02 CVJM Jahresbericht 20160219 eng.indd

Transcription

02 CVJM Jahresbericht 20160219 eng.indd
Annual Report 2015
YMCA Leipzig
Germany
Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
YMCA
YMCA in Leipzig - Germany
Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
Our mission statement, „YCMA in Leipzig –Finding the Way.
Growing. Living“ and the following explanations of what this
means for our work best describe what the YCMA stands for:
The Young Men‘s (today, „Person‘s“) Christian Association in Leipzig reaches out to our
city‘s children, teens, and adults with holistic recreational and educational programs.
In doing so, we also offer guidance and orientation for life in relationship with God
through Jesus Christ. People from many different cultures and denominations belong to
the variety here at the YMCA. We promote self-initiative, active participation, and sharing in responsibility. The staff at the YMCA authentically live out their faith and form a
living community. Thus the YMCA has been an indispensible part of Leipzig since 1893.
Out of this identity ideas develop, along with a cross section of beliefs and tasks that
should become effective throughout all of our areas of work, such as the international
and intercultural element of our efforts, or our belief in sustainability.
About us
Contents
Foreword
Page 2
About us
Page 3
The Management Board
Page 3
Volunteer‘s Shared Apartment
Page 4
Sustainability and Intercultural/International Dimension of our Work Page 4
Religious Education Work
Page 7
The Main Building
Page 8
Support
Page 10
Cooperatives
Page 10
Publicity Work
Page 10
Finances
Page 11
Adults and Families
Page 12
Meeting Point
Page 12
Meeting Point Weekend
Page 13
Bible Study Group
Page 14
Friends
Page 14
Choir „Fragments“
Page 15
Volleyball
Page 16
Jugger
Page 16
Winter Playground
Page 17
Day Care Center
Page 18
Parents‘ Council
Page 21
YMCA Child-Minding Services Page 21
YMCA in Leipzig - Germany
Kids and Teens
Page 22
The Youth Café – „Public“ Work
Page 22
The Cloud-Diver Kids
Page 24
Dance Group
Page 25
Girls‘ Group
Page 25
Boys‘ Group
Page 26
Support and Counseling
Page 27
Special Projects
Page 27
YCMA and School
Page 29
Projects at the Elementary School No. 16
In-school Social Work
Page 29
School Club
Page 33
Parents‘ Work
Page 34
Social Work at the Elementary Schools
Clara-Wieck-School
Page 36
Wilhelm-Wander-School
Page 37
Prayer
Page 39
Mission Statement
Page 40
Contact Us
Page 40
Legal Info
Page 40
However, you really first get to know the YMCA when you meet the people behind the
organization. We invite all of our readers to visit us at the Home for Children and Teens
in Leipzig‘s historical Marianna Park. Here, interested persons can start their own initiatives, take on volunteer responsibilities, or simply become members. We have enough
space and enough rooms here, as well as a large outdoor area that is the envy of many
of our neighbors – and that can be rented as well!
The YCMA Leipzig Association, re-founded in 1991, and the YMCA Day Care Association,
which was founded as a separate organization from within the YMCA in 2005, are politically and denominationally independent ecumenical legal associations and are part
of a large worldwide movement. This movement exists in over 100 countries and has
over 25 million members, among which are 2,200 associations in Germany with 260,000
members. We are very proud of this.
At the same time, however, we are humble, because we know that we can only provide
„the best for the city“ together with our many cooperating partners (Jer. 29:17).
Foreword
The YMCA is not only active in Schönefeld and the surrounding area – its mission also
includes work in the international and intercultural fields. This diversity gives us the
opportunity to open up to new ideas and to forge new paths. In any case, it’s good to
be committed! Since 1991, the Leipzig YMCA e.V. has lived from the commitment of
volunteer workers: this should remain so in the future, too.
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The Management Board and the Continued
Development of our Association
2015 saw a number of personnel changes. Ansgar Haller was appointed as a new member
of the executive board. Much to the delight of its “old” members, he quickly familiarized
himself with his new position. His co-operative thinking, ideas and authenticity are a
source of enrichment for us. Cornelia Berthold retires from her position for personal
reasons. We would like to thank her for her prolific commitment.
In terms of content, there were hardly any changes in the board‘s work. We are pleased
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Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
YMCA in Leipzig - Germany
Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
about sailing in quiet waters, about our balanced budget and the current challenges. A
first YMCA breakfast was well accepted and is an encouragement for more. The issue of
refugees and refugee work will keep us busy in the future.
The following reports list the changes in the voluntary and full-time team.
In 2015, we managed to get great things going, and get many small things done “invisibly” and in secret which were as important to us. The work was done with a high level
of professionalism, responsibility, commitment, and obligation. For this, we should
like to express our heartfelt thanks to all voluntary and
Aaron Büchel-Bernhardt
all full-time employees of YMCA Leipzig.
Göran Michaelsen
Volunteer‘s Shared
Apartment
Another person left our team of volunteers also this year. Until summer, our
association had two volunteers from
abroad; since September, there is only one voluntary member, Dianora, from Ukraine.
She is with us in the framework of a voluntary social year (FSJ), and not, as in the last
few years, in the context of an EVS—the request submitted this year was unfortunately
turned down. We thanks SVE Paideia - our EVS sending organisation in Spain - for all the
work
On the other hand, this gave our voluntary members the chance to attend seminars
together this year, which were organized and hosted by the YMCA State Association for
Saxony.
Our team of volunteers is rounded off by Franz and Markus. The three of them have already explored Leipzig in a city rally, and they are sure to get to know both
Leipzig and the YMCA better in the course of the coming year.
Henning Leicht
We are pleased about our old and new teams and also about
the fact that young people, again and again, commit themselves to working for our association.
Sustainability and the Intercultural/
International Dimension of our Work
Bienvenidos! Welcome! You are greeted with 2 kisses, you eat loads of tapas and you take
your time in doing so. These as well as other cultural experiences were made by a small
delegation from our association that paid a visit to YMCA Spain in Madrid from Septem-
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ber 28 to October 2, 2014. But who would
have thought that already this summer a
youth meeting would grow from the first
ideas? From August 15 to 22, 8 participants from Logrono in the Rioja region in
northern Spain visited 8 German hosts. In
the course of 14-hour days with non-stop
communication in English, after various
icebreaker games and team exercises,
“social work” in the Dresden “climbing forest” and intense moments at the end of
the day (feedback and a good word to say
about the things which God works with
and in us), one question became clear to
us very quickly: Do we really have to part?
