by Robert B. Fishman

Bad Gandersheim. Villages and small towns are dying in Germany. The young people move to the metropolitan areas after their jobs. Bad Gandersheim in Lower Saxony is also in a downward spiral. The oasis has given the town a little boost. A community garden and much more was created in just one week. 

The oasis players have set up their living room in front of the town hall: two old sofas, table, bookcase, a rocking tiger duck, bright red cushions on a carpet, musical instruments, chairs on which a young woman offers free neck massages. Passers-by stop hesitating, looking puzzled. Few dare to get closer. The wishes and dreams of the people of Gandersheim flutter in the wind on the town hall stairs. "A basketball court, an unpackaged store, a theater group ..." reads Rolf Ninke of the handwritten notes dangling from a clothesline, "a zebra crossing, more playgrounds, a drinking water fountain, more offers for young people and women ..."

Make dreams come true in ten days

The organizers of the Oasenspiel called the Gandersheimers and more than 100 - old and young, locals and many refugees - came. Together they wrote down their wishes for a better city. First and foremost: A community garden for everyone, in which they can grow vegetables, grill, enjoy the summer evenings and celebrate together.

“At first I was skeptical,” says Claudia Rische, who works as a freelance PR consultant in Berlin and Gandersheim. "Everyone here has their own gardens and therefore enough work."

But on a weekend at the end of May they all lend a hand. Around 50 volunteers turn a piece of wasteland into an oasis in less than three days: garden sheds, self-made benches and loungers made from waste wood, a picnic table, fireplace, flower beds, potato fields and more.

The oasis game - creating a community

Urban developers and architects in Brazil have developed the oasis game for the poor neighborhoods on the outskirts of the big cities. They got many ideas for this from the indigenous communities in the Amazon region. They supplemented these with modern methods of citizen participation such as the “World Café” and “Open Space”.

In the Amazon villages and the favelas of Brazil, the inhabitants have to get by with few resources. The local administrations have no money and often little interest in improving people's living conditions. So they have to help themselves.

Even the small town of Bad Gandersheim has little to offer the oasis players apart from warm words. The city treasury is empty.

Ten years ago, the resort town of 10.000 inhabitants was in a mess with 32 million euros in cash. The town hall had to cut a third of the jobs and, according to Mayor Franziska Schwarz, “forego all voluntary services”: No money for swimming pools, sports clubs and for culture, which is now dependent on sponsors. The debts have now been reduced. Nevertheless, the red pencil continues to rule. The city needs the approval of the supervisory authority for every household.

More and more small shops in the city center are giving up. People buy on the internet or in the big markets on the outskirts. A city manager is now supposed to mediate between the owners of vacant buildings and possible interested parties. With a “future contract”, which continues to oblige Bad Gandersheim to save, the city has at least secured access to money from the urban development program and the urban green program.

The oasis game brought a “happy, lively and creative atmosphere” to the city - at least for a few days. Above all, "the memory of a great project" remained.

Create something without money

It brings neighbors together. With the available material and skills, they can build schools, community centers, wells and others quickly and without a budget with the strength of many hands. In addition to the practical work, this creates a community spirit, confidence and empowerment of people who otherwise experience little effectiveness of their actions.

After the decision to create a community garden, the oasis players set out to collect the necessary material and know-how. “We spoke to people in the city, rang the doorbells and asked who would like to contribute to the community garden,” says one participant. Many would have donated or loaned things: lumber, tools, old garden furniture, a metal bird that has now been freshly restored to decorate the garden.

A landscaping contractor donated soil and made his delivery van available, while a pizzeria brought complete catering to the emerging community garden. A resident left the overgrown property on the edge of the old town to the initiative.

“Development aid” from Brazil for German villages

So far, oasis games have taken place in around 300 villages and districts around the world - including in South America, various African countries, India, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Berlin, Leipzig, Hanover, Dortmund's Nordstadt and the community village of Heckenbeck, which is part of Bad Gandersheim . It was first tried out around 20 years ago in Santos, Brazil. The method is freely accessible as an open source offer. So nobody knows exactly who is using them, where and when.

In 2013, the foundation of the Brazilian national bank Banco do Brasil certified the oasis game as an “effective technology for social transformation processes”.

Bad Gandersheim has changed thanks to the oasis game. The city campus group of around 25 people that emerged from the game is still looking for suitable rooms to make their next dream come true: a culture bar for cozy evenings with readings, concerts or cabaret. Rolf Ninke, the “dream guide” from Rathausplatz, stayed with it like many others. The retired educator “now knows a lot more people in the city and is experiencing how people in the town“ network more closely ”.

PR consultant Claudia Rische is experiencing - despite all her efforts - a "spirit of optimism" in the town - also because the State Garden Show is coming in 2022. She also got to know a lot of new people through the oasis game and developed a stronger feeling of home in Bad Gandersheim. Like many, she is looking forward to the next gardening season.

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"Usually we wait for governments or city administrations, for example, to do something to improve our lives," says Oasenspiel co-developer Rodrigo Rubido from the Elos Foundation in Brazil's largest city, Sao Paolo. “Communities have so much potential of their own. When we get together, we build new relationships and that is actually the most important thing in the oasis game. This creates a community spirit and people strengthen each other. "

Oasenspiel: Gandersheimers build a community garden

The course of the oasis game:

1. Kick-Off: The initiators present the concept and invite their neighbors to collect ideas. The main aim is to recognize, value and network potential on site.

2. Those involved bring together what resources, talents, projects and initiatives are already in the neighborhood: Who can do what and where can who help?

3. Create solidarity: Interested parties get to know and appreciate each other, exchange ideas and create a community.

4. Dream big for a common cause, network ideas and bring together different perspectives.

5. Dream and plan workshop: Everyone brings together their wishes, dreams and ideas in a large brainstorming session.

6. The miracle: With the implementation on only two consecutive weekends, those involved experience how much they can achieve quickly together if everyone lends a hand. It only takes three weeks from the first ideas to the result.

7. Celebrate the result: At a joint festival, those involved acknowledge and celebrate what has been achieved and appreciate every contribution.

8. Re-Evolution- What's next ?: Collect and realize the next, bigger dreams.

Organizers of the Oasenspiel in Germany: High of ideas3

Foundation Elos (English)

The oasis game to listen to in mine Radio report

Written by Robert B Fishman

Freelance author, journalist, reporter (radio and print media), photographer, workshop trainer, moderator and tour guide

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