Germany: Some Experiences While Letting People Know about Falun Gong Outside Cologne Cathedral

The Cathedral in Cologne is one of the area's premier tourist attractions. Many tourist groups gather there every day, among which there are a lot of Chinese people.

At the beginning of August, a practitioner who used to persistently distribute leaflets here every day had to deal with other matters and asked a number of us to take over for a period of time. After a day of flyer distribution we all felt that it was necessary to set up an information desk. As we were short of hands, the desk could only be set up at the weekend and we could only distribute leaflets from Monday to Thursday.

Although it takes us nearly four hours to travel to Cologne, after a group discussion we all agreed to go there to set up the information desk from Monday to Thursday during the summer holiday. Now half a month has passed, and some of the things that have happened reduced me to tears. I would like to share a few of these experiences with everyone.

We are one body

Chinese people who passed the information desk had various attitudes towards Dafa. Those who travelled abroad a lot were less influenced by the Jiang regime's propaganda. They listened to our side of things and offered their support. There were also a lot of people who would stick to what they were told in China before they were allowed to leave the country: do not listen or talk to Falun Gong practitioners. Some would even swear at us.

We tried to find ways to talk to the Chinese people, asking where they are from or talking about their local culture. Once they are willing to talk, the opportunity to let them know the facts reveals itself and we then have a chance to clean out the propaganda in their minds. However, when groups of Chinese people pass by, one practitioner often needs to face questions from several people at once. But we improve fast. A new practitioner, who was reluctant to give out leaflets on the first day, managed to deal with a group of six to seven people calmly after two weeks. But under this circumstance it is still not easy to talk to people thoroughly and properly.

Another practitioner mentioned that the materials would be distributed quickly when she worked with another practitioner as one of them would send forth righteous thoughts while the other handed out the leaflets. However, they would sometimes get into an argument over very small things. Her eyes were wet when she told me that. I think this might be interference. But why did this happen? Does it not indicate the importance of cooperation?

With continuous communication we gradually formed a method of working together as a group in order to talk to tourists about Falun Gong. We made additional remarks about each other’s instructions and sent righteous thoughts together. We are not satisfied with simply distributing leaflets to tourists anymore. Every time when a tourist had left, we exchanged views and let each other know where we spoke well and where we needed to improve. Everyone was thrilled about the change and it really made us feel like one body.

“Please let me donate some money to you!”

In the first week, I felt tired as I would dash to the exercise class at 5 am, and it was normally 9pm or 10pm when I arrived at home in the evening. One afternoon I fell asleep in the sunlight. A Chinese voice woke me up, "Please let me donate some money to you! It is hard work for you." A middle-aged gentleman told me that he had learnt about the hardships confronting us and wished to do something for us. I told him that we would not accept his money but that it would be great if he could let more people know about the persecution.