German volunteer happy to help tidy up
Print Edition
IF anyone drops litter at Jiayue neighborhood in Jiading’s Juyuan New Area, a foreigner wearing a red cap will remind them to throw it in the bin. The cap has five Chinese characters on it, meaning “Volunteer for Peace.”
Volker, who was born in Germany, is a volunteer who spares his leisure time patrolling the neighborhood, learning Chinese culture and making an effort to merge into the life of local residents.
When he corrects his neighbors’ bad behavior, most of them take his advice. Although he speaks poor Chinese, he is easily understood.
Volker and his wife Yang, a Shanghai native, moved to the city after they got married. They both soon got fed up with the noise in downtown and decided to settle in Jiading.
Their neighborhood committee had just been established and when they met Party secretary Zhu Qin they agreed to become volunteers in their spare time.
“A community of such kind is very rare in Germany as neighbors are far away from each other. It’s very hard for them to meet each other once a year,” Volker said.
He loves the fact that his Chinese community is like a big family with each resident one of the family members.
As a member of the family he plays taichi with other residents, joins their community morning exercise team, cooks Italian food for his neighbors and is a photographer for community activities.
Volker has become more and more popular and many of his neighbors give a thumbs up when his name is mentioned.
However, few people know that their volunteer is a musician who had a hit with the song “Prince Igor.”
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