I Just LOVE People Like This!!!!

This guy is just bursting at the seams with creative social projects.  He started a Ricksha-service, and then turned it over to students.  He came up with a bicycle version of the ice-cream truck, and turned that over to someone (with MINT-CHOCOLATE CHIP! a rarity!).  He has worked as a spinning trainer.  He was taking a course to be a city tour guide, when he got the idea to rev. up Augsburg’s image by initiating the worlds longest city tour!  It lasted 2010 minutes (basically the whole weekend) and was a huge hit.  He organized a semi-successful program for the youth of his area who could earn points for doing helpful services around the neighborhood, doing chores for elderly neighbors, clean up, various things, and then be able to “spend” those points at different stores in the neighborhood.   All this from a banker turned stay-at-home-dad! And I haven’t even gotten to the part that really gets me excited!

Living in Oberhausen, a neighborhood in Augsburg, where people from over 70 countries live door to door with little interaction between them, Bernd Beigel was wracking his head trying to come up with ideas of how to help especially the women overcome their isolation and become more integrated into their multi-cultural neighborhood within their new country.  He held language courses using methods similar to those of TEFL (using pictures/photo, real life trips to stores, doctors), and although they were well attended, the women dispersed back into their own isolated worlds after the course was finished.  Looking for something that would offer these immigrant women an integrated community over a longer time-frame, he found it in the one, world-wide common denominator: food!  The one thing that connects women everywhere, so Beigel, is cooking!  

Advertising in neighborhood kindergartens and schools for recipes from their home countries for an international cook book, and volunteers to form a cooking group to test the recipes, got a resounding response - over a 100 recipes, of which 60 recipes from 30 countries were published in the Oberhausen 5 Star Cookbook.  But this is only the beginning of the story!  The group of 15 women who formed the cooking group to test the recipes displayed such enthusiasm, initiative, team spirit, and appetite for learning new skills, despite the language barriers, that Beigel sought ways to expand the integration project.  The women were trained in the “how to’s” of a professional kitchen in a rented kitchen, and with the city’s Social Minister pulling a few strings (are we ever sad that he was replaced when the new elected mayor took office), they began cooking lunches at the main school in the neighborhood for well over a 100 kids and locals every weekday.  The Kulturküche (Culture Kitchen) was born!  

The 15 women from 9 different nations working on a part time bases, with two working full time, have since expanded their range and now include cooking for a second school, an afternoon Cafe, a Jam (as in strawberry) factory, and a professional Catering-service! (The one we engaged for Jonathan’s Confirmation Lunch).  The whole project just thrills me to death, because it brings together so many things that are close to my heart and addresses the particular social problems that have been becoming a growing concern to me.

I mean, way to go for bringing together compassion (seeing, and being moved, stirred to action by someone else’s plight or suffering) and creativity (out of the box problem solving, trying something new)!  What a rare breed!  Here is a man who had eyes to SEE these otherwise invisible women and the conflicted situations they are in: NO money, completely isolated by a language barrier from the host culture as well as the multiple cultures around them, often left alone with their children, and little to zero self-confidence or independence.  These women needed to learn German, gain at least some financial freedom if not full independence, regain their self-confidence and be included in true community.  And that is exactly what this project enables.  

Mr. Beigl makes a conscious effort to organize the cooking teams into a good mix of nationalities, trying his best to avoid putting more than one woman of a nationality together for the same shift.  This way they are forced to use German as the common language for communicating.  Katja had been in Germany for years when she began at the Culture Kitchen one and a half years ago, and even Mr. Beigl wasn’t aware of just how little German she understood when she started.  Thanks to the safe group of women, who were more or less in the same boat, and a language dictionary, she now has a good grasp of the language and is improving her skill steadily.  Finally being able to communicate with offices, schools, doctors, sales people herself, instead of being dependent on her husband and children, has not only given her greater independence, but has boosted her confidence and self-esteem as well.

