Transnational Service Learning in Contexts of Higher Education

Familiarizing students with the work of NGOs and motivating them to contribute their own ideas and the expertise they have already acquired during their studies, supported by close transnational cooperation with professors and students at the University of Hamburg (UHH) and the German Jordanian University in Amman (GJU). This is the basic idea behind this exchange project. Nine students, research assistants and professors from GJU and the Faculty of Education at UHH came together during two nine-day trips to Hamburg and Amman to shed light on their perspectives on inclusion in the context of migration and flight.

Background: Both Jordan and Germany are considered immigration countries that have taken in many people with refugee experience. While immigration to Germany in recent years has mainly been dominated by people from Ukraine, Russia, Afghanistan, Syria and Sudan, Jordan has taken in a large number of people with refugee experience from Syria and Iraq due to its geographical proximity. At the same time, around 50% of Jordan's population has Palestinian roots.

Procedure and content

In the first digital meetings, in which the participants got to know each other and prepared for the exchange, the following concrete contents of the project were defined:

• Culture of Remembrance,
• German and Arabic Language Learning and Teaching
• Inclusion and disability and
• Migration of Refugees

During the first meeting of the seminar group in Hamburg in August, the content of the groups was deepened and various aspects of inclusion in terms of service learning were discussed.

Visiting the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial, the Evangelical Foundation Alsterdorf, the Hamburg Welcome Center (there with Arbeit und Leben Hamburg e.V.) and the accommodation for refugees in Eulenkrugstraße in Volksdorf made the work of the respective NGOs and institutions visible and tangible for us. 

 

But the visit by employees of the Hamburg bookcase program, the Förderverein der Gehörlosen/Hörbehinderten (BRD) e.V. - represented by Deaf Refugees - and the digital exchange with Maria Todorova, who spoke about her work "Conflict-sensitive emotional mentoring for Ukrainian refugee families with children", was filled with deep insights according their work. The group was able to broad their perspectives on the topics of flight, migration, disability, multilingualism and dealing with the culture of remembrance.

                                                       

In September, the seminar group then met at the GJU in Amman. Presentations by the King Hussein Foundation and the Royal Institute for Inter-faith Studies, who reported on their work with refugees in Jordan, took place at the GJU.

Off campus, there have been excursions to an employment project for refugee women (Collateral Repair Project) and to a refugee center for women. The Theodor Schneller School, the Jordan River Foundation and The Higher Council for the Persons with Disabilities was also visited.

 

All in all, the project gave the participants an insight into the work and commitment of NGOs in the field of inclusion. Specifically, the following questions were answered:

• How does the accommodation and labor market integration of refugees work in Hamburg? What role does the Hamburg Welcome Center have in this?
• What projects are there in Hamburg to promote multilingualism and improve the German language skills of children whose first language is not German?
• What significance does the topic of remembrance culture have in Germany?
• What support services are available for refugees with disabilities or restrictions?
• Why is the involvement of NGOs in Jordan so important?
• What support services are available for refugees in Jordan, especially for women?
• What aspects does the Ministry of Disabilities consider when developing a strategy for the inclusion of people with disabilities?

Both in Hamburg and in Amman, regular reflection seminars were held in all project groups and in plenary sessions to categorize the experiences and relate them to the research questions of the project groups.

The DAAD-funded project not only deepened the participants' knowledge of the various locations and their support for refugees, but also generated discussions on the development of the participants' intercultural and transcultural skills.

Written reflections on the experiences led to the creation of a booklet. Further publications are planned.

All Copyrights belong to Saskia Spath.