Up with People Cast B 2010 On Tour

Written by Megan Luebke, USA, about our regional learning day in Hamburg, Germany

Next time you visit Hamburg, Germany (or when you visit it for the first time), how will you most likely visit it? Will you arrive and decide to explore the city on your own? Will you use Google or a travel web site to determine the best sights to see? Will you call up friends, perhaps UWP alumni, to determine where you should go?

Or will you ask a homeless person to take you around the city?

On Sunday, November 22, a group of Up With People students visited Hinz Kunz, an organization that publishes a newspaper sold by homeless people in order to generate some sort of income. The requirements to sell the newspaper are: one must be without a home or children, be at least 18 years of age, speak German, and be willing to stay in the city (being Hamburg) for about one year. Hinz Kunz receives no outside support and those that help to run the organization do so as volunteer work. The main motivation behind Hinz Kunz is to build bridges of communication between the different socio-economic classes. Hinz Kunz allows the people that sell the newspaper to gain independence and a feeling of self-worth.

We also learned about Hamburg Tafel, a local food bank in the city. Hamburg Tafel takes donations from local grocery stores and bakeries, and gives that food to people in need of it. The main that must be asked when receiving the food is “Would you eat this food?” Most times, the answer is “yes” but there is a defect on the packaging or an overproduction of the food. Hamburg Tafel distributes over 4.5 tons of food per day. Imagine how many lives that organization is affecting!

After learning about Hinz Kunz and Hamburg Tafel, we had the invaluable experience of touring Hamburg with a worker at Hinz Kunz who has lived on the streets for the past 16 years of his life. His name was Fred and he gives more than 150 tours every year to people around the world. Fred earns nothing financially by giving these tours. Yet he gains the satisfaction of showing others a different part of life that is troubling, uncomfortable, and real. Homelessness is something affects most cities in the world but is a topic that many choose to avoid. Fred’s tours showed us the result of a community striving to turn around conditions of homelessness by taking efforts to work with those living on the streets.

We went by a building where the homeless can store whatever belongings they have during the day in order to be more active and earn a living. We visited a building where showers and basic hygienic materials are available. Finally, we stopped at a place where the homeless can meet their drug addictions in a safe way in order to prevent transmittable diseases, and hopefully turn those addictions into nothing. The places that we visited on Sunday are places that aren’t included on the normal Hamburg, Germany tour but are an essential part of the city.

After one learning experience comes another and 13 Up With People students learned just many people a subway elevator can hold. They were stuck in an elevator for 30 minutes and the 2 people that spoke fluent German were among them. It was quite a laugh for those that chose not to take the same elevator, and another event to add to the Up With People memory book.

Sunday was also our Friends and Family show in Hamburg and we had a great support from alumni from all over the world. Thank you to those that came! It was great to meet you!

Time is moving by faster than expected and we leave for Odense, Denmark on Wednesday morning. See you there!