It all started when Elke moved from Sydney, Australia, where she worked at the Johannes Gutenberg Deutsche Schule (in Ryde) to downtown Vancouver, BC and had two children. When her older daughter was 16-months old, Elke held her first German Playgroup at the Coal Harbour Community Centre and the rest is history. To communicate with a gradually growing audience of parents interested in maintaining German language & culture, Elke started writing the “Schwarzes Brett” newsletter. This gradually evolved to become “German Voices Vancouver”. After one year, she decided to change the name to “Westcoast German News” and this is still in use today.
Elke also works for the Swiss Society of Vancouver, editing and publishing the newsletter the “Swiss Herald”. At her daughter school, Elke is involved in the brand new Newspaper Club, and she is also the Recycling Officer. Her most recent job involves working part-time for the Recycling Council of British Columbia, where she is building up a new recycling vocabulary. EPR, PPP, PPEC and similar accronyms are just a few of the words that she is starting to use on a daily basis.
The exciting thing about writing, interviewing, editing and publishing is realizing that your words are reaching out to communicate with those who are happy to hear from you. People want to know what is going on. They want to stay connected, feel important and part of something bigger. The German community in BC is a very large and diverse population that includes a little bit of everything. Parents, business owners, members of the media, singers, dancers, actors, non-profits, church members, seniors etc. Almost every community has a few people from Germany in it.
This is why it is sometimes hard to write something that appeals to everyone. Some people are interested in tourism & immigration. Others just want the special events and activities. A third group wants to occasionally have a beer with fellow Germans, or have a beer while watching a good German soccer games on television. This blog is meant to touch on a little bit of everything. Over the years I have made connections with many communities & organizations, such as the German-Canadian Care Home, the Swiss Chamber of Commerce, the German Christmas Market or the St. Mark’s Church. My children attend the Westside German School, my parents attend the Immanuel Baptisten Gemeinde (Church) and my Oma eats at the Alpenclub. If I see something I think might be of interest to someone in the German, Swiss or Austrian community, I will post it. Then it is up to you to read it! Bis bald, Elke
