Limburg an der Lahn

... so heißt es ja eigentlich richtig! Und da das zu unserem Bistum dazu gehört war es natürlich auch nur eine Frage der Zeit, wann Nadine diese Erfahrung macht. Letztes Wochenende war es dann soweit: Nadine macht ihre erste Paddeltour!

Gemeinsam mit Freunden aus Eschhofen ging die Kanutour in Villmar los. 12km waren es bis das Ziel Eschhofen erreicht wurde. 2008 war bereits eine Jugendgruppe aus der Pfarrei in Kumbo zu Besuch. Somit kennt Nadine die Truppe schon aus Kumbo. Insgesamt war es für alle Beteiligten ein sonniger Tag voller Spaß und: keiner ist in die Lahn gefallen!

Herzliche Einladung!

Es nähert sich die große Sommerpause und deswegen haben wir uns in der Pfarrgemeinde St. Josef dafür entschieden Nadine noch vor den langen Sommerferien zu verabschieden. Sie sind herzlich eingeladen zum Gottesdienst in St. Josef am Donnerstag, den 25. Juni um 18.15 Uhr und zu einer Begegnung danach im Foyer (Berger Str. 135).

Budge-Stift

Seit Nadine hier ist war klar, dass sie einen Teil ihrer Praktikumszeit in einem Altenheim verbringt. In ihrer ersten Email an mich äußerte Nadine bereits diesen Wunsch, da ihr der Umgang mit alten Menschen besonders am Herzen liegt - so ist sie es auch aus ihrer Kultur gewöhnt. Und da sie inzwischen auch gut deutsch sprechen kann fühlt sie sich dieser Herausforderung gewachsen. Seit zwei Wochen geht sie immer für drei Tage die Woche ins Budge-Heim (FFM/Seckbach). Wie sie ihre erste Zeit dort erlebt hat, lesen Sie hier:

"I have longed to work with the old and now is the time. I have been three times to the retirement home and there I find fulfillment. The Budge Retirement home have approximately six hundred inmates, Jews and Christians Life expectancy is of course higher here in Europe than with us in Cameroon or Africa as a whole. Hundreds are rare cases in my country, totally a contrast to what I have experience during my first days in the retirement home. That aside, the old in my country stay back home with the families. There is totally the absence of retirement homes in my country, thus the old are bound to stay and spend their old days with the families. The still competent old people even take care of the grand and great grand children while the parents strife to meet end means for the family.
Life seems quite interesting here in the retirement home especially for the still physically fit ones. That aside some of them feel very sad separating from their families and leaving all alone with people they had never known all their life. This can also be difficult for those working with them if they are not capable of fighting or suppressing their emotions.
Long life expectancy can also be disadvantageous. I have come in contact with very old who can neither set not eat by themselves. Day in day out, they lie in bed waiting for death to knock at their doors. Some I was told even refuse food with the hope that death will come in to no avail.
Spending time with the old is of course a great experience. You learn about the past and offer to them your time and service .Just a walk with them or serving them at table invokes abundant gratitude more than deserved. It is a time of rest but it can also be a hard rest depending on the expectations one put forward to this time.
Personally I fill happy being with them though it is difficult for me when some of them are sad but my presence seem also very welcomed by a handful of them."

Nadines 4. Gastfamilie berichtet

Nadine bei Angele, Rainer und Erik Bock
Die zwei Monate mit Nadine waren schnell vorüber.
Für uns waren es zwei reiche und interessante Monate.

Nadine hat wirklich schnell Deutsch gelernt.
Nach vier, fünf Monaten konnte sie sich recht gut ausdrücken.
Wir haben versucht, im wesentlichen Deutsch mit Nadine zu sprechen,
aber manchmal setzte sich das Französische oder Englische durch.

Vielleicht hat Nadine den multi-kulturellen Aspekt von Frankfurt bei uns ein bisschen erlebt.
Über die unterschiedlichen Sprachen und Gerichte. Noch schneller als die Sprache hat sie gelernt, mit Stäbchen zu essen.

Wir hatten auch das Glück, dass Nadine uns ein kamerunisches Essen zubereitet hat.
Mit Fisch und getrocknetem Gemüse, aus Kamerun mitgebracht. Lecker!

