Oma's kitchen

One evening this week we invited the congregation to hear Ivan's (not real name, man on left) story.  When we first arrived his family donated their recently deceased grandma's entire kitchen- cupboards, counters, stove, sink, washing machine.  Through a Mennonite contact at the social services it came to us.  Ivan brought it and Jack and a student at Friedenshaus, Bilal, installed it.
Ivan told us this amazing story of his grandma and we wanted the congregation to hear it and you too.

We can't serve you yummy German cookies, fruit and munchies.  You'll have to get your own cup of tea to go along with this story.

Ivan's family is from Kazakhstan.  Both his great-grandparents' families were German immigrants to Russia.  One was Mennonite, the other was Catholic.  His grandma (Oma) married a man, who was the only person in his family to become a devout Communist.  In fact, he was the director of a large Kolchoz, a collective farm.  He forbade any Christian symbols or literature in his home, so Oma grew up as a communist.

At 47 she was working summers in Sibera to be closer to her daughter who, because she had completed her teacher training, was randomly sent to Karaganda.  Oma actually did the housekeeping on a ship that her son-in-law captained.  While in the city she discovered one day that women's shoes were for sale - quite a rare occasion in the USSR.  In those days people waited all day in long lines.  Often they didn't even know what they were queuing up for.  Everything was so scarce.  When she finally got to the salesperson, she discovered the only pair of shoes left was a 42 (size 10), four sizes too big!  She quickly decided to buy them anyway, thinking she could always re-sell them back in Kazakhstan.

No one in her circle of family or friends had that shoe size.  So they sat in her closet.  One day she was at a bus stop back in Kazakhstan, when she saw a woman with large feet.  She asked her what her shoe size was.  Sure enough, size 42!  The woman immediately agreed to come to her house the next day and buy the shoes.  She not only brought the necessary money, but also a Bible.  She read a bit to her and invited her to come to church the next Sunday.

On Sunday she picked Oma up.  When Oma heard the sermon she got very angry.  She couldn't believe that this woman had told the pastor all about her, her life, her struggles.  How could he possibly know all this pertinent info?  The woman was puzzled and assured her that she hadn't told the pastor anything. 

The next Sunday she didn't hear anything of the sermon, but was entranced by the verse on the wall, John 3:16.  Again, she felt personally addressed.  The next week she spoke with the pastor and he assured her that God was speaking to her.  She decided to believe and become a Christian.  At that time in Russia, Baptists and Mennonites and other protestants all worshiped together, and tried to stay under the communist radar.

She had to wait over two summers to be baptized because she could only be immersed in the summer and she'd always be gone in Siberia.  As it was, the river wasn't frozen yet one September and she was baptized.

There is so much else, many historical details, and other amazing ways in which God reached into this family, but a blog isn't the place.  I just wanted to share this story, which Ivan told from his heart.

What is Friedenshaus (Peace House) ?

Greg Rabus launched Friedenshaus (FH) in early 2016.  Its goal is to create and foster relationships and a culture of peace in our LU neighborhood through our German classes, weekly sewing group, homework assistance, outings, potlucks and many other more informal interactions.  The FH website (click on English at the top) says: "The programs of FH take place in the LU Mennonite Church. The FH is a project of the regional Mennonite conference of the Rhineland-Palatinate.  We are also supported by Mennonite churches in Canada. "     

In the picture above Greg is addresses the crowd of about 45-50 persons at our recent potluck.

You have already read about the many languages represented in our student body.  We also have new persons showing up every week.  Some drop out because the long awaited official language course has found a spot for them.  Depending on their schedule some continue with us on a limited basis.

This is the women's side of my class.  Greg happened to have Ian along and posed behind them.  Children are a wonderful icebreaker and provide an instant inter-cultural connection!

Jack's childcare is invaluable to the mothers who attend our classes.  We always have one advanced class and one beginner in the upstairs room and the basement fellowship hall.  

   

Greg and Jennifer will be leaving Germany in June and a replacement for Greg needs to be found in order for FH to continue.  Above you have a glimpse of homework help every Monday evening.  I think this could be vastly expanded.  FH could branch out to other initiatives with more volunteers.  Above is Hanna, a university student who helps with my advanced discussion class every Wedneday afternoon.  It's wonderful that we have regular volunteers also from the LU Mennonite Church!

