International NVC Workshop
“First call for children — togetherness”
Chiemsee, 19th – 29th October 2025
The 8th international workshop “First call for children” is over. This time it occured on Fraueninsel, Lake Chiemsee.
Fourty participants from India, the Philippines, the US, several African countries and Europe — including 11 newcomers — were invited.
What was different from the seven workshops before?
My main goal in these workshop series since 2007 has been to create a community in which people from different cultures, educational backgrounds, professions, races and colours all can connect, on a level of shared humanness. They all have one purpose in common: they care for children.
Of course, in workshops like this one I want to share as much NVC tools as possible. At the same time, what is at least equivalent important to me is creating an atmosphere of trust and belonging and nourishment.
And we made it!
So what was different?
Together with my co-trainer Jacqueline Muller (US), we spent two years preparing a format that invited participants to contribute actively.
We wanted to check wether the content we offered in previous years truly reached people, and we wanted to learn what they share in their home countries. Furthermore, the main intention was to offer our feedback if desired.
Therefore we invited them to prepare a presentation, individually, or in teams.
The preparation of some of the presentations already connected people across continents before the actual workshop — including some of the newcomers.
Small-group work continued during the week on Fraueninsel, and in their spare time they also spent time together, across different cultures, dancing and hugging.
They exchanged about managing their projects at home, and learned from each other, in presentations, project guidance, and tools for working with children.
Some feedbacks especially touched me: “…rich in learning, profoundly nourishing on the personal level”, “…being able to connect with practitioners from around the world, each living and practising NVC in their own unique way”, “…touched us deeply and expanded our understanding in an meaning full way”.
One morning, I saw K., a young man from the Arche Noah home in Mindanao, Philippines, putting five boiled eggs on the breakfast table, carefully hidden under a napkin. Then he ran trough the garden of the convent to the room of the four others from the Arche Noah home and knocked at their door: “Come quickly, there are boilded egges for breakfast!”
These moments let me realize that these people, and the workshop, both are so meaningful in my life!
And I see how a boiled egg can change the day of a former child of the streets.
The 11 newcomers integrated with ease. The three youngsters from the Arche Noah home wrote: “I felt so welcome, feel alive, nine days were not enough, hope for the next workshop and give own presentation, I already miss everyone, I felt loved and cared for, people who live NVC make life more easy and beautiful.”
For the other children at home: “…might be a chance to attend a workshop in Germany and meet you in person.”
The awareness of NVC was not always that present as I had hoped.
Some participants are still working accurately with the four steps of NVC, and some still search for how to be emphatic.
Considering that many of them do not have the opportunity to participate in multiple NVC workshops due to remonte living conditions and limited resources, I encouraged them to join or build practise groups, use the internet or our WhatsApp group so they can learn, try and develop NVC in their lives and communities.
Still: We made it!
Our “NVC family” has grown deeper within a warm atmosphere of belonging, openness and friendship.
I feel confident and grateful, it works. I am happy and satisfied.
This connection gives my life a lot of meaning.
The journey does not end here: The group is planning next workshops in Tanzania, India, and the Phillipines.