On Saturday, 17 September, 2022 our cultural festival finally took place again on the market sqare. From 2.30 to 10.00 pm there were lots of activities for children and adults, presentations, music, games, coffee and cake from all over the world as well as an international dinner buffet. It was a wonderful day!
We would like to thank everyone who helped with the cooking, cleaning and organization as well as all the visitors for coming!
Mardini, lawyer and artist from Damaskus, has been living in Haltern am See for six years. During the Covid time he has been working on collages, dealing with the situation of women's rights in Syria. Now an exhibition with these collages is taking place in the center of Haltern. The exhibition is dedicated to Mardinis mother, who unfortunately passed away recently.
You are invited to visit the exhibition during the opening hours of the café, every Wednesday from 4 to 6 pm and every Friday from 11 am to 1 pm.
Currently there are many organizational questions centered arround the registration of and support for people newly arriving from Ukraine. We have collected the most important information in German and Russian (8 May 2022). Please click here to open the article.
The church St. Sixtus is offering a hotline for host families of refugees from Monday to Friday. Host families can ask questions about the current situation and receive practical support. The hotline is open from 9 to 11 am and the number is 02364 9236109.
Here you can find further information (in German).
The Childrens' Hospital in Datteln is offering psychological support for children and teenagers from Ukraine starting in May. The hours are on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 13 till 14:30 pm. The counseling is offered in ukrainian. You can register by calling Mrs. Kessl via phone: 02363/975451
On Thursday, 5 May, 2022, a new computer course for beginners started at the Vitus House. The participants are refugees as well as their friends and hosts.
The course takes place every Thursday from 10.00 to 12.30 pm. It does not cost any money.
Currently the course is full. If you are interested to sign up for the waiting list for a new course, please send an email to redaktion@asylkreis-haltern.de
Children who do not have a place in Kindergarten yet can participate in so called "Bridgeprojects". "Bridgeprojects" are play groups, taking place once or twice a week and are organized by a qualified teacher. While playing, the children can start learning the German language and building a bridge to the actual kindergarten/school.
At the moment there are some places available at the Conzeallee, Wasserwerkstraße and in Flaesheim.
If you are interested, please send a mail to a.haverkamp@caritas-ostvest.de
The Café on Wednesday is going to reopen on 16 March. It is going to take place from 4 to 6 p.m. at Vitus, Lippstraße 7-9.
It is also planned to open the Welcome Café on Friday starting on 18 March. It is going to take place from 11 am to 1 pm at the Vitus House, Lippstraße 7-9.
Please bring a recent Corona test certificate, a proof of vacination or a document showing you have recovered from the illness. We are looking forward to seeing you soon!
The open office hours at the Caritas Office, Sixtusstraße 39, will continue. Please contact the team by phone or email to sign up beforehand.
On 27 April, 2020 our new projekt "Digitalpatenschaften" was launched by Gemeindecaritas, Asylkreis, Soft Consult and the mentoring projekt Menschen stärken Menschen. The project is directed at students who need a laptop and printer for their homework but do not have access to this kind of equipment at home.
Three rooms which were provided by Stadt Haltern am See - the Café at Erich-Kästner-Schule, (Drususstraße 2), the studying room at Wasserwerkstraße 11b and the classroom at Lorenkamp 2d - are going to be opened from Monday to Friday. In each room one volunteer from our school assistance project will supervise a laptop and a printer, on which one student can work.
Appointments can be made from Tuesday to Friday from 10 to 12 am with Lisa Bork 015116224576 (Lorenkamp) or Anna-Lena Albrecht 015125814095 (Café Erich-Kästner-Schule) and are of course for free. Each computer can be booked for one or two hours. The students should bring their school material and, if possible, a mask. In case they do not have a mask, a new washable, reusable mask will be provided once. The assistants will take care of distance, desinfection of the technical devices and regular opening of the windows. Unfortunately parents and siblings cannot join the sessions at the moment.
We would be happy, if you could tell as many children/families as possible about this new option, so it could be helpful to them.
The two sets of banners for the exhibition "Gesicht einer Flucht" have now been shown about a hundred times at different locations. In 2016, the project started as a series of newspaper articles. Now it has grown more and more, showing the topic of fleeing from a very personal perspective and motivating different audiences and target groups to think and talk about it. Now, four years later, there is an update to the exhibition. Suleiman, Hos-Oynga, Sabrieh and Majed have told us about the experiences they made in Germany, about obstacles and people they met, about sad moments, funny events, about nostalgia and dreams for their future. New pictures have been taken, this time in color, to show the four of them at their workplaces and where they feel at home. They have been printed on new roll-up banners, which have been added to the exhibition. This is why the banners of Faiz, Haroon, Bernd and Samim are no longer travelling with the exhibition. However, their stories and 39 others from Germany and the entire world can still be found on www.gesicht-einer-flucht.de in the section called "Gesichter". The calender featured on the website shows, where the exhibition will be shown next.
