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There is no country in the world that is in a better position
to bridge the gaps between people and cultures than Canada.
Living together as the United Nations within the borders of this
country positions us into an ideal situation to learn firsthand
about humanity. It does not take much inspection to realize that
every human being on this planet basically requires the same
things to survive. Living in such close proximity to so many
different cultures we are afforded an opportunity to look, learn
and understand more about people of all walks of life, no matter
where they hail from.
I think this is one of the reasons why people in the diplomatic
service of their country, who come here to serve, are always sad
when they have to leave to do their work on others shores or
when they are recalled to their homeland. They leave enriched
for the experience. Sometimes we too feel that way about these
people that came here to do a job. It certainly is
 the case with Holger Raasch, Consul General of the Federal Republic of
Germany, and his wife Jacqueline, who came here for just two
years, knowing that he would have to enter retirement at the end
of this time. We of course did not know that our time with him
would be so short. We followed his enthusiastic lead and
marvelled at his accomplishments. In no time had he organized the
area, opened doors, met the members of the media, held
receptions and festivities, made all the mandatory visits of
local government officials, united a few fronts that could not
quite get
 closer and generally put the German Canadian community
more onto the map than it had been before his arrival.
He has been described as intense, meaning that he had the
wonderful ability to work on more than one project and stay
focused and on top of it regardless how
 difficult it might be.
He just knew how to get the job done, always, as he pointed out
himself with the best people any consulate could ask for. "You
could take these people anywhere", he said at his good bye
reception, "and they would do wonderful work, and I could not
have done my job without them!"
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| Dr. Bruno Ryff, Swiss Consul
General, & Dr. Robert Luck, Austrian Consul & Trade
Commissioner |
 And we could not agree more. He built many bridges for our
community and within our community. We are lucky that the
changing of the guards does not take away the entire consulate
personal at the same time. This also makes way for the arrival
of the next Consul General, this time a lady. But that we leave
till the fall, when she will arrive to take up residence in
Toronto.
 Mr. Raasch thanked all people present for their cooperation
during his term in Canada, which he leaves in the hope of being
able to come back, even if it is only for a visit.
We wish him and his family well in all his endeavours and thank
him for his contributions to our wellbeing.
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| Mr. & Mrs. Toni Bergmeier
with a presentative of the German Consulate General |
A young visitor |
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| Toni Bergmeier, Sybille,
Werner Schlüter, Helene Schramek & Ken Seiling |
The outdoor - indoor party
moves outside |
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| Heinz Kreitzer, Sybille
Forster-Rentmeister & Helene Schramek |
The Ladies of the Round |
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| Toni Bergmeier in
conversation with Jacqueline Raasch & her daughter |
Ulli Jeschke & daughter |
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| Ernst Friedel & Gary Meinzer |
Sybille with Christine Meyer,
President of the Canadian Austrian Society |
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| Helene Schramek,
Fred Lowrick, Kathryn & Ken Seiling, Angela & Werner
Schlüter, Mrs. Kreitzer |
Poets of a Global Village
 Artists have long been known to overcome traditional
boundaries. This is also known by the Women’s Federation for
World Peace Canada. The organization invited to a third annual
poetry event under the heading of "Crossing Boundaries and
Connecting Hearts", and was billed as an inspirational afternoon
of multi-cultural poetry reading, entertainment and fund-raising
for the New Hope Technical Institute of Kigali, Rwanda. This
afternoon brought together a sisterhood of poetesses who
elaborated in various languages and English translations of the
given theme. There were representatives from many different
cultures and traditions, all of similar mind with similar
purposes common to women.
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| A sisterhood of good will &
poetry |
I felt honoured to be invited by Lilly Stoyan to this event and
had opportunity to contribute a couple of my poems. Thus it was
not a stretch for me to also attend the organizations next
event, which was a symposium on "The Dignity of Women".
 Again I
was invited to set the tone with some of my poetry. Eveline
Stewart emceed the event and introduced the various speakers.
Lilly Stoyan spoke of the many different ways the dignity of
women can be violated and gave well known examples from all over
the world. The keynote speaker was Bahi Krishnakhanthan, who
spoke with passion about her quest to attain freedom form
oppression in a terrible and abusive marriage without support
from friends or anyone. She made a success of her life and
serves now others and to help women overcome their barriers. A
round table talk shone a light on various solutions in regards
to Human Rights.
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| Women's Federation of World
Peace Canada |
It was a most interesting event, the first of its kind and
hopefully will develop into something bigger with concrete
suggestions for what actions to take to overcome such violations
of Women’s dignity.
Anyone who wants to know more about this women’s organization
can go to www.WFWP.org or call
416-322-5404.
Lucille de Saint-Andre - Award Winning Writer
 Sometimes the bridges that need crossing are close to home,
in this case within Canada. In this economic climate it is
particularly advantages to keep money at home, instead of
spending it abroad during vacations. For this purpose Lucille de
Saint-Andre, who has occasionally written interesting pieces for
us, inquired at Echo Germanica about a series about La Belle
Province. We too thought it to be a great idea and gave the
green light.
Lucille’s de Saint-Andre’s 4 part series on Quebec won an award
from the Canadian Ethnic Media Association for this informative
perspective on Quebec regions. Her husband Bob Sandbo provided
the photography for the series that ran earlier this year in
Echo Germanica. We congratulate them and thank them for their
contribution. Their work illuminated our provincial neighbours
for us.
Until next time
Sybille Forster-Rentmeister
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