Young meets old
The girls sprinkle sugar powder on the freshly-baked waffles with extra care. The sweet smell spreads around the whole room. Seniors sit by tables and wait as the working youths bring out pastry after pastry and decorate the coffee table.
It’s Thursday afternoon, activity time for students and neighbours. Today, children and seniors are meeting up to eat waffles together, sit with each other and sing songs. It’s a part of the school programs for young participants, for seniors, it’s a nice change of their routines and it’s much fun.
“This free-time-program is designed to align with the concept of the school, which provides daily care as a comprehensive school.” Helga Raband (55), one of the initiators of the cross-generation project. This type of activity started since twenty years ago. On the timetable for the free-time-program of the seventh class, there are activities that wouldn’t stand a chance in teaching schedules, for example playing bridge or chess, riding a unicycle, bowling, healthy eating, even learning to meaningfully argue with one another and also making “contact with seniors”. From that, students are supposed to learn about social competence, take a peek in the lives of the old, and realize that young ones can take advantage from the knowledge and life experience of the old. During the six-month semester, students visit seniors once a week. Three students are responsible for two seniors. The institution will sort out the transportation and the necessary materials. For seniors, it really livens things up, just like Erika Kroll (71) says. “It’s really entertaining, we go on walks and play with one another.” And they are satisfied: “I’ve always looked for someone to play skat with me!” Eva Budji (79) brought it to the point: “It’s really nice when the kids come and visit.”
It’s great to bring seniors joy.
This fundamental concept is for every participant: Linda Meckbach (12) sees the old lady, who she cares for when they meet up, as a “real girlfriend”. She gets excited when she visits the seniors. Her friend Laura Ludwig, who is the same age as her and also takes part in the program, has genuine passion in her work: “It’s so rewarding to see how we make them happy! On the other hand, it’s also fun for us. Some of the seniors have an unbelievable sense of humour - sometimes they can be even funnier than youngsters.”
Zamira Schieweg (13) says: “It’s interesting to be around old people. They are full of love, treat us with care and they are determined to do something with us.” Both sides value the special advantages this program brings just as much. Just as Janik Racke (13) brings up: “It’s really nice to have a break from normal schooldays…You get acquainted with seniors and you learn to handle them. You’re with your classmates, but at the same time, you’re also surrounded by old people.” After a bit of consideration, he said: “You even see the world a bit differently…”
Sometimes, the project even leads to a later job decision: Helga told about an earlier participant, who applied for geriatrician training after they graduated.