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In October we are able to celebrate the official opening of the workshop for the modernized painter/restorer trade at our project site in Kharkiv (Regional Vocational Training Center for Construction Technologies of the Kharkiv Region), Ukraine together with the GIZ. The festivities were attended by high-ranking representatives and project partners from politics and business. Anatoly Babichev, the Vice-Governor of the Kharkiv region, and the German Vice-Consul Peter Schmahl from the General Consulate in Donetsk with headquarters in Dnipro congratulated the project team on the successful workshop renovation and emphasized the importance of promoting training in the construction trades for the city of Kharkiv, especially for young people. Special thanks also went to the project sponsors Knauf, Caparol, Storch and Dinova, whose Ukrainian representatives were very pleased with the results of the modernization efforts. The conversion of the workshops and their equipment with materials and tools were led by master painter Andreas Tobias, who works on our behalf. He was also responsible for modernizing the content of the painter profession as well as training the instructors and teachers at the Kharkiv Vocational Training Center.

Foto: Мария Зайцева

In Kassel, Germany, Grammar professor Peter Eisenberg was awarded the Jacob Grimm Award for his research on the German language. The laudatio was given by the co-publisher of the renowned Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper, Jürgen Kaube. “Peter Eisenbergs work inspires us to reflect on the German language”, said Mr. Kaube, adding that Professor Eisenberg also stood for a careful handling of the German language. The Initiative Award was presented to the band Tonbandgerät for their ability to convey the joy of the German language to young people in Germany and abroad with their music and their German lyrics. Eberhard Schöck’s granddaughter Amelie Arndt delivered the laudatio. The Institutions Award went to the German-language newspaper Kaukasische Post. As the only German-language newspaper in the Caucasus region, it serves as an “asset for German foreign relations”, explained jury representative Helmut Glück. Holger Klatte, CEO of the Verein Deutsche Sprache (VDS), presented the laudatio.

Press release (in German)

In the run-up to the preparation for the new training program, we have not one, but two new projects in the Republic of Moldova to present. To the west of the capital Chişinău, in the town of Hînceşt, plasterers will be trained at the vocational school using a modern concept. The necessary workshop conversions and renovations are currently being planned. For the technical project management, we were able to recruit a new expert – painter and certified restorer Markus Schulz from Dresden.   In Chişinău, the carpenter training program in a vocational school specializing in carpenter training is undergoing modernization.  Currently, we are setting up a paint shop. Christoph Junghans, who has supported us as a carpentry expert for many years, is bringing his deep expertise to bear in leading this project.

Practical instruction in the paint and the spray booth as well as using a graphics program were the focus of a training for trainers led by Andreas Tobias, master painter and lecturer at the Handwerkskammer Düsseldorf .  The training took place at the Vocational Art College in Lviv. After defining and differentiating a customer order of their choice, the participants designed the painter’s cabins in historical or modern style with various baseboard and crown moulding options, painting and rubbing plaster, paints and wallpaper. In addition, they made spray-painted billboards with the logos of their schools. 16 trainers from our project sites for the modernization of painter training in Ukraine from Kiev, Vinnitsa and Kharkiv took the opportunity of attending this weeklong event for the purpose of continuing education and inter-school exchange with their colleagues.

The stonemasons from Lviv in Western Ukraine have returned home. What they have left behind is their work: Plates for the stair stringers in the newly installed linden-tree-lined boulevard of the historic terrace garden in Kirchheimboladen and steles for the signs in front of the linden trees – all manufactured manually using traditional methods. The three weeks of their stay were filled with workshop activities, an excellent cultural program and encounters with their German peers at the Meisterschule für Handwerker in Kaiserslautern. Back in Lviv, they will return to their studies at the Ivan Trusch College. Ukraine, it is important to note, does not have an apprenticeship training program for stonemasons. Instead, the training is part of the degree program for sculptors. In the Palatinate region of Germany, the pieces they created will now be installed and the need for additional work will be assessed. Next fall, the next phase of this unique partnership with thornconcept and the Stonemasonry Department of the Meisterschule für Handwerker in Kaiserslautern, Germany will be launched. Coverage of the project by the German SWR broadcast station is available here (in German).