Marion Aitcheson, office manager for Elon Television, recently returned from a four-week Project Pericles service sabbatical to her hometown of Eisenach, Germany, where she conducted interviews and shot video at the AWO-Kinderheim children’s home.
Aitcheson, pictured at right, spent six years at the home during her youth. She plans to produce a video documentary about her personal experience growing up in a children’s home and the challenges and rewards for children’s home workers and volunteers.
“I hope to produce a video that will be a personal recollection as well as being helpful to those who want to go into this field of work,” says Aitcheson. “My goal is to produce a positive and encouraging piece for teachers and social workers. I want them to see that there are success stories.”
Aitcheson interviewed some of the eight children who currently live at the AWO-Kinderheim home as well as current teachers. Several of the teachers worked at the home during the time Aitcheson lived there as a young girl. Returning to the home is always an emotional experience, Aitcheson said, but particularly so this time.
“Having the opportunity to give something back to them through this project is important to me,” said Aitcheson, who came to the United States in 1996. “This was a good way for me to say thank you to the school for encouraging me to become who I am today.”
Children may be placed in German children’s homes for various reasons, says Aitcheson, including strained relationships with parents, behavioral problems or financial difficulties. Today, German children’s homes concentrate on assisting children and their parents to work together on problems, with the ultimate goal of reuniting the family in the future. “When I was there, the program was geared towards living and growing up without a mom and a dad,” says Aitcheson, who went to live at AWO-Kinderheim following the death of her grandparents. “Now, they work closely with parents to structure a program that hopefully will help the children live with their parents again.” AWO-Kinderheim operates three children’s homes in the Eisenach area that support 54 children.
Elon Television also supported Aitcheson’s effort by sending senior audio producer Bryan Baker to Germany for two weeks to assist her with interviews. Aitcheson hopes to finish the video project by March 2006 and plans to submit it to video and film festivals. She says she will work closely with faculty members in several academic departments to produce a video that will also be helpful to students in the classroom.
Elon is one of 10 founding members of Project Pericles, an initiative sponsored by the Eugene Lang Foundation that challenges colleges and universities to “instill in students an abiding and active sense of social responsibility and civic concern.” Project Pericles service sabbatical grants allow Elon faculty and staff to spend time away from their regular jobs to work on a community project.
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