Standing on the Werner Stephan public school grounds in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district right after the last bell, one immediately notices the strong presence of minorities pouring out of the buildings – a kid shouting to his friends in Turkish to hurry up; a group of girls wearing headscarves leaving together; Russian rap playing loud from the mobile phone speakers of a boy. After entering the school’s main building, waiting at the top of the stairs is Marian, 17, eager to share some exciting news. The 10th grader, who moved from Ghana to Berlin with her father three years ago, is proudly showing off her red Washington, D.C. sweatshirt. Together with a mixed group of Turkish, Arabic, East European and German students from her school, Marian just got back from a two-week exchange program to the U.S. this March.

Created by U.S. Ambassador to Germany William R. Timken, Jr. and his wife, Sue, Windows on America aims to give students of immigrant backgrounds, specifically Muslims, who are otherwise not represented in American-German exchange programs, a chance to experience the U.S. Since his appointment in Germany, which began in 2005, Timken is becoming more involved with the Muslim community − from engaging in dialog with Muslim leaders and students to breaking the fast with them during the Ramadan season at a mosque. “One of the best ways to solidify common goals is through people-to-people exchange programs,” said Timken. By receiving funds from corporate donors for the program, the Timkens hope “to educate the next generation of Germans about the U.S. and address misconceptions that may exist.”

The organization, World Learning, based in the U.S., helped organize the exchange program consisting of three days in Washington, D.C., three days in New York City and one week in Cleveland, Ohio. Days spent in the two metropolitan cities were packed with political, cultural and leisure activities usually lasting from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Aside from the tourist sites like the Empire State Building and Ellis Island in New York, or the national monuments and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the group spent time with Youth Service America, an organization engaging children at a young age to volunteer in social projects. At a public school in the capital, they discussed climate change with other students and, in Cleveland, they met with an Islamic organization where they exchanged views on how life for a Muslim is like in each of their respective countries.

The students admit that their biggest fear was when the time came to stay at their host families in Cleveland, which meant having to speak in English only. For one week, they did so and joined their host-siblings in school. They were most impressed that an American school offered such a diverse range of after-school activities. “They even have an a cappella group!” said Marian. At the end of the week, most left their host families with tearful good-byes. Even Mahmud, who is of Arab descent and was very skeptical when he found out that he would be staying with a Jewish family. “By the end of the week, he was joined at the hip with his host-brother,” said his teacher Silke Donath, who joined them on their trip.

Close to 19 percent of Germany’s 83 million are of foreign descent, 3.3 million are Muslims. The country’s slow response to improving the integration of immigrants has negatively effected many areas of its society including its youth and schools. While most of Kreuzberg’s public schools have been cast in a negative light over the past few years due to integration-related problems, the Werner Stephan School has been making headlines for tackling integration and making tolerance its main theme, which is how it became a candidate for the exchange program. In 2001, it became the first school to join the “School Without Racism” network, a European youth movement founded in response to an increase in xenophobic and far-right violence.

Windows on America has given schools such as the Werner Stephan an opportunity to take their integration initiatives a step further. Having organized several exchanges in German schools so far, the program plans to invite 100 young Muslims to the U.S. each year. For students like Marian, it has given her a new perspective. “Americans are very direct and pro-active, it taught me that I must be so as well in order to get what I want and get things done,” she said. Her dream now is to go on an exchange program to the U.S. for a full year.

By Nurhan Kocaoglu

The Atlantic Times, May 2008

]]> http://www.projektagenten.de/test/wordpress/en/presse/the-atlantic-times-windows%e2%80%99-opening-doors/feed/ http://www.projektagenten.de/test/wordpress/en/presse/badische-zeitung-eine-einmalige-chance/ http://www.projektagenten.de/test/wordpress/en/presse/badische-zeitung-eine-einmalige-chance/#comments Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:00:32 +0000 admin http://www.projektagenten.de/test/wordpress/?p=56 Sorry, this entry is only available in deutsch.

