Abschied von den Jungs

Wie versprochen melde ich mich mal wieder bei euch. Die Idee kam ganz spontan. Gestern hatte ich eine kleine Abschiedsfeier mit den Hostel-Jungs, weil die meisten von ihnen heute nach Hause gefahren sind. Einige von ihnen habe ich sogar nach Hause begleitet. Bei der kleinen Feier waren nur die Fathers, die Jungs, zwei Brothers und natürlich ich. Ehrlich gesagt hätte ich es mir nicht schöner vorstellen können. Die Jungs haben für mich getanzt, gesungen und einer von ihnen hat sogar eine Rede auf Englisch gehalten. Danach war ich an der Reihe und habe meine Abschiedsrede vorgelesen. Ich dachte, ich teile sie auch mit euch. Sie ist allerdings auf Englisch. Für die Jungs hat Father William meine Rede ins Tamil übersetzt.

„ Dear boys, fathers and brothers, 

I can hardly believe it, but my time here in Murunkan is coming to an end. In two weeks I will go back to Germany and to be honest, I don’t feel ready to go home. But what is home? Yes, I grew up in Germany, and my family and friends are there. I am really happy that I will see them again in a few days. But during the last few months, you have given me another home. In my opinion, home is not a place, it is the people. And to be honest, I never thought that would be possible when I first arrived. 

I would like to take a little trip back in time. On Wednesday, 17th September, I came to Murunkan completely tired and you welcomed us with a song. At the beginning, we didn’t really know how to communicate with each other. It was difficult because I couldn’t speak Tamil. My Tamil hasn’t really improved that much. Now I understand quite a lot and I am always surprised by how much I understand. But speaking is still very difficult for me, because the sounds are so different from English and German.

But sport connected us from the beginning. Since my first days, I went with you to the playground. At first, we only played volleyball and I learned a lot from you about how to play volleyball correctly. Then I had the idea of playing basketball with you. I remember very well that you were not very excited about it. At the beginning, basketball was complete chaos. The technique training was not very successful, because I know technique training is very boring. I always hated it too. But now, after nine months, I can’t stop you from playing basketball anymore. You are getting better every day, and now I hardly have a chance to beat you. I also remember that I always wore shoes when I played. But now I almost always play barefoot. Before I came here, my feet were so soft, but now they are completely different. We have so many memories together. We played sports together, we drove on the tractor, we visited many Masses, we celebrated festivals like Pongal, we ate together, we sat together in the study hall where I wanted to teach you English and we shared so many other moments. We lived together for almost one year. You did not always make life easy for me because you are boys. But I also was not always easy. We all had good days and bad days. I learned so many things from you and I hope you also learned something from me.

I learned from you how to clean properly, how to play volleyball, how to prepare a coconut, some Tamil words, how to eat with my hands and many other things. Before I came here, I only drank black tea, but now I really like tea, especially milk tea. In Germany, we usually drink plain tea without sugar. 

I spent time with you and time is the only thing we cannot buy. Time is gold. You will never forget the memories we made together, the good ones and the bad ones. I celebrated my twentieth birthday with you, thousands of kilometers away from my family and I could not have imagined a better birthday. I have a birthday every year, but this one was something very special and I will never forget it. During my time here, I saw how talented every one of you is in your own way. Some of you are talented in sports, some in art, some in history and some in music. Every one of you has a special talent, even if your school grades do not always show it. I was never one of the best students at school. I somehow just got through it. English was always my least favorite subject. But today I know how important it is. If I could not speak English, I would have here a very big problem. Maybe you also noticed that the more you spoke English with me, the better your English became. So one thing I want to tell you is this, whenever you have the chance to speak English, do it. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. That is how you learn. Before I came here, sport was everything for me. I wanted to become a professional athlete. As you can see, that did not happen. But I did not give up. I stood up again and found a new path. Sometimes life does not go the way we want, but we must always get up and keep going. If I had never stopped professional sports, I would never have come to Murunkan. And maybe this was God’s plan, that I would come here and get to know all of you. 

I know that every one of you is strong and intelligent. During the last few months, you have become very important to me. I met many wonderful people here, but you are something special for me. Yes, in two weeks I will be back in a completely different world, but I will never forget you. I will probably never see most of you again and that breaks my heart a little. But all of you will always have a place in my heart. I wish you all the best in this world and all the best for your future. Of course, you can always contact me on my phone if you need me.

Also thank you, Fathers, for allowing me to look into your world and for letting me live together with you. It is not something that can be taken for granted to be welcomed so warmly, especially as a woman living in a men’s community. But I always felt comfortable, safe and at home with you here in Don Bosco Murunkan. I was able to learn so much from you. I am so grateful for this time and I would never want to miss the time I spent here in Murunkan.

I am not ready to go, but they say you should leave when it is at its most beautiful.

Thank you for everything.

God bless you.

Nandri. “

Ich weiß das war mal eine ganz andere Art und Weise eines Blog Beitrags, doch diese Rede beschreibt genau wie ich das zusammenleben mit den Jungs und den Salesianer erlebt habe und wollte euch dies nicht vorenthalten. Ach und Tränen sind auch geflossen. 

Ich hoffe es hat euch gefallen.

Vielen Dank für eure Unterstützung im letzten Jahr.

Eure Johanna 😊