Pilot project of the Rhenish Church for Refugees and Volunteers in Hesse:
A picture book that adults can also enjoy: that’s Rania Zaghir’s “Wer hat mein Eis gegessen?” – a humorous short story with profundity that conveys the impulse to act self-determined written in an easy to comprehend language and with lots of phrasing repetition. So it’s ideal if someone wants to learn a yet unfamiliar language.
Using the book by the Lebanese author, illustrated by Racelle Ishak, ten refugees and locals have kicked off the “Sprachtreff Erda” in the local Protestant parish hall with a reading in their respective mother tongues.
“The book ‘Wer hat mein Eis gegessen?’ Is available in 19 different languages”, says Patricia Pollei-Bardelle, who works with refugees and presented the book. She added: “In Erda alone the languages spoken by people of different backgrounds adds up to 14 languages.” There were readings in Arabic (Mohamad Al Mohamad), Polish (Janina Schastok), Persian (Zarah Rezaie), Tigrinya (Fena Gede) and Bosnian (Asima Hühn). Simone Kauss, who translated Zaghir’s text into the Erda dialect and read it accordingly, also received much applause.
Pippa Brück, who is a part of the library team of the congregation led through the evening that was taking place as a part of the weekly meeting café for refugees and locals. She also works with refugees and presented the german part during the reading and together with Karoline Eigner (Vocals and Piano) she provided pleasing musical entertainment throughout the evening.
About 60 people, refugees and locals, including members of the library team and those active in the community’s refugee work, were impressed by the reading.
“We want to create a space for refugees and volunteers to meet and learn German together through the Sprachtreff”, explains Judith Schumacher from the library facility of the Rhineland protestant church and promises further support for the project. She has already co-conducted a training course in this respect in Erda last november. The project “Sprachtreff – für Integration auf dem Land”, jointly developed by the Rhenish Church with the Library Facility, the Fundraising Coordination Office and partner organisations, receives EU funding from the Asyl-, Migrations- und Integrationsfonds. “This allows us to buy a computer workstation and a printer,” rejoices Pippa Brück. The library facility of the church takes care of placement. The aim is to promote language acquisition of third-country nationals in rural areas.
Their chances to partake in society should be increased and their integration into a working life should be facilitated. As project leader Helga Schwarze has previously stated, they have succeeded in gaining the community library Erda as a Hessian pilot institution in order to gain valuable experience for the integration work of libraries and to be able to pass it on to others. Sprachtreffs in the area of the Rhenish church already exist in Daaden and Marpingen and are planned for Wülfrath and St. Wendel. But Erda is the only place that combines it with an already existing library of media for refugees. The fact that the refugee work has long been a permanent fixture in the church community becomes clear through this original combination of two fields of work as well.
According to Pippa Brück, the aim is to establish reading partnerships where refugees can practice german. It is also about making the library more attractive to refugees and volunteers alike. About 40 different media, books and games, that deal with learning german are already available and can be borrowed.
Parish priest Andreas Hagel thanked the library facility and the Erda library team and also addressed the numerous refugees: “We are glad that you are here!” The equally entertaining as informative evening drew to a close with lively encounters and a small snack, amongst a lot of reading and book borrowing.
The book “Wer hat mein Eis gegessen?” By Rania Zaghir, ISBN 978-3-945506-05-9, is available in 19 bilingual editions at the price of 5.50 Euro each and can be borrowed from the Protestant community library Erda, Grabenstr. 6 during the opening hours: Tuesdays from 19.30 to 20.30 and Wednesdays from 16.30 to 17.30.
The meeting café in the Protestant parish hall Erda (Grabenstrasse 6) is open every Friday from 6 to 8 pm and offers access to the library.
A contribution from Barnikol-Lübeck / Foto: Barnikol-Lübeck
