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Thursday, May 17, 2018

Ramadan


Yesterday around 8 p.m. our doorbell rang and one of our students had brought us a Syrian dessert, 3x2 inch soft dough pieces with a mild cheese filling, covered with honey water.  It was the first evening of Ramadan and it was the last thing we expected.  His family has to wait till it's completely dark and then they can eat and drink.  The place of the moon determines when Ramadan starts and ends some 30 days later.  All that time they don't eat or DRINK anything during daylight.  Of course  we've concentrated on that aspect, but what we have learned from our new friends is that this is a time of deep reflection and renewal, good deeds, and lots of celebration after the dark.


There are many English youtube songs about Ramadan, but this German song was sent to us by another student and it's a catchy repetitive tune.  The words are:  It's Ramadan, the most beautiful time of the year.  It brings us wonderful things.  It smells like Ramadan all over the world.  Ramadan, which holds us together, is here.  Fasting, praying, reading, giving our best effort, yes Ramadan make our lives complete.

We're also excited that we've been invited to share an evening Ramadan meal with one of our Syrian families.  The time will be decided later.

Videos from MERK/CME - European Mennonite Conference

Dear readers who have signed up to receive this blog via email - you will likely need to click through to the online blog to be able to view these videos.


Saturday evening an orchestra from the churches in the area performed several pieces. 


Sunday morning a choir from all over Europe sang - moving smoothly from French to German to English songs - all with passion and clearly understandable.  Some hymns or songs had different verses in different languages. A taste of heavenly choirs!


Here is the children's choir Sunday morning that Ruth referred to in the last post.  This was not the only contemporary song with Christian lyrics - but certainly the most surprising! 😀


Friday evening's program included several hymns and gospel songs from a choir made up of representatives of the various "Russian Mennonite" churches in Germany, that were established in the 1980's and 1990's.  They would have immigrated from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kirghistan.  We were not able to take a video that evening, but here is a picture of the choir. They had a beautiful sound.

"Transmission" was the overall theme of the conference.  Certainly music transmitted and was witness to faith.      Good music, good times!

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

European Mennonite Conference


 From May 10-13 we had the privilege of attending the tenth international Mennonite assembly.


 We've enjoyed traveling by train, but there was a rail strike in France so we had fun in our rental car.


  Over 2000 Mennonites from France, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Austria, Lithuania, Spain, and Portugal gathered in a sports complex in Montbeliard, France.  Those of you who've attended world conferences can imagine the simultaneous translations over headphones and the getting to know people before worship and in workshops, over lunch or on a local tour.


We met very interesting, forthright, open and sincere persons.
We enjoyed the lively worship services with lots and lots of fantastic music from various choirs and bands.  I might be able to add some short videos to a later blog.  Right now I can't get the videos to work.  There were some massively large choirs.  The funniest were all the children when they sang, moved and gestured to the familiar pop tune by Ed Sheeran "The Shape of You", but with religious words!


The 14 years and older youth were expected to attend worship services (it was explained to me that sermons were kept short to hold their interest) and workshops.  Then in the evening until late they had youth related activities.  They all slept with their sleeping bags on this gym floor.  The last snack was at midnight and they were awakened to loud music at 7 a.m.  Ah, to be young!


Our meals were served on paper plates, but in courses, as is customary in France. We tasted meat from the famous red & white Montbeliard cows, which were introduced by Joseph Graber, a Mennonite, in 1872.


And every single meal came with delicious Montbeliard cheese! 
We were impressed with the flawless organization of the entire event.


Old quilts that had been donated by USA and Canada after WWII were displayed and their stories told, while over  900 new comforters made by Swiss, German, Dutch, and French Mennonites were collected here to be shipped to Syria.

