Fusion Germany
Monday the 31st March – we worked hard to prepare the place to welcome people. Over 80 of our supporters turned up to be part of a night of history! We had 13 people including a local florist doing a beautiful array of flowers. We shared the story of the dreams for the property and the number of people who volunteered to be part of it with us has moved us. People from a nearby city came to see how they could contribute. Here is one example of how the networks are opening for us. One guy, Shrouder, a worker with the Blue Cross – who talks in schools was so taken by what we are doing here that this week he will be coming with us to our property in the East, Derfflinger Hof, to see how we may be able to work together in developing the property as he is focused on schools in Berlin and has been looking for a property near Berlin to bring young people to.
A local leader who was there to witness the hand over said: “Well I wasn’t in Berlin when the wall fell down in 1989 but I can tell people I was there the night that Fusion took over the Academy in Iserlohn!” They really see it as being this significant for Germany. To have this level of support from local people was one of the reasons we felt it was so right to explore purchasing the property. At Midnight we burst into cheering and then celebrated with cake and coffee.
Fusion Open Crowd festivals run at the time of the World Cup, 2006 were received by enthusiasm by the German community. In March 2007, Martin Woods, Fusion’s European Coordinator and his wife, Jenny, moved to live at Iserlohn. They join Christiane, the Secretary for Germany and an enthusiastic team across West and East Germany. In April a property was secured by the local team in Gusow, to become the heart of work with young people and those who are finding life difficult in the East, and a training centre for the country. In June 2007, a Pilgrimage to Germany will draw team from around the world to run Festivals across Germany and connect with young people in schools.
Stiller Weg 3, 58644 Iserlohn, Germany
(Martin & Jenny Woods)
Phone: + 49 2371 159 5219
Email: marty.woods@fusion.org.au