As a group we were all excited by the opportunity to finally launch Bringing Smiles in Germany with KidS, a local orphanage looking after more than 250 children in Cologne Germany. We decided to organise a series of fun activities and events to cater for different interests.
To get things started we sent some children to “Deutschland sucht den Superstar (DSDS)”, Germany’s most popular music casting show, where they entertained by outstanding performances from this year’s finalists. The younger children were able to watch the debut of the kids version called “DSDS Kids”. We also had something special in store for the soccer fans. They were able to watch a nail biting match between Bayer Leverkusen and Hannover 96 live in the BayArena. Both teams were fighting for the final position in next season’s European league.
The Project
Our next project was to get more hands on and help one of the boarding houses get their garden in shape for summer. The garden for the most part had been neglected since 2009 due to a lack of financial resources and manpower. Project Garden, as it came to be known was born. But with one problem – none of us knew much about gardening.
Jan Landen (=hero & gardening engineer) came to the rescue and volunteered his services and even gardening tools. We refurbished some old garden furniture, brought & set up a hammock and had Jan taking charge as we worked together with the teens to plant a rock garden. It was a really fun and enjoyable day for everyone. The end product was equally satisfying. It was a great pleasure to see the teens stand over the rock garden with beaming smiles, feeling proud of their accomplishment.
We are happy to have made a few more wishes come true. A special shout out to all the volunteers and facilitators that made this project possible. The world needs more people like you!
Thanks to Jan Landen, Gardening Engineer (Galabau Landen) for giving your time, expertise and even gardening tools for Project Garden. Also thanks for showing so much enthusiasm Juliana DeMoura, Jaudat Mamoon, Jovander de Almeida, Linia Patel, Eadaoin Murphy, Stefan Hünniger & Eileen Milster.
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