I am Ajith Kumar, working as a Weltwärts volunteer in Germany. Right now, I am working in a small city called Meschede, in an old age home as a house technician. My working hours are from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. I work together with 4 other people and their names are Martin, Uli, Kamphone and Thorsten.

I also travelled a lot and made new friends. In February, I visited München and Ochtrup and also went to Holland. I stayed at München for about 8 days at a friend’s house, where we celebrated the carnival and then we went to visit another friend at Ochtrup. From there, we started our journey to Holland and stayed about 6 days. The whole of March I was working, and I learned how to use a lawn mower and a chainsaw.

At the end of April, on the 22^nd, I attended a seminar at Greven, a small city next to Münster. There, I learned about German history and we all talked about racism in Germany and the situations there. The entire May I was working, and in the middle of June, I went to Paris and met and stayed with friends there for 5 days.

In July on the 1^st -5^th, I attended a seminar in Kalsruhe, a big city next to Köln. It was a political seminar, where we talked about German politics and the difference between other countries like India, South America and Africa and after the seminar, we went to a castle and a zoo. We had a lot of fun. On the 9th of July, I attended a seminar in Münster for the North- South volunteers. I talked to them about India, as there were 4 volunteers who were preparing to go to India.

At my work place, we received 5 sheep for the old people, as it is a kind of therapy for them. In this therapy, the sheep’s gentle nature and quiet strength are utilised to assist people who are struggling with life’s emotional or spiritual challenges or struggling with addictions and disorders. People are encouraged to put their heads literally to the sheep’s forehead and feel their love and trust.

We also celebrated a summer festival where all the old people come out and dance and drink and talk. Thank you, FSL-India for giving me this wonderful opportunity to experience life in a different country.