"You are involved in a special honorary position for the community," emphasized Carola Benninghoven-Struß, Deputy Director of the Salzgitter District Court, thanking Ulrike Donat for her valuable commitment and presenting her with the certificate with congratulations from the President of the District Court and a bouquet of flowers.
Eric Neiseke, First City Councillor of the City of Salzgitter, congratulated Ulrike Donat for her special commitment. He thanked her on behalf of the Lord Mayor, the Council and the administration for her voluntary work and for the good cooperation. "You do a lot of good for our society," he emphasized. This honorary office for the community requires particular knowledge of human nature, communication skills, impartiality and neutrality and is important for mediating between disputants and finding a solution. "You live the motto 'mediating instead of judging' in a very practical way in your honorary office," said the First City Councillor.
As an arbitrator, she mediates between disputants and reaches an agreement between the parties involved. Ulrike Donat achieves this in 90 percent of her arbitration proceedings, for which she is responsible as an arbitrator in District 1 (Reppner, Lesse, Lichtenberg, Osterlinde, Fredenberg, Bruchmachtersen, Salder, Lebenstedt Statistical Districts 50, 51 and 59). She enjoys this commitment, which is why she has once again applied for this important honorary position.
Most neighborhood disputes are about boundary distances, trees, fencing or insults. Ulrike Donat has noticed that people talk to each other less these days. That's why approaching each other and talking to each other is the top priority.
"The people involved have to get everything off their chest at the beginning. Then I can enter into the discussion process and mediate," she says. When those involved approach each other again and come to an agreement, she is happy because that is a success of her work.
She enjoys this voluntary work because she deals with different people and can contribute her professional, life and training experience. She regularly takes part in training courses and enjoys exchanging ideas with other arbitrators.
As a balance to her voluntary work, Ulrike Donat is active in sport and enjoys working in the garden. She thanked the city of Salzgitter, which is responsible for the organizational support of the arbitrators, and the local court, which is responsible for supervising the work of the arbitrators.