Fuerstenfeldbruck – Many Hollywood fans mainly know garden parties, where smiling people are meeting in dressy clothes at a barbecue, from their preferred movies. At the weekend, there was in fact some of the flair of these movies on the porch of the American Consul General’s residence in Munich. U.S. Ambassador William R. Timken, Jr., greeted the first Bavarian participants of the student exchange program “Windows on America.” Among them: Audir Nuri Sharif from Fuerstenfeldbruck.

The 15-year-old Viscardi student is one of the candidates who will fly to New York at the end of August. Sharif has been living in Germany for eight years, six of them in Fuerstenfeldbruck. His parents are from Kurdistan (Northern Iraq); his non-German origin is considered to be a precondition for participating in “Windows on America.”

The exchange program has been called into being by the ambassador and his wife. According to Timken its objective is to give students the opportunity to take part in an exchange program who otherwise would not have this possibility.

During the get-together on the terrace of the Consulate General, there were plenty of opportunities to ask questions. For example: “Why has the image of the U.S. suffered so much in a lot of countries?” This is a topic that also interested Audir Nuri Sharif.

The student from Bruck had written an essay on the democratization of Iraq to apply for the exchange program. “We were asked to write down what we think of when we think of America,” the student of the Viscardi-Gymnasium explains. He was in Iraq when the elections were held two years ago.

He says that his essay also contained rather critical views. But his argumentation was fair and factual. He explains that he did not want to attack U.S. policy but clearly analyze the facts.

Sharif is now looking forward to his trip to the U.S. Visits to New York City and Washington, D.C., are also part of the program. But the student is especially looking forward to meeting his American host family, where he will spend the rest of his trip. Sharif likes “quiet Fuerstenfeldbruck” a lot. But if he likes the U.S., he could also imagine living there at some point in the future.

By David Acker

Sueddeutsche Zeitung Regionalausgabe, August 1, 2007

]]> http://www.projektagenten.de/test/wordpress/en/presse/sz-regionalausgabe-von-bruck-nach-new-york/feed/ http://www.projektagenten.de/test/wordpress/en/presse/spiegel-online-international-experiencing-america-beyond-hollywood/ http://www.projektagenten.de/test/wordpress/en/presse/spiegel-online-international-experiencing-america-beyond-hollywood/#comments Fri, 18 May 2007 09:30:02 +0000 admin http://www.projektagenten.de/test/wordpress/?p=62 The U.S. Embassy in Berlin introduces the Windows on America program to German-Muslim high school students. Every year the program invites up to 100 young Muslims to the United States

The red-brick entrance to the Ernst-Abbe high school in Berlin’s oft-maligned Neuköln district could be that of any high school in America. Students roughhouse and tease each other on their lunch break, spreading jovially onto the sidewalk – not at all the sinister scene of immigrant tensions and violence that German media tends to highlight, though 82 percent of the students here have what is popularly called “immigration background.”

Four students, Mariam, Serhat, Ümit, and Akin sit bashfully in an empty classroom, sacrificing their break to discuss a 10-day trip they took to the United States last October. They were among ten students selected by essay competition to be accompanied by two of their teachers on tours of New York City and Washington D.C., visit schools, and stay with host families in Des Moines, Iowa.

“I wanted to go because America was a big chance and I could never go alone,” explains Mariam, 17, whose parents are from Russia and Azerbaijan. “Before, my stereotypes were good and bad, but I learned that a lot of Americans are open-minded.” Ümit, 19, who immigrated to Germany from Turkey age three, agrees, “They asked a lot of questions and were curious. Germany is a little different.”

Since June 2006, three such groups of German high school students, including those from Ernst-Abbe high school, have travelled to America as part of this new educational program, Windows on America, administered by the U.S. mission to Germany. While student exchange between the U.S. and Germany is commonplace, this program singles out youth with immigration background – specifically Muslims.

