Germany by Candice Rigsby

I had the opportunity to perform two international internships in Germany during the summer session. Putting "theory into practice" by working in a real setting was pertinent in achieving a comprehensive understanding of Candice Rigsby's chosen foreign language: German.

My first internship was at Frankfurter Frauenhaus (Women's Shelter of Frankfurt) founded in 1982 by a non-profit organization, whose goal is "to aid in the overcoming of special social difficulties". This institution has been able to offer protection to abused women and their children by promoting independence prevents future abuse. The proof of their "aid" is a low return rate. These women come from various international and social backgrounds--all are victims of mental, physical and/or sexual abuse committed with by family members, their partners, or strangers; each is desperately seeking safety and support from Frankfurter Frauenhaus. The executive director, social workers, interns, and I met for team conferences five times per week. Individual cases were discussed and any problems handled. I observed meetings between potential shelter candidates and their social workers; I accompanied residents to social security and child welfare offices and entertained the children on "Mother's Day Out". The residents were flattered that I took an interest in their situation.

My second internship was with Miteinander, Netzwerk fur Demokratie und Weltoffenheit in Sachsen-Anhalt e.V (Together, the Network for Demoracy and Cosmoplitanism in Saxony-Anhalt). This non-profit and non-governmental organization was founded in 1999. The society's main objective: to create an open, civil, non-violent society through projects promoting understanding among foreigners and Germans, of all ages. The exhibit, "Give Racism the Red Card" was an attempt to raise awareness and, hopefully, eradicate right-wing extremism in European soccer leagues. I made arrangements for this event before departing. I participated in Projekt Grosser Grenzverkehr 2204 (Project Great Border Crossing/Project Friendship Beyond Borders). This project aims to initiate contacts and establish friendships between rural communities in former East and West Germany through various theme workshops: East and West German differences explained, right-wing extremism, youth culture, and how to deal with aggressive Neo-Nazis. Several impoverished youths, aged 12 to 18, were in this project. The task to my team was to broaden their opinions about westerners. An ice cream social proved the most effective way to gain their acceptance. It was discovered that these youths had no space to use for their own enjoyment-so my team remodeled the basement room of their rooming house, in two days, into a public room where a game of table-tennis (ping pong) or a celebration could be held.

All the participants from the Miteinander Project met in Magdeburg, the capital of Sachsen-Anhalt, for a meeting. My task was to organize financial records obtained from the outreach summer projects, correct the errors, then forward these records to the state government, and I arranged part-time employee contracts for future summer projects. I was offered an internship by the executive director of the organization based in Halle, the largest city in Sachsen-Anhalt because of my work; he became my sponsor and host during my internship in Halle. I was allowed to do independent research in the organization's expansive library. Housed within were various publications, on a wide array of medias; topics varied from Third Reich's history, Hitler's life and actions, historical background and degrees of right-wing extremism, plus sociological, psychological, and cultural aspects therein. I researched and located American right-wing extremism topics and incorporated this new literature into the existing library database. My contribution was pertinent since the library database had only one book about the Neo-Nazi movement in the USA. A demonstration against a new unemployment law showed me the research needed. The Neo-Nazis were very vocal and aggressive about their own right-wing beliefs against this new unemployment bill; so were the radical skinheads about theirs and with added left-wing mentalities-a fight broke out! I continued to translate German into English for the Halle organization's website. My synopsis and description of Grosser Grenzverkehr has become a recruitment tool for future intern programs. I am very thankful to UAH's Foreign Languages and Literature Departments in organizing and sponsoring my international internship.

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