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Jewish life for young and old
Start date: Jun 1, 2016, End date: Nov 30, 2017 PROJECT  FINISHED 

In the framework of this project, three young europeans will be enabled to become volunteers for a 12-month European Voluntary Service in the hosting organisations Oranienburger Strasse Synagogue and Masorti e.V. in Berlin starting in September 2016.The chosen volunteers are a young woman from Belgium represented by the belgian sending organisation mu-zee-um, a young man from northern ireland, represented by the SO Bryson Charitable Group, as well as a young man from Ukraine, represented by the sending organisation AUAYC Alternative-V. The coordinating organisation of the overall project is Masorti e.V.The tasks of the two volunteers in the hosting organisation Masorti e.V. consist in the assistance with the child care, nursing and housekeeping activities of the Masorti Kindergartens. The volunteers will be helping with the every-day life of one of the german-hebrew resp. german-english age-mixed groups of 15 children.By doing so, they will not only get an insight view in the pedagogical work, but will also get to know the jewish year with its holidays and festivities and will be an active part in designing it.The EVS activity in the Oranienburger Strasse Synagogue consists of assisting with the logistical preparation and implementation of services for Shabbat, the holidays and life-cycle events, taking care and welcoming international visitors (individuals and groups), organising Lehrhaus activities and other events (both religious and inter-religious) as well as the support of administrating tasks like the creation of publications.Both volunteers will be provided with time and support in order to design and implement their own project ideas according to their needs and abilities. In the project, they are supported by a coordinator and a mentor and are actively designing their own learning process by taking part in the “learning meetings” (with methods of non-formal education) and by keeping a learning diary. Additionally, they are taking part in German classes as well as the official EVS trainings.All participants have chosen their hosting projects by themselves according to their needs. The jewish ukrainian participant wishes to strengthen his jewish european identity by getting to know another form of jewish practice. The belgian volunteer with german roots wishes to voluntarily engage in a german NGO to experience german culture. For the northern irish participant it is important to gain practical work experience and to improve his German language skills. All are in the transition period from school to working life.During the EVS activity, the volunteers undergo an intercultural learning process and acquire knowledge, practical work experience and key competences that help to develop their personal and professional growth and their employability. By volunteering in jewish projects, they are actively involved in shaping jewish life in Europe and are fighting against anti-semitism and for cultural diversity and are strengthening their European citizenship.The hosting organisations benefit from the support, input and encounters with young european volunteers with a different religious, linguistic and cultural background.As a first result, there are long-lasting effects of this project on the volunteers themselves, who will be benefitting from the learning process on an individual and professional level for their entire lives. As European volunteers, they are firstly representatives of the EU funding programme Erasmus+ Youth and the EVS and help to shape a positive image of Europe, secondly they are now multipliers and share this positive image with their communities. Additionally, after their EVS the volunteers will have a natural approach to the European jewish life of today and will therefore not only be able to pass this on but by sharing it, help to fight anti-semitism and prejudices and strengthen the positive awareness of cultural diversity.The participating organisations strengthen their networks and working methods and the European cooperation in the youth field. The responsible people in the projects develop their key competences by working with the volunteers as well. Masorti e.V. will be re-developing its EVS flyers and will add to the collection of non-formal methods for the learning support of the volunteers and publish it on their website. This EVS activity is embedded in a long-term strategy for the hosting and sending of European volunteers of Masorti e.V. and its partners that will be continued with this project application.
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