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Bio:

As CEO of IKJA e.V., Nelly’s responsibilities involve guiding the overall development and execution of projects, fundraising and public relations. During her tenure at IKJA, Nelly founded “Mentors for the Integration of Refugee Youngsters” in 2015 and over the next eight years this program developed from a small initiative of volunteers into a robust social integration project. Currently 500 people from 30 nations participate in this project yearly, from German volunteers including students and artists, to refugee families, migrants, and young refugees. Through this and IKJA’s various projects Nelly provides vital support to refugees, ranging from consulting for professional integration and other integration requirements to German language courses, activities and education, etc. According to their Motto “Think Different – Think One World” IKJA brings together people of different nationalities and backgrounds and leads the way toward “a culture of togetherness in Hannover."

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Her slogan is: “The suffering in the world challenges us to discover how ridiculous the walls in our heads are, how important encounters from human to human are, and how much joy it means to contribute together to the increase of hope and the creation of concrete perspectives.”

Elise Hintz

Bio: 

Elise is a Social Worker with a B.A. in Social Work (Europäische Fernhochschule Hamburg) and Social Sciences, as well as a M.A. in Atlantic Studies in History, Culture and Society from Leibniz University Hannover.  She is the project manager at IKJA e.V. and she also assists the CEO in the organizations daily operations. She specializes in counseling of young refugees, association development and administrative work, digitization, and tutoring.

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One of her favorite quotes is: "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." – Jimi Hendrix

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Thomas Meyer

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Bio: 

Thomas is a retired engineer, who has experience with corporate and project development in an energy utility. He is an IT hobbyist and supports IKJA e.V. concerning IT issues. He also heads IKJA’s Laptop Project and Digital Learning program which refurbishes old, donated laptops and distributes them to refugees.

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One of his favorite quotes is: "Nothing stays the way it will be."

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Farhad Qudrati

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Bio:

With his roots in Afghanistan, Farhad's focus with IKJA e.V. is culturally sensitive family counseling and social work for underage refugees. Farhad's multilingual skills in Dari, Farsi, Pashtu, Urdu and Russian make him uniquely suited for his additional roles which include interpretation as well as training for young people on violence prevention, health, cultural differences, values and norms, etc. Furthermore he is part of the Laptop Project and Digital Learning with Thomas Meyer.

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Regina Osler

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Bio:

As a retired professional school teacher, Regina is mainly responsible for tutoring young students that are new in Germany and are struggling with the language and expectations in school. She also integrates them into a working life and gives German as second language classes and takes over German courses, mostly during our yearly summer school.

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One of her favorite quotes is: “The basis of world peace is compassion”. (Dalai Lama)

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Raimund Lehmann

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Bio:

Raimund is a retired headmaster of a large school in Hannover. He has been working with refugees since 2016, helping integrate families and individuals as well as tutoring children. At IKJA he is also responsible for administrative work, assists with language courses and supports the team in daily operations.

 

One of his favorite quotes is: “Glück ist das Einzige, das sich verdoppelt, wenn man es teilt.“ - "Happiness is the only thing that doubles when you share it" (Albert Schweitzer)

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