Wir unternahmen zwei Ausflüge, einmal nach Bad Mergentheim, Rainers Geburtsort,
mit dem Besuch der Gräber und anschließender Weiterfahrt ins obligatorische nahe Rothenburg. Wenn schon nicht mit Paris, so erlebte Nadine aber mit Straßburg nach Kamerun und Deutchland ihr drittes Land, in dem sie am liebsten geblieben wäre (weil da jeder Kellner im Cafe Popol kennt).

Ihre Liebe zum Fußball wird sicher noch im nächsten Bericht erwähnt, hier nur,
dass weder kirchliche Unterstützung aus St.Josef, noch Nadines und Eriks Anwesenheit der Eintracht beim 0:5 gegen Bremen geholfen haben.

Nadine ist ein kluges, religiöses Mädchen, das strahlend lachen kann,
das aber auch eine melancholische Seite hat, was wir gut verstehen.
Nadine liebt Kinder, ihre Familie, ihr Land und sie ist sehr mit ihrer Gemeinde verbunden.

Wir wünschen Nadine ganz herzlich, dass sie sich nach ihrer Rückkehr nach Kamerun engagieren kann in sozialen Aktivitäten mit Kindern und Jugendlichen ihrer Gemeinde. Und dass sie auch ihren Wunsch umsetzen kann, Journalismus zu studieren, in diesem Bereich zu arbeiten, zu ihrer Freude und auch zur Unterstützung ihrer Familie.

Gemeinsames Kochen beim Frauentreff

Heute war es dann soweit! Nachdem Nadine im vorherigen Treffen bei den Frauen Informationen über ihre Heimat in Kamerun gegeben hat, sollte sich nun der Gaumen erfreuen. Das gemeinsame Kochen von Spezialitäten aus Nadines Region stand auf der Tagesordnung. Ich persönlich war sehr überrascht wir gut mir doch so manches aufeinmal wieder geschmeckt hat! Für mich war das Essen während meiner Zeit in Kumbo doch sehr gewöhnungsbedürftig... So manches musste eingedeutscht werden, da gewisse Arten von Gemüse einfach nicht aufzufinden waren. Es hat wirklich gut geschmeckt und selbst Nadine war zufrieden und fand es lecker. Wie sie den Abend erlebt hat, lesen Sie hier:

"Women can be the same where ever they are. Cameroonian kitchen was then what the women´s group in St Josef set aside on the evening of 5Th June. Just the time the women gave for this evening was amusing, reminding me of women in the kitchen in Cameroon.
Three main dishes were set aside for this particular evening, Fufu-corn with Hackle Berry with chicken, Ndole´(bitter leaves) with plantain and Coco-yams with Pumpkin soap(Egusi soap). The women, about ten in number had two good busy hours preparing the food following the recipe´we wrote and asking questions where they had doubts.The above mentioned dishes could not all be found here so substitutes were used, “Mangold” for Hackle Berry and “spinat” for bitter leaves: How ever the taste variation was not vast.I really had the test eating it and most of the food was enjoyed by the women but for Coco-yams and “njamanjama” because of the palm oil. Each one of them felt satisfied and relieved when I own dish went successfully and all finally was a success.
The Cameroonian dining table was then decorated with hand -made elephants from paper and some green leaves. The food however was not completely African. Wine was served alongside the food with fruit salad as desert. One can always be able to prepare his traditional meal in a foreign land provided he is able to substitute. I hope to try also German specialties while back in Cameroon using that same method of substitution."

72-Stunden Aktion im Bistum Limburg

Und St. Josef war mit zwei Gruppierungen dabei - und natürlich Nadine auch! Wie sie die 72 Stunden erlebt hat, lesen Sie hier:

