An essential part of the voluntary service is the daily life in Germany. This concerns above all the accommodation. To enable the volunteers to integrate into life in Germany in an intense way, we are looking for host families.
What do we contribute as a host family? What will we be confronted with?
As a host family you open your doors to an unknown person for a year. You do not offer that person a service but you gain a new family member. The volunteer will bring his_her own world with him_her and hopes to get to know yours. You should be willing to integrate the volunteer into family life so as to enable both sides to learn from each other and to facilitate contact between people of very different ages.
You have the possibility to give a young person the beautiful feeling to have found a home in a country that was strange to him_her at the start. In this sense you offer the volunteer an accommodation in his_her own room as well as food. Since the volunteer will only have limited knowledge of the German language at the start of the voluntary service you should have patience to support him_her in learning German. Maybe you will learn a little Spanish or Kinyarwanda?
A payment for your task as host family is not included. Instead of that there are a lot of enriching moments waiting for you.
Who are the volunteers?
Our volunteers are young, motivated people from countries in the Global South, who were selected after an application process conducted by our partner organizations in the sending countries to participate in the Zugvögel volunteer program. During their stay in Germany they absolve either a Free Social Year (FSJ) or a federal voluntary service (BFD) in social, cultural or environmental projects. They are looking forward to contact and exchange with other people; to see, hear, tell stories and share in Germany and after their return to their countries of origin.
How will we and the volunteers be accompanied?
Every volunteer receives guidance from a mentor. The mentor is a member of the Zugvögel in the Regional Group that is closest to the project in which the volunteer is working. He_She will be the first and central contact person in all situation during the full 12 months. No matter if it is formal bureaucracy or help with homesickness or culture shocks – the mentor is always there for the volunteer.
Of course the mentor is also your contact person whenever there are questions or problems. In addition to that there will be a meeting after two months between You, the volunteer and the mentor to reflect first experiences and to talk about possible difficulties.
Furthermore, a tutor will guide the volunteer in the project, getting to know the work and will help in all questions concerning the project. He_she will also gratefully help the volunteer in integrating into the project.