Speaker Peace Fellow Lydia Kroger

Mon, Nov 6th 2017 at 7:15 pm - 9:30 pm

International Speaker Peace Fellow Lydia Kroger

International Peace Fellow Lydia Kroger.
Mon 6th Nov 2017 Birstall Luddites were
honoured to host Lydia who is studying at the
Bradford Rotary Peace Centre at Bradford University
as an International Peace Scholar.

Lydia is 26 and she was born in Leipzig in what was then East Germany.She now lives and works in Berlin after graduating from University in Bavaria where she studied
Global Business Management.
After finishing her studies, she has worked for NGOs in Brazil, Southeastern Europe and Germany in the areas of education, inclusion of minorities and youth activism as well as volunteered in several refugee camps in Berlin. Her experience has swayed her towards working with smaller hands on groups rather than the "brand" names we are all with.
Lydia talked about how Germany had changed after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. She talked about the old East Germany and her life with her parents in GDR. She told the,now humouress , tale the about the STASI and how it affected not only her father but the entire family was tainted by unsubstantiated "black marks" as recorded in secret police documents discovered after the fall of communism.

Lydia gave three examples of how these tales plus the systems inflexibilty influenced her entire family.
One; because her father was a butcher ,she explained,almost inevitably required him to employ assistants,which made him potentially a threat as an aspiring middle class employer - and Lydia was barred from school trips. Her Mother was blocked from attending University and none of them were encouraged to travel.
Back to the present, she remembers the sheer euphoria of reunification, the physical rush of excitement at the possibilities opening up. However the reality is that there are still fewer opportunities in the East than in the West, even after 30 years of reunification.

This could partially explain the worrying rise of the far right ESB party who are mostly from the east regions in Germany. She shared with us maps showing attacks against refugees as they are blamed for everything from low wages to lack of jobs.

Lydia said she had enjoyed her 6 weeks studying in Bradford especially working with students from a wide variety of nations -in her class were fro The Yemen, USA, Burundi Rwanda, Congo and Zambia ,most of which are conflict countries in need of reconciliation.

Lydia hopes to start her own organisation for promoting peace and conflict resolution .

Ken also gave a short speech supporting Lydia. He spoke of the 6 centres run by the Rotary International Charity ,2 in USA and one each in Australia ,Japan ,Sweden and Bradford. The cost of half a million pounds per year per class (average 15 students per class) is then magnified by the messages that go out from each student all over the world.All the students are encouraged to keep in touch with their University long after the've qualified, hence our statement of where they all are and what they are doing.

Robert Jackson gave Lydia a vote of thanks for her talk and wished her all success in her future career.
Pictured left to right above Robert Jackson, mentor Ken Robertshaw, Lydia Kroger peace scholar and President Helen.

LINKS Lydia Kroger at Bradford University

LINKS Rotary Peace Centre

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Speaker Peace Fellow Lydia Kroger

Mon, Nov 6th 2017 at 7:15 pm - 9:30 pm

International Speaker Peace Fellow Lydia Kroger

International Peace Fellow Lydia Kroger.
Mon 6th Nov 2017 Birstall Luddites were
honoured to host Lydia who is studying at the
Bradford Rotary Peace Centre at Bradford University
as an International Peace Scholar.

Contact Paul Barnes about this page:

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Speaker Peace Fellow Lydia Kroger

Mon, Nov 6th 2017 at 7:15 pm - 9:30 pm

International Speaker Peace Fellow Lydia Kroger

International Peace Fellow Lydia Kroger. Mon 6th Nov 2017 Birstall Luddites were honoured to host Lydia who is studying at theBradford Rotary Peace Centre at Bradford Universityas an International Peace Scholar.

Contact Paul Barnes about this page:

International Peace Fellow Lydia Kroger.
Mon 6th Nov 2017 Birstall Luddites were
honoured to host Lydia who is studying at the
Bradford Rotary Peace Centre at Bradford University
as an International Peace Scholar.