Mentoring Program – Volunteering with VISION(EERS)!

From April 2016 on we at Visioneers e.V. want to support refugees from 18 years on integrating into German life through our sustainable mentoring program. Our program is designed to help them participate actively in German social life. Hence, we have focused on two themes: language and education - because we believe that these areas will be the building blocks for a successful cooperation.

Some refugees have educational deficits due to various reasons including traumatic stress. This and the fact that they have little to no German language skills makes it more difficult to find a training place or regular employment. They often have no fixed daily rhythm and difficulties in structuring their day to day life. There is also a lack of specific training opportunities for this group and thus, some remain disoriented and live for the moment without thinking about the future.

Visioneers e.V. mentoring program offers these displaced people mentors who will support and guide them in their daily lives. The mentors will serve as their advisor, supporter, motivator. Their role is to help the refugees actively engage with their future and to offer them assistance and support in making decisions. The program will start in this pilot phase with 10 mentees and 10 mentors and will run for a duration of two years.

On 16/03/2016 and 23/03/2016 two introductory information meetings about the mentoring program were run for interested refugees. Afterwards, the (candidate) interviews were held for our potential mentees.

With the inaugural event on 30/3/2016 the project was effectively launched and all those interested in taking on a mentoring role or wishing to engage in any other format with Visioneers took their first steps.

The event was supported and made a great success by the attendance of Ms. Elahe Amir-Haeri of Bridge Bleiberecht Berlin. In her presentation Ms. Amir-Haeri spoke in detail about the current legal situation of the residence regulations in Germany. This was followed by a question and answer session where any unanswered questions could be addressed. Afterwards there was a presentation about our mentoring program by our voluntary staff member Robert Bernau. Again, this was followed by a question and answer session at the end of his presentation. From April on we are ready to begin interviewing all interested potential mentors. In accordance with the principles of optimum "matching" we will then connect them with their potential mentees (our aim is to accomplish this already in April this year).

We at Visioneers e.V. thank all volunteers and enthusiasts for their time and commitment.