„Many little people in many little places doing many little things can change the face of this world.“

This African saying is known to many. But it only takes on real meaning when we experience it ourselves. And fortunately, we can experience it every day, because in our mentoring offices, we bring people together every day to make our world a little bit better. How?

„Simply“ by helping others in various life situations. The help is as diverse as the people themselves, and so we have already managed to place over 11,000 mentorship tandems since 2016. This is an achievement that would not have been possible without the commitment of the mentors. That’s why we would like to take this opportunity to thank all our mentors and briefly introduce two particularly dedicated ones from Erfurt.

Silke works in the hospice as a health care and nursing assistant and has been involved with „Wir sind Paten Erfurt“ since the summer of 2021. As part of her mentorship, she looks after and accompanies a young man from Afghanistan. As she says herself, „they often do paperwork,“ but they also simply drink coffee, go into town together and „have already been out to eat together“. The best experience of her mentorship? The moment when her mentee told her that he had been able to get out of temporary work and get a permanent job contract. Even if they can’t meet every week, the mentorship has made a difference.

Johanna has been active for a little longer, since April 2020. The student looks after a young single mother with three children of primary school age. She helps them with all organizational tasks, such as going to the authorities, but also with their homework. She also goes on day trips with her mentee, sometimes doing something sporty. Primarily, she does something with the children alone, because this also relieves the mother, but of course she always tells her about the trips while relaxing with a cup of tea or coffee. What has Johanna been able to „take away“ from her volunteer work so far?

She said that it really made her realize „how much work is involved in raising three small children and especially how difficult this task can be if you are not yet familiar with the German language or everyday life in Germany“.

But thanks to our volunteers, such – and other challenges – can be mastered. And of course, we will always need new mentors in the future, because there are always people who need support.

So, if you also want to become active, just write us an e-mail to info[at]wirsindpaten.de or directly to erfurt[at]wirsindpaten.de.