happy that we were able to create this offer and that it 
is free for the children and parents,” says Manuela. She heads the office 
of the Child Protection Association in the Ahrweiler district association. 
Together with her colleagues, she launched the aid project “4 Hooves of 
Happiness – Adventure Education with Pony”.

There, young people between the ages of six and eight affected by the 
flood find new strength in a playful way by grooming and riding through 
the vineyards. It is funded by Help, an alliance organization of Aktion 
Deutschland Hilft.

Experience nature and find new strength

“After the flood, the first thing we did was clean up and get rid of the 
chaos,” says Manuela. "Only then did the time for psychosocial offers 
came." Many families would have had little time and calm in the middle 
of the reconstruction - and the helpers also had to reorient themselves.

Finding her way around the variety of clubs, offers of help and networks 
wasn't that easy at first, she reports, while a few meters next to her 
one of the children bravely lies on the back of pony Merlin. But thanks 
to a tip from AHRche, Manuela and her team got help.

Among other things, the aid organization promotes clubs that create help 
in the areas affected by the flood. "This is really a great thing and 
we are very happy about the cooperation," says Manuela.

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