Angela Merkel makes good on personal campaign pledges

The first stop during Angela Merkel's week of campaign pledges was the St. Johannisstift nursing home in Paderborn. On a talk show during last September's election campaign, care worker Ferdi Cebi told Merkel that lawmakers set out care policies without knowing what the job entailed. He subsequently invited the chancellor to pay him and his staff a visit.

Merkel was greeted with cheers and handshakes by around 40 seniors in the care home. However, staff at St. Johannisstift made clear the challenges facing the care profession. Despite Germany's aging demographic, low wages and high workloads continue to push potential applicants away from working in elderly care. However, new reforms hope to create some 13,000 posts in the coming years.

In Cologne, the chancellor met with Natalie Dedreux, a 19-year-old with Down's Syndrome. The woman had asked Merkel during last year's election campaign why so many babies with Down's syndrome are allowed to be aborted shortly before birth. Merkel said her government had put additional counseling in place for women considering an abortion and that Dedreux had shown why this was the right decision.

The pair met at the Caritas Center in Cologne's troubled Kalk district. Dedreux works the center's cafe and is studying home economics. Merkel praised the Catholic charity's integration work. "I think it's great that there's an apprenticeship here that qualifies them for a job in the first job market," Merkel said.

Later on Wednesday, Merkel visited a Cologne nursery run by Caritas. After meeting with teachers and parents, Merkel said she would work to make careers in education more attractive. These teachers play a crucial role, since a child's earliest years have a significant impact on their future prospects, Merkel said.

On Thursday, Merkel traveled to the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, where she visited a rural dairy farm. The trip fulfilled another outstanding campaign pledge. The farm's owner, Ursula Trede, had invited Merkel to visit during a televised Q&A with members of the public, so the chancellor could see first-hand the market threats farmers face.

Angela Merkel's visit to Nienborstel coincided with the birth of the farm's newest member. Just a few hours after his birth, the calf named "Wirbelwind" (whirlwind) already had a godmother in the German chancellor.

The chancellor said afterwards that the visit had opened her eyes to the challenges faced by medium-sized farms. Low milk prices and nitrates in the water had put this farm in Nienborstel under great strain. Nevertheless, Merkel appeared relaxed among the cows. On Friday it's back to Berlin — and the reality of politics — where the chancellor will hold her annual summer press conference.