Services for elderly people
with a migration background
“Growing Older in Your New Home” working group
The “Growing Older in Your New Home” working group was set up in 1997. Its aims are: to bring elderly people from countries around the world into contact with one another, to encourage integration, and to foster interaction between existing groups.
The working group is coordinated by the city’s Office of Social Welfare and Senior Citizens. Its members include organizations such as the Council for Foreigners and Migrants, and the charities Caritas Heidelberg and Rhine-Neckar, and Diakonisches Werk. Volunteers from the immigrant community are also involved in the planning and coordination of the group.
The working group organizes festivals, exhibitions, language courses and international storytelling cafés, all of which at least touch on the topic of “growing older”. It works closely with the city’s senior citizens’ centers and with the Senior Citizens’ Academy (Akademie für Ältere).
Contact:
Dr. Nikola Jung
Email: Dr.Nikola.Jung@heidelberg.de
Turkish Women’s Group
Turkish Women’s Group run by the city’s Senior Citizens’ Department was set up in 1998 by Ms Harika Moll and is aimed at immigrant women aged 50+. The group meets twice a month in Weststadt Senior Citizens’ Center (Seniorenzentrum Weststadt) and offers whatever activities its members might enjoy or find interesting. These include cooking and eating together, celebrating festivals, going on excursions, attending informative events about health, social care or immigration law, doing crafts, silk painting, chatting, and much more. Tea is available from a samovar.
Contact:
2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month, 3 to 5 pm.
Get-together for Spanish speakers
This get-together in Weststadt Senior Center (Seniorenzentrum Weststadt) every Thursday is for people from Spain and the Spanish-speaking countries of Central and South America. Germans who would like to practice or brush up their Spanish are also very welcome. The members themselves decide what happens at the get-togethers.
Contact:
Every Thursday at 5 pm.