Caritas Children's Village Irschenberg: By bike and demands for the German Bundestag

Created: 01/10/2022 06:03

The BDKJ federal chairwoman, Lena Bloemacher, the members of the Bundestag from the district of Miesbach, Alexander Radwan (2nd from left) and Karl Bär (4th from right), together with Lisi Maier (right), director of the Federal Foundation for Equality, prepared the delegation from Irschenberg dignified reception in Berlin.

© GB

Irschenberg – The Caritas Children's Village Irschenberg is celebrating its 50th birthday this year.

For the anniversary, the children's and youth parliament there had a special idea - a political bike tour to Berlin.

Girls and boys from the children's village were supposed to cycle from Irschenberg to the German Bundestag in Berlin in order to make their positions known and draw attention to their rights shortly before World Children's Day.

When it rained, eight children and young people set off in Irschenberg and after 700 kilometers they arrived in Berlin exhausted but happy, also in the rain.

The stages in between turned out to be much friendlier for the cyclists as far as the weather was concerned.

The group was accompanied by an educator, a social worker and an Afghan refugee who came to the children's village as an unaccompanied minor.

On their daily routes of up to 100 kilometers and up to 1000 meters in altitude, the group spent inexpensive nights in parish homes, in an empty kindergarten and once in the open air on a lake just outside Lutherstadt Wittenberg, where the cyclists took a longer break.

It was good for everyone, because the day before they had covered almost 130 kilometers and, after starting in East Thuringia, had cycled through the middle of the city of Leipzig.

"There and again and again along the route, there were encouraging shouts from passers-by, which motivated the young people to keep going despite their aching buttocks," the children's village reports.

Kindergarten teacher Johanna Spessa was already deeply impressed by the performance halfway there: “We are incredibly proud of the kids so far.

They do everything every day, cycle and cycle, look out for each other and fight their way through.

We're still having a really good time.”

Alexander Radwan, Karl Bär and Lisi Maier welcome the group

And the goal was getting closer and so the anticipation of a real bed and a warm shower in the Rossi inclusion hotel in the children's embassy grew.

There in Berlin, the cyclists were welcomed by two Bavarian members of the Bundestag from the district of Miesbach and Lisi Maier, who was born in Irschenberg and is President of the Federal Foundation for Equality, and the village management.

Alexander Radwan, Karl Bär and Maier wanted to show the young people their appreciation for their achievements.

Idea: Call shared taxi as a successor to the nine-euro ticket

In a relaxed atmosphere, photos from the tour were viewed together and the young people showed their videos with their political demands.

Among other things, it was about the poor supply of public transport and the lack of expansion of safe cycle paths in the country.

Offers in the nearest cities are as good as inaccessible to children and young people living in remote areas due to the poor or missing connection to local public transport.

For young people, mobility is an important factor for their development and quality of life.

The young people in Berlin made this location disadvantage clear and suggested that, for example, the call shared taxi should be included in a follow-up regulation for the nine-euro ticket.

The politicians promised to give the issue more attention.

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Invitation to the Bundestag

An invitation to the German Bundestag followed the next day.

And as recognition for their commitment, the participants were allowed to stay overnight in the children's embassy and explore Berlin the next day.

Late in the evening we went back to Munich with the ICE.

The group was then picked up in Miesbach and driven back to the children's village.