Christiana

Since when have you been committed to refugees?

For me, it started with practicing German at the beginning of August 2015 with refugees in the initial reception center on Richard-Strauss-Straße. After an introduction, I taught German for beginners twice a week to 15 to 20 young refugees from different countries on the first floor, where around 100 men lived in a converted former Siemens open-plan office. It was fun and often a lot of fun right from the start, even if teaching material only became available little by little.

 How long have you been involved with ArrivalAid?

In 2016 I discovered ArrivalAid through a training course on asylum law. I completed the “integration support” training there in the same year and received valuable information about the asylum procedure and further integration into training, work and finding accommodation for the group from my first German course and from contacts via ArrivalAid .

 I have been using ArrivalAid's training courses since summer 2016. They were the only ones who offered further training, which we as helpers were initially able to motivate the refugees to attend, as these were translated into English, Arabic and Dari, which those I accompanied understood as recognition of their situation. Now the training courses are still available in simple German for the refugees.

 How much do you invest in your volunteer work at ArrivalAid?

With more or less investment of time and energy, I have now supported 14 people in the three years, of which I continue to have regular contact with 6 people.

 What do your tasks involve in integration support?

This ranges from intensive German learning and homework help (also for vocational schools), to searching for and registering in school special education classes - with and without literacy - searching and registering, homework help, looking for internships - partly on behalf of or together with the respective school - accompanying internships, giving help in deciding on the training path, looking for a training place, writing an application, etc. Depending on the acute needs, they also still go to the authorities, but they also come with other questions.

 Which experience do you particularly remember?

The best thing for me, and this always inspires my motivation, is when the young men have experiences by which they measure their integration. So I do their tax returns with them, and the money they receive from the tax refund is seen by them as a sign that the tax laws apply to them, as they do to everyone working in Germany.

 What do you like about ArrivalAid?

ArrivalAid has continuously adapted the offers and the entire organization to the needs and requirements, e.g. B. to prepare Anhörungwith experienced employees and those affected, the creation of the translator pool, events, the further development of the offers, further training, careful listening for changing concerns, e.g. B. the job fair, the cooperation in the network of refugee organizations, now also actions against the right and much more. Last but not least, there is also the good supervision offer for everyone who helps if there is a problem - which I have been very happy to take advantage of.

 Like all volunteers, I have my own network and I have also taken part in many other training courses in the field of migration, but above all the very qualified offers with speakers from different areas and the support through ArrivalAid are very valuable to me.