Arbeit und Dritte Welt

On June 25, 2010, the Ambassador of Eritrea, H.E. Petros Tseggai, visited us. After his arrival, Mr. Tseggai was received by Mayor Pahlandt and 1st City Councillor Brummer in Hildesheim City Hall and signed the city’s Golden Book.

The ambassador’s visit attracted a great deal of attention: Members of the Bundestag Hans-Joachim Barchmann and Bernhard Brinkmann, DGB District Chairwoman Regina Stolte, Managing Director Horst Gabriel of the Hildesheim Job Center and Chamber of Crafts President Jürgen Herbst came to the town hall to welcome the guest together with our association chairman Fred Schulz.

The ambassador then visited the vocational training center of the Hildesheim-South Lower Saxony Chamber of Crafts. He was welcomed there by Chamber President Herbst. President Herbst explained to his guest the principles of initial vocational training in the skilled trades and clarified the tasks of the vocational training centers. He offered the ambassador the Chamber’s support in training vocational school teachers and drawing up training plans. Ambassador Tseggai explained the great importance of training craftsmen for his country and described Germany’s dual system as exemplary.

Finally, Ambassador Tseggai visited Arbeit und Dritte Welt. He said that his country could urgently use the help of our association in supporting the establishment of training workshops.

On June 17, the delegates’ meeting of the AWO district association elected Klaus Bange as the new chairman. The previous chairman, Werner Buß, had resigned from his honorary position after 20 years. He now lives in Kappeln on the Schlei.

We have been working with the AWO for many years. Together with Friedhelm Hallmann, the district manager, we have organized a whole series of aid transports: from earthquake relief for Turkey to support for the Eritrean war-disabled association with wheelchairs, walkers and walking sticks.

The AWO is indispensable with its services for the poor and disadvantaged. For the employees of Arbeit und Dritte Welt, the mere possibility of being able to make use of the AWO’s debt counseling services quickly and free of charge is a fundamental help in building a new perspective. In this context, it is therefore unacceptable for the poor and those seeking help to be hit by austerity measures in the social sector on the part of the federal government, the state or the local authority for which they are not responsible.

We congratulate Klaus Bange on his unanimous election and wish him luck and success. We hope that our good and proven cooperation can be further expanded.

Colleagues from the Transnet railroad workers’ union made good on their announcement and paid us a visit.

After having had an interesting and lively discussion about the work of our association during a meeting in the former DGB youth hostel a month earlier, this time the program included a tour and a cosy get-together in our garden area.

On this occasion, we received a lot of donations of tools and machines.

Since the founding of Arbeit und Dritte Welt 15 years ago, the DGB senior citizens in Hildesheim have taken an interest in the development of the association’s work. Once again this year, the colleagues were informed and visited the progress of the work on the association’s premises at Stadtfeld 79.

The photo shows Wilhelm Flügel (right) and spokesman Bernhard Busch (left). They suggested to Managing Director Thomas Brien that he call for tool collection campaigns in the communities in the district where members of the DGB Seniors live. This is to be prepared at a further meeting in July.

For several days, our carpentry workshop was transformed into a theater workshop:

Set designer Jörg Finger built the backdrops for the new production of the Theaterpädagogisches Zentrum (TPZ). Under the direction of Harriet Heimann and Hannah Dobiaschinski, unemployed people will perform the play Policemen in the Kulturfabrik on May 27, 2010. This project is supported by the Jobcenter Hildesheim – already the second of its kind.

Master carpenter Klaus Algemissen, Siegfried Wings and apprentice Sebastian Gehring helped with the extensive work.

At the invitation of Konrad Steinberg, chairman of the Hildesheim seniors’ group of the Transnet railroad union, former railroad workers were informed about Arbeit und Dritte Welt for the first time on May 11. Thomas Brien, Managing Director of the association, presented the association’s work since it was founded almost exactly 15 years ago in the hall of the former DGB youth center in Hildesheim’s Schützenallee. He expressed his delight that the railroad workers’ union is now also one of the association’s supporters.

After an interesting and lively discussion, those present decided to visit the association’s premises on June 8 and get to know the work on site. They want to combine this with a tool collection campaign to support the association’s planned transports to Eritrea and Chile, and Konrad Steinberg held out the prospect of a barbecue in the association’s garden afterwards. There was no objection to this.

One of the goals of the association’s work is to combine art and culture. Two years ago, our association chairman Fred Schulz succeeded in getting the Hannover DGB choir to perform a concert on our premises.

A new edition took place on Friday, June 4, 2010 in bright sunshine and mild temperatures. This time the choir arrived with 25 members. A variety of songs from all over the world were performed in the middle of the well-tended gardens.

Our guests, including the first mayor Henning Blum and Ogbe Kiflai, an employee of the Eritrean embassy, enjoyed the evening of songs. Werner Ritter, member of the district council of the CDU, together with Hans-Georg Meyer, former 1st authorized representative of IG Metall, was enthusiastic.

In his speech of thanks at the end, Fred Schulz explained how important the connection with culture is for us: it not only supports the work of the association, but also promotes it.

The Kolping Society is an international Catholic social organization that is represented in over 50 countries around the world. Founded in the middle of the 19th century by the priest Adolph Kolping as a journeymen’s association committed to the world of work, the Kolping Society expanded to become a social association committed to society as a whole. The Kolping Society has been a reliable and strong partner in the field of trade union policy for decades.

Since its foundation, Arbeit und Dritte Welt has seen the Kolping Society of the Diocese of Hildesheim as an active supporter and has received several donations of tools and materials for the Third World. On May 5, the Kolping Family of Diekholzen visited us and informed themselves in detail about our work. This was a follow-up to the visit by Ana Clara de Moura Gomez from Brazil and Martin Knöchelmann from the diocesan association on May 14, 2009.

In January 2009, Friedhelm Hallmann, Managing Director of the AWO District Association Hildesheim/ Alfeld, Dietmar Altenberg and Ogbe Kiflai, employees of the Eritrean Embassy in Germany, traveled to Eritrea. In their luggage they had earmarked donations from the “AWO mit Herz-Stiftung” and additional funds from AWO International, funds from the AWO Kreisverband Hildesheim-Alfeld (Leine) e.V.. The total amount was €6,964.28. The recipient was the central hospital in Asmara. This center offers a special children’s clinic in which all specialties in the field of pediatrics are offered.

The trip also included a visit to the war-disabled association in Asmara. Every year, Arbeit und Dritte Welt and AWO Hildesheim, in cooperation with the Eritrea Hilfswerk (EHD), send refurbished wheelchairs, walking frames, walking sticks, walking aids and much more. The last shipment left Hildesheim on 11.11.2009 in 2 40′ containers. Friedhelm Hallmann and Dietmar Altenberg were able to see for themselves that our donations were being used properly. Dietmar Altenberg reported on this trip on February 23. We have now kindly received photos to accompany this report.

We are currently preparing the next transport to Eritrea. So far, we have refurbished and packed 58 rollators, 12 walking frames and 18 wheelchairs in our workshops.