It is now our firm intention to further develop the idea of international cooperation
in the YMCA and to prepare for the return
encounter in Spain, which will take place
at the end of the 2016 summer holidays.
Our friends from YMCA Ukraine are doing
amazing things: In the middle of the civil
war, they are developing new projects
for children. Children are learning to
be there for one
another, to give first
aid and to watch
out for landmines.
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For Christmas, our day
care center received a
package with pictures and sweets. And
just in time for the Orthodox Christmas, our
own greetings will
have reached Kiev.
The changes brought
home to them by
many refugees can
be experienced on
an international level by people from
Leipzig. Inter-cultural
enrichment as well as
decent and affordable rents for all citizens
of Leipzig are being
discussed. “Schönefeld is pretty communicative,” was the
title of our survey of
around 250 people from Schönefeld.
Many of them were
in support for kind
coexistence, so that it is not surprising that the “Schönefeld Welcome Initiative” since
summer has included 55 interested citizens in its mailing list. The highlight so far was
the “Welcome Party” hosted for the inhabitants of the only decentralized refugee accommodation in Schönefeld. Next year, further accommodation facilities run by the city
and the federal state will be opened. We will meet these
Aaron Büchel-Bernhardt
challenges adequately.
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Religious Education Work
Religious Education
Four years ago, I started teaching Protestant Religion at what was then Primary
School No. 21. My teaching load has increased from the initial one hour per week
to 12 hours—at four different primary
schools and one secondary school.
I enjoy philosophizing with children and
young people about God (and the world).
Topics from the curriculum but also questions and queries from the pupils are a
source of enrichment in almost every lesson. Some lessons only become successful
by a joint effort, because also the work day
of pupils is often stressful and full of emotions.
Finding rest, cultivating curiosity, opening
up to the new, discovering God—this way,
every lesson of religious education remains a small but satisfying challenge!
Religious Educational Projects
YMCA Leipzig remains committed to creating new offers and to inspiring new people both inside and outside of Schönefeld.
The best example for this is the participation in the peace prayer for children. In analogy to the 1989 Leipzig peace prayers, a
service was held at St. Nikolai‘s on November 9, 2015, which focused on the theme
“Angel of Peace in the Schoolyard.” Schoolyard helpers from a primary school cooperating with YMCA Leipzig contributed
to this service by telling of their experiences, their “peace work” in the schoolyard.
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nanced with the City of Leipzig‘s environmental award and a donation from “Tellerlein
deck dich”). According to the latest hygienic standards, we opted for a stainless steel
kitchen with a large working desk at its center. Since its opening in September, much
cooking has been done here. So far, all users have positively commented on the good
working facilities. Thanks again to the donors!
In the “Shop in the Advent Season,” which opened its doors in Gorkistraße during the
whole Advent season, YMCA Leipzig was joined by interested individuals and closelyrelated organizations in inviting people to escape from the hustle and bustle and from
everyday life and to think of what is essential in Advent for an hour every day.
Let yourself be surprised what sort of ideas YMCA Leipzig has in store for you in 2016!
Norbert Rentsch
The Main Building and the Outdoor Area
The year is coming to an end and, in retrospect, we have managed once again to tackle
some challenges in the house and in the garden. I was particularly glad about the support of volunteers, parents, as well as day care center workers.
For instance, the area
around the pond, which
had completely overgrown, was re-vegetated;
raised beds were laid
out, and vegetables were
planted. The harvest
late in the summer was
something of an experience, in particular for the
children.
This year, we were happy
with our new kitchen (fi-
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The sinks and fittings in the washing rooms of the day care center, which were 20 years
old, worn and not very convenient for age-appropriate use, have been replaced by wash
troughs in different heights and by modern fittings. Naturally, the children closely observed the progress made here and everyone wanted to be the first to turn the tap on.
On November 21, we happily tackled
the many fallen leaves in the garden
and trimmed the shrubs and the circle of willows, then stuffing the prunings into a 30m3-container. With
great commitment, in particular on
the part of the day care center parents, everything had been handled
by 1 pm and after the strenuous
work, the delicious pizzas tasted all
the better.
Ullrich Grützner and
Danilo Hutt
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YMCA in Leipzig - Germany
Support
„Please – we would like to work with your
money. You can give us your time as well.
Your YMCA.“
This is the not entirely uncontroversial
title of the introductory flyers we printed
about the Leipzig YMCA. In fact, we do
need financial and professional support.
In addition to the donors whose funds we
can use freely, there is a group of supporters without whom we could not carry out
our comprehensive work. The renting of
rooms and real estate, and the operation
of our own solar-power system, provide a
secure basic income for our association.
After the motto „sharing makes rich,“ we
gladly share our wealth, using both the
youth thanks offering and the annual
sponsor‘s rally for this. We are especially
the recipients of the generosity of our
cooperating partners and our partner
companies, who help us to continue to
develop the YMCA and to develop joint
projects together.
Cooperatives
“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes
an orchestra to play it.” (Halford E. Luccock)
We enjoy working in networks. We contribute our strengths, we benefit from other
players and search for useful supplements.
The list of committees and cooperation
partners is correspondingly long. Here are
some examples. We have been members
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Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
of the executive board of Stadtjugendring
Leipzig e.V. (City Youth Council of Leipzig)
for many years. We think that our political
interests on the municipal level are very
well represented in this cooperation of
35 member associations. The promotion
of volunteering and the involvement of
children and young people are overlapping core topics which are of concern to
us. The 25-year celebration showed once
again the scope of the City Youth Council‘s
work and the strong interconnection between its different members. For the coming year, a symposium on the future of
youth association work is planned. We can
contribute our own experience here and
will be able to receive new impulses.
Work with refugees calls for a networked
approach. This is why we have won “Ökumenische Flüchtlingshilfe” (Ecumenical
Refugee Aid) as an entirely new partner.
Working relations with the Office for Urban Renewal and Housing have considerably intensified. This is good news both
for Schönefeld and for the YMCA.
Dorit Roth and
Aaron Büchel-Bernhardt
YMCA in Leipzig - Germany
Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
passing on, without interruption, information related to YMCA Leipzig to interested people in Leipzig and sometimes beyond.
“Anzeiger” and Facebook—interested and curious people will quickly and immediately
find interesting up-to-date information about YMCA Leipzig!
Many thanks to Aaron Büchel-Bernhardt for his support with the PR work!
Norbert Rentsch
From a financial point of view, 2015 was an exciting year. There
were no expensive major construction projects, but right at the
beginning of the year, funds in the area of in-school social work
were omitted, making restructuring measures in personnel planning and procurement of funding necessary.