Sitting comfortably upstairs in his Berlin office, U.S. Ambassador William R. Timken, who initiated Windows on America with his wife, Sue Timken, explains why the program is focused toward these students. While some might say a program aimed at a specific religious group is discriminatory, Timken says Windows on America actually addresses an institutionalized exclusion of such students in Germany. “The State Department administers a number of exchange programs, but these make up a proportion of more elite functions and people,” he says. “Below a certain level, especially the way the system works in Germany … these kids are just not a part of normal exchange programs … Windows on America came about as a public-private partnership to address this issue.”

Timken agrees that if Americans consider German demographics at all, it’s likely that Muslims aren’t the first group that comes to mind. But according to the German Federal Statistical Office, of the country’s 82.5 million inhabitants, 3.3 million are Muslims. Despite the numbers, many Germans arguably haven’t included residents with immigration background in their vision of German society until the last few years, either, until events across Europe, like the 2005 civil unrest in Paris, began highlighting difficulties in Muslim integration.

In fact, Timken’s arrival to Germany in August 2005 was followed by two major new events in the country’s attempt to address these issues – the Integration Summit in July 2006, and the German Conference on Islam in September of the same year. This shifting climate in German immigration and integration attitudes paired with the U.S. mission’s post-9/11 orders from the White House to engage in Muslim outreach motivated Timken to explore ways the Embassy could foster intercultural dialogue at a grassroots level.

Ambassador Timken and his wife began hosting meals and dialogues with Muslim leaders and students. “In the process, we found there was a great receptivity from Muslims and the immigrant community,” Timken says. There is a difference between the American and German styles of addressing community issues, he explains. “This is a cultural thing. Germans and Europeans tend to rely on government to intellectually address problems … but America has a tradition of tackling things on a person to person basis.”

From discussions they had with students during these events, the Timkens were inspired to create Windows on America, which ultimately aims to give students – who have likely been the target of stereotypes themselves – a chance to confront their own preconceptions about the U.S. through personal contact with American students and families, as well as exposure to American culture.

Timken hopes to improve opinions of the U.S. for students with immigrant backgrounds. Their opinions are often skewed by pop-culture and media, he says. “Categorically, the view is of an aggressive society which isn’t truly appreciative of world diversity, and that all Americans are as seen in Hollywood movies.”

Because there is no built-in funding for the program, it operates as a public-private partnership, funded largely through corporate donations from companies like Citibank Deutschland and Delta Airlines. Timken notes that raising funds for the Windows on America has been the greatest challenge, but that interest is growing after three successful trips. So far, the program has received more than 250,000 dollars in donations.

The program plans to invite up to 100 young Muslims to the United States each year. The next group of students to go to America will be all girls from Frankfurt, many of whom Timken says wear headscarves. He says the program wanted to involve more conservative young Muslim women in the program. After consulting with mosques in Frankfurt for three months, the embassy arranged a Windows on America trip to Boston, which will include two female Muslim chaperones and carefully chosen Muslim host families. The Ambassador seems particularly excited about the next trip, saying, “It’s our most unique group yet.”

As for the Embassy’s potential influence on German immigrant outreach styles, the Ambassador remains diplomatic. Between the two governments, he says, “It’s not the same objectives, but we find we’re on the same path.”

Kristen Allen, 27, grew up in Denver, Colorado. She is currently working for Spiegel Online International in Berlin.

Spiegel Online International in Berlin, May 18, 2007

F.A.Z., April 4, 2007

]]> http://www.projektagenten.de/test/wordpress/en/presse/faz-junge-musliminnen-zu-gast-in-amerika/feed/ http://www.projektagenten.de/test/wordpress/en/presse/hurriyet-der-dialog-ist-von-enormer-bedeutung/ http://www.projektagenten.de/test/wordpress/en/presse/hurriyet-der-dialog-ist-von-enormer-bedeutung/#comments Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:35:22 +0000 admin http://www.projektagenten.de/test/wordpress/?p=67 Sorry, this entry is only available in deutsch.