Finding + supporting mentors for pupils in Berlin

Like mentioned in our last report, we had a lot to celebrate in May and June. We started with the annual festival for the neighborhood organized by our community center on 19^th of May and spend a nice afternoon together. Like every year, we invited our neighbors and all the people and families taking part in our projects or visiting our offers – so we were able to welcome many people to our long table. We had a large buffet and neighbors and families brought their self-made food to share with each other. We also had musicians playing meanwhile. Some kids in our community center had practiced a dancing performance and we could enjoy their show. We also offered face-painting, which is always very popular not only by kids but also by adults. We had a nice festival and also some mentors and mentees visited the event.

On the 30^th of June, we celebrated the 30^st birthday of our community center NachbarschaftsEtage and after months of organization and preparation, we were all looking forward to this big party. Unfortunately, the previous day Berlin turned into a big swimming pool due to heavy rainfall and storm. We were afraid that our celebration could not take place or that less people come by.
Since our topic was fair of possibilities (“Jahrmarkt der Möglichkeiten”) and we had ordered market stalls to turn our courtyards into a big fair, we had to improvise a little bit and decided to have some stalls outside but the stage for speeches and music bands inside. Luckily, it didn’t rain a lot and many neighbors, politicians, volunteers, families and friends came to congratulate, celebrate and have a good time together during our 8 hours program with speeches, flashbacks of 30 years of the “NachbarschaftsEtage” and information about our offers, attractions for kids, food from almost all over the world, hurdy-gurdist, live music and as the closure a fire show. On that afternoon, a new mentor and mentee with his family met each other for the first time and after talking to each other for a while and enjoying the fair together, they decided to get to know each other even closer in a mentorship. Some other “old” mentors and mentees came as well to visit our fair and enjoyed the good atmosphere.

In July, we actually planned a visit to the police department in our district with 7 mentees who are interested in becoming a police officer. We were looking forward to get information about what is important to know when you want to become an officer and they also wanted to show us their department and a police car. Unfortunately, they had to cancel this appointment due to shortage of staff because of the G20 summit in Hamburg. We hope to organize a visit after summer holidays, so all the kids are in town again. We will let you know, what we learn.

During July, the new mentor and mentee had their get-togethers here at PaSch and signed their PaSch-agreement of mentorship. And as you can see on the photos, they have a good time together. At one of their first field trips they went to the technical museum and had a lot of fun. Thanks to your donations, we are able to refund their expenses and allow them to get to know even attractions in Berlin.

Due to summer holidays, we have to wait to match other mentors and mentees but already one other mentor and mentee is about to get to know each other soon. We will let you know in our next report.

Thanks a lot for your donation and PaSch wishes everyone a nice summer!