When the working day is over, many of our employees are active in diverse volunteer projects. To promote and honor this voluntary engagement, BASF Coatings has an internal competition called “Connected to Care”. In 2020, the winner projects two of our employees are engaged in were “Music changes the world” and “Hospiz macht Schule”.
The project “Music changes the world” at the Eichendorff School in Münster is about creating an orchestra consisting of children of different origins, cultures, native languages and other special features. Their common language is the music, their common goal is to start a piece of music together, to let it sound together and to finish it together. The project focuses on the experience of being heard and listening to each other, having a permanent place and being missed when absent. The Eichendorff School is a very colorful and diverse elementary school, in which every means of communication beyond the German language is welcome – making music together connects everyone with one another. For many of the children it is the first time in their lives having this kind of positive experiences as in rehearsals or performances.
The project “Hospiz macht Schule” launched in 2005 by the Federal Hospice Academy is committed to introduce children to dealing with grief and the loss of a loved one. During a five-day project week, the participating children – and thus indirectly also their families – are introduced to the topics of dying, death and mourning as essential parts of life and experience consolation in difficult situations. In small groups and as a class, they develop the content in a wide variety of ways: there is painting, singing, dancing and reading together, diseases are mimicked, sunflowers are planted and a doctor is interviewed. The week ends with a visit to a cemetery and an afternoon with the parents, during which the children present their group work.