Hunger for curiosity and support for refugees in Hannover

Martina Amberg recently held a Street Wisdom event to draw attention to a refugee education project in Hannover, Germany. Held at the Katholische Familienbildungsstätte (Catholic Family Education Centre or Fabi ), the project is called ‘Wortfinder‘ and helps refugee children to learn German so they can begin a new life in their adopted country….

“It was the very first Street Wisdom event here in Hannover. As I held it, I was really thrilled in advance. Would people come? Would they like it? There were 14 guests, all of them enthusiastic to discover new things in the well known streets and places. And they really did – already while we were tuning up our senses. Some of them liked so much moving really very slowly that we needed more time to go on. It was such a pleasure to see that. Then we started the quest phase, wandering around in an ancient part of Hannover.

I had my own question with me while I was walking around: ‘How can I have a bit more spice in my daily life?’ I found a narrow and romantic path between the old houses and decided to follow it. But I discovered that it ended up as a dead end – firmly locked by an iron gate and several waste bins beside. ‘How disappointing’, I thought and turned back to the beginning, feeling a bit frustrated. And just there I saw it: a large plaque in front of a restaurant. Somebody had written on it “Neugier macht Appetit” (I would translate it as “Curiosity creates appetite”). The moment I read it, I recognised that this was a really wonderful answer to my question.

With a big smile I went on to reach our second meeting point. There, I could enjoy being curious and listen to the stories the others had found. All of them shared so many experiences although most of them hadn´t known each other before. It was just amazing – like discovering an unexpected treasure. At last, the leader of the center presented some information about the refugee project. My impression was that my guests were much more opened-minded to learn about that project than they would have been without their Street Wisdom experience. I´m really looking forward to the next SW event here in Hannover or anywhere else.”

Martina Amberg

Other comments from Street Wisdom Hannover:

“Normally, I find it so annoying to be in the city – today I really recognized that all theses “obstacles” are human beings too….”

“When I was wandering around with my – really personal – question, I discovered lots of impressions, like the parts of a jigsaw puzzle and now I take them with me to find out how they fit together”

“Normally I´m going the straightest way from A to B – but after I started to slow down, I noticed so many new things around me. Of course I know they have been there for a long time – but I just have seen them for the first time. That encourages me to have more very slow walks in my daily life”

“I came here to learn how I could find more contentedness in my life – and here I got the idea that I don´t have to change my life but maybe only the  way of looking at my daily life”

“In my daily life I often feel annoyed and angry about really small matters. When I was wandering around I heard so many people complaining about this and that – just as I often use to do and I realised how unnecessary this is. I hope I will manage better to stop complaining about such nothings”

 

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