After she watched her cousin build a lasting friendship with a German student through Dublin Community Church’s Young Ambassadors program, Isabel Kuck knew she also wanted to join.
The program brings a German student to live with the young ambassador’s family in Dublin for a summer, and the following summer, the Dublin student travels to Germany to stay with the German ambassador’s family.
The first group of German young ambassadors arrived in Dublin in 2016, sparking the ongoing exchange program and partnership between the Dublin Community Church and a church in the city of Unna in Germany.
Kuck’s cousin’s ongoing relationship with her German ambassador is a testament to the program’s success.
“During Christmas, they will still FaceTime and the whole family gets to say hello,” Kuck says. “Just seeing my cousin’s relationship with her partner from Germany, even after she left, made me realize how strong the connection was that they formed, and I knew I would want to form that with someone as well.”
Bringing Germany to Dublin
Reverend Becky Sunday from the Dublin Community Church serves as leader of the exchange program, which is part of a broader partnership with the Heartland Conference of the United
Church of Christ. With shared German heritage throughout the United Church of Christ, the covenant relationship among the churches came naturally and is something the group is always looking to expand.
Building relationships with new friends and families is the most powerful aspect of this experience, Sunday says. There’s a lot to learn from one another, especially among different cultures.
“(Experiences like this) help us understand how we live in a pluralistic society and explore how our diversity makes us stronger as a community together,” Sunday says.
Deutsche in Dublin
The group of German students arrived on June 17 this summer, starting the new rotation of Young Ambassadors. The idea is for the ambassadors to soak everything in and learn about a new culture or way of life, Amy LaDu, assistant leader of the young ambassadors program, says.
“We wanted to give the Germans a taste of what it’s like to live in Dublin and Ohio,” LaDu says. “We took them to pool parties at church members’ houses, we went kayaking on the Scioto River and, of course, they tried Graeter’s.”
Among the excursions around Dublin and central Ohio, the young ambassadors also spent their summer hiking at Hocking Hills, visiting Kings Island, seeing the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati and even traveling up north to see Niagara Falls. This year’s program was built around a theme of diversity.
The group spent multiple days volunteering at the Dublin Food Pantry and spent time visiting several colleges such as The Ohio State University, to see a big campus, and Heidelberg University in Tiffin, to experience a smaller campus.
In Dublin and Germany, the situation with the host families is similar where the goal is to treat the visiting student as a part of the family. Having been a chaperone with the program for many years, LaDu explains how every morning her last host family in Germany would go to their small market to get food for the day and how common small markets are there.
This is very different from the large grocery stores in the United States, like Costco and Sam’s Club, which always shocks the German ambassadors.
“Going to a different country at that young age really broadens their horizons,” LaDu says. “To sum it all up, I think although there are a lot of differences between the two different countries, there are so many more similarities and that just makes life so much more global.”
it’s Not goodbye, but auf wiedersehen
With the program being a two-year cycle, the local experience in Ohio is complete for the German group that will now await for their Dublin partners to arrive in Germany next summer.
“There were many tears when we said goodbye, but we are so grateful we have this whole year to keep in touch with our German friends, whom we look forward to seeing when we travel to Germany next Summer,” Sunday says.
While Kuck and the rest of the young ambassadors in Dublin get excited for their travels next summer, they plan to stay connected with their partners through texting and social media in the meantime to continue learning about each other’s lives and cultures.
“I just wanted to gain a better idea of what other cultures do and what other people do from around the world and I’m really glad that I did because I made a lifelong friend,” Kuck says. “I feel like there’s a part of me that already lives in Germany.”
Grady Libertini is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
