The main objective of this
month’s note is to draw your attention to our annual newsletter which
has just been sent out. If you don’t see it yet, please check again in
a few days. Because that letter is more observations than news, it came
to mind to share some events of last year thus refreshing pleasant
memories.
Our former chapel still longs for renovation but occasionally
is put to good use, such as the annual spring end-of-visit art show of
the students from Sigtuna-Ansgarsliden, Sweden. The space was later
graced with a summer installation prepared by Austrian painter Karl
Hartwig Kaltner. This second event was coordinated by Tom Preston and
timed to coincide with Tom’s own excellent evening of Bob Dylan music.
Tom is a gifted American musician and composer who is a pastor in the
Austrian Lutheran church in Salzburg.
In summer we again benefited from
a work camp of about 20 “Soviet” Germans. These are people who took
advantage of German laws facilitating immigration for persons who could
show German ancestry, sometimes going back centuries and usually
descendents of families who emigrated to what became Eastern Europe or
republics of the Soviet Union, such as Uzbekistan or Georgia. With
excellent professional training, they hoped for a new, prosperous life
in Germany. Many, however, were given housing in areas of low
employment and have been unable to make the contribution of which they
are capable. Their hopes now reside in their children, who often also
do not have an easy adjustment to a new setting. Eva Matthies, a long
time friend of Casa Cares, knows many of these persons and she knows
that family time away from their small city of Bad Kissingen is almost
impossible. For that reason she proposed a work camp in exchange for
ten days of room, board and a group experience in Tuscany. For two
years now it has been a valuable summer exchange for all of us.
The other unusual stay was the return of the 16 children, teacher and interpreter from a Belarus children’s home. This provides them with a month’s break from a very difficult situation and includes a variety of new life experiences and the nutrition, including our wonderful Tuscan fruits and vegetables, to combat the deficiencies of their normal diet. A good part of the cost of the stay is covered through funds from Il Sassolino Bianco, an association supported in part by financing through public tax monies designated to the Waldensian Church.
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