With a view to existing reserves and to the risk of a lack of refunding, we managed to
send positive signals for the further employment in the working areas important to us
and to discuss the situation with the employees.
The long-overdue measures for the maintenance and refurbishment of the kitchen as
well as the renovation of the washing areas in the day care center were easy to calculate
and attracted the support of donors. Around spring, also the uncertain situation regarding in-school social work became less tense, and new ways and requirements opened
up, so that the worst-case scenario of maintaining ourselves from our own resources was
avoided, and project costs were still refinanced.
The external framework conditions with regard to the donors are in constant change,
and it is only by continuously adapting applications and taking
into consideration our
strengths that we manage
to positively implement the
acquisition of means in the
long term and maintain a
healthy financial structure.
Please continue to support
our offers with your collaboration. But also a projectrelated donation makes it
clear to us in what area particularly you want to see our
commitment and where the
Peter Snyder
intensification of our work is
important to you.
Finances
20.000,00
18.000,00
16.000,00
With the resignation of Tabea Nürnberger
Publicity Work
14.000,00
12.000,00
Spenden
Mitgliedsbeiträge
Bußgelder
10.000,00
Sponsorenralley
from YMCA Leipzig, the responsibility for
public relations work now rests with me.
Tabea‘s introduction to various computer
programs and the art of image processing
and creating our magazine, “Anzeiger,”
have provided me with a good basis for
8.000,00
6.000,00
4.000,00
2.000,00
0,00
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
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Together with the many opportunities
it has for children and teens, the YMCA
also boasts a lot of offers for adults and
families. Our connection to the Christian faith is especially important to us here. We live and share this faith in the context of
our monthly Meeting Point gatherings, once a year at our Meeting Point Weekend, and
through the bible study groups affiliated with the YMCA. Additionally, there is a YMCA
friends group and the choir „Fragments,“ which practices regularly in our building. A special offer for young families is the Winter Playground, in which our table tennis room is
transformed into a play area for the little ones, and where their parents can have a cozy
chat over coffee and cake. Then there are two sports groups—volleyball and jugger. These groups are not merely formally connected to our association, but represent the YMCA
at tournaments and also actively support us with our annual sponsors‘ rally.
Adults and Families
Special thanks is owed to both the volunteer leaders of these groups and our cooperating partners in this area, which include, for example, local churches in Leipzig and the
YMCA State Association for Saxony with its athletic work.
Meeting Point
The past MP year 2015 focused on Jesus and those of his famous sayings beginning with “I am... (... the gate; ... the good
shepherd; ... the bread of life, etc.).”
We invited speakers from various areas also on this subject. Unfortunately, we did not
manage to welcome a speaker for each meeting. The invitation of speakers remains a
major challenge for the future.
The number of participants has
unfortunately declined somewhat in the past year: we were
usually 10 to 15 persons, only
rarely around 20.
Nevertheless, there were good
impulses also within the small
circle. Thus, for instance, on
the topic of “I am the light of
the world...”: we spent an evening with meditative elements;
we meditated and exchanged
thoughts on darkness. On the
evening devoted to the topic “I
am the gate...,” an extensive ex-
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change of very personal experiences developed.
To conclude the list of examples, I want to mention the focus on the theme “I am the
good shepherd... .” Here, one of the very few fairground pastors in Germany shared his
experience with us and provided interesting insights into the life of faith of fairground
and circus people. These people, constantly on the move, have their own approach to
God—different from most of us firmly-resident “dwellers.”
The structure of the Meeting Point preparation team continued to change.
Angela resigned at the beginning of the year. To date, we have not found a second honorary companion to replace her. Thus, we continued for the largest part of the year as
a team of three.
Unfortunately, Angelika resigns at the end of 2015 after two years of work. We are hoping that our team will be reinforced soon.
In a relaxing atmosphere, we will meet for thematic input with biblical reference, singing
and praying, information from our YMCA, as well as a snack in the community. We look
forward to many visitors in 2016.
Meeting Point Weekend
On a beautiful autumn weekend in September, full-time and honorary employees of
YMCA Leipzig boarded the YMCA youth ship in Dresden to spend a common weekend
devoted to the subject “The Meeting Point preparation team says: We are YMCA.” We
wanted to find out what makes us a Y (Young) Men‘s (People‘s, that is) C (Christian) A
(Association)? What does it mean to be a YMCA? We spent hours discussing and liste-
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ning to each other, but also made some
interesting experiences. A special tour of
the Court Church and the crypt were part
of our program, as was a scavenger hunt
through the old town of Dresden. To conclude our eventful weekend, we attended
Sunday service in the Church of Our Lady.
It was a weekend full of interesting talks,
fun, good mood, and a lot of togetherness. In the selection of the object, the
executive committee had shown a good
hand.
The next Meeting Point weekend will take
place from September 23 to 25, 2016, and
I invite all of you to join us to the meeting
place at Zwochau.
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further visits. We mean to visit the man
who had such an intimate relationship
with God.
If this doesn‘t work, we will wait to be surprised who will invite us on the first and
third Wednesdays of the month. And if it
so turns out, we will also visually let ourselves be taken into the personal story of
our biblical host. There are still people we
would like to get to know.
Could it be that you are one of them? We
would be excited to know your own personal story. Allow us to take you along on
our visits, and visit us while we‘re on our
way!
Cornelia Berthold
Stefan Bergmann and
Angelika von Szombathely
Friends
Bible Study Group
Hello, all of you! In the past year, all of us
in the Bible study group were on the way
together, at least in our minds.
For instance, we paid a visit to Xerxes, King
of Persia. Or, more precisely, to his second
wife. We let ourselves be taken into her
exciting history. We also regaled ourselves
with a film evening, which visually transported us onto the spot.
Currently, we are visiting the successor of
Moses and are still curious what we are
going to see and experience there.
In the coming year, we intend to make
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Us, the older friends of the
YMCA are still there. We are pleased to
inform you that now, at the beginning of
December, 30 women and men will be
meeting for a special Advent celebration
in the YMCA house.
As every year, we went on a hiking tour
during the Pentecost days. We stayed in
the Hubertushaus in Wernigerode, from
there we walked to Kloster Drübeck. The
Pentecost tour has a long tradition; it is
important to us personally, and the atmosphere in these days has again and
again impressed newcomers.
Otherwise, we meet once a year for book
presentations; but, naturally, we are in
touch with one another. To those of you
who are younger, we wish that you may
also make such enriching experiences together, they will carry you through life.
