“I have a Dream” Datteln

CODE: ICJA2612

Work:

Each week has a different focus:
Week 1 – Artistic work : Volunteers work on creative art projects around the topic of peace. The artworks will be shown publicly later. In previous camps, volunteers created, colorful peace messages, “benches of encounter”, a “table of peace and reconciliation”, a large mural in a local kindergarten. With the support of the local artist Ulrike Speckmann, volunteers will paint and design together. This year, the artistic inspiration comes from Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. For information about the artist, please visit her site https://www.toefte.de/ulrike/index.html . Volunteers are invited to express their own dreams and visions for the future on a large cloth, which will later be displayed in the church.
Week 2 – Social and outdoor work; Volunteers help renovate and beautify the outdoor area of the social center „Ev. Johanneswerk“, which supports adults with mental disabilities. The work includes gardening and simple renovation tasks. Friendly contact with the residents is welcome and encouraged.

Study part: Volunteers explore how “peace“ can be expressed through art.Local history is used as an example of how an international peace movement began.
Members of the parish are happy when volunteers interact with different social groups, especially children and elderly people.

Accomodation and food

The participants will be accommodated in the modern community center of Datteln „Etienne-Bach-Haus“. Please bring with you a sleeping bag. Camp beds and pillows will be provided.

Location and leisure

Excursions to local places of interest, like crossing 4 channels and other sites.
The town of Datteln has approx. 35 000 inhabitants and is situated on the edge of the mining region in the north of the Ruhr area. Four waterways for shipping traffic are crossing in Datteln. The river Lippe and Münster region are nearby. Next bigger towns are Recklinghausen, Dortmund and a very nice and famous student town Münster.

Project hosted by

Commemorating as a way towards peace! The Evangelical parish of Datteln is the origin of a Christian Peace Movement, which builds up a European network for international encounters and voluntary service as a contribution to peace. The project is based on a historical event that happened after World War I, during the French occupation of the Ruhr area. On Good Friday in1923, in the Lutherhaus (former parish center), the French lieutenant Étienne Bach and the German official Karl Wille chose reconciliation instead of conflict. Their meeting became the beginning of the movement “Youth Action for Peace (YAP)”. Since then, many volunteers from different countries have learned that reconciliation is possible, even when conflicts seem very difficult to solve.

Directions to meeting point

via Castrop-Rauxel and Dortmund train station

Additional comments

Volunteers with interest in creative arts and social work are very welcome. After confirmation of placement in this camp, you will have to sign a self-commitment statement in terms of legal protection for children and vulnerable people. Please bring a sleeping bag.