A Reflection on Service: Little Brother’s impact from the view of a German Girl

A Reflection on Service: Little Brother’s impact from the view of a German Girl

Posted on Jun. 10, 2017

Playing Gin and Rummy at the Back Bay City Site

My name is Imke Heering, and I’m working as a Program Assistant with LBFE for one year. I’ve graduated from high school last year in Gemany and will go to college this fall after returning to Germany next month.

At the moment my best friend from Gemany is visiting me. Her name is Neele and she goes to medical school at the University of Lübeck. This post reflects her view on my service over here and on general challenges she faced since English is her second language and this being her first visit to the United States.

Upon arrival on a cloudy Saturday, she immediately noticed the greatness of many things over here. A few examples being the houses, the food portions, but also the kindness she experienced from my colleagues. To her, Boston doesn’t feel like a big city. It feels more like a community of different neighborhoods. She was happily surprised by the diversity of Boston’s population and the presence of so many different ethnicities.

Neele joined me at two City Sites during her stay including a session of Bingo on Monday afternoon in Dorchester and the social hour on Thursday afternoon in the Back Bay. It was her first Bingo game ever and while playing she noticed the joy and happiness this simple game brought to the elders attending. Even though she speaks English very well, she had some minor challenges understanding what a couple of residents were saying to her because of their accents. This particular building in Dorchester has a high population of individuals with a Caribbean descent, therefore she was happy to have me by her side to help with translations. I have to add that when I first started going to bingo game, I had understanding issues as well, but they resolved after going there consistently for a few weeks.

Overall she had a really pleasant trip and is really grateful to have experienced a little piece of my service in the United States.


Imke is serving with LBFE- Boston for a year through the organization, World Horizons.