City walks "I'll show you my city"

In November 2016, "Offenbach hilft" was able to recruit 17-year-old Hibba Kauser for the first city walk in the "I'll show you my city" series. The Leibniz student is active in the city student council and is involved in refugee aid. She herself has Pakistani roots and has lived in Offenbach since the age of eight.

The harbour steps were the meeting point for the ten participants of the second "I'll show you my city" walk in December 2016. Azimet Avci, 52, a restaurateur with Turkish roots, showed off his Offenbach, in particular the lively and long unrecognized Nordend. Avci described the activities of the initiative "Nordstrand. We are closer to the water" and how he and like-minded people have contributed to change in the Nordend district.

Oh là là, some of the participants in the third walk under the motto "I'll show you my city" must have thought: there's a lot of French things to discover in Offenbach. Elisabeth Knösel, a Frenchwoman who came to Germany for love in 1983 and has been a committed Offenbach resident since her retirement in 2009, demonstrated this. "I wanted to live in a big city and have contact with people, and I found that here," she says.

It is thanks to committed citizens like Mahshid Najafi that good coexistence works in Offenbach. She led the fourth city walk under the title "Together - private and political"

Kültür, Chai and Halay was the mysterious title of Mehmet Harmanci's city walk. The participants learned a lot about Mehmet Harmanci's voluntary work and the "Schülerpower" project. There was also plenty of culinary delights and dancing.

Eva Kamm has always followed the "eyes-on principle", as she calls it, as she walks through the world, including Offenbach. The sixth tour - this time as a short bike tour - of "I'll show you my city" began at the so-called "Jahn-Eiche" on Starkenburgring and at the "Artefakt" bicycle and tach store. Under the title "Fallen out of time", the participants then visited the Old Cemetery and were able to take an exclusive look at the Old Bathhouse in the former Hoechst paint works.

Hella Adelmann's tour took us around the Büsingpark. With stories from her childhood, the participants saw many things in the mostly familiar area with different eyes. The guide on the seventh tour of the volunteer center as part of "I'll show you my city" describes the park as her playroom, her park, as she grew up nearby in Kaiserstrasse in the 1960s.

On her "Without Words" tour in Offenbach city center, Sigrid Kirbach invited people to experience places that are special to them in a very personal way. Among other things, the participants learned about communication without words and how valuable friendships have developed as a result.

Stephan Färber, head of the city council and thus 1st citizen of the city, showed his Offenbach on the city walk "I'll show you my city". On his tour "Hinter dem Berg bei den Babschern", he invited people to experience the places that are special to him in a very personal way. Among other things, it was about passionate handicrafts, artistic Babschen and wide-ranging observation.

Tung Nam Dang, a 23-year-old economics student with Vietnamese roots, invited people to the city walk organized by the volunteer center on a Saturday as an exception. He explained the reason: on Saturdays, the Theodor Heuss School is the site of the Vietnamese school where he himself had spent two years.

The 14th city walk had many emotional moments. Under the title "In search of home", Fachria Hashemi took us to places in the city that are important to her. Her original home is Afghanistan, her new one Offenbach. But it was a long journey.

Offenbach-born Simon Isser has many favorite places in the city. Participants were able to get to know some of them during a short bike tour as part of the volunteer center's "I'll show you my city" initiative. The title "Of small and large boards" is an allusion to the 34-year-old's diverse volunteer work.

As part of the "I'll show you my city" project, 16 interested people were out and about in Offenbach with artist Heide Khatschaturian. This 12th tour of the volunteer center was also about visiting places that have a special meaning for the tour guides. These places are often well-known, but the participants see them with new eyes thanks to the personal stories.

The city walk entitled "Out and about with young people in Offenbach" was a special tour. Two young people gave an insight into their lives and the world they live in, including their extensive voluntary work.

The title of the 18th tour - this time a short cycle tour - was "AugenGeschenke, WortOrte und DolciGlück. Ida Todisco led the participants through her Offenbach by bike. Twelve years ago, she came from the Taunus with her family and immediately fell in love with this colorful, diverse city with a great deal of commitment.

Boriana Sahattchiev's city walk as part of "I'll show you my city" had the motto "The main thing is to be grounded". The solution to the riddle of this title was revealed during the tour, which began in Offenbach's Nordend district.

Naime Demirezen was awarded the City of Offenbach's Integration Prize in 2017. It was preceded by a wide-ranging commitment to the city, particularly in the field of education and for good coexistence. On the tour as part of the volunteer center's "I'll show you my city" initiative, interested people accompanied Naime Demirezen to some of the places that are important to her.