Achieving great things together requires committed people who work together to make the world a little bit happier. This happened in July 2022. Ten young people from Germany and two supervisors met for the very first time to get to know each other personally. The aim of this valuable get-together was to work together on the youth exchange and thus create an educational concept according to their needs under competent, professional guidance – an educational concept from students for students that will be used in our own lion school. Lisa Stöckel, participant in the youth exchange, 28 years old, educator, reports how the first meeting went and what impact it had on the participants:

“It started on Friday, July 8th, 2022 – the kick-off weekend for the exchange project in Ghana started. After all participants and supervisors had arrived and moved into their rooms, we started with a short tour of the accommodation and facility of the Külsheimer Aktivwelt. During dinner together, many nice conversations quickly ensued and there was a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere right from the start, which made you feel right at home. Then we let the evening end with skittles, billiards and table tennis and it was a nice start to a promising weekend… After breakfast together on Saturday morning, we first got some information from Nadine about “The Rising Lions” and an insight in their work. On the one hand, this was totally exciting, but on the other hand it was also very emotional when we found out under what kind of circumstances the people and children live in Ghana. That was clearly underlined by pictures and videos, which really touched us. At the same time, it also gave us courage to support the association, to help people and to see the project as a great opportunity. This is where I personally remembered this African proverb: “Many small people doing many small things in many small places can change the face of the world”. After lunch we went further into the project and also dealt with the topic of prejudice. We had interesting conversations, exchanged ideas and got to know each other better and better. Sitting comfortably together after dinner, we sang the song “The Rising Lions” with Alex Silva, which goes straight to the heart. Our group had now grown quite close together, which we were able to show and prove even more the next day in some teamwork games. A motley bunch quickly turned into a great harmonious group in which everyone is accepted for who they are and after such a short time there was a lot of trust and fun. It was really nice to experience that and to end the weekend in this sense of community. With the knowledge that we will all meet again soon to continue working on the project and to pursue our common goals, we said goodbye and drove home. I am very grateful to be part of this great project and I am looking forward to all the experiences, experiences and magical moments that are definitely waiting for me over the course of the next year.”