A participant baked an Arabic cake for Greg and us.  Every morning and afternoon we have a coffee / tea break.  We sometimes provide bought cookies and sometimes participants bring homemade baked goods from their culture.  

Jack is the person in charge of coffee time and he does a great job of having the drinks ready, even with kids hanging on his pant legs, and then interacting with the adults.

Mondays women make comforters downstairs, while children get homework help upstairs (and Jack and others from the LU church work on making the new youth room in the basement).  In picture above some girls came down to help connect fabric squares.

Sometimes women who are our students come to the sewing and sometimes family members show up.  The LU Mennonite women learned how to make comforters (American style for MCC distribution to refugees) with the encouragement of Jennifer and Marla Langelotz, a previous volunteer.  They are presently working on their 15th comforter!  

Our daughter asked us to explain the  FH and its work.  I hope this has been helpful.  Please let us know other questions.

Abraham trophy

Jeremiah:  Day and night I cry for the martyrs of my people

"Sadly we remember all Jewish people who were innocently persecuted, humiliated and murdered in the years 1933-45 by the Nazis."

We attended a program of the Society for Christian-Jewish cooperation.  This organization was founded 4 years after the end of WWII.  And since 2001 they have given a "Abraham trophy" to one school in Mannheim and one school across the river in Ludwigshafen (LU) every year.  See below between the picture frames.

Each school promises to focus on promoting understanding between people of different religions.  They do this in many classes, outings, programs etc  for one year and then pass it on (done today to the 33rd and 34th schools).

Over 400 persons attended the program in the Jewish fellowship hall - speeches, theatrical presentations, slide show, pantomime, RAP music with their own words, all very authentic and meaningful.

In the hallway before the program we had time to admire the artwork of some of the students.

On stage and here on the poster one can recognize how many students from other nationalities are now part of the German classes and participating in this exercise.  It was quite moving to hear refugee and immigrant children in skits on respect, prejudice, fears, assistance, loneliness, and inclusion. The theme for this year's school is "Overcoming Fear and Building Bridges".

One of the adult speakers pointed out that it has always been a danger to fail to recognize a person as an individual and just consign him/her to a "group".  Then he added that nowadays in Germany this is more real and more challenging to now put into practice, than for a long time previously.  (Tolerance is something that German school teach as zealously as American school teach against smoking.)

I'm glad we attended.  It was fun to talk with these students afterwards and hear about how they prepared for the program.  On a lighter note, I thoroughly enjoyed being a spectator rather than a teacher on the spot with the responsibility for the many excited students.

International Potluck

It was like a regular potluck except that it took place on Saturday from 1 - 5 p.m. !

And the foods were culturally authentic and even though it might look like regular cake or cupcakes, it all tasted exotic and delicious!

Usually these movable walls form one side of my classroom and the sanctuary is on the other side.  However, our students helped us move the heavy over 100 year old benches and set up three rows of tables.

There was lively conversation everywhere!

I was particularly impressed with how much effort the German LU church members put into engaging with our students.  I know the students and their family members really appreciated this interaction.

Here is our building neighbor talking with a new student, who is putting Greg and Jenny's little Ian to sleep.  Not only inter-cultural, but very inter-generational as well!

Children were everywhere.  This 3rd grader came up to me and said in perfect German, "This is the best meal I've ever had!"

Couscous came about an hour late, but many of us still enjoyed it.  Jack was surprised when his
neighbor from Afghanistan commented that he'd never tasted couscous before!  Their cultures are in some respects similar and in many very different.

This woman put hours and hours of work into a beautiful rice and chicken dish.  She even sent some home with us.

This young woman brought flowers in addition to couscous.

There was plenty of help.  I failed to take a picture of all the young girls who took care of all the dishes (all china!).  Above the men are removing tables and setting up the heavy benches.  Everyone agreed it had been a wonderful time together!

Deportation

Yes, we participated in a protest.  Armen and Aram are the names of the father and son.  "Gegen Abschiebung" means against deportation.  In LU in the middle of the night the police came to their apartment and took them, leaving the mother and her severely mobility challenged daughter behind.  Usually deported folk have a five year forbidden re-entry.  Theirs is two years.  This gives us protesters some hope. Still, the mother, with help of Respekt Menschen and her friends from the university, is trying to bring attention to this inhumane treatment.