A Turkish woman, perhaps in her mid-forties, is now able to afford what for many years seamed an unreachable dream: getting her drivers license!  Both the learning material for the extensive theoretical exam, as well as the many hours of payed lessons behind the wheel in preparation for the practical exam can run up to a couple thousand Euro in Germany and were well beyond her family’s budget.   Seda is not only proud of herself for accomplishing this long sought for goal, but she is also enjoying her new found freedom and independence.  A woman from South Africa is saving money, in order to return to her homeland, now that her husband has left her and their four children.  Two and half months ago, Mr. Beigl was approached by social services and asked if he would consider incorporating a war trauma victim from Serbia into his colorful catering service.  (Sergio) makes the first male employee in the Kulturküche and is already well integrated into the group of women.  

Because Beigl’s main focus is to address what he sees as the social concerns in his neighborhood, and less on just generating profits, his hiring and scheduling practices veer considerably from the beaten road of the “anything and everything for profit” corporate practices.  For starters, hiring a bunch of people who can’t talk to each other definitely won’t make the best sellers book of must do managing tips.  But the women, most of whom have children, also enjoy flexible schedules and a relaxed work climate, so that when their children are home from school or need to go to the doctors, the mothers can easily switch shifts or bring their kids to work with them, finding odd jobs for them to do as well.  Child labor?! Not in the least.  I am growing increasingly suspicious, that the separation of work and family life that has prevailed in our industrialized era is an unhealthy dichotomy and is one of the major contributors to many of our societal ills.  But that is a blog for another day.  For now, I see the opportunities and the climate that the Kulturküche is offering the women in this multi-national community to be strengthening and empowering the family rather than putting a strain on its vulnerable seems.  

And the Bavarian Minister of State for Family and Community, Christa Stewens, seems to agree with me.  She presented Bernd Beigl with the Bavarian Award of Women’s Advocacy for Best Practice last October.  And wouldn’t you know it, tho Beigl’s initial motive was not to start a lucrative business, the idea of an international catering service seems to have filled a gap in the market here in Augsburg.  The Kulturküche has several engagements weekly to keep track of, and is continually expanding its range.  And the Banker turned stay-at-home dad is not close to being out of ideas.  Not only is he hoping to expand the Kulturküche to another neighborhood this fall, but he is also looking for a location to open up an international cafe, where the cultures can find not only a place to meet, but also a space to embark on an array of other crafty projects, a sewing group being one idea of many.  

I am putting this guy on my Boaz list.  (if you haven’t a clue what that might be, you’ll have to blow the dust off your Bible, or go buy/steal one, and read the book of Ruth in the Old Testament).  Since Boaz is probably my favorite dude in the bible, this is a pretty honorable list, and in all honesty, not too many people have actually made their way on to it.  But Bernd Beigl is on it for sure... I just LOVE people like that!!!

Bowel Movement

Forgive me for moving back in time here.  When Jan came back from spending a few days with the kids at his parents this fall, and brought with him the delicious fruits of what has become a traditional father - son autumn photographic outing, I was quite touched and knew that I wanted to share more than just the pictures themselves.  But, as I confessed in my last blog entry, I let my Christmas addiction squeeze out any time for such reflections, and am just now finally allowing them to surface. 

Loading this latest batch of pictures up into iphoto, I became aware of how familiar these German countryside vignettes are:  rolling hills, each topped with their own fortress, like a cherry on a sundae; apple orchards; steep hillside vineyards and the beloved town of Beilstein, with its long history reaching deep into the Middle ages, the traces of which are slowly disappearing.  These are some of the themes of which there are countless versions in albums on our shelves dating back to long before I ever even met Jan and his family.  This is a world which father and son have captured again and again, from every corner of our four seasons, framed by an ever maturing and changing perspective, through the lens of an ever advancing instrument, first on slides, then paper and now digitally.   This is a world which a father loves and a love, which this father has passed on to his son.  Precious.

