(Kirchhellen, Germany) The Redemptorists welcomed Matilda Angelina Inna on 29th August 2019 from the island of Sumba, Indonesia, to the Kirchhellen Youth Monastery. Angelina, “Jelyn”, is doing a voluntary service in child and youth work for one year; during this time, she lives and works in the community of the Youth Monastery. Jelyn is thus the first woman to come to Germany as a volunteer in the exchange program of the Redemptorists in Kirchhellen.
Similar to the voluntary service “weltwärts” of the Federal Republic of Germany, we want to strengthen an equal exchange between the Global South and the Global North – in the ONE world – and, in connection with this, our partnership with the Indonesian Redemptorists. On the one hand, we strive for a learning and understanding process between the young people and ourselves through interpersonal encounters, intercultural and interreligious exchange as well as knowledge and experience transfer beyond Christian commitment.
The more than 60-year relationship between the Redemptorists in Indonesia and the Province of St. Clement already has benefited from the multiplier effect and commitment of young women and men returning from the South through the Redemptorist Volunteer Ministries (RVM) in Bonn and now also from the North returning volunteers of the Volunteer Project of the Youth Monastery Kirchhellen.
Since March 2019, the Indonesian Redemptorist student Gabriel Hungameha has been living and working as a volunteer in the Youth Monastery for 18 months as part of the partnership between the Formation House Wisma Sang Penebus and the Youth Monastery Kirchhellen.
Through the international exchange with volunteers, we hope to reach new target groups for dealing with developmental and worldwide Christian contexts and thus to set impulses within our Congregation and beyond.
Hildegard Kückelmann
