Visitors from Potsdam and St. Pölten

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From April 22 to 24, the Lucerne School of Social Work welcomed two groups of students from Germany (FH Potsdam) and Austria (FH St. Pölten) with a total of 30 people to Lucerne.

The programme included visits to practical organizations in the field of child and youth welfare and foster care. The insight into the residential groups and homes of the Wäsmeli Foundation showed the students the everyday life of the social pedagogues in the child and youth welfare facility. This is the home of many children and young people, most of whom spend many years of their schooling and adolescence at Wäsmeli. The social workers are important reference persons who support and mediate in the everyday lives of the children and young people, including with their families of origin. The childcare department offers a chain of services ranging from socio-pedagogical family work with home visits, clarifications, accompanied visiting days and visiting days plus, crisis intervention places and long-term places in foster families. The comparisons between the three countries led to many exciting insights and interesting discussions.

With the afternoon screening of the film "Babyblu - the last memento", which tells the migration story of a Bosnian family based on the son’s romper suit, which is now on display at the Museum of War Childhood in Sarajevo, the university gave guests an insight into the migration history of many citizens in Switzerland. Exciting questions and touching moments from the film were discussed with the director Edith Werffeli and the brother of the film’s protagonist. What is home? What does loss mean?

The beautiful old town, the lake and the surrounding mountains also delighted the international group. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t play along so well this year and the charm and beautiful location of Lucerne could be more imagined than actually seen. With lots of rain and cold temperatures, the city tours and excursions were rather short and the cozy get-togethers at the university, the youth hostel or the pubs, cafés and restaurants in Lucerne were all the more important.