"UNS SCHICKT DER HIMMEL
The nation wide social campaign, 72 hours action initiated by the BDKJ took effect on Thursday 7th May at exactly 5:07pm. There were a total of 13 groups in Frankfurt, one called youths of St. Josef Bornheim to which i belonged. These groups had in all four projects. namely, Kinder-garden, Retirement home youth house and a centre for women. My group, a group of 8 had the kinder-garden project, a project which they could not have hat a rest until their work came to an end. The launching took place at the Liebefrauenberg in the city where leaders from every group went up stage to introduce the groups and to say what they had in stock for the project.This was accompanied by animation from a group called “four men on the kitchen floor". After getting our assignment, we then spend the rest if the evening in the parish planning for the next day which ended at about 11pm with a super of Pizza.
Friday was dedicated wholly to playing with the kids and the elder ones who came in the afternoon. Many games were put at the disposal of the kids and they were very happy. It was so amusing that the kids found it comfortable in the midst of these strangers and were sad when I told them we will not come back to the the next week. It was also nice for to see that the kids enjoyed themselves and had really fun through out our day with them. How ever they kinder-garden close at 4pm meaning that our project for the day had come to the end. We then spend a few hours planing for the next day after which we disperse to meet the next day.
Saturday was officially scheduled to clean the fence outside the kindergarten but that seemed too small for the group of it which longed to give out their best for the project. The head mistress of the kindergarten was therefore asked if we could change the sand in the play ground? To this she gave and affirmative response and immediately we got sand from a group in Mainz which had more sand that the needed. The question which followed was, how will the sand come to us?Appeals were then send to parents but the vehicles could not carry sand.The group leader then came with the idea of appealing to to the fire fighting brigade. Here are his words when he called.“We are not an emergency but we need help“. Explaining that it was a group from the 72 hours action and then came a positive answer but it was not to be done immediately.We then spend the time during this interval cleaning the fence and weeding grass and digging little trees which could be harmful to the kids.Some parents also called by to give some support thus steaming more vigor for the work.Some material was also bought late in the afternoon still to make the play ground for comfortable for the kids.
By 8pm, we were already through with every other thing and waiting for the arrival of the sand..Every sound of a vehicle attracted our attention as we waited anxiously.Then came the organizing committee from JONA to see how far we had gone.As lucky as our group was,just as we were discussing with the team from JONA came hoots from the fire fighting brigade lorry outside the building.WE them received help from the tea m but unfortunately the rains brought our work to a ha ult but we still continued when it finally ceased.Then came a mother with her two young children and will not leave us alone until we had finished the final touches of our work at about 12:30am.We then had our supper together,pizza which was also eaten with good taste despite the fatigue.
We then parted at this juncture to meet the next day at 11:am morning for breakfast in the kinder-garden.This was prepared for us by the headmistress and her staff as a sign of the appreciation accompanied by tickets for the cinema.We then tidied up and parted company to meet again in the evening for the closing mass.During the mass.each group came out with a resume´of their activity accompanied by a symbol.The mass was animated by two groups,brothers $ sister and four men on the kitchen.The youth chaplain in his sermon thank the young people for taking up the challenge and said that just like the theme,they were sent from heaven and that after the work they are returning to heaven.By implication he called on the youths to remain those same messengers they had impersonated during the action in their daily lives.The activity finally ended with super of bread and sausages and sweet drinks in the JONA hall.It was indeed a successful event and a memorable one of course."

Messdienerin Nadine

Es folgt ein kleiner Erfahrungsbericht von Nadine als Messdienerin in St. Josef. Während meiner Zeit in Kumbo habe ich NIE eine MessdienerIN gesehen - immer durften nur die Jungs dienen. Ich hoffe, Bischof George nimmt uns das nicht übel :-)

"MY EXPERIENCE AS A MASS SERVER IN ST JOSEF

All my life in kumbo I have never serve at mass. It was not a common place activity for girls in our diocese few years back and I actually never thought of joining the group even when it was finally introduced in my parish. Some parishes still have mass serving as a group meant only for boys since they are still enough boys to serve every Sunday at mass. There are other groups where the girls can fit themselves like YCS, YCW and Cardets of Mary.

This is not the case in St Josef where approximately 2/3 of the group´s members are girls. Besides this is the main youth group in the parish and the young mass expressed their wish to have me with them. I will also have no other forum to meet the young people if not in the mass servers group. They have a well organized setting. I like it in the group because my friends and other young people I know all belong to the group. I did not think it that fascinating at the beginning but I am contented it mass serving at the moment. It is also another Experience because I think I would not have done it in kumbo under normal circumstances. The Young Christian Students´ group had been from the early years my choice."