Liebe Grüße aus dem verregneten München (Kind regards from Munich)

Jana Soltau, social work intern at LFCS on the right with a friend, Anna, and Jana's younger sister,Resi at a lake in Eichstätt before coming to Cape Girardeau.

Liebe Grüße aus dem verregneten München (Kind regards from Munich)

Southeast Missouri is known for its German Lutheran settlements in Perry County. The Cape LFCS staff looked forward to the arrival of a student intern directly from Eichstätt, Germany, Jana Soltau. Hopefully, some of Perry County looks like home to her. She started with the agency in late August, 2010 and will remain through February, 2011. Her story follows, in her own words:

I've always loved being around people, being interested in their lives and encourage them to "experience greater hope and wholeness of life" as LCFSMO's mission statement conveys so beautifully. That is also why, after I finished secondary school in Munich where I had been born and raised as eldest of four bubbly siblings (Me, Max, Sophie and Resi), it wasn't a difficult decision to go into the area of Social Work. So I moved to Eichstätt, a dozily little baroque town about two hours away from Munich, to start studying Social Work (BA) at the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. And I think I could not have chosen anything better! I just love studying Social Work and every day I feel like there is still so much more to discover and to learn.

One thing that my university has always placed emphasis on is the professionalization of Social Work. In Germany this process is partly still in its infancy, especially when it comes to things such as acknowledging the importance of research, unionizing Social Work as a national association but also within the area of practical work: to strive for evidence based practice, to focus on values and ethics, to evaluate outcomes and to develop a professional relationship with a client.

So when I started to think of where I could do my compulsory practical semester, I developed the idea to go to America to learn about all these things we Germans are only recently beginning to discover for Social Work. With that idea in mind I started to search the Internet and looked for agencies that seemed like places that would be able to help me learn about professional Social Work. I was especially interested in a Christian organization as I have volunteered a lot in church-based children and youth work and also would love to see how basic Christian values and professionalism can both at the same time be implemented. In addition I had hoped for an agency that would work with a broad range of cases and people of different ages and backgrounds.

So when I first visited LCFS's website I got really excited and applied for an internship without hesitation. The reason I specifically chose Cape Girardeau is because I have dear friends who live there and thought it would be most prudent to go to a place where there are friendly faces to help me when I am in need, but also to chat and drink coffee with after work. It is amazing how sweet everybody has been to me when I came here and I have no words to thank everybody for adopting me as part of a giant family.

And even though the visa application process was not the easiest and demanded a lot of LFCS staff, the agency was so kind to accept my application. And I am very, very grateful that LFCS has given me this great opportunity to gain more insight into Social Work.

I guess if I had to write down what I have learned so far, I could publish a book. I have found what I was looking for: An agency that teaches me how to work according to highest standards of practice set forth for social work and that shows how excellence can be achieved in providing social services both on an agency level, but also nationally. I can't wait to take all this insight back to the German Social Work system as there is still a great need of professionalizing the Social Work Profession. But I have also learned things that had been beyond my imagination: Everyday when I am watching the LFCS workers doing their jobs, I come to understand more and more how important a genuine dedication to people is. As the Swiss pedagogue Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi stated so beautifully: "You have to love people if you want to change them." Loving people and therefore pursuing excellent best-practice services is what I have learned during these four months of my time with LFCS. And I am very grateful for this amazing experience. Having said this, there is only one thing left to say: Frohe Weihnachten! (Merry Christmas!)