The new senior citizens

Wolfgang Kück sits on a chair that is really too small for him. When he speaks, he leans forward so that his head is at the same level as those of his audience: school children. Their gaze is fixed on him, and their questions just keep coming. Kück is used to talking a lot, having worked as a conference interpreter for many years. But today he is not translating, he is talking about himself and his former career. Wolfgang Kück is one of 40 active senior experts at the Integrative Montesorri School in Munich. He passes his knowledge on to the children at a Generations Workshop. The project is based on the thought that, whereas in the past many generations used to live together under one roof, today there are not many opportunities for encounters between the generations. People have fewer chances to develop an understanding for different living environments; the idea of looking after one another is getting lost. The Montesorri School's project aims to counter this development. Every school year, Wolfgang Kück and the other senior experts take part as volunteers in 60 school projects – on subjects ranging from the media and the theatre, to reading tuition, museum visits, science, cooking and dancing.

Overcoming age limits

The Generations Workshop overcomes the frontiers between people of different ages and breaks with outdated stereotypes about elderly people. This concept won the project the German Senior Citizens’ Award 2014 from the Robert Bosch Stiftung. This was the third time the Robert Bosch Stiftung had honoured projects from Germany aiming to create a new picture of old people in society – and in this way to promote older people who get involved. One such person is 75-year-old Gunda Krauss. In 2009 she rode her electric bicycle from Munich to Rügen. Now she wants to get back on the road and cycle from the Alps to the North Sea. The special thing about her trip is that Gunda Krauss' Facebook and Twitter fans will determine exactly where her route will take her. Ms Krauss's aim with her “Route 76” project is to encourage people to find their own way into old age. This idea brought her second place at the 2014 German Senior Citizens’ Awards. She is sharing the prize with a project called “Hey Alter... !”, an exhibition staged at Duisburg's Lehmbruck Museum. The idea here is to build a bridge between different generations – for example by running “blind-date” guided tours for young and old.

German Senior Citizens’ Awards: award-giving ceremony on 18 November 2014 in Berlin

www.bosch-stiftung.de

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