Eckardt Kreye: The idea of doing something extremely meaningful. During a well-prepared exchange, the participants learn more than they would in a comparable school subject over the course of an entire year, if such a thing even existed… It is the youth that want these meetings. They ask about them, work for them in their spare time, give up their school holidays for them and are very thankful after the exchange for the experience. That’s motivating! This is how school should be! For me, this project is the most meaningful one out of all the projects I have organized during my school career.
We do not only work within the school, but also beyond it. Furthermore, we carry out international youth exchanges with non-governmental organisations that also work with the media. We are currently setting up a volunteer exchange of alumni. We make it possible for former participants from African countries to come to Bremen for one year and, vice versa, we send Germans to our partner organisations in Kenya. Our project is growing because enough great people work together on one idea: the idea of a better, fairer world. In our exchange program, we don’t only make people aware of unjust distribution, but we also point out methods for fair distribution. Lastly, such an exchange makes it possible for at least a few African teenagers to go beyond the borders that before seemed impossible to them. We establish contacts, friendships are formed, the participants change their perspectives – it is a programme of international understanding. The participating teenagers experience a drastic difference with regard to the ways of life, everyday life, the culture and views, but they simultaneously notice many similarities. My hope is that the youth of today will act more fairly tomorrow.