Arbeit und Dritte Welt

The Eritrean Association for the Disabled in Stuttgart asked us for support for the transportation of wheelchairs, rollators and walking aids, hospital beds and a minibus to Eritrea.

We collected all of these donations from Stuttgart. Each part was checked in our workshops and repaired if necessary. We drew up the packing list and the export declaration for customs. After customs had given their approval, we were able to carry out the loading on our premises on August 9, 2010. The container left Hildesheim full to the brim to be loaded onto the ship to Massawa in Hamburg.

On Friday, August 6, the Hildesheim Carpenters’ Guild held its graduation ceremony. Our apprentice Sebastian was there. District master craftsman Sackmann was delighted with the apprentices’ good examination results and predicted a good future for all of them in view of the ever-increasing shortage of skilled workers.

Sebastian is now the third young person to receive carpentry training from us with financial support from the U25 team at the Hildesheim job center. Incidentally, one of the three has been working as a journeyman carpenter in Switzerland since last year.

The Hildesheim Gallberg was designated a nature reserve in 1976. In 2004, the European Commission included the area in the “Natura 2000” protected area system. This makes it part of the European natural heritage.

The Gallberg is a calcareous semi-dry grassland that was created by intensive grazing in the Middle Ages. A large number of specific, sometimes very rare plants grow here, as well as insects and animals that only occur in such biotopes. This mountain range was already inhabited in the Neolithic period, as evidenced by many thousands of finds such as arrowheads, hand axes, blades and scrapers. In the 14th century, there was also a place of execution on the Gallberg.

The Gallberg nature trail with 17 stations was opened in 2006. These were artistically designed by pupils from Himmelsthür High School. Some of these stations had been completely destroyed by vandalism.

As part of a joint project between the social welfare office of the city of Hildesheim and Arbeit und Dritte Welt (ADW), people who are only able to work to a limited extent were given the opportunity of meaningful employment. Integrated into the daily work routine at ADW, the individual stations were gradually restored and made accessible to the public again.

At the suggestion of the Hildesheim marketing company, our metalworkers produced the “sand bucket”. The object stands in the pedestrian zone and advertises the “City Beach” – a piled-up beach directly behind the town hall. There you can play beach ball or simply relax in beach chairs or deckchairs and feel like you’re by the sea.

IG BAU member Wilhelm Flügel, who retired some time ago and has been a member of our association for many years, has made it happen: he has donated his masonry tools to craftsmen in Africa.

It is important to know that every craftsman has his own tools and guards them like the apple of his eye. The fact that he has now parted with them really means something.

Since our association was founded, we have been supported by IG Medien, the former printers’ union. After IG Medien merged into the newly founded trade union ver.di in Section 8, the pensioners of the former Hildesheim branch continued this tradition. As in the previous year, the colleagues visited us with their chairman Seppel Meier – now over 90 years old.

After viewing all the new features, we sat together over coffee and cake. This time, the topic of discussion was the situation of young people who have not yet been offered apprenticeships. This group, which numbers around 300,000 young people nationwide, seems to have been sorted out – they do not receive any apprenticeship offers. The vicious circle is pre-programmed: the older they get, the more hopeless their situation becomes and the more hopeless their chances of finding an apprenticeship. Politics and business are urgently called upon to put an end to this socio-political madness. As an ageing society, we are probably not in a position to do without these young people.

IG BAU member Bernhard Busch made good on his announcement and visited us with representatives from “Kirche in der Arbeitswelt”. They were joined by two women from the Eritrean Women’s Association in Hannover, whom we have known for almost 13 years.

In addition to a tour of the workshop and the site, the visit of the Eritrean ambassador Petros Tseggai and the next planned transportation of donated goods to Eritrea were the subject of a lively and intensive conversation.

The Beamtenwohnungsverein zu Hildesheim e.G. (BWV) is currently carrying out an artistic project with children from our neighborhood in Stadtfeld during the vacation season.

Under the guidance of social worker Gerald Roß, the children from the BWV houses are creating mosaics that will be displayed in the stairwells once they are finished. Employees from Arbeit und Dritte Welt are on hand with help and advice. Everyone seems to be having fun and the results are impressive.

With this campaign, the BWV is continuing the modernization of its properties, which continued this year with the complete redesign of the outdoor facilities. This will enhance the long-neglected district and improve the quality of life and living. We support this.