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Working with Older Volunteers in Manual Intergenerational Projects
clarified. From the first evening onward,
for instance, the German and Czech group
and some French participants met in the
lounge in the evenings to sit down and
have a chat. Some of the German participants
had discussed about a possible guest
present beforehand and decided to bring a
“typical German” beer keg for the evenings
together. Initially, the majority of French
participants did not show up for these informal
get-togethers, which the other participants
attributed to tiredness or disinclination.
On the third day it became known
that several French participants did not
join the meetings, because they felt uninvited
and thought the beer was only meant
for the German participants. They had
waited for an explicit invitation. As soon
as the German participants heard of this,
they seized the initiative and invited them,
which resulted in the French also taking
part in these informal get-togethers on the
remaining evenings. The constructive overcoming
of such difficulties surely contributes
to intercultural learning.
In general, 90 % of the interviewed participants
stated that the exchanges let them
gain new experiences in the cooperation
with participants from other countries.
The experience of having organised a meeting on an international
level has increased both the self-confidence as
well as the reputation of our senior citizens. I have noticed
in my own environment that the senior citizens of KLAS
are more and more regarded as cooperation partners and
not as a group seeking help or pleasure. Moreover, and
this is important for the development of our community,
communication with the local authorities led to the elderly
being regarded as cooperation and consulting partners
by them.
Michaela Bernardová, Director of the Family Centre
Pexeso, Prague/Zraslav
Conclusion
The seminars and the overall high satisfaction
of participants demonstrate the capacity
of the concept to unite people from
different European cultures and different
generations in a common communicationintensive
learning context by applying
methods of manual work and intergenerational
dialogue. However, the implementation
also showed that meta-communication
exercises, thus intercultural training, raised
the awareness to interpret experiences of
difference, which are usually experienced as
“strangely” necessary during the everyday
seminar contact. Based on this experience a
further development of exchange seminars
is urgently recommended.
Exchange Oberhausen, construction of a beachvolleyball
court
Final Report 39