Wonderful
Wetten.
Before we
left Cologne to head to the next hostel in the North West of Germany, people were
asking us where we were going and we told them Wetten, “Wetten?” They asked quizzically.
No one had heard of this village and knew nothing of it. We could
already feel that this next job could turn out to be something very interesting…
FYI: Wetten
is a small ancient village near the Religious town of Kevelaer which is the best visited
Catholic pilgrimage location within north-western Europe, Fact of the day!
When we arrived at the World House, you come off the main road and up a country lane to this
stunning location and huge building. Your
first impressions of World House is the lush gardens, beautiful scenery and
nice pond to boot.
The building
used to be a monastery ran by the nuns of Wetten, who prayed and lived here for
more than 100 years. Now the building has been transformed to it's present
function as an international conference centre and hotel. It has a great modern feel to the place with
decorations from all over the world placed around the building. Each floor has been designated
with continents: Ground floor is Europe, first floor is Africa, second is South & Central America
and third is Asia themed.
The transformation
and idea for this world house came from the inspirational and amazing owner
called Thera.
This special person who we were lucky to meet is a specialist in gender equality and is a consultant
for many very important clients all around the world.
Very rarely
you get to meet someone who makes real change in the world and even rarer
someone who puts into action what they are preaching. The vision and concept that Thera had about
the world house is something very special with facilities for conferences,
training, coaching, research and meetings all taking place there, the week before
we arrived there was a conference organised by the Peace
Revolution. Have a look on there website
for more information
We also met
a Dutch (Frisia) writer called Jurrie who was in the middle of writing a biography
of a famous chemist from the Netherlands.
We also found out that he wrote most of the science text books used in
high schools in the Netherlands’ so you got him to thank for passing your exams
or likewise blame him if you flunked them.
The world
house mission statement reads “we wish to contribute to a sustainable world
with social justice, gender equality and human dignity for all.” And that
is what you get. The feeling of social responsibility goes
hand in hand here and actively encouraged.
The whole
time we were there we felt that this was somewhere that we could stay for a
long time,it is so welcoming, peaceful and fair. You can stay here for free if contribute to the
work on the up keep of the building and grounds. Matt and Berta are the live in managers for
the World house and were so kind and helpful throughout our stay. It’s a great
job they do there and if you ever consider moving to pastures new, me and Chris
would jump at the chance to take over your responsibilities. But at the moment they need a good flow of volunteers with
the summer coming up.
This is the
link to there HelpX page. I would highly
recommend getting on board with this project.
While you
stay at world house the workers and helpers take turns on cooking, this is
great idea as it brings people together once a day, a rare thing these days, We
were treated to some lovely food and even better conversations. we even cooked twice, with no fatalities or
food poisoning being recorded.
Art time
When the
time came to decide what art should be done, we all had a meeting to discuss
what we should put on the walls, we all came to the conclusion of an equal mix
of famous men and women from South and Central America with quotes from each of them. The people we decide on were:
Rigoberta Menchu – Nobel Prize for peace – Guatemala
Quote:
Hay que cuidar
y guardar la madre tierra para que nuestros hijos y nuestros nietos sigan
percibiendo sus beneficios
Oscar Niemeyer – Architect – Brazil
Quote:
Form follows beauty
Frida Khalo – Artist – Mexico
Quote:
Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?
Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Nobel Prize for literature – Columbia
Quote:
It is not true that people stop pursuing their dreams
because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing their dreams
Mercedes Sosa – Singer – Argentina
Quote:
Gracias a la vida
Pele –
Footballer – Brazil
Quote:
Success is no
accident, it is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most
of all, love of what you are doing
We set about
changing the big hostel room on the second floor, with 6 new IDa4 original
stencils. The use of colour in Frida and
Rigoberta were especially pleasing as this was the first time it had been included
in a portrait. Frida by all accounts is
up their as one of our favourites, in fact it got the
attention of a Stencil and graffiti shop in Cologne who bought two copies of it
on canvas.
The room wasn’t
the only painting that we did in the world house. We were eager to help in any which way we
could. We cut and sprayed new door numbers and information for the 2nd
floor.
We cut and designed
a new Ghandi portrait for the Asian floor coffee room
We sprayed
these images of Nelson Mandela and Che Guevara on reclaimed wood found in the
World house gardens.
So in conclusion
our stay in the world house was exceptional, being in the middle of the beautiful
German countryside is a fantastic experience and we never once missed the towns
and cities that we are used to on this trip.
With the next big town only ten minutes away and Dusseldorf only 30
minutes down the road and the Netherlands boarder only10km away you’re never
too far away from anything anyway.
The people that
we meet here had such a good influence on us that we hope to go back for an extended
stay and paint a mural on the other floors. Thank you Thera, Uri, Matt and Berta and good
luck -
Video of the Work.
Photos of the finished room