Mari Friesen (Switzerland) set up the large area to both display old quilts, show the history of  European Mennonites during and after WWII, and gave workshops on making comforters.  One could come any time and work on numerous comforters set up on quilt frames.  This type of blanket is an American tradition now being continued in Europe.  We enjoyed talking with Lynn Kaplanian-Buller, co-author of "Passing on the Comfort".


Just for my family:  I have to admit it was a neat surprise to turn the corner and see this poster of my parents and then leaf through the many stories collected from archives.  I'd forgotten the one when the people baking bread for the hundreds of Russian refugees in Berlin dumped in the flour bags from the States, only to discover little dark parts scattered throughout the dough. At first they tried to fish them out but it was useless, the mixing vat of dough at this professional bakery was too big.  Daddy later figured out that the well-meaning Mennos had put tracts into the flour.  It was one time that people really did eat the Word of God!


The cement stadium building was beautified by hundreds and hundreds of colorful comforters.


Comforters for Syria.

Assembling hygiene kits

Some of the hygiene kit buckets ready to load 


The comforters plus hundreds of filled MCC Relief hygiene buckets and school kits were packed into a container which will be shipped to Aleppo, Syria and distributed to refugees and displaced persons.  Presbyterian pastor Ibrahim Nseir from that city spoke to us and he will be in charge of distribution.  He spoke of the tolerance that used to exist there and told us of a statue from 5000 B.C that says, "If you disrespect a man's God, you disrespect him"!

This pastor's church started in 1848 and it was blown up on November 5, 2012 on the same day as  the "Great Mosque of Aleppo".  Muslims died defending the church and Christians died defending the mosque.  He impressed upon us that his congregation got help from all over Aleppo to rebuild the church, including from the Grand Mufti of Aleppo, who has said that only with Christians will there be a solution because of the teaching "Love your neighbor..."  He has a thriving school of now 1070 students, all Muslims but two Christians.

This has been a long blog.  Did you make it all the way to the end?  Bravo!  Thanks for reading about our experiences.  We're not getting much feedback, but we know there are a few of you readers out there.  Thanks for caring.



Wednesday, May 9, 2018

"Home" is always under the surface


A quick reflection on today's classes.  The morning class had some persons missing, which meant I was able to focus on individual challenges with the German present perfect tense.  That was good.  The afternoon discussion class went well.


We sat around on the benches in the courtyard while we waited for everyone to assemble.  Above these two exchanged hats and I thought they looked funny.  Both of them have had surgery because of skin cancer and have to be careful in the sun.  Today it was 81 degrees and sunny.


We had a light hearted conversation about this and that and I was pleased that everyone was participating (and I was thinking of enough questions).  Somehow at the very end we got to talking about houses, sky scrapers, which floor we live on and one of my favorite students (first picture center, always smiling)  told us that he used to live on the sixth floor.  And then he found the picture on his phone.  It was taken at the same time as the picture above, which I got from the internet.  His showed the intact city of Damascus.  A  tall building in the middle was his old home.  A huge plume of gray smoke was coming off the top.  One couldn't see any damage yet.  He says it's destroyed.  Someone from home sent it to him.  There was a tear in his eye, but a second later he was smiling as we all said goodbye.

Monday, May 7, 2018

cross - cultural visiting 3


Another potluck in which our course students and their families and Germans from the LU Mennonite Church share a meal and spend the afternoon together.  I was impressed that a Syrian family invited their neighbor (front right) to join us.  She is obviously a German who is willing to engage and become part of their life.  I enjoyed meeting her.


There was lovely interaction on many levels - Lena proud of her rainbow, Jenny proud of her cake, and Brigitta enjoying both.  When I'm home I'll be able to tell you about a special interaction in each of the pictures below. 













This Potluck is a good thing that Greg started.  It started at 1 p.m.   And the last people left at 5 p.m.!

We've been brainstorming a bit about all the other projects that are needed:  help with setting up and learning to use the internet/email to speed integration, assistance in improving parenting skills,  improved schoolwork assistance including accompanying parents to teacher conferences etc. 
The right people need to step forward.  That's our prayer.