For 2016, we ask for peace, that those in power may come up with something and we
may take the small steps necessary
Helmut Nitzsche for the Seniors
Choir „Fragments“
Last year, the choir went through a phase of uncertainty. We were not sure whether
our chorus master, Carl Blumenhagen, would stay with us. After he had completed his
teacher training course, there was a possibility that he might not find a position in Leipzig and, as a consequence, might have to leave us.
Fortunately, however, Carl is staying with us and brought us many new songs (many of
them from Sweden) for rehearsals. In September, we spent a weekend together with
intensive rehearsals.
Only in December, we gave a special performance at the YMCA project “Shop in the Advent Season.” We are looking forward to the new year. We will then give a small concert
on January 24 in our house, a performance at the Bike Church in Zöbigker on June 24,
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as well as a couple of other occasions of enjoying ourselves and delighting our guests
with beautiful music.
Danilo Hut
Volleyball
We volleyball players look back on a year of change.
As so often, we had the good luck of being able to welcome
new and charming members to our team. However, also some long-time members have
left us. We would like to take the opportunity to express our special thanks to Stefan
Bergmann for his many years of great support.
New developments have not only taken place in our team, but also—and this is particularly satisfying—in the case of our gym.
Training now takes place on Thursdays in a gym suitable for volleyball,
where we can play to our hearts‘ content. Our special thanks go to Dorit Daniel Eck
for her active support :-)
This year had lot of work in store for us: having organized a small tournament in 2014, we wanted to benefit from our experience to pull something big together. Thus, teams from Berlin, Jena, Greifswald, Halle
and other parts of Germany met in Leipzig in July and ambitiously played for the Golden
Lantern.
In addition to the successful organization of our tournament, we were also able to significantly improve our sporting performance. At the Central German Championship,
we ranked third among 12 teams and were allowed to participate in the playoff finals,
to which only the best 23 teams of the country were invited. At the weekend of the
tournament, we gave everything we had and ranked sixth. This has been our greatest
success so far.
We thank all of you for supporting us and hope to be able to enrich the YMCA with jug-
Jugger
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ger sports. We look forward to the coming season with confidence and wish all of you a
prosperous and healthy New Year 2016.
Winter Playground
Juliane Ludewig
With lots of joy and commitment, we successfully continued to look after the winter
playground in 2015. For the first time, also the outdoor playground was accessible to
visitors.
As usual, we were able to clarify the initial concerns in a timely and unproblematic manner. This year, too, the 3 hardworking helpers guaranteed a steady and smooth procedure.
Already on the first day, the winter playground was well attended. In addition to our
regulars, there were also new faces among the visitors. Only in the first two weeks of
March, the number of visitors slightly decreased. On average, there were 15-20 children
visiting. Many of the parents told us they had read about the winter playground in the
free weekly newspapers (e.g. Sachsensonntag). Also, there was advertising on Facebook
and distributed flyers. The flyer was revised once more. We intend to advertise in regular
weekly newspapers and to continue the use of social networks. For the indoor playground, we bought a new rocking horse, which, above all, smaller children like to use.
In addition, the outdoor playground was open as an alternative. Also as a result of the
mild weather, it was widely used by children of all age groups.
From February 1 to March 27, 2016, the new winter playground season at YMCA Leipzig
will take place on Sundays from 3 to 6 pm. We look forward to many children playing
with us and to parents wanting to talk to us.
Martin Apelt
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YMCA in Leipzig - Germany
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CVJM KITA e. V.
Together with three child minders, the YCMA day care
center offers interested families a care- and educational
program with a
religious-education profile. Our main aim is to give the children the opportunity to experience being accepted and loved – from the people around
them, and from God, who wants them to experience life to the full. In pedagogical action,
this is expressed in the various areas of pedagogy, e.g., in communication education, in
aesthetic education, in somatic education, in mathematical education, in natural sciences education, and in the communication of personal values and in social learning. Our
teachers are there to be enablers and supporters; the children are the experts who look
for answers based on their everyday experience. Sixty-six children between the ages of
two and six attend our center. For children under two years of age, we have the child
minders and the Winter Playground during free time. The children who are transitioning
to elementary-school age are in good hands with the Cloud Divers.
Noteworthy cooperating partners in the preschool area and in family education are the
association FAIRbund – e.g., with its Project Hippy – and Kangaru Leipzig Community
Childcare Centers Ltd., with its project the interdisciplinary early-education center „Kangaru.“ Our day care center is a regular partner of the „Schönefeld Ecumenical Group“ for
various events throughout the year.
Day Care Center
Our day care center at the heart of
Mariannenpark puts up 66 children
between two and six years. Of these,
10 places are allotted to two-year old
crèche children and 56 places to kindergarten children.
As in 2014, we could once again offer
some of these places as early-education opportunities to children from socially disadvantaged families and children with a migration background.
The following educational priorities
were particularly important to us:
Traditional holidays and celebrations
of the liturgical year
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Multi-cultural mommy afternoon
Projects promoting physical activity in
everyday life, as well as the acquisition of
the children‘s sport badge “Flizzy.”
Continuation of language support for
children with special needs.
ren come to our facility and the features of
whom everybody will get to know.
A special highlight of our parents‘ work was
a weekend in October with some families in
Our topic of the year was and
still is: “If others are different,
so what? Yes, God loves all
children. We belong together.”
Unfortunately, we were not
able to realize this in the way
we had planned. In 2016, we
want to start with the country
of Syria (culture, food, dwelling, development, education,
etc.). It will be followed by
other countries, whose child-
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Sehlis near Taucha, hosted under the motto of “Indians—without a hatchet, for a change.”
Key elements were the making of feather headdresses, pearl necklaces, rattles, and bracelets; Indian make up, stick bread by the fire and an autumnal prayer meeting.
This “Indian summer” weekend was a successful meeting for all “Indians.”
We think it‘s fantastic that our emplo-
YMCA in Leipzig - Germany
Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
Parents‘ Council
Also
in 2015, the Parents‘ Council discussed
different subjects with parents and educators. Among other things, these subjects
included dental care, healthy afternoon
snacks, as well as the range of foreign languages offered. Satisfactory results were
not reached on all points; but it is good to
remain in contact.
For the children‘s festival on June 4, 2015,
the Parents‘ Council actively engaged in
the preparation of the afternoon snack.
Furthermore, parents were involved in the
realization of the Dragon Festival, Saint
Martin‘s Day and of this year‘s children‘s
photo shooting. The construction of an
hotel for insects was great fun for both
children and parents.
For 2016, the Parents‘ Council wants to
ensure that the caravan in the garden area
will be refurbished for the work of the day
care center.
