The "Deutsches Rotes Kreuz"(DRK) originated from the will to give aid without discerimination to the wounded of the battlefields, tries in his international and national activity to prevent human suf-fering everywhere and to relieve it any time. It is anxious to protect life and health and to get esteem to the dignity of any person. It promotes mutual understanding, friendship, collaboration and a lasting peace among all people.

In the youth welfare group "Seebad" in Erkner, which belongs to the DRK, there live boys and girls at the age of 4 - to 18 years. In the girl's housing groups in Erkner, there are 8 places for girls which need care as a part of special protection due to sexual abuse, eating disturbances, disturbed relati-ons with the origin family, school problems among other things.

According to the principles of the DRK all action at the home "Seebad" is led by a humanistic and cosmopolitan view. The children and youngsters are seen as a personality, in connection with her families, her social sphere and the respective biography, however, regardless of nationality and social origin. On the basis of the available resources the DRK- youth welfare group "Seebad" wants to provide the ability for the children and youngsters entrusted to them either to live in their old so-cial sphere or to create their own life and to handle it.

The city of Erkner has approx. 12,000 inhabitants and is situated in an area rich in wood with many lakes in the administrative district Oder-Spree in Brandenburg. Situated on the eastern fringes of Berlin, young people in Erkner often orientate themselves towards the capital. The infrastructure consists among other things of various supermarkets, cinema, bar, bowling centre…; the traffic faci-lities to Berlin (approx. 20 minutes to the centre) are good. Different youth scenes have risen in Erk-ner to which also young people from the surrounding villages feel accompanying. Besides, the in-fluence of Berlin is clearly perceptible.

In the DRK-youth welfare group "Seebad" European volunteers were not yet active.

Tasks

For the European arrangement process it is important, that the youngsters introduce their own experiences and wishes. The best way to achieve that aim is to familiarize oneself with the language, the culture and the inhabitants by personal meetings.
We are interested in giving the possibility to gather experience directly on the spot to youngsters with other cultures, which can result in improving their personal development and becoming interested in new things. The activity in the projects here is no theoreticall and artificial cultural exchange, but practically learning of culture, language and acceptance. Because we have never considered ourselves as an isolation association in our activities, we see the hosting of European volunteers as a step to improve the understanding between the cultures.

Since we have at no point considered the work of our organization as isolated, we understand the hosting of European volunteers as a significant step towards mediation between European cultures.The living accomodations of our volunteers are in a flat that is shared with other volunteers. Accordingly, they do not only get to learn about German culture, but also about the cultures of the other volunteers currently involved in the project. In addition, they learn a lot about community and cooperation by living in a common flat.Volunteers are offered language training courses according to their level of language proficiency in order to improve their German language skills.

Our organization regulary offers a "volunteers' day", which is planned and implemented with the volunteers. On that day, all the volunteers the organization is hosting come together for a day of shar-ing experiences and getting acquainted. On this day, a specific aspect of of German culture or his-tory is also introduced.

For the volunteers language courses are offered, according to her knowledge. They can extend and improve their knowledge. Monthly our organisation offers a cultural and meeting day for volunteers and former volunteers. This day is organised in collaboration with the volunteers. During this day everybody can meet other volunteers, exchange experiences and experience a part of Germany together.

At the beginning, the volunteers have the possibility to become acquainted with the employees of the project in the different working fields:

- Care of the children and youngsters in the everyday life
- Leisure activities
- Organisation of celebrations and arrangements

It is a purpose of the volunteer's work to make the inhabitants feel that somebody is interested in them as an individual person. This task often takes more time than an employee is able to invest because of his varied tasks. The experience of learning something about other cultures is an important contribution to the development of an open-minded personality. Beyond this, the children and youngsters get to know the possibility of an EVS, so that they will be able to choose this opportunity, if they are interested.

The volunteers should get to know not only a new culture, they should introduce their own at the same time. This happens in different activities. They will have the opportunity to introduce themselves and her land and to share common characteristics and differences. The presentation can be, for example, a country evening or also film evening with films from their home countries.

The following tasks are basically assigned to the volunteers:
- Support with the care of the children and youngster
- conversations with the children and youngsters
- leisure activities (art and craft, music, going for walks, swimming among other things)
- organising and realizing own projects
- support in the everyday life
- support of the preparation and realisation of arrangements and excursions

In the direct contact with the children and youngsters the volunteers get an insight into the living conditions of these children. Because of the European volunteers and their special origin, there is always the possibility to show the cultural differences to the children and youngsters.

The working hours are 30 hours per week. The volunteers will be integrated into the working schedule of the employees according to their motivation and possibilities. They will be also integrated into the discussions of the professional team and into advanced trainings.

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_form_en.cfm?EID=6001033518