Sunday, May 6, 2018

cross-culture visiting 2


On Sunday a student in my beginners class invited me for lunch.  He is in his first year here from Kabul, Afghanistan and his family still lives in the large holding place.  It is cramped, noisy, and they can't wait to get out!  But he will have to pass the integration test, the language test and be given official status to live in LU before he can look for an apartment.  For a long time he has wanted to host us and finally it was possible.  His older son near Heidelberg would host all of us, including Greg's family.

What an honor it was to get to know all these people.  His son has been here three years and has succeeded in passing the very high German tests, in addition to qualifying as an intern physician.  Next year he will take another test in medicine and start his specialization in cardiology.  He works as a doctor and diagnoses illnesses among refugees.  He told us 80 % of his patients have TB and 80 % of them come from Africa and Georgia.  It costs the German gov't €15,000 per T.B. patient, but all can be healed.


In class my student had often talked about his wife's amazing Afgani cooking and he was right.  Every dish was tasty and a treat.  They had worked many hours to put on this spread for us.  We were able to enjoy it in the backyard of their apartment house.


This was almost the last day of April, but it got so hot outside that we retreated indoors for the dessert.


Children are our future.  Trite, but so true.  These two played together without a common language.


He had to leave everything behind, his career, his home, his friends and the life he had built.  It was obviously very important to him to be able to lavish us with hospitality and let us see how well his son is doing.  1.5 hours by train from there is his "temporary" home in LU, squeezed together with many other refugees.  It's very humbling and can be disheartening.  It was our privilege to be invited!

Saturday, May 5, 2018

Holy-days, holidays, the fine art of celebrating work by not working

Tuesday was May 1 - May Day - the celebration world-wide of working people. And, we went to a May Day celebration in a local park on this national holiday in Germany.


The stage showed the many groups in solidarity with one another for the workers and their families.


There's always a chance to support the good work with sausages and beer (the sign behind me says "Beer brewing can be a form of art." It seemed like most of the "workers" celebrating May Day were grey folks like me who currently are not "gainfully" employed.  Not to say that Ruth is not working HARD . . . and I am certainly in solidarity with her doing that, keeping up my energy with plenty of kuchen (pastries), chocolate and the occasional beer . . . but just to say that the "workers movement" (at least in Ludwigshafen) seems pretty old and grey.


One of the main reasons we went was to support our friends at Respekt Menschen! - who had a booth.  Their flyers were all over the food tables - encouraging attendees to support the recent refugees who have taken shelter in LU.   There were about twenty different booths, all promoting social engagement and working families.


While at it, this year marks the hundredth anniversary of women in Germany getting the right to vote - a year after Canada and two years before the 19th Amendment gave the same rights to women in the USA.  Talk about solidarity with hard workers!

Speaking of working and not working, here's just an observation: it is amazing how "religious" Germany is for a "post-Christian" society.  In May there will be four public holidays in the state of Rheinland-Palatinate, and all but today are Christian holy-days:  Christi Himmelfahrt (Ascension day May 10),  Pfingstmontag (Pentecost Monday May 20) and Fronleichnam (Corpus Christi - the Catholic holiday that celebrates the Eucharist or Holy Communion.)  Some of these holidays fall during the week - like today (Tuesday) - and many schools have off Monday (and some Wednesday as well). Shops close as well as all other government services. There is no option for stores other than restaurants, coffee shops and tourist attractions to stay open. 

Just one reason that Walmart was not successful in Germany - not only could it not be open all night any night, but they had to be closed every holiday. (There are also stories of many other reasons - like Germans not embracing the greeters at the doors or forcing cashiers to smile or their locations on the edge of towns when most people don't want to drive - and then there was the formidable presence of Aldi, who they never were able to undersell or even compete with.)  Read the classic NYT story of Walmart's failure from over a decade ago.  