But the love that Jan’s father has for his romantic surroundings goes deeper than the hobby he shares with his son of reducing it to two dimensional images stored on our hard drive.  It is a love that is demonstrated in the various other projects that my father-in-law has engaged in over at least the last 20 years.  Some of these projects connect him to the organization Friends of the Earth (BUND für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland) and have their beginnings in the mid- 80’s, when the Fischer’s Protestant church held seminars and sermons promoting Intentional living with an emphasis on Peace, Justice and Creation Protection.  With a strong urge to get practical and inspiration coming from another area in Germany (Marktdorf), Jan’s father, Klaus, and two of his acquaintances set out to preserve natural habitats for local fowl, small field animals and useful insects by giving local farmers an incentive to maintain their organic fruit orchards. 

What began as a group of about fifteen people gathering 5 tons of apples from organic orchards themselves and financing the cost of cider production for consumption within their small community, has turned into the Steinkautz label, which produces up to 350,000 liters of organic apple cider/juice per year and is sold in a variety of stores in the wider area.  There are more than a hundred organic fruit orchards scattered over an area of approximately 20 kilometer, together comprising 2-300 hektare (about 800 acres) natural habitat for some 50-60 species of birds plus hedgehogs, wasps, bees, polecat and hazel dormouse, to name just some of the creatures enjoying this natural environment.  To motivate farmers to maintain these less productive organic orchards as opposed to the low growing, chemically protected and fertilized plantations, the Steinkautz Natural Habitat project, a non-profit organization, ensures farmers a much higher price for their fruit, when they sign to follow strict organic growing policies.  They have just recently celebrated their 20th anniversary.  

Related to this project, are the regular inspections of the orchards and the nesting facilities that have been placed in the apple trees.  It is a real treat for our children, when they can accompany their grandfather on winter afternoon “house cleaning” duty!  They eagerly take turns clamoring up the ladder to inspect and sweep out the nesting houses, being careful to first check for dead eggs, which, when found, are collected like trophies.  

In the nearby hills of Prevorst, Klaus supports an amphibian protection initiative, which has erected a system of fences and tunnels to keep the frogs, toads, and salamanders (newts?) from being killed by traffic when they make their way to the ponds to lay eggs.  Jan’s father is part of a team which checks the fences, makes sure the tunnels are free of leafage, and counts the survivors from year to year to determine the success of their methods and alter their strategy as needed.

My father in law is also a history buff, as the many boxes and armoires full of historical family documents and photos substantiate.  Having saved at least three, 300 year old houses in his home town from destruction, it is a given that he is also a member of a German-wide organization for conserving historical landmarks.   But I won’t say anything more about that, because the story of Klaus’ houses is my favorite story, and it will one day get a blog entry all of its own!

But Klaus’s charity is not limited to bugs and birds and buildings.  For almost 4 years, Jan’s father has been the local coordinator for an initiative to offer affordable, practical assistance to the elderly or infirm called Citizen for Citizen.  It is a program of volunteers who are listed with specific skills or services, and whom can be called upon when needed, for example, to drive someone to the doctor, fix a sink, or just come by with some chicken soup.  The recipients pay a small fee, but nothing close to the cost on the open market.  In the Fischer’s town of Beilstein and the neighboring town, Abstadt, my father in law coordinates 60 volunteers, who meet about 800-900 service-requests per year (although this number has declined more recently).

It is always a slippery business to second guess someone else’s motives, and I don’t want to be presumptuous here.  However, through the many years I have been a part of this family, I have come to witness my husband’s father as a deeply compassionate person.  He is someone who seems to feel pain himself, when others, even the smallest creatures, suffer due to loss, illness, erosion, decay, physical discomfort or pain.  It sometimes appears that his very insides churn and tangle with turmoil at the thought of someone else’s misery.  In fact, this is exactly the meaning of one of the Greek words in the New Testament used to describe Jesus’ response to human suffering.  

Splanchna means inward parts, entrails, bowels, and is metaphorical for the seat of emotion.  When someone “splanchnizomai,” literally their entrails are churning, their bowels are moving in response to someone else’s suffering.  And usually always this churning produces some course of action meant to relieve the observed suffering.  When I reflect on my father-in-law’s acts of compassion, I can’t help but think of Paul’s declaration that all of creation is groaning and awaiting salvation...from atrophy, entropy, disunity, erosion, decay, death, alienation, abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence.  (19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Romans 8).  If this is the case, then it certainly couldn’t hurt if we all had more bowel-movement.

