Our focus is the unreached poor in the city. Marxloh was and still is home to the steel industry. However over the last few decades the demand for workforce has been decreasing and thus many residents left.
Most newcomers are migrants so that by now more than half of the neighbours are non-German citizens. Marxloh has one the biggest mosques in all of Germany and is known for it's many Turkish bridal fashion boutiques on Weseler street. This city district was build in the s with the vision of a "human friendly city" in which people from different social classes and incomes would live together.
These high rise buildings - constructed in the 's - were once thought to be homes for people with higher income. However, located in the outskirts of Cologne it now faces high poverty and residents suffer under a very bad reputation of their neighbourhood. Though to outsiders this neighbourhood might not look bad on the first sight, it is very poor and unreached. People mainly move here for cheap housing and due to it's proximity to the main train station and the city center.
Others come as refugees and are accommodated in one of the two refugee shelters. There are a lot of children, many of whom live in poverty. Their families often come from countries where the gospel is little known.
However, despite these families many old people suffer from lonlyness. We don't know of any church being present in this neighbourhood. It seems to be often overlooked. Due to it's proximity to Halle's main train station it is a convenient place to live for people commuting to other places for work but also a hotspot of drug trafficking.
