Vounteer experience in Halle by Jean Luck

First of all, I would like to thank you for allowing me to share my experience of volunteer service in Halle with you. I have had so many enriching experiences, so it is best to start at the beginning.
Since the first day in Halle it was very difficult to communicate with people because of the German language. Fortunately, there was a man in my placement who helped me with language barriers and showed me how to adapt when I live with people who speak another language.

But when I went to school for about two months and started to speak German better and better, it became easier to get into conversation with people. This was very important for me and for the people in my work place, because I worked with mentally and physically handicapped people and a good relationship with them made conversations or even conflict resolution easier. I also learned how to better control the emotions of the people to be cared for and how to mediate in disputes.
Another enriching experience was living in the same house with people from other countries for the first time. I got to know many new and nice people and always got help if I didn't know how to use all the appliances in the kitchen.
However, I also have to say that it was not always easy in Halle either, because sometimes shocking experiences occurred regarding my origin, which were not easy to bear without a strong support and which cannot be expressed openly here either.

Already on my first day in Halle such a situation came up. I was very shocked, had to cry and did not know how to react. Of course, most of the people in Halle are friendly and helpful, so I could learn how to deal with such situations. Nevertheless it was hard for me to separate these experiences from each other. Especially in the first days and weeks it was really hard to adapt and I always needed someone to help me register for sports or go shopping with me.
In the meantime I have become totally independent and do almost everything by myself. I have been able to collect wonderful memories and meet nice and helpful people. I am happy and proud of myself to have done a volunteer service in Germany.

I can't stop emphasizing how grateful I am to all the people I have met and I just want to say:
Many thanks to our organization, your solidarity and love for all volunteers and thank you for always being a helping hand. I really appreciated our cooperation and thank them for the enormous enrichment.
I hope I will be able to apply what I have learned in the future and do good as well.
It was a great pleasure for me to spend a year as a volunteer in your organization.

Biserukaningabo Jean Luck

Volunteer in Friedenskreis Halle.