ABOUT PEOPLE WHO CAME TO END SPEECHLESSNESS
In portrait: Vera Beckers takes one step at a time - with the Harry Potter Alliance as well as on her way to become a speech therapist
Soest. Did the Prisoner of Azkaban or the Goblet of Fire make her a Harry Potter fan? - Vera Beckers smiles. Is that important? - Not really. What is important however, is what developed because of these stories that J. K. Rowling gave to our world.
Vera Beckers is one of millions of “victims” of the story about the growing young boy and what seems to be his hopeless fight against evil. Harry Potter’s and his friends’ journey to escape the dark magic have long ended. But its impact definitely hasn’t stopped. Trying to see Harry Potter as an idol, more than 264,000* fans from all over the world have come together to create the Harry Potter Alliance. Their aim is to make the world a better place - with some larger as well as some smaller campaigns. “Even if we can only have a small impact, we can definitely see that we can change something”, Vera Beckers says. She definitely isn’t what you would call a “hopeless dreamer”, but more of a “realistic enthusiast”.
The now 24-year-old is one of the many young people who never could wait for the German translation of the next book to be published and so started to read the English originals. This led to a different view on the English language than some of her former classmates had. For her, English comes naturally. This comes to a huge advantage, as Beckers is studying in a foreign country and has to both read and write some of her exams in English. The little Harry Potter fan has become a big one - she is a young lady who wants to give back to others. Vera Beckers studies at Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmwegen - HAN for short - to become a speech therapist.
She grew up close to lake Möhnesee, went to school at Conrad-von-Soest Gymnasium in Soest and got introduced to what will soon become her job when she was doing an internship in Bad Sassendorf. “I knew I’d choose a job which focused on human beings. That definitely is the case with a speech therapist. Language is beautiful and absolutely necessary to communicate. Human beings who lose their ability to speak are the perfect example for that. Patients who had strokes or are suffering from a brain tumor. Furthermore both stuttering and difficulties swallowing are problems patients have to deal with every day. To help them feels like a very useful thing to do for me.”
Another useful thing for Vera Beckers is to introduce children to language. One of the projects that she and her friend Miriam Michel organize in Germany is Accio Books. More than 53,000* books could be given to people worldwide because of this campaign.
“Last year, we managed to get this campaign to Soest as well. Because of the amazing help of many residents, we were able to donate more than 450 books to Astrid Lindgren Schule [school]. And from what we’ve heard, the books are being read and loved every day.”
This spring, there will be a similar campaign. From April 2nd to June 2nd, the Harry Potter Alliance asks to donate any material that would make access to education easier. This will be donated to a refugee home. The Harry Potter Alliance collects everything that can help in school - like pencils, exercise books, notepads and games to get children excited to learn as well.
“If you want to participate, please leave your donations at the bookstore Rittersche Buchhandlung in Körbecke”, Vera Beckers says. She hopes to get a good result to get more children excited about learning the German language.
“We need intelligent young people. And talking, reading, writing, drawing - and communicating what you want to tell is necessary to be successful in life.” That is easy to understand and can only lead to supporting the campaign - no matter how small the impact might be.
By the way - the author of the Harry Potter books loves the idea of The Harry Potter Alliance - because they represent the values of Dumbledore’s Army in real life.
HARRY POTTER ALLIANCE - FANS ARE BECOMING HEROES
Harry Potter is a book series that has an impact on many fans worldwide. One of the many things that developed from the fascination with Harry Potter is the Harry Potter Alliance. The idea originates from the United States of America. The first “wizard activists” came together to do good in Harry’s name in 2005. One of the many re-occuring themes in the books is charity after all. Harry, Ron and Hermione fight for a better world. They activate both themselves and others by forming Dumbledore’s Army - a group of students who come together to fight against Voldemort. The Harry Potter Alliance wants to represent Dumbledore’s Army in real life and inspire others to do good.
It only started in the mind of some fans, but has grown into something big since then. The Harry Potter Alliance encourages to do good both online and in local groups called chapters.
The first success: In 2010, the Harry Potter Alliance was able to collect 123,000$ and send five airplanes with much needed supplies to Haiti. They even managed to convince Warner Bros. to only sell Harry Potter chocolate that is fair trade.
Every year, Accio Books takes place. Books are collected and given to people who might have a hard time affording them otherwise. In Germany, Christmas presents are collected for a food bank in Leipzig as well and many other smaller projects are organized.
More information on the Harry Potter Alliance and how you can join in can be found at http://hpagermany.blogspot.de.
GEOCACHING WITH QUESTIONS ABOUT THE TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT
At lake Möhnesee, the Harry Potter Alliance was introduced because of a geocaching route. Geocaching is a modern-day treasure hunt that uses GPS. The treasures, which are called caches, are supposed to show you beautiful new places or introduce you to a certain topic.
The Harry Potter-route at lake Möhnesee does exactly that: There are nine stops with question about the Triwizard Tournament from the fourth Harry Potter book which will lead you to a finale treasure.
The route has been discovered more than 200 times already. You are both able to enjoy the beautiful nature and talk about Harry Potter quizzes at the same time.
And to everyone who is worried about damaging any nature: The route is build around the “usual circumstances” which means that the treasures are always placed only a few steps away from the paths through the forest.
written by Karin Drolshagen. translated by Miriam Michel.
* Some of the numbers mentioned in the article are wrong. The number of HPA members mentioned is the number of people who have liked the HPA facebook page. There probably are more members than that. Also the HPA collected almost 200,000 books through Accio Books. The number mentioned is the number of books that was collected only last year.
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