Iris

I was born on January 13, 1980 and grew up in Schreibersdorf. This is a little village in the south-eastern part of Austria. I completed the elementary school in Schreibersdorf. During my high school time I was engaged in a lot of activities besides my schoolwork. I played the flute, which I still do today, and got involved with the local church. After a while I took on more responsibility in church, which strengthened my faith.

At 18 I went to Vienna to study social work in a three-year degree program. The Jugendkreis (a group of young Christians who have a strong faith in Jesus Christ), the studies, the student hostel and new friends gave me a great variety of possibilities to learn new things in my life.

At the end of my studies I went to Ireland as an exchange student for 4 months. I got in touch with new experiences there. The first time I met a vessel from OM was in Cork, Ireland, and I had the chance to work as a volunteer on the ship for one week.

When I came back form Ireland I was looking for a job, and from fall 2002 until July 2006 I worked with handicapped people in two different group homes.

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