March 15: Two boys and a girl sat sprawled on the Bishop’s College grounds on February 14, not sending out Valentine’s Day messages but painting posters to spread the word against exploitation of women.
Mitja Merz, Caterina Karch and Linus Peter have flown in all the way from Germany to do their bit for underprivileged children in Howrah and decided to join the One Billion Rising campaign as well.
Mitja has been giving lessons and helping out with administration at a daycare centre in Tikiapara, Linus helps with teaching and management at SHIS Bridge School and Caterina teaches English and handles social media at Nari O Sishu Kalyan Kendra in Bauria.
Voluntary work is not mandatory in the German education system but the trio have chosen to spend a year playing good Samaritans. “Earlier, a year’s military service or social work was compulsory. It is no longer so but I decided to take a year off and see the world. One of my friends is volunteering in Nicaragua, another in Ghana and a third in New Zealand,” said Mitja, whose family has had an India connect.
“My great grandfather Armin Merz frequently travelled to India during the three years he worked with Unicef. He also lived in Pakistan and my mother lived there as well,” said the Frankfurt boy, who intends to study liberal arts once he is back in Germany after a year’s work at Southern Health Improvement Samity (SHIS), an integrated social welfare NGO offering health, education and community services.
Before landing in Howrah, Mitja spent six months in a residential community for the mentally challenged in Bangalore.
“Volunteering gives a chance to go out and do something and also see the world,” he said.
Linus, who divides his time between Basel in Switzerland, where his father practises alternative medicine, and Germany, said many Germans do volunteering in the country, acting as companions for the elderly, helping them in assisted living.
“But I was attracted to other countries. You don’t make the same kind of experience in Germany as you can here,” he said.
Linus inherits his volunteering streak from his mother Stephanie Bothe, who is a social worker with disabled people.
“Seeing a child laugh makes me happy,” said Linus, who’s grown particularly fond of a nine-year-old boy called Sanjay from Liluah. “He lost both his parents and is looked after by his elder brother. He has a spirit of his own. He has now joined a boarding school in Calcutta and I don’t get to see him much these days.”
Linus does not want to go back to studies straightaway. “I had cycled from Germany to North Cape in Norway, a distance of 3,500km in seven weeks,” he said. Linus plans an even longer bike trip with his girlfriend. “I will cycle to Argentina, Chile, Mexico, the US, Canada and Alaska, a total of 16,000km that should take me nine months,” he said.
For Caterina from Dusseldorf, the biggest takeaway has been the opportunity to learn Bengali. “We did some holiday camps for the children. It was really gratifying to see them having so much fun. I realised they were imitating the English I was speaking,” she laughed.
Apart from exploring India, Caterina has attended four weddings in Bauria and watched a circus show. “I have also grown quite fond of the food here. I don’t find it spicy at all,” she smiled.
Co-volunteer Emmy Becker is from Weimar and is also enjoying herself, helping children learn English, draw and do gymnastics. “I always wanted to go out and see other countries. I have been to Callan in Ireland helping out people with disability in the summer break of 2014. I wanted to see India and so am here,” said the pixie-haired teen, who intends to study medicine once back.