Looking on all these holidays as a former retailer, I blanch a bit at the idea of so many lost days of selling (even though our stores were closed every Sunday).  But Ruth has happy memories of being a school student and having so many breaks in the school year. It made the year generally less stressful - the schools run until late June or into July, depending on the state. And summer vacation is less than half the length of North America's.



It is interesting what makes up "culture" even in liberal democracies that have tried hard to make the state safe for all religions, tribes and peoples - whether native or immigrant. Germany has a reputation as one of the most productive countries in the world - when people work in Germany, they work. They don't answer cell phones from home or try to run a business on the side - they work when they work. And maybe it is because they take so many holidays and vacation days that they are able to be so productive. This past spring a study showed the average worker in Germany working 1363 hours in 2017 compared to the average American working 1783 and Canadian 1703. The study by the  Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has been quoted widely in the international press (here's an example from the London Telegraph). 

It is fascinating how often particularly American media has read this as "who works the hardest in the world" - not, what the report tallies - who works the longest hours in he world. Just sayin'- reminds me of the old time management slogan: "Are you working hard, or are you working smart?" The measure of work is not how long you work, but how much you get done. And Germans get a lot done in a lot fewer hours. ... and then take a holiday . . .  Just sayin' . . . 

Thursday, May 3, 2018

cross-cultural visiting 1


On Saturday we had a wonderful family over.  We'd invited them for the main meal of the day and I'd left it to them to choose the time.  I only spoke with the husband since he comes to classes and suddenly, just two days before, he said they'd come for coffee.  I couldn't change his mind, except to add "and cake".  I will never know if this change was because they didn't feel comfortable with or sure about my halal cooking, or whether he wanted to make less work for me.

In the end we had a good time together.  The wife and children have only been here one year and five months, whereas he came three years ago.  The children speak very good German, the wife hardly any.  We'd previously spent an evening with them and already knew them, so it was a friendly relaxed time.

Except that the father told us more details about his life in Syria, as a ship engineer specializing in hydraulics, and about his arbitrary capture, torture, and imprisonment from which he escaped by bribing a military man.  It was a hard story to hear and it was very emotional for him to recall the experiences in Syria and then his escape via Beirut, Istanbul  by boat to Italy and then to Germany.  I don't feel free to give details here, but will share his story in person.

In addition to Arabic, he can communicate in Russian, somewhat in English and now he is learning German.  He is not able to work because his German written and verbal skills are still lacking.  He is the kind of man who makes a great neighbor.  He is willing to drop everything and help.  Greg once asked his wife what his hobbies are.  She answered in Arabic,"helping people!" See picture below taken in the first weeks of our time here.  He volunteered many hours getting our apartment fixed up and especially our kitchen installed!


Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Frankfurt part 2 - roots

My father, Peter J Dyck, was a young boy in Russia, whose life was saved by one of the early food distributions by the newly formed Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).  Check out 1 min video


We lived in Frankfurt from 1957 - 67 because my father was MCC director for Europe and North Africa.  When we visited the old MCC house, the present pastor showed us this sample can she'd "inherited" from the post-war help MCC gave the German Mennonites and the Russian Mennonite refugees.

The Eysseneckstr. 54 housed the Mennonite church downstairs then as it still does today.


The MCC offices and living quarters have been changed into apartments.


Both Rebecca and I were happy to see the beautiful staircase that still leads up four flights and then we got to climb the last steep attic stairs to where our mother packed parcels for Mennonites in Russia.  She did this on behalf of their relatives in the U.S. and Canada, for whom it was not possible in those days.  She would buy all kinds of specific tools and items they needed in addition to donated clothing and shoes.


Rebecca expressed my feelings also, when she recently wrote: "I guess what struck me was the opposite of "you can't go home again"; obviously the city has changed and so have we, but it was very comforting to sort of have my memories confirmed, by the places and by you. I somehow feel more rooted now."