Crack! A few sesame seeds crumble from the circular cookie onto the floor. "They're hard!" says Emily as she tries not to lose any more crumbs. Her group is standing in the office of Dorina Waldmeyer, the project officer for South Sudan. "These are South Sudanese Christmas cookies. It's 40 degrees hot there now. In the heat, Christmas gutzi with chocolate would melt quickly," Dorina explains with a laugh. The souvenir is intended to give the 11- to 14-year-olds a better understanding of the culture of the project country. Just like the colorful South Sudanese Christmas decorations made of wool, of which everyone is allowed to take a piece.
Direct line to South Sudan: Tut Mai Nguoth answers the children's questions.
Now Dorina gathers the kids around her cell phone, live on which Tut Mai Nguoth, the director of a partner organization from South Sudan, can be seen. "What are you doing right now?" asks Nicolas into the camera, and Tut Mai explains that they are having a workshop. For a few minutes he shows the surroundings, then the group moves on to the next post.
Gaby Ullrich shows what she does as head of fundraising to support the work of Mission 21.
Global justice
On Future Day, young people can explore the path they want to take later. Will it lead them to Mission 21 at some point? It is still too early to apply. Nevertheless, Myriam Pellet, the human resources manager, shows what her everyday life is like - including job interviews.
Not only the future of the youthful visit is the topic today, but also global justice. Belinda Zingg from Swiss Fair Trade, Mission 21's office neighbors, explains why products should not be as cheap as possible.
"There's only one kernel in a cashew fruit," Belinda says, pointing to the shell. "That's a lot of effort for our break snack." It's the same with dried mangoes. "They taste much better because they ripen on the tree and are dried right on the spot." The youngsters dig in - yum!
A wheelchair brings dignity
Global justice has many faces. "When I was in Congo, I met Vivienne," Christian Weber from Mission 21's Education Department tells the plenary. The 15-year-old girl was severely impaired by polio. "She could only crawl on the ground and her parents hid her in their hut out of shame," Christian says, showing a picture.
Christian tells how Mission 21 employees brought her a wheelchair made from bicycle parts. Years later, he says, he met her again. "She was traveling in a wheelchair. She told us how happy she was that she didn't have to face people crawling anymore." That, he said, gave her back a bit of dignity, a bit of justice.
Be strong together!
"This story has stayed with me a lot," says one girl later, while the others in her group create a poster on the theme of justice. Using scissors, glue and markers, they present what became important to them today with collected materials. "Be strong together!" one boy writes in large letters.
After all the info, it's time for a résumé on a poster.
In a moment there will be a break with glacé - lemon-cola or banana-chocolate. A gift from Gelati Gasparini. The Future Day is already drawing to a close. Tiredness is slowly setting in. The scavenger hunt in the afternoon with questions about the mission house probably contributed to this.
"I could see myself advocating for people in other countries," Sara says. "But I'm also interested in psychology. Maybe that can be combined." The future will tell. The future that the children and also we were able to get to know a little better today.
