Finding + supporting mentors for pupils in Berlin

We want to share some impressions of what we achieved so far and what we could offer to our mentees and mentors. Thank you for your donations!

In our last report we already mentioned the annual Christmas get-together, which we organize in our community center for all the neighbors, families, volunteers and all people that benefit from our offers.

On the 4^th of December we got together in our courtyard, enjoyed the heat of the fire, and listened to the music of choirs, which practice in our community center. We continued inside with some concerts of different musicians and bands of our neighborhood. It was a nice atmosphere and some PaSch-mentors also came to enjoy the evening.

In the beginning of December we were able to offer another workshop for new and interested volunteers. One of the mentors and his new mentee created their own design of the obligatory agreement, which has to be signed by the parents, mentee and mentor when starting the mentorship. One part of it is to write down ideas of activities what they want to do together and instead of writing it down they decided to paint and draw all their ideas (see photo).

In January we invited all our volunteers working in different projects in our community center, to a thank-you event. After a welcome drink, we enjoyed the concert of a brass band that also practices in our community center. We finished off the evening with food, drinks, talking and a big “Thank You” for all the great voluntary work and moments, the PaSch mentors and all the other volunteers spend weekly, monthly and over years.

Another highlight especially for our PaSch kids was a workshop about children’s rights, which was planned and realized by two experienced artists. On a Saturday afternoon, seven mentors and parents as well as seven mentees took part in the workshop, which we called “righteous sock”. Everyone created his or her personal righteous sock (see photos). After a break, the kids talked about 10 of the most important rights and chose two of them to play a short puppet show for their mentors and parents. Speaking as a sock made it much easier for the kids to talk, particularly about emotional themes. They performed an interesting show about two Syrian girls who lived in fear because of war and therefore couldn’t go to school anymore. They had to flee from their home country and in the end were happy to have the right and opportunity to live in a safe country (Germany) and were able to go to school again. We were all really proud about what the kids created in such a short time and it was interesting to see, what elementary school kids deal with.

What is planned in 2016?

The next big event is a charity concert on March 13^th – an orchestra plays for our project in a church in Berlin and we are looking forward to it. You can read more about it on facebook or our website.

We will continue matching mentees and mentors as well as offering workshops, e.g. about youth protection in media. We are also planning other joint activities like visiting a theatre.

PaSch says THANK YOU for your support and we are looking forward to plan new activities and events for PaSch. Thanks for your donations!