Interview with the Chairman of One World Association Oberursel

Interview with F.S., chairman of the One World Association Oberursel, for the project “tell me about your commitment.”

The interview was conducted by Brigitte Höfer, ViLE e.V. Germany

Some facts first:

Oberursel is a town with 44,000 inhabitants. It is located in the north of Frankfurt at the foot of the Taunus mountains.

In former times the creek „Urselbach“ drove on up to 42 mills. The valley and the adjacent 800 m high Altkönig mountain were inhabited by the Celts.

The Mill Trail informs about the location and function of the mills in earlier times.

Oberursel is an old craft center. In immediate neighborhood to Bad Homburg, whose famous guest Kaiser Wilhelm II visited the casino and the hot springs and initiated the first Monte Carlo race in 1903, Oberursel started the first soapbox race in 1904. Since then, this amusing spectacle takes place in summertime every year.

Oberursel belongs to the diocese of Limburg, and the Catholic Church traditionally played a great role in public life. Today there are almost as many Protestant as Catholic believers, both confessions celebrate every two years an ecumenical service.

INTERVIEW:

Brigitte Höfer interviewed F. S. in February. F.S. founded the One World Association Oberursel in 1993. In 2008 he initiated a Fair Trade shop in the center of the city.

Question: What kind of activities includes your job?

I have several honorary positions: Chairman of the One World Association, a board member of the Intercultural Garden and organizer of the Fair Trade Shop.

What are you doing? What is your business?

I do all the things that belong to the board work and organize and coordinate the procurement of goods and the sellers in the store. I am also involved in networks and information channels. I use NGO information, check the possibility of making actions and informations and I try to promote the environmental sustainability.

How did you come to this volunteering? Since when?

Since the age of 18 I am active in the Catholic Youth Movement. A key moment was in 1967 at the Loreley Festival with the theme “Make Peace”, in whose preparation I was involved. I still have a thick workbook for analyzing the Vietnam War and the group topics. Since that time, form e political education and Christian commitment are inextricably linked.

Why are you doing this voluntary work?

Because it’s fun. It is useful for life in society. Maybe I should report another key event: my visit to Puquio, Peru. If one of Europe’s economic situation comes across an environment with never seen poverty and distress, you can no longer continue to live and act on as if you never saw it. If you then discover that your activity is powerful, this is a strong motivation to continue.

How extensive is this activity? How often are you on duty?

The action is very extensive and I am daily in the service.

How often are normal days? Is it possible to plan ahead well?

Actually, you can plan ahead well, even if there are a lot of meetings.

What are the main difficulties?

The different expectations that I meet with. The politicians in the Taunus keep this one-world idea for secondary.

What are the low points you have to deal?

The most difficulties are problems in communication due to human differences and peculiarities. Different ideas about values and formulations need a lot of time and energy for clarification.

What are the highlights of your work?

For one the positive feedback about reaching goals and then the development and support of  new projects in which organizations and people make new experiences.

Private costs incurred to you? To what extent?

Plenty: One of the time, and on the other hand the car (a VW bus), without which the sale in the world shop would not be possible. I would say 60% of my time and activities are spend in the voluntary activity.

What do you get for your engagement?

The question can be answered in a figurative sense only, because of course I get no money for it. But I get joy, satisfaction, social contacts, life-long learning, a sense of rootedness in the community through the participation in it.

Has the view on volunteering changed?

As a young man I’ve never reflected it. Now that I am getting conscious of it, it does not lead to a distancing on volunteering.

Is there something you want to change in your volunteering work?

Actually, I would like to reduce a little, because my other interests are getting neglected.

Do your activities affect your social life? If so, how?

I am highly identified with my voluntary work. This means that people who are meeting me have to deal with the ideals represented by me. But I’m not a Pope and I don’t condemn anyone. But two of my (adult) children are still active in the Boy Scouts Organisation at the state and federal level.

Are youinvolved  in work groups or institutions?

I have always been involved in groups: in the church group, in the One World Association, the Oberurseler project in a world of networkers, then the attempt of the Local Agenda Group to take influence on local politics. There is a Fair Trade Shop Organisation and the fifth group with which I have to deal is the sellers group in our Fair Trade Shop.

Has your attitude to the groups changed in the course of your work?

Yes, this must inevitably develop. It depends on the intensity of cooperation. You also must set priorities.

Are you sometimes a lone fighter?

Yes. But not that I have the feeling that I am the only one who sees the project the same way I do. Not all social changes are conceived and developed by groups, it sometimes will need an individual who wants to realize an idea.

Does your voluntary work remind you of your former profession?

I was a teacher. As a teacher, you always work in groups, explain and analyze issues, try to convince. Thus my work is facilitated.

What support do you want from the public and from politicians for your voluntary work?

There is the possibility to apply for a voluntary worker’s Card, which entitles to obtain benefits. But I am not interested in benefits. I am interested in the information of the society. I hope, that this work will be noticed by the public. Perhaps we should publish more information in the newspapers.

What would you want as appreciation for your work?

I would want that the political parties serously adopt the thought of one world. Our Local Agenda tried to enlarge the consciousness of our responsibility of everybody. But instead of taking this process as a means of political participation, it was considered as an extra-parliamentary action. The developed papers went into the drawer. And then they call a professional town planner, an Institute for Communication and Urban Development, which handle the same themes, but with very different priorities. The word sustainability is used here only as a slogan and not filled with content.

Do you see a chance to make a change in politics?

Yes, but you have to have much persistence.

Thank you for your time.