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the project

 

 

 

A Shared Path

In 2004, Albrecht Kaul made a journey through China to visit the Christian brothers and sisters of the Chinese YMCAs and with this made the first contact between our YMCAs. From this moment on, the German and the Chinese YMCA walk on a common path.
 
Here you can find an interview with Albrecht Kaul about the first encounters with the Chinese YMCAs and about Christianity in China in general.

A Vivid Exchange

Having established a first partnership with the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong and the Chinese YMCA Guangzhou expands and improves the range of programmes every year. Initially starting off with a first staff-exchange as a programme item, it ended up as a diversified program portfolio that gets expanded constantly:

  • student camps
  • international camps
  • International volunteering services (one year of fulltime service in a Chinese YMCA)
  • Two months of summer intership in Hong Kong
  • Staff exchanges
  • Staff seminars
  • Collective work assignments
  • Family camps
  • Skilled workers exchanges
  • Study trips

New Challenges

Gabriel Kießling , YMCA Nuremberg:

"It is very difficult for me to put myself in the position of the volunteers and to help the volunteers with their daily duties and challenges from Germany, e.g., in their workplaces or in the collaboration with their Chinese colleagues."
 

Effort and Resources
Along with the always growing range of programmes, efforts in the areas of administration, communication, and supervision are increasing.
Every program needs to be planned and adjusted with our Chinese friends. Camp groups in China as well as in Germany require guidance from Chinese and German YMCA staff members.

 

Mentoring of the Volunteers
It is also challenging for our annual volunteers during their international voluntary services in China to acclimatise to a foreign culture, language, and working environment. Most volunteers encounter this new world directly after graduating from high school and mentoring through a monthly video conferencing is very difficult.

Know-how and Reference Persons
An additional challenge was that both sides regularly changed their contact persons, leading to an expertise loss and the loss of the reference person on the other side.

The Idea to the Solution

The idea of creating a job position for the partnership in particular arose in several Chinese-German encounters (e.g., Christival). With this, we could follow the concept of Japanese YMCA-secretaries who work in Hong Kong coordinating and helping to expand the Japanese- Chinese partnership. The German full-time employee should coordinate the German-Chinese partnership on spot in Hong Kong while helping to establish new partnerships and guaranteeing a well-organised and safe guidance of the international volunteers in China.

 

The advantages of a full-time employee responsible for the partnership are:

  • A fixed reference person for all partners involved
  • Deals with complex tasks for local associations, providing an opportunity for local associations to facilitate exchange programs
  • Bridge between German and Chinese culture (communication and collaboration)
  • Better guidance of the international volunteers (consulting, mentoring, supervision,
    etc.)

Michael Götz, YMCA state association of Bavaria:


“A German fulltime employee would be a blessing for the German-Chinese partnerships.”

Mario and Lea

M&L

Mario and Lea Drechsel were also present when the matter of a full-time employee for China was decided, so they were asked to fill this position due to their passion for China, their intercultural experiences, and their heart for gospel. After some time to reflect and to pray, the couple Mario and Lea Drechsel decided to undertake the task together with God’s help.

 

Followed by this decision, the couple Drechsel rested their jobs as an SAP software developer (Mario) and as a Content Manager and Editer (Lea). Together, then they studied theology in Taiwan for a year and spent another academic year at the Johanneum in Wuppertal (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) focusing on psychology, pedagogy, and pastoral care among others in preparation for their new tasks.

Areas of Responsibility

Mario and Lea Drechsel’s responsibilities can roughly be divided into the following two areas:

 

The international voluntary service

  • Application and preparation procedure
  • Pedagogic guidance of the volunteers (mentoring)
  • Conducting seminars (25 days per year)

The partnerships

  • Coordination and guidance of camp programs and delegation trips
  • Coordination of already existing partnerships
  • Development of new partnerships and exchange programs
  • Connecting of the Chinese YMCA-movement with the German community in China (congregations, organisations, businesses/NGOs)
Aufgaben

Funding & Donations

Über uns

Given that the full-time employees of the YMCAs are completely funded by sponsors and private donations, we have developed a new finance plan for Mario and Lea.

The fundraising target amounts to 4,510 € per month, covering the following costs:

  • Transportation costs (flight and train tickets for domestic and intercontinental travels)
  • Administrative costs (concerning both YMCA of Nuremberg and YMCA state association of Bavaria)
  • Material costs
  • Insurances (social insurances, overseas health insurance, accident insurance, etc.)
  • Salary (maintenance costs, public transport, etc.)

“Please support us in reaching this target.”