Finding + supporting mentors for pupils in Berlin

In our last report, we already mentioned some of our plans and upcoming events for 2016. Now we want you to get to know about what we achieved already.

On March 13^th a Berlin amateur orchestra played a charity concert for our project PaSch. It took place in a church in Berlin in a very nice atmosphere and we enjoyed the music. So did the audience and during the break we were also able to answer some of their questions about the project. All in all, it was a great event and we are grateful for all the donations which support us to continue our work. Some mentors came as well and liked it a lot, unfortunately the concert started pretty late so the mentees weren’t able to visit the concert.

This year, Easter holidays started pretty early and it was still quite cold so we decided to invite the kids and their mentors or parents to visit a theatre together. In total, we were 15 kids, mentors or parents and after a small session of hunting Easter eggs in front of the theatre, we watched a play about two school kids who, by accident, get locked up in a school toilette together. The girl and boy visit the same class and don’t really like each other, but being locked up together, they get to know each other more and more. They figure out that both are put under pressure by teachers or their parents and begin to realize that they are more alike than they thought to be…Though it was a play about topics like mobbing, dealing with bad grades and pressure, there were also some funny parts. The mentees enjoyed the play and were eager to visit a theatre again.

In the beginning of April we invited an expert on youth media questions who informed our mentors about risks of using social media and internet and how mentors or parents can protect kids from internet traps. He explained on different smart phones or tablets how to install youth protection. It was an interesting workshop and because of a misunderstanding there were not only mentors but also a father with his two children (9 and 14 years old). The mentees were really interested as well and told us for example about using facebook or whatsapp for communication about homework and how important it is for them to be allowed to use the social media channels. The girl told us she really would like to make her own YouTube channel like friends of her do as well and that she doesn’t understand why her father and brother don’t allow her to. She was told that, what the risks may be and said she didn’t know how easy it would be to misuse her video. Throughout more knowledge of risks and options of protection, the mentors can support the families and kids to be safer in using internet.

In the end of April we were able to offer a get-together for our active mentors to exchange their experiences and talk about how the mentorship is doing. Especially for our new mentors it is an important occasion to ask questions to the more experienced ones. They also share ideas of what are nice activities for the kids. And for the project leader it is a nice possibility to stay in contact, inform the mentors about upcoming events and what is happening in our community center.

We also organized a workshop for new and interested volunteers, which is obligatory before starting a mentorship. The goal is to prepare the volunteers becoming a good mentor and to reflect the tasks of a mentor, talk about what their role is about, what mentees need and who may be involved and may have expectations (like family, teachers, friends of family, mentee or mentor) towards the mentor.

Another highlight for our mentees and mentors was a visit to another theatre where we saw a play that dealt with current topics such as war, flight and empathy. In an appropriate way for kids they showed different perspectives of refugees, gave them a voice to speak about motives to flee and showed what war, flight and empathy means. It also showed how people have the same needs and can live together in peace. It was an impressive play and delivered the message of how important it is to show your empathy which is inside everyone towards people who need to leave their home country in order to live in a safer surrounding. After the play, the 3 actors invited the kids and families to talk and discuss about the plot and asked how they feel. Our mentees have refugees in their classes or there are classes for refugees in School. So for our mentees it was a good opportunity to reflect the current situation, learn different perspectives and talk about their new class mates.

Thanks to your donation we are able to organize different group activities or reimburse tickets from the mentors and mentees. Our mentees can benefit from that and take part in various cultural offers in Berlin. And to our mentors we can say thank you as well for their voluntary work and we see it as an appreciation as well to give them the possibility to inform themselves on special topics in workshops.

This Friday we celebrate our annual festival for the neighborhood which is organized in community centers all over Europe. We are looking forward to spend a nice afternoon with friends, supporters and neighbors with music, food and shows from groups practicing in our community center.

Thanks a lot to all our donors and supporters!