The visit of the Lippramsdorf Dancing Group will be postponed because of the Corona Virus.
On 11 May, 2019 from 10.00 am to 2.00 pm the Forum für Demokratie, Respekt und Vielfalt organized a large info event on the upcoming EU-elections on the market sqare in Haltern. Many citizens came to join the flashmob, dicussions etc. You can find further information on the website of the Forum: https://forumdrv.de/europawaehlen/
On 8 November, 2018, the 80th anniversary of the Reichspogromnacht, the organizing team led by citzens of Haltern promoting democracy, respect and diversity invited everyone to a meeting on the market sqare of Haltern. The event was very impressive and attended by many citizens.
We have a new international choir at Asylkreis! The choir meets every two weeks on Thursdays with our choirmaster Bernhard Höhne. We meet at 8pm at Paul-Gerhardt-Haus, Reinhard-Freericks-Straße 17 in Haltern am See. Everyone who likes singing (also without prior experience) and is interested in intercultural exchange is welcome to join. Further information: info@asylkreis-haltern.de
We meet for example on 7 and 21 March, 2019.
Every Tuesday from 2.30 to 4.30 pm and every Thursday from 3.00 to 5.00 pm there are two voluntary teachers to help you with your homework. The group meets at Hauptschule and is open to all students from grade 5 to 10.
Every Monday from 3 to 6 pm at Erich-Kästner-Schule, Drususstraße 2.
Coffee and cake, sewing and crafts. We would like to invite everyone!
Here you can find an overview of our German classes.
If you are interested in the work of Asylkreis or would like to get to know us in person, you are invited to join the following meeting opportunities:
Café of Cultures: Wednesday from 3 to 5 pm at Erich-Kästner Schule, Drususstraße 2
Welcome Café: Friday from 11 am to 1 pm at Erich-Kästner-Schule, Drususstraße 2
or to our International Meeting Nights: every 3rd Thursday of the month (18 January, 15 February, 15 March etc.), starting at 7 pm at Paul-Gerhard-Haus, Reinhard-Freericks-Straße 17
We have received a confirmation for financial support by the KOMM-AN NRW project. Additionally, we have a very helpful cooperation with the communal integration center (Kommunales Integrationszentrum) in Recklinghausen. We are very happy to have this opportunity and hope that we can sucessfully continue and extend our existing projects.
Regarding the daily news on terror and hatred in the world, Petra Herrmann, Aziz Mahmoud, Gaby Bücker and Bahram Hajou decided to paint colorful pictures with other people on the market square of Haltern, to express hope and peace. They showed symbolically that we should never give up making small changes to encourage positive developements.
Here you can find a video about the event.
With some support from Caritas and DRK the refugees at the initial housing facility in Sythen have sayed goodbye. After almost seven months at the housing center they will be assigned to different cities in NRW. To say goodbye the refugees invited friends and volunteers to eat and dance together. They held several small but very emotional speeches to show their gratitude and to say thank you for the good collaboration with DRK and Asylkreis/Caritasverband. It was a very nice and moving afternoon! We would like to wish the refugees and employees of the initial housing facility all the best!
Following the opening of the exhibition, on 19 August at 8 pm there was an international concert at the high school center (Holtwicker Straße 3). The Hussein Mahmoud Group, Fidele Tants, members of the Rabies and teachers of the the local music academy in Haltern am See performed and created a wonderful evening full of impressive music.
Thank you for the awesome concert!
1st Thursday of the month, starting at 7 pm, Exchange Meeting for Volunteers, Erich-Kästner-Schule, Drususstraße 2
3rd Thursday of the month, starting at 7 pm, International Meeting Night, Paul-Gerhardt-Haus, Reinhard-Freericks-Straße 17
4th Thursday of the month, starting at 5.30 pm, International Cooking Night, Pfarrheim St. Laurentius, Augustusstraße 18
The dance group of the home association in Lippramsdorf has visited Asylkreis. Thank you for the nice afternoon, we had a lot of fun! Here you can find an article about the event.
