Saturday 30 October 2010

WHO DO I WORK FOR?


Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste (ASF) is an organisation that was founded in 1958, as a result of the sufferings from the Second World War. Today the organisation work togehter with individuals and organisations from other countries that particulary suffered under the terror of National Socialism.

There are currently twenty international volunteers in Germany every year. Additionally, altogether 150 volunteers (manly from Germany) are working in Belarus, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, the Czech Republic, the Ukraine and the United States.

The founder of the organisation, Lothar Kreyssig, wanted to build up a powerful resistance against the bitterness and hatred within post World War II Germany. He believed that peace has its roots in reconciliation and atonement, and based on the conviction that the first step must come from the side of the perpetrators and their decedents, Kreyssig and his co-founders asked the people, who had suffered violence "because of us" for premission to go to their countries and do something good. The hope was that these actions would be characterized by forgiveness and peace. "We the German people began the Second World War, and we, more than any other people, are guilty of haveing caused the immeasurable sufferings of mankind. Gemans have, in wicked revolt against God, killed millions of Jews. Those of us who had lived through this and had not wanted it to happen, did not do enough to prevent it." This states the first declaration of the organisation from 1958.

The work of ASF was originally intended for Germany as a whole, but soon thereafter the division, it prevented Germany on both sides from working together. Two different versions of the organisation developed in the two German states. While in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) reconciliatory work began in 1962, mainly with summer work camps for people from different countries, the work of ASF in West Germany began in 1959, with service in Western- and Northern Europe. Now, these two facilities are combined in one organisation.

The volunteer work is the biggest part of the organisation also today. ASF believes that by letting young people participating in peace-oriented activities, it wil stimulate to more peace-oriented and tolerant behaviour from these same people in the future. Therefor ASF is involved in projects which work against discrimination of persons because of their religious, political, national or social origins, birth, disadvantages and handicaps, age, gender or sexual identity, skin color or language. The projects for the volunteers vary from caring for survivors of the Holocaust, to living and working together with disadvantaged children and adolescents, the disabled, ethnic minorities, and refugees - from community work in poor neighbourhoods to other types of memorial site work and administration service.


My service in the organisation is to work in the ASF information office in Berlin, with PR-related work. Mostly that means that I update their webpage http://www.asf-ev.de/ with event-notifications. I have also been working with their membership magazine - shortening and editing intentional printed text. In adition, my work also include preparing and hosting public events and preparations for summer work camps. Recently I have also been assisting in on a filmproject here.

My project in the ASF office is also combined with a social project visiting elderly people (once a week).

I am a norwegian, and here is the norwegian ASF webpage: http://www.asf-venner.org/

I started my volunteer service in Berlin, Germany 1. September 2010
For this job, I get 310 EURO per month, a rom in an appartemen free of charge and free public transportation.

No comments:

Post a Comment