Christin Wilde
YMCA Child-Minding
Services
yees
are wishing for offspring, but the fact they all did so at once was pretty taxing. As from
September, we needed help. We were particularly happy about attracting elderly women who are still fit to help us with kindergarten work at hourly intervals, so that important festivals could take place (Dragon Festival, family weekend, Saint Martin‘s, Saint
Nicholas‘ Day, nativity play). Once again a big thank you for your commitment.
For 2016, we earnestly hope for a continuation of the good, reliable, and successful cooperation between parents, employees and partners for the good of our children.
Nadine Holdhausen
Ute Krippner-Müller
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Kids and Teens
Kids and teens occupy a big space at the
YMCA ... and not only figuratively!
We open our doors for all sorts
of needs of our young people.
With our youth group, we offer
both children and teens a place to spend
their free time meaningfully and independently. There, young people have the
opportunity to meet with people of the
same age in small groups to have fun social experiences, to get involved, and to try
new things. Additionally, we offer support
and intensive counseling for young people in challenging life situations. Our area
of operations is being expanded beyond
our home location as we are often on the
move in our part of the city—both with
and without our games‘ trailer! Together
with other players in our neighborhood,
we are actively involved in improving conditions in the living environment of our
young people. Notable cooperating partners in our kids‘ and teens‘ projects are the
two local youth groups „The Bridge“ and
„The Cherry.“
The Youth Café – „Public“ Work
22
2015—Running Well
This year‘s visitor numbers were about the
same as last year‘s. An average of 51 children and young people per opening day visit our youth café. Visitor numbers range
from 22 people on a rainy autumn day to
123 at the start of the summer school holidays, which we celebrated with our annual beach party.
In 2015, the youth café saw a number
of optical changes. In the summer, we
got our long-desired new kitchen enabling us to work around a kitchen island
with many children and young people at
the same time. Also the youth café itself changed. In the October holidays, we
spent almost a week to paint the walls
and to make the café more attractive. We
decorated one of the walls all over with
newspapers and photos.
YMCA in Leipzig - Germany
Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
As in many places, also the youth café saw
a number of discussions on asylum policy and related issues this year. We do not
only hope for an open and hospitable Germany but also that the youth café itself
will be a place where this openness and
hospitality can be experienced. This is
what we are trying to promote, and we are
happy if we succeed. In the autumn, for
instance, we hosted a football tournament
which was won by “FC Albania.”
There were a number of sporting highlights in 2015. In addition to the usual
football tournaments, for example, the
YMCA Jugger Group visited us twice, making us more familiar with this sport. We
have also tried sports such as Archery and
American Football and had quite some
fun on the slackline. We spent plenty of
nice afternoons with these types of sport,
which this year competed with the popular sport of soccer.
As a Christian association, it is important
for us to give impulses that encourage
thinking about faith. One highlight in
this context was our café meal which we
celebrated on Holy Thursday. On this day,
we discussed the Last Supper and shared
with the young people what makes Easter
so very special for us as Christians.
Thanks to the support of volunteers, we
are able to realize many of these activities. Thus, we are very grateful for some of
the young people who bring new impulses
to everyday life in the café, and have sometimes done so for many years. Things
are running well!
Annemarie Neef and Henning Leicht
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YMCA in Leipzig - Germany
The Cloud-Diver Kids
The Cloud Divers, absorbed in their “finding phase.”
Agnes: We completed our “feelings project” at the beginning of 2015 and then
immersed ourselves in the carnival season
with fun activities and colorful bricolage.
In preparation of Easter we started a new
topic. We dealt with the person of Jesus
Christ. Who was he? What did he experience? We showed a film on this subject,
in whichc the children could answer questions here and there. Lent thus began in
a playful and also meditative mood. We
were introduced to the stories of the New
Testament, Jesus‘ lifetime until his death,
and his resurrection at Easter.
After Easter, Fabio started a project on his
home country Spain with us, and soon the
summer holidays began.
We started the new season of the day care
center again on September 2 ... another
new face to take over the group! Since
Agnes Goth went on maternity leave in
September and the day care center did not
find an adequately qualified person, Franz
Enkelmann (Voluntary Social Year) is expected to run this group until summer.
Due to this situation, the offer is limited
to students of the first and second-grade classes; for the time being, preschool
children from the kindergarten are not
taking part in it. But to avoid excluding
them altogether, we want to invite them
to special activities and undertakings in
the future.
“Einfach Spitze, dass Du da bist!” (It‘s just
great you‘re here)—this is the catchy tune
24
Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
we sing at the beginning of each meeting
as a welcome, and after initial inhibitions,
everybody now sings and dances along to
the song. Then, there are games full of
action & biblical stories with subsequent
crafts events and discussions about God
and the world. It is a pleasure to see how
much the kids, all by themselves, tell us
about their lives and wish to share it with
us “Cloud Divers.” This means that they
feel at home here and trust us. One highlight was the St. Martin‘s Day activity. In
preparation for it, the Cloud Diveres cut or
tore jackets to shape and then decorated
and painted them so that they could wear
them a week later for the St Martin‘s Day
procession. In the new year, we want to
have a look at how Jesus lived—from birth to resurrection. The permanent core of
the group is currently made up of only 3
children, which is why we intend to increasingly advertise at primary schools.
YMCA in Leipzig - Germany
Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
Dance Group
The girls‘ group has, next to many other topics, again
and again dealt with the question of a healthy nutrition and sustainable lifestyle in the course of the year.
In this, we extensively benefited from the opportunities offered by our huge garden. We
planted herbs and later used them to make tea and prepared rosemary potatoes. In the
summer, we had lots of fun harvesting the cherries, and the plum cake with self-picked
fruit tasted twice as good. We are particularly happy with the new kids‘ kitchen, which
we use a lot.
Girls‘ Group
Agnes Goth and
Franz Enkelmann
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YMCA in Leipzig - Germany
For the girls‘ holiday, we went to Wanzleben, and the topic of the week, “really
(un)fair,” helped us look beyond our own
experience and direct our attention at the
globalized world and its relationships and
complexities.
We explored relationships of a different
kind at the INSPIRATA exhibition. Under
the motto of “Experience, Astonishment,
Experiment,” we visited the interactive
museum on the old trade fairground at the
request of the girls. Some of the points
of the wish list on the agenda were still
waiting to be realized. So it‘s a good thing
that the girls‘ group remains a fixed date
in next year‘s weekly schedule.
Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
with boys from Schönefeld and all parts
of Leipzig in self-built tents. There were
also 2 days of creative, adventurous and
handicraft activities for the participants.