I am so thankful that my children have a grandfather who shows them by example how precious all life is, that we are connected with our environment as well as with each other, and that we each can do a small part to counter the forces of alienation, exploitation, decay and disconnection in the landscapes and communities around us.  

More Workers

“The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few.  So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields.” Mtt. 9:37

I don’t know, maybe I am the only one, but I have always heard this verse in the context of evangelism and missions: Pray for more pastors and missionaries!!  

Not any more!

Before being readmitted to the clinic in Munich four weeks ago, we needed to get a referral from a doctor.  It being Sunday, the only way to get this was to go to the emergency room of a nearby hospital.  Great! Emergency room on a Sunday!  I mean, I loved watching ER, but I had absolutely no patience for this.  After about two hours of waiting, I started acting very childishly.  I was glad no one I knew was there but Jan, who already knows how immature I am.  Later, when I regained some measure of my adulthood, I made this realization: 

There were a lot of people there! 

 There were a lot of hurting people there!  

We asked the doctor (once we finally got to see him), if it was like this every weekend.  “Saturdays are even worse.”  When I go to our family doctor here on a Monday, there are already people lined up outside the door waiting for them to open at 7:30 in the morning!  Surprise, surprise, it wasn’t any different at the private clinic in Munich.  At least this time I was in a two bed room instead of the 4 bed room just after the OP.  Imagine, that whole big hospital filled with hurting people... and now I was one of them!

In the midst of all this, I “happened” to be reading in Matthew chapter 9.  Low and behold vs. 35-38: “Jesus traveled through all the cities and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the kingdom.  AND Wherever he went he HEALED people of every sort of DISEASE and ILLNESS.  HE FELT great PITY for the CROWDS that came, because their PROBLEMS were so great and they didn’t know where to go for HELP.  They were like sheep without a shepherd.     (SO) He said to his disciples, “the harvest is so great, so pray to the Lord....(see above).”

As I was lying in my bed day after day after day in the most excruciating pain I have ever known, I was so thankful for every single person who came into our room.  My competent doctor, who spent lengthy visits (sometimes up to half an hour..just shooting the breeze and soothing my fears) and a lot of time in consultation, tests and diagnosis;  the nurses (male and female) who were there around the clock literally at the press of a button bringing me food, changing my bed, giving me medication, helping me to put my socks on, and who rescued me in the middle of the night from the bathroom from where I had to crawl back to my bed again after crumbling to the floor in pain.  Many of them knew exactly what I was going through, because they had had the same or similar back trouble, and one in particular helped to coach me through my panic attacks and muscle spasms.   I was so thankful to not be just an anonymous number, but to be treated as a person, who was more than just the sum of her momentary ills.  I was thankful for the guy who came every day and disinfected our room, picked up the stuff I had dropped, threw away my snotty tissues.  I was thankful for every phone call and visit, many from our friends who are themselves doctors or nurses. They, especially, showed an overwhelming concern and interest in every detail of my diagnosis and treatment, and wouldn’t be satisfied I was in good care until after lengthy “interrogations” (once even of my doctor! :-).  Add to this list the many helping hands from our church who have cooked meals for us, done our laundry, driven our kids to their afternoon activities, called, and even given us money for a cleaning lady! 

 I am so overwhelmed.

How grateful I am for all of these workers.  All of these people, who in one way or another, regardless of their religious orientation, have heard the call of “the Lord of the harvest,” and have responded in kind with Jesus: having pity, doing all in their power to help, heal and comfort someone like me, when I was ill and in great need.

Now, I in no way want to get down on anyone, but none of those people were either pastors or missionaries, and most of them weren't even professing "Christians".  Maybe Jesus is talking about something much more basic.  Something really quite simple.  Maybe Jesus is just longing for more normal people to open their eyes to the hurt and pain and sorrows around them, because it really is everywhere.  Maybe he is crying out to his Father for more people to be moved to an active compassion for one another.  Any people.  Any where.  

Me, for example.