Intercultural Walking Tour - Hamburg Wilhelmsburg

Yesterday afternoon I added to my list of unique experiences.  USAC organized a small walking tour through Hamburg's Wilhelmsburg district.  Located on an island in the River Elbe (on which BallinStadt can also be found), Wilhelmsburg is home to many migrants.  Most are of Turkish origin, but others come from Portugal or Bulgaria, among other countries.  As a community, Wilhelmsburg has always felt separated from the rest of Hamburg, and not just by the river.  Hamburg residents rarely cross the Elbe in either direction, so Wilhelmsburg has developed its own economy, filled with small shops and restaurants owned and operated by friends and family.  Recently, an initiative to "jump over the Elbe" began, in an attempt to renovate the Wilhelmsburg district and raise the standard of living there, without overwhelming gentrification.  Generally, when housing in a district is renovated and updated, the landlords begin to charge rents unaffordable to the long-time tenants.  They then move elsewhere, where the housing is less expensive but not renovated, and are replaced by a higher class of residents.  Hamburg hopes to avoid this gentrification in their Wilhelmsburg initiative.

Our tour was led by two guides.  Julia, who lives in Wilhelmsburg, speaks Turkish and German.  She would describe where we were in German (most of which I was able to follow and understand).  Our other guide would then translate into English for those in the group whose German was not as strong.  We walked through the district, on our way to a mosque (German: Moschee).  There we were welcomed inside to talk to the Imam.  He spoke very little German, and so his Turkish was translated through German into English for us.  The Imam, along with another gentleman whose German was excellent, described the doctrine and traditions of Islam, and welcomed whatever questions we had.

After leaving the mosque, we had tea and snacks at the school where our guides work.  They offer help to young people who want to find jobs, improve their language skills, or otherwise assimilate into society.  We heard Julia's background, and her personal experiences living in Wilhelmsburg.  As at the mosque, the group had more questions than time to ask them.  Overall, my time in Wilhelmsburg was definitely educational and eye-opening, and I am certainly grateful for the opportunity to accompany the group.  If you want to know more about what I learned, please contact me personally! (Info in my first post - And So It Begins! )