From August 25 to 31, we went to Klosterbuch near Leisnig together with 11
boys for our YMCA boys‘ adventure camp.
We canoed on the Mulde, crossed a gorge, made a GPS treasure hunt, and visited
Burg Mildenstein. Moreover, we built our
own little “Pompfer” (padded weapons),
and had a lot of fun playing various adventurous games.
We look forward to next year and have
started preparing the next vacation. In
July 2016, we will be traveling to Lauenhain at the Kriebstein reservoir.
Dorit Roth
Boys‘ Group
The boys‘ group dealt
with a variety of issues
again this year. As from
September, the focal
topic was fairness. In
this context, we played
many games, discussed
and made our own toys.
At the moment, the
group, which regularly
consists of 6 to 9 boys,
is very well attended.
In April, we supported
LEMANN e.V. in its annual spring camp for boys.
At frosty temperatures, we spent the night
26
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The door opens and four
baby carriages come rolling
in. Not precisely the target
group of youth social work, I think, and neither are our facilities very suitable. But after
a moment‘s hesitation, I recognize the faces of the four young women. They are former
users of our offerings. We haven‘t seen each other for years, and the young mothers
have found their way. Now, they remember their time at the YMCA, and it‘s important
for them to proudly present their offspring and to tell me how they are doing. I am
particularly pleased to see that they are still in touch with each other and mutually
support each other in their current situation. Their time at the YMCA, they tell me, was
very important for them, and that encourages us in our work, even if the classic “success” is not always visible immediately in everyday life.
Support and Counseling
Speaking of visible: We had decided to extend our attendance time in front of the town
library in the heart of Schönefeld. A good decision, as we can now say. We encounter
children and young people in passing, others come specifically to see us. More frequently, we also come in contact with adults this way. We thus make our offerings known,
and often the results are concrete offers of support. This way, the YMCA maintains its
presence in this part of town; there are new cooperation projects and people talk about
us—which is the basis for youth social work to have an impact onto the part of town
where it is active.
Dorit Roth and Danilo Hutt
Special Projects
Danilo Hutt
Among last year‘s special highlights was the
Schönefeld spring festival and the sponsors‘
rally.
On Sunday, May 10,
many children and adults
in bright sunshine explored our great outdoor
area via game stations
and accepted our invitation to a cup of coffee or
a hot waffle in our café.
The fire brigade attracted special attention with its spectacular use of water.
27
YMCA in Leipzig - Germany
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We had intended the 19th rally to be a special one, and we succeeded. After a long startup phase and with many heads red with heat, we sent our traditional battle ship onto
a renovation holiday into the dock. Everyone who was with us on June 21, 2015 had
a chance to see the result. Let it be said to all those who couldn‘t make: “You missed
quite something.”
The on-site attractions ranged from divine service, stage program, fire brigade, graffiti,
big games, bouncy castle, juggers, faces make-up, soap box building / derby, music,
food and drink, up to and including, of course, the main attraction: our bicycle rally.
Here, as in every year, participants fought for kilometers, shedding sweat and bending
the spokes of their bikes. And for what purpose did they do so? Of course, as always for
the good cause.
The sum of (exactly) 3,672.27 € was donated in equal shares to the voluntary services of
YMCA Leipzig and to Clara Wieck Primary School, which used the money to fulfill itself
the dream of an air track.
A big thanks at this point once again to all cyclists, sponsors and, of course, to all helpers, without whom the festival would not have been such a great success!
See you at the Great Jubilee in 2016! The 20th sponsors‘ rally will take place then. Let‘s
see whether we can top all expectations with another astonishing masterpiece! At any
rate, we have plenty of ideas.
YMCA in Leipzig - Germany
Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
YCMA and School
YMCA and school—these belong together in Leipzig. We are convinced that the YMCA can contribute to making schools worthwhile
places of education and personality development. We accompany students and their
families as they start school or transition to the next school stage. Both inside and
outside of the school building, kids and teens can meet our staff members in our inschool social work projects, in religion class, and in the school club and youth house.
We offer students internships and give our cooperating schools exclusive rights to rent
our youth house with its outdoor property. In the East/Northeast Planning Area, we are
part of the cooperative networks „Special Team Villa Assoc./YMCA“ and „School With a
Future—East Leipzig.“
In-school Social Work at Public Elementary School
No. 16
In-School Social Work—Top Ten 2015
Top 1
Student Exchange Baltimore—Go West!
5 years of student exchange between
City Neighbors Charter School in Baltimore and the 16th School. Beeline:
6,648.84 km apart from each other, and
yet there are so many things which are familiar already . In 2015, once again about
40 pupils of both cities had a chance to
closely experience the other country, collect unique impressions and meet great
people.
Annemarie Neef and Holger Seidel
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29
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YMCA in Leipzig - Germany
Whether as a holiday package or a project day, climbing projects are part of the
YMCA‘s in-school social work. And, thus,
we went high up once more last year.
Top 2
Games nights for fifth-grade pupils—a
different way to experience school!
A highlight for all new pupils. Night table
tennis in the class room, straying around
through the dark school house, overnight
stays in the class room and breakfast in
the School Club—this is the way school
makes even more fun.
Top 3
“Free your mind” camp on the YMCA ship
in Dresden—Ship ahoy!
Who can say they have ever spent a night
on a ship? The participants of the “Free
your mind” camp!
11 students trained in a three-day camp
as multiplier pupils in 2015, dealt with
30
the subject of addiction in a critical and
playful way and developed projects for
other pupils.
Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
parents as a preliminary every year. This
way, the future school becomes somewhat
“tangible” already.
Top 6
Break offer for fifth and sixth grade pupils—sports for free!
For more than three years, we have been
offering school break activities in the
gym. Whether dodgeball, football, or hockey—taking an “active break” is a welcome change in everyday school life.
Top 8
Project days in the YMCA house—Action!
Around 200 students of 16th Secondary
School spent a day at the YMCA last year.
Whether learning or community days in
fifth and sixth-grade classes, class speaker
seminars or inter-cultural projects with
the ninth grade—there was something for
everyone!
Top 7
The “Getting-to-know-each-other” afternoon for the new fifth grade pupils—Welcome!
A mere general information evening would
be too boring, so we offer a few actionpacked games for those pupils still in a
fourth-grade class as well as a coffee chat
and a tour of the school house for the
Top 9
Individual help—Help!
The main business of in-school social
work. In addition to the many projects,
we offered a wide range of consultancy
for pupils, parents, as well as teachers last
year.
