This year the ideas competition “Do! 2021” took place for the third time. The competition was announced by Marco Wanderwitz, the Federal Government Commissioner for the new federal states. The aim of the competition is to honor the achievements of committed people in the new federal states and to motivate others to JOIN. A total of 50 winners were selected from the 500 applicants. All of them will be awarded prize money between EUR 5,000 and EUR 15,000. “We are proud that the AG PPI of the Kulturelle Coordination eV association from Ilmenau is among the award winners,” says Tina Wittrich, chairwoman of the KuKo eV
The AG PPI (Persatuan Penduduk Indonesia) is an association of Indonesian students at the TU Ilmenau. Since 2013, they have been committed to bringing people closer to Indonesian culture, among other things. The working group applied with the project “Close the gap – strangers to friends”. There is a considerable number of young international people in Ilmenau. You study at the TU Ilmenau, but have little contact with the local population. Many internationals therefore tend to live in their own cultural and linguistic “bubble”. As a result, they have few low-threshold opportunities to get to know German culture outside of the university environment. This creates a gap between the life of international students on campus and the local population in the city. The aim of this project is to close this gap – “Close the gap!” – or to minimize it. Both communities should have the opportunity to meet, interact, exchange their world views and learn from each other across generations.
The process of getting to know each other is carried out through cooperation with various associations and institutions. The cultural exchange between locals and students takes place in the context of various events. At these events, the students present a colorful program, from Indonesian folk tales, presentations and slide shows about Indonesia, the country and people, culture and history, to the accompaniment of traditional dances and music. As part of the project, two events have already been planned in cooperation with the “House of Resources Thuringia” on September 28, 2021 and with “Neighbors with a Heart eV” on January 13, 2022. “We hope that we can work together with other institutions and associations,” says Mira Rochyadi-Reetz, spokeswoman for the AG PPI. More information about the events are available here to find. If you are interested in working with the project, please send us an email: ppi@kuko-ev.de