Finding + supporting mentors for pupils in Berlin

Dear Friends of PaSch,

during the last months our mentors, mentees and we continued our work. Our tandems met on several occasion and send us nice pictures. One tandem, whose mentor had been ill, started to meet again, they do nice trips to museums and musical performances.

Three new families got in touch with us and we had interviews with them, as well as with one new potential volunteer. Among the families was one Ukrainian mother with two children who seek support for school and learning German.

We usually gather a pool 5-6 volunteers on the one hand and 5-6 children on the other, so that we can match them based on criteria like gender, temper, interests (rather support concerning education or doing leisure activities together) and hobbies. Most of the children do not have defined hobbies or interests yet, this is one of the things they can discover with their mentor. Nevertheless, we see, for example, if the child likes to move and do sports or if it is rather interested in reading, cooking or being creative in drawing or handicrafts,

In September we had a training for three new volunteers and a second training for two volunteers in December. Curretnly we are planning who is likely to match whom and we can start a new round of matching processes from January to March.

In December, we had a nice get together in our community center. We assembled ginger bread houses and decorated them with sugar icing and different kinds of sweets. Most of the children participated in this typical German tradition of the advent season for the first time, while some of the mentors could remember it from their own childhood. All had very much fun and produced very impressive and creative houses.

We still need additional funding und so we thank every one of you for your donation you made – that is why we can offer activities for the whole community of our tandems and their families and continue our work.

If one time you wonder if you can become a mentor at PaSch or friends of you do consider becoming a mentor – just get in touch with us, if you live in Berlin! J www.pasch-paten.de
And all the others – there are a lot of other nice mentoring projects in Germany and in other countries.

We wish you all the best,

your PaSch team

Links:

• http://pasch-paten.de/
• http://www.nachbarschaftsetage.de

Dear friends of PaSch,

during the summer months, we had a few interviews with new families and volunteers, so that we plan another training for new volunteers in September.

We also organized two matching processes. Each tandem had three individual meetings in our community center, where the child, one parent and the potential mentor could meet, ask questions and spend some time to get to know each other.

One tandem, a young lady and a boy from a family that has been visiting our community center for several years now, works very well, both meet on a regular basis and discover the near environment. Unfortunately, the other tandem ended after a few weeks as it turned out that mentoring was not the right measure for the family. We had intense talks with the mother and the volunteer to clear the situation, but in the end, both decided to end it.

Most of our tandems worked quite well. They send us messages and pictures from their meetings and activities.

In some situations, the PaSch team had to accompany the families and the volunteers and give advice for difficult situations. Two volunteers were ill for several weeks and could not meet their mentee, so we encouraged them to keep in touch via messages and explained the situation to the families. One tandem needed a few consultations to balance the expectations of the mother of the child and the volunteer, this situation could be solved so that the tandem now meets on a regular basis.

In Mai, we had a celebration for the neighborhood (“Tag der Nachbarschaft”) in our yard with food, music and activities for the kids. Some of our tandems and their families joined us and shared this nice afternoon.

During summer holidays, many of the families were traveling to their countries of origin and visited relatives. On the last weekend of the holidays, we organized a get together for our tandems. We had a workshop where we discovered a park in the area and learned about the trees and historical buildings. In the end, we made our own pizza in an oven on an adventure playground in the park. All participants had a lot of fun and enjoyed the afternoon and especially the pizza.

We also continued to work on our funding situation and wrote two successful funding applications. Moreover, our public funder confirmed to secure half of our costs. We are very happy that our work of so many years is appreciated and the base for the future is laid.

We still need additional funding und so we thank every one of you for your donation you made – that is why we can offer different activities and continue our work.

If one time you wonder if you can become a mentor at PaSch or friends of you do consider becoming a mentor – just get in touch with us, if you live in Berlin! J www.pasch-paten.de
And all the others – there are a lot of other nice mentoring projects in Germany and in other countries.

We wish you all the best,

your PaSch team