The German ministery for family, seniors, women and youth and the German Caritas association support friendships and mutual support in Asylkreis! A new project is going to support existing friendships and encourage new encourters between asylum seekers and citizens of Haltern.
Here you can find further information
The local movie studio Mediaworkxx and many sponsors from Haltern have produced small videos for people living in initial housing facilities. Here you can watch and share the videos:
Here you can find a nice video on the Evonik Foundation's support for refugees. Two refugees who live in Haltern are participating in the vocational training programme. The backyard at Lorenkamp is also constructed with the help of the Evonik Foundation. Thank you very much for your support!
The Salomov family has recently invited all of their neighbors to get to know them better and say thank you for being able to live in such a nice neighborhood.
During the afternoon, about 70 people came to visit and the living room was crowded. Different kinds of cake, potatoe salad and dumplings were offered. The family and their neighbors had a lot of fun and many new contacts have been established.
The gospel choir Good News Singers invites interested asylum seekers to sing with them! They practice every Monday night starting at eight at DLRG (liveguard society) next to the lake (Strandbad, Hullerner Straße 52). If you have any questions or want to sign up, please contact redaktion@asylkreis-haltern.de or simply join a practice session.
Do you know people who have quite recently arrived in Haltern and do not know about any Asylkreis activities yet? Here you can find a flyer which may help you explain Asylkreis:
The families living at Erich-Kästner-Schule and their friends have invited neighbors and friends and collected trash around the school and up the hill to Laurentius church. They were supported by refugees from Gleis 3 in Sythen.
The event started at 9.30 am with a nice breakfast. In a group and with sunny weather, cleaning was fun. Afterwards the group participated in the reward barbecue at Baubetriebshof.
Thank you very much to the refugees, friends and employees of the municipality for planning the event!
Kolpingfamilie Haltern am See has helped Asylkreis to purchase a projector for the language classes. We would like to say thank you for this generous donation!
Further pictures can be found here.
Too many times we hear in the media or in conversations about 'THE' refugees, followed by a generalizing negative statement. With this portrait-project Asylkreis wants to provide a face to 'fleeing' in general. It wants to create interest for the specific stories of asylum seekers, especially for those readers who are undecided or sceptical towards the matter. Refugees are not problems but people like you and me. They have a personal story which made them leave their home. Now they tell this story and show their faces.
This needs courage and openness, since the refugees write about their experiences, thoughts and wishes themselves. Many have actively learned German during the past few months and can express themselves clearly and in an understandable way. Participants are supported by the freelance journalist Gerburgis Sommer. Moving messages have been created which often end with a message or greeting to the people of Haltern. First, the authors show their faces to Jennifer Gizenaar, who creates impressive pictures at her studio 'Augenblick'. They invite: to have a look - and to view the so far happy ending of a flight.
Here you can find further information
Christian from Haltern and Patrick from the US have founded a free online language learning platform. Check out the website and try it!
Arabic
English
Farsi
German
The Health Group has made a flyer about the health care system for refugees in Haltern am See.
To download the files please click on the pictures. The brochure will be printed on two sheets of A4 paper (double sided) and folded to A5 format to make a booklet. Soon, there will be printed versions available at the Welcome Café, at Sozialamt, at most doctors' offices as well as from the volunteers taking care of your housing facility (Unterkunftspaten).
For comments and corrections please contact
redaktion@asylkreis-haltern.de or gesundheit@asylkreis-haltern.de
Here you can find information on Road Safety in Germany. Soon there will be a information available in
Regarding the growing number of refugees, the municipality of Haltern is asking all citizens for help. To offer adequate housing to all asylum seekers interested citizens are asked to offer vacant private apartments for rent. This can include empty buildings which are awaiting remodeling or will be replaced soon. In case the rental apartments/buildings are in a sufficient condition containing all necessary installations, they can be rented temporarily.
In case you are interested in renting out an apartment/building please contact
Michael Schniederjan
+49 (0) 2364 / 933-250
Michael.Schniederjan@haltern.de
or
Hermann Neukirchen
+49 (0) 2364 / 933-220
Asylkreis Haltern would like to thank the citizens of Haltern am See for their overwhelming willingness to help and donate!
Lippstrasse 7-9
45721 Haltern am See
E-Mail: info@asylkreis-haltern.de
Web: www.asylkreis-haltern.de
SoftConsult GmbH
Reinhard-Freericks-Str. 2
45721 Haltern am See
E-Mail: info@soft-consult.de
Web: www.soft-consult.de