German European School Manila

November 05, 2009

IB Students at the German Embassy

“On behalf of His Excellency, Christian Ludwig Weber-Lortsch, Ambassador of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Manila we would like to invite you to a meeting to discuss about your support and commitment for those who were affected by the recent typhoons.” - October 20, 2009

On October 29, 2009 at three in the afternoon at the German Embassy in Makati, His Excellency Christian Ludwig Weber-Lortsch hosted tea for the GESM family represented by a parent, two IB teachers and eight IB students. It was not the usual formal meeting with a diplomat as one would expect. It was a casual exchange of stories while we enjoyed the delicious food prepared by Mrs. Weber-Lortsch. We were given souvenirs of caps, pens and information on Germany. The most valuable souvenirs we have were the precious moments we shared with His Excellency, the Ambassador and the photos taken with him.

From one voice, the GESM was almost instantaneously mobilized like a well-oiled machine. Fuelled by sheer desire to help, donations kept coming from parents and supporters of the school. Even students gave their own personal allowances to help the victims of the devastating Typhoon “Ondoy (Ketsana)” (which flooded the streets of Metro Manila on September 26, 2009 and sent families to their roofs for days without food and water).

Hannah Schifferer, an IB -1 student expressed her desire to help, and Mr. Christoph Grandt, our CAS Coordinator lost no time in mobilizing the “IB Relief Team”. That Monday night, September 28, 2009 plans were all set for the next day’s first relief work.

As early as the first hour of Tuesday morning, September 29, 2009 the team has grown into the “GESM Relief Team”. Mrs. Suzanne Faelnar-Camara, a parent, accompanied the IB-1 students to buy sacks of rice, bottled water, noodles, canned goods and powdered milk. To fully pay for the relief goods, some of us generously gave our own personal cash. We quickly brought the relief goods back to school and immediately organized to repack them. The younger grades and their teachers, parents, and GESM staff joined us in repacking, as the donations kept on coming in the succeeding days. The IB students, ably led by IB President, Marten Scholz delivered all the relief goods to the victims in Marikina, Pateros and Muntinlupa on designated days. The Head of the School, Mr. Wolfgang Kollecker; the IB Coordinator, Mr. Roland Heinmuller; IB teachers, Mr. Christoph Grandt and Mr. Jörg Dietze; teachers of other grades headed by Ms. Ina Andersen; IB parent, Mrs. Westreicher and Mrs. Faelnar-Camara, among others, joined these trips.

As we pay tribute to all the supporters, parents, teachers, students and school staff of GESM who all helped in their own unselfish way, please allow me to name the students of the “IB Relief Team”:

IB -2 (Janine Delas, Isabel Kruger-Sprengel, Johann Kuchta, Daniel Schafe, Marten Scholz, and Alexander Von Ramm)

IB -1 (Bernhard Ashauer, Jose Cortes, Wilhelm Donko, Ana Grabherr, Natascha Kotte, Marc Kruger-Sprengel, Louise Meriguet, Yashi Shrivastava, Hannah Schifferer, Jeannine Tan, Mercedes Trejo, Marie Westreicher, Patricia Windelband, and Kim Wolf)

The relief work we started has just begun. We know that the GESM family is committed to continue its efforts to be responsive to the needs of the times.

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