The weekly discussions with the heads of
fifth to seventh-grade classes on the in-
Top 4
Breakfast in Neustadt—a celebration of
the special kind!
Many associations and initiatives gathered on Neustädter Markt and extended invitations for breakfast and a get-together
on July 5. On offer at the YMCA booth:
waffles with icing sugar and apple sauce!
And, of course, the popular bingo rounds
were not missing.
Top 5
The climbing projects in No Limit—aiming
high!
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Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
class situation and individual pupils make it possible to act quickly. Help is thus offered
to students, the class and the class teacher!
YMCA in Leipzig - Germany
Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
School Club
Top 10
Let‘s get home!
This does not apply to our celebration evening … but to our house visits to every family, whose child is new to Secondary School No. 16. The aim of these visits is to get to
know each other and clarify initial questions. We thus were allowed to make ourselves
comfortable in more than 70 living rooms last year.
After a six-month break, we are happy to resume work with 20 students in the area of
skills development at Secondary School No.16 at the beginning of the new school year.
The focus of work is still on the development of the pupils‘ social and emotional skills.
On the basis of positive references from previous years, we quickly managed to win
pupils and parents over for the project idea. After an extensive analysis phase, it was
possible, for instance, to determine first objectives of the common work. In the wake
of this, these objectives were changed into specific support plans, which in turn form
the basis for traceable and verifiable results to be reached at the end of the school year.
The great benefit for the children and young people who are involved in this project is
the individual support by the competence developer. This developer has the possibility
to take care of individual pupils and their problems. As experience shows, the result is
a considerable enhancement of attention on the part of the participants and, thus, also
an individual offer of assistance. It‘s great to be able to make this offering available
again.
Susann Vahle and Holger Seidel
32
Just as everywhere else, we must present
our figures at the end of the year. This
means, we draw up a summary. Are the
figures correct? Has it been a successful
year? Did we fulfill the expectations? Were
we capable of doing better? These are the
typical questions that come up and need
to be answered at the end of the year. For
the School Club, the following figures can
be registered for 2015:
8 = the School Club at Secondary School
No. 16 has existed for eight years. For four
of these eight years, its location has been
in in the vaulted cellars of the school. Traces of the daily work are clearly visible,
and the School Club could do with one or
another coat of paint.
27 = 27 visitors (on average) spend their
time after lessons in the School Club,
whether with highly competitive table
football games, 10-man Uno rounds, handicraft offers, Wii tournaments, or simply
in order to have a casual chat with the
in-school social workers.
81 = we sell 81 cereal bars (maximum) during the long school break in the School
Club. Add to this apples, bananas, and
drinks which the pupils buy as snacks. In
the afternoon, the popular sandwich is on
the menu as well as various sweets for the
way back home.
32 = 32 nations are represented at the
school. This is also reflected in everyday
life at the School Club. Nationality does
not play a role for the large variety of
games offered in the School Club. No matter whether pupils are from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, Romania, Russia, or
33
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Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
Germany—the rules of the game are the same for everyone; the only thing that has to
be decided on the spot is who starts and who is next in line.
5 = five pupils from sixth-grade classes are represented in the Club Council. Four girls
and one boy help us out at the bar during breaks and in the afternoon. They will support
us with lots of joy and enthusiasm in the School Club.
2 = two break activities are offered weekly for sixth-grade girls and boys. The offer,
which is gladly embraced, includes burning ball, football, dodgeball, “zombie ball” and
all sorts of sports games.
7 = seven pupils from Secondary School No. 16 participated in the action days in summer 2015. The focus was on “Highland Games”, i.e. sports and games all around the
Scottish national port . At Archery, everyone had a chance to demonstrate how much
arm strength he or she really has.
In conclusion it can be said: It has been a good year with many highlights, everyday
challenges and beautiful moments.
Franziska Ponitka
Parents‘ Work at Public Elementary
School No. 16
After the expiry of the model project “Home-based Parents‘ Work at Secondary School No. 16” in the school
year 2014/2015, we succeeded in maintaining and
continuing this component of YMCA‘s activities—a
component highly important for students and parents
alike. The Free State of Saxony has been won as new
sponsor as from summer 2015. Pro Bildung Leipzig Ost
gGmbH continues its sponsorship.
At the same time, the City of Leipzig enables YMCA Leipzig‘s in-school social work to
take up its home-based parents‘ work at Wilhelm Wander Primary School.
But what is so important about parents‘ work, especially if parents are visited in their
private rooms?
Home-based parents‘ work in the
form of home visits by in-school
social workers at the start of
children‘s (primary or secondary)
school career creates the basis for
a long and trusting cooperation on
34
equal terms between the parental home and the school. Schools and parents are partners that discuss with each other how to enable children and young people to reach
the best possible education degree. Likewise, we found ways to lend effective support
to parents educating their children. Successful communication does not fail because
of communication difficulties—cultural and linguistic mediators offer help in families
where German is not spoken as a mother tongue.
“As many people as possible should know as much as possible,” the late German President Richard von Weizsäcker once said. Home-based parents‘ work is capable of providing the basis for this.
To quote from the YMCA Annual Report 2015, which can be adopted without amendment: “We aim to guarantee that all parents of children between grades one and five are
visited at home and can have a specific contact person in their schools for the following
years. Whether it‘s a social worker or a teacher freed up from other responsibilities, a
full-time expert from the field does not represent a cost factor, but rather the guarantee
that kids and teens can be given a real opportunity for their futures!”
We would like to thank
Norbert Rentsch
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Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
In-school Social Work at the Clara Wieck School
Over the past three years, we have established the project of in-school social work
as a mainstay at Clara Wieck School. In
2015, there was an increase in the requested social learning lessons. On the one
hand, this shows how firmly the project
is established and the extent to which
it has met with the teaching staff‘s acceptance and cooperation; on the other,
it means that in-school social work has
reached its limits with the available quota of hours. The “getting-to-know-you”
days for the new first-grade pupils of
Clara Wieck School were a special experience this year. As was already the case
last year, four fully-packed first classes
contributed to the rising number of pupils at Clara Wieck School. Another major
challenge in-school social work is facing
every year is the need for advice, which
is far higher than in many other grades,
especially for the parents of new primary school pupils. Particularly, teachers in
the first-grade classes at the beginning of
the school year relied on the support of
in-school social work in the framework of
jointly-organized parents‘ talks.
In the first four grades, the “heart circle
method” was introduced in the context of
social learning both in school and in the
after-school center. It allows the children
to better identify their feelings, to share
YMCA in Leipzig - Germany
Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
them with each other, and to learn problem-solving strategies from one another.
