Pupils from IVM secondary school help with grave maintenance at the main cemetery

Around 20 pupils from the Israhel van Meckenem School lent a helping hand at Bocholt's main cemetery on Wednesday afternoon. As part of their project "Taking Responsibility - Living with Death", they helped visitors to the cemetery with grave maintenance and got talking to them.

Between the gravestones and autumn-coloured leaves, the main cemetery in Bocholt was a hive of activity on Wednesday afternoon: Around 20 pupils from Year 8 at the Israhel van Meckenem School helped visitors to prepare the graves of their loved ones for All Saints' Day. With the organisational support of Entsorgungs- und Servicebetrieb Bocholt (ESB), the young people put their school project "Taking Responsibility - Living with Death" into practice.

The young people tackled the task with visible enthusiasm and a great deal of empathy - they raked leaves, helped with the planting, removed wilted plants and struck up conversations with many cemetery visitors. For some of the young helpers, it was their first encounter with a cemetery in an active, helping context.

"Our pupils were very respectful and open-minded", reports Katja Hülskamp-Seesing, teacher at the Israhel van Meckenem School, who supervised the project. "Many experienced how enriching it can be to stand by other people - especially where grief and remembrance play a role. In this way, the topic of death was not experienced as something alien, but as part of life."

The ESB, which accompanied the campaign with materials and support on site, also came to a positive conclusion. Andreas Euting, responsible for the cemetery at the ESB, was impressed: "It's great to see how committed the young people are. They not only provide practical help, but also contribute to the cemetery being perceived as a place of respect, encounter and remembrance."

Many visitors to the cemetery gratefully accepted the help and got talking to the young people. This resulted in small but warm encounters between the generations - from tips on planting to personal memories of the deceased.