Above are some of the students who know her.  Wednesday afternoons Hanna comes to my class and helps me.  She is a German student at the same university.  She is studying social work and is wonderful to have in class.  She can add so much to make our conversation interesting and meaningful.  On that Wednesday of the protest we had painstakingly worked our way through a one page info about the family.  Hanna helped with lots of terms they didn't know.  When we were done they wanted to confirm again that this was a real story!  Hanna and I invited them to the protest.  Those who didn't have other engagements came along.  It started off as a small group in front of the offices for foreigners (where we got our residence permits). 

There were some speeches and the police were watchful on the sides of the street.

While Germany is world renown for taking in well over a million refugees, it still deals with deportations.  This family is from Armenia and that is a country that isn't considered "dangerous"at this time.  Of course, this family sees it differently.  They realize that the mother is allowed to stay in Germany because she had severe cancer and now is a university student and the daughter is completely wheelchair bound (and is attending a special school). 

You can see a video clip from TV here 

Even if you can't understand what she is saying, you can tell that her German is very good. She has now been in Germany 4 years. She has recovered from her cancer and is studying to become a social worker.  In fact, her grades were so good and in addition she devoted countless voluntary hours in her field, that in December she was awarded a prestigious prize from her university.  This is one reason why everyone knows her.  The fact that she is so selfless and successful in her studies, in spite of her situation, is amazing.  

She could only do this with the help of her husband at home.  He and the 16  year old son came on visitors visas almost 2 years ago.  The son had managed to pass the German language test at a high level and had gotten a placement to job training.  They had both been working at applying and re-applying for permission to stay in Germany.  2 days after the deportation the son's job training permission was denied!  Now the family is not only dealing with this forced separation, but also with the fear that he'll be conscripted into the Armenian army when he soon turns 18.

 What do you think of this poster?  Menschlichkeit is a terrific word.  It can translate as humanitarianism / humane / benevolence ... Some posters even said "Mitmenschlichkeit".  Mit means with.  So it's asking us to be humans with other humans and treat them in a humane way!

 No human being is illegal!

We have heard in the news that Trump's people are planning to separate immigrant families in the hopes of sending a negative message to families who want to stay together:  Don't come to the USA.

My nephew Sasha sent me this info about German pilots refusing to fly deported family members.  Click here to read.

Well, we marched a little over half a mile, through the shopping mall, to a large square.  By this time many had joined.  The TV camera was there and lots of speeches followed.  The woman was present with her daughter.  I didn't feel right taking a picture. Her face was so drawn and sad.

This deportation is contrary to "Mitmenschlichkeit" 

- the humane treatment of our fellow human beings!

We all wore tags:  The family belongs together!

Women's World Day of Prayer

Suriname was the focus of Women's World Day of Prayer last Friday, March 2.  I didn't realize that Suriname is in the northeastern part of South America.  Jack and I attended a service at which many women from various denominations in LU gathered.  (Yes, Jack was the lone male!)  The service lasted exactly one hour and involved lots of congregational singing and readings by about ten women up front. With Suriname as the focal point we heard a lot about respecting and caring for God's creation.  Google the country.  You'll be amazed at some of the facts.  Jack and I were surprised to be invited afterwards to the fellowship hall of the Melanchton church.  The hosting women had gone to a lot of effort to make foods from Suriname.  Our table had a lively conversation and time flew.  When we finally made our way home it was through thick falling snow.  By the next day it disappeared again.

German Pastries

(This post is not for Misha!)  Tuesday we had a free day and decided to take the train to see the Speyer Cathedral.  It's famous for being the oldest romanesque example of a "Dom"= cathedral.  Well, our predecessor Karl had recommended some bakeries in that town. Jack took that as a challenge and we succeeded in finding three yummy pastries to take home.  Hours later we were waiting for our train and couldn't find a WC anywhere.  So we went to a nearby bakery (yes, thank heavens they're everywhere!!) and while I used the bathroom, Jack was supposed to buy one item.  Restrooms are restricted to clients in all stores, and most stores do not make restrooms available. So once home we unpacked our loot.  This was our supper!  Happy Times Indeed!
Full disclosure:  We really were celebrating something - but I can't remember what it was!

Now I feel like I should at least give you a glimpse of the cathedral.  I'm standing beside the center fountain.  That gives you a sense of the size.  We hope to attend a concert here some time.