Close to people | Stories from Bethel
The internship was the aha moment
"Music is infectious," says Marcel Klocke. When the area manager of the Weddinghofer Straße home in Kamen sees that clients are having a difficult day, he raps along with them: "I'm sitting in my room and everything is the same as always, eahh oh!" The music enables the 32-year-old to establish a special connection with people.
Marcel Klocke has been passionate about rap since his apprenticeship. At vocational school, he got to know the rapper "Der Wolf", who had enjoyed major chart success in the late 1990s and offered a rap workshop at school. Marcel Klocke was unsure at first, but he quickly took a liking to writing and rapping lyrics. His first performance in front of an audience was exciting, and although he had a text hang-up, he impressed the audience and the wolf with spontaneous rhymes. The professional musician recognised his talent: "He said I was spontaneous and had the ability to think of things quickly out of the blue and rap freestyle."
"I had a real goal for the first time!"
Since then, Marcel Klocke has regularly written texts describing his life. At the summer party celebrating the fifth anniversary of the Weddinghofer Straße home last year, the Bethel area manager organised performances with his friend "Der Wolf" and singer Isabel Nolte, who is well-known from The Voice of Germany. Two star acts came to the centre in Kamen. Der Wolf and Marcel Klocke also presented a joint song at the festival: "Was meine Mudda!?" This song, written by Marcel Klocke, will be released on the next album by "Der Wolf", which is due to be released this year.
Marcel Klocke is not only passionate about music, he is also enthusiastic about his work. As a teenager, he already had an apprenticeship contract as an industrial mechanic in his pocket, but it didn't feel right. Two professional hearts beat in his chest: the technical and the social. After a conversation with his mother, who works at Bethel.regional, the then 15-year-old from Dortmund decided against training as an industrial mechanic in favour of an internship at Haus Winterkampweg, a residential facility for people with intellectual disabilities, multiple disabilities and additional special needs in Dortmund.
That was the decisive moment. „The internship was the 'aha' moment I had been waiting for,“ recalls the division manager. „I knew that's what I wanted: to be there for people! He had his secondary school leaving certificate, but he carried on, trained as a youth and home educator, obtained his secondary school leaving certificate, his A-levels and finally went to university. „I sat down on the seat of my trousers and had a real goal for the first time!“
During his training, Marcel Klocke already worked as a weekend helper at Bethel.regional. He completed his training year at the Winterkampweg home. He has been in charge of Haus Weddinghofer Straße since the beginning of 2023, making him one of the youngest division managers at Bethel.regional. „I grow with my tasks, even if it is sometimes difficult. It's like a diamond with me,“ he says and laughs. „Diamonds are created under pressure, and that's why I always need a bit of pressure to function well.“
Text: Tanja Lenz-Urbach | Photo: Christian Reiß
This story simply told
Marcel Klocke manages a Bethel facility in Kamen. An internship in a residential centre for people with disabilities awakened his desire to work in the social sector. His hobby is rap music. He met the German rapper der Wolf in a school project. The two have even performed together on stage.
