A voluntary service year in an international environment, with trip abroad included— little did Hannah Weisheit know that all this was in store when she came across a newspaper ad last summer placed by the International Office of the University of Bonn. Her interest was piqued: “I had been interested in international relations and intercultural exchange for quite some time. So the idea of doing an FSJ-P sounded exciting,” says the 18-year-old volunteer. She applied immediately, and has been working ever since as a member of a fifteen-person team with close involvement in a range of international research and administration matters.
Of particular note was the 25th anniversary celebration of the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR) in Ghana. “We want to create opportunities for our FSJ volunteers to take part in a trip abroad during their time here with us,” says Christine Müller of the International Office. “The destinations are usually in Europe, but in this case we had a need for Hannah’s support further afield. This special experience of taking part in a trip to Ghana was made possible by funding under the Erasmus Programme via the partnership with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).” Ghana enjoys the special status of a priority country for the University of Bonn, thus numerous partnerships exist with the country.
Long days of conference meetings
Weisheit had of course gathered plenty of information about the host country in advance. Visa, vaccinations, passport, intercultural training ... she had everything in place. And yet many surprises were still in store: “I had many formative experiences there, looking back, that left quite an impression,” says Weisheit, “and it was challenging too. The conference days were long, as was my list of tasks.” All this while having her first-ever experience of major travel without parent or teacher accompaniment. “I had to make a lot of decisions independently—that was slightly new to me,” she relates. Kumasi is a business hub and university town, and as Ghana’s largest city, some say it is the real heart of the country as well. Twenty-five years ago the internationally prominent tropical research institute KCCR was formed there, whose mission is to trace infections from tropical diseases.
The two-day ceremony was attended by representatives of the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine and the University of Bonn Faculty of Medicine, and by virologist Christian Drosten of Charité Berlin and Asantehene Osei Tutu II. The FSJ volunteer helped with on-site organization, picked up guests from the airport and prepared Instagram publicity posts. A few days later they went to the capital city of Accra, 250 kilometers away, for the second event of the trip: a discussion on pandemic prevention between the German-West African Centre for Global Health and Pandemic Prevention and government representatives and other stakeholders, in dialogue about their latest experiences. There too Weisheit assisted with on-site organization, supporting the coordinator—which proved a superb opportunity to learn how events of this size and importance are conducted in Ghana. She answered several questions about Germany while there, and had opportunity to speak briefly with the German ambassador.
Culture shock and formative experiences
Asked to relate some of her experiences in the foreign country, she told us: “It was so cool, but challenging too; the weather was physically strenuous, and the food and differing ways of polite interaction were also stressful.” As white Caucasians, they naturally stood out sharply in the city. “You feel welcome everywhere you go, but it’s not something you are used to, being spoken to constantly,” she relates, “Communication behavior in Germany is minimal, in comparison.”
During some of her time off, the partners in Ghana showed her around the vibrant and diverse capital city. And Hannah met a young Ghanaian woman of the same age in the course of the trip, with whom she remains in contact. What is this kind of experience worth? “Even if it was only one week, I now have more understanding and empathy for international students—I know how they probably feel. It was a great opportunity to get to know another culture in a real ‘intercultural encounter’. I would do it again in a heartbeat,” says 18-year-old Weisheit.
“The year strengthened my resolve to continue working in an international environment.” The knowledge she gained there flows right into her work, as right now she is helping run a summer school and planning a series of new networking events for students interested in political science. It was a positive experience for everyone on the International Office team. “We are pleased that the University’s first FSJ-P has been such a successful one,” says Müller, “and we hope to offer two voluntary service year places going forward.”