The acquisition of new conflict-solving strategies was one of the themes of the two-day
conflict mediator training at the YMCA.
Immediately after the summer holidays, the application phase for the conflict mediator training began at the school. Up to 20 pupils from the new fourth grades wrote an
application for this challenging task. From the many dedicated submissions, 10 pupils
(7 girls, 3 boys) were eventually selected as new conflict mediators. During the last two
days before the autumn holiday, they participated in the two-day training at the YMCA.
The training was conducted in co-operation with Wilhelm Wander Primary School, which
trained a total of 6 new conflict mediators. The two in-school social workers were actively supported by two employees (one from each of the after-school centers) and
two committed teachers. Since this year, in-school social work is benefiting from the
after-school center‘s participation in the agenda of the weekly meetings of the conflict
mediators.
In the summer, in-school social work contributed once again a week of holiday game
activities in the YMCA. Although only about half of the participants in the holiday
package were pupils from Clara Wieck School, there were a number of children who had
already participated in the previous year. The age group of children targeted by this
offer were seven to ten-year-olds. Due to this limitation of the target group, the holiday
packages were better adapted to the age group. As in previous years, the experience
of the activity days showed that two full-time employees are indispensable for a highquality implementation.
Cathrin Krauße
In-school Social Work at
the Wilhelm Wander School
The impact of the extensive construction work made itself felt
also in the school year 2014/15.
The school spent the first half of the year in the adjacent building, and even after some
of the classes were relocated to the main building in February 2015, the repercussions
of the new situation impacted on the in-school social work. Thus, for the pupils and
parents of the first-grade classes, it was a big challenge to find their bearings in the new
rooms. Another difficulty was the illness of the class teacher in one of the first-grade
classes. For this reason, the pupils of this class were distributed in the other two firstgrade-classes, placing additional strain on both the pupils and teachers of the existing
classes as well as the pupils and parents of the distributed class. Here, many questions
and discussions came up between the parents and in-school social workers as well as
between the teachers and in-school social workers. The fact, however, that both parents
and teachers got in touch with the in-school social workers shows their wide acceptance
36
37
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at the school.
Another challenge of the past school year was, next to there being three first-grade
classes, the increase in school beginners with substantial behavioral and emotional
disturbances. For instance, one first-grade pupil was suspended; two others were partly
suspended, being allowed to attend lessons after their time tables had been reduced.
Also cases of school refusal occur already in the first-grade classes. These cases are met
with intensive individual help and all of the available options (e.g. report to the General
Social Service ASD, report for administrative offense).
Other positive developments are the high number of consultation requests from all
user groups and the strengthening of preventive structures, such as the weekly hours
of social learning in most of the classes as well as the further increase of schoolyard
helpers and the introduction of the conflict mediators program. Since the school year
2014/2015, Wilhelm Wander School participates in the program entitled “Children solve
conflicts by themselves,” a project for the introduction of conflict mediators to a primary school, funded by the Saxon Accident Insurance. In the context of this project,
ten pupils were trained as conflict mediators at the beginning of the school year. The
program was presented in all third and fourth-grade classes; subsequently, the children
could apply for the position of a conflict mediator. In letters to parents, persons entitled
YMCA in Leipzig - Germany
Finding the Way. Growing. Living.
to custody were included and asked to support the applications. A team of teachers,
after-school center workers and in-school social workers reviewed the applications and
selected six third-grade and four fourth-grade pupils for this responsible task. Within
two days, the responsible in-school social workers then trained the candidates as conflict
mediators at the YMCA house, together with the candidates from Schule am Rabet. The
tasks, framework conditions and the procedure of conflict mediation were discussed and
practiced in this context on the basis of a manual. Eventually, an examination was held
which, if taken successfully, culminated in the award of a certificate. The new-fledged
conflict mediators were then presented to all pupils and teachers in a pupils‘ assembly.
On two days of the week, the conflict mediators‘ office is open, so that pupils who want
to resolve a dispute can seek the conflict mediators‘ help. In their work, the conflict
mediators are accompanied by teachers, after-school center workers and in-school social
workers, who, when the conflicting parties are absent, carry out reflections and exercises
with the conflict mediators. At the end of the school year, the conflict mediators from
the fourth-grade classes were dismissed together with the leaving schoolyard helpers; in
recognition of their services, they received a book as a gift.
Natalia Wolter
Being Human
A child is born—perhaps the epitome of innocence and purity. What else can be said to
be “pure” on our earth? An almost paradisaical condition is this purity. Thus God created
a new addition to the human race, helpless at the outset and then gradually growing
more and more independent—purity is then lost, too. So man oscillates all his life long
between wanting to be good and not always being able to be good. But what always
motivates us anew to be good is the encounter with God. But where can we meet him?
A look at Jesus‘ life provides a clue. He is born in the mud, on the edge of society, in a
stable. At first, nobody wants him. The first to find him were not wise men and kings,
but people still on their feet at night. He will spend his life together with fishermen, tax
collectors and prostitutes. He will die as a felon—naked, exposed, again on the margins
of society, in the mud. Died for our failures in wanting to be good.
If we want to increase our ability to be good, then we must start ouf and search for him:
we will find him, but not where we most likely suspect to do so. Not on a track trodden
for a thousand times but on the margin. And in the purity of the child.
Ansgar Haller
38
39
Mission Statement
Finding the Way. Growing. Living
The YMCA in Leipzig aims to reach children, teenagers and adults with comprehensive
free-time and educational offers.
In the context of this work, we offer counseling services and orientation for a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
People from many different cultures and denominations belong to the diversity of the
YMCA.
We encourage those in our organization to grow in acting on their own initiative,
taking part in the activities and sharing responsibility with the others in this.
The staff members of the YMCA live out their faith authentically and form a living
community.
Thus the YMCA has been an irreplaceable part of Leipzig life since 1893.
legal info
Contact
Address:
CVJM Leipzig e. V.
Schönefelder Allee 23 a
04347 Leipzig
Germany
Göran Michaelsen (chairman) and
Aaron Büchel-Bernhardt (senior executive)
Publisher: CVJM Leipzig e. V.
Register of Associations Leipzig VR 1059
Content: Management Board YMCA Leipzig
Layout: Peter Snyder
Fon YMCA Leipzig
0049 341 26 67 554 - 0
www.cvjm-leipzig.de
info@cvjm-leipzig.de
Account for donations
Account holder: CVJM Leipzig e. V.
IBAN: DE74 5206 0410 0008 0073 81
BIC: GENODEF1EK1
Bank: Evangelische Kreditgenossenschaft

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