Migrants Without A Cause

After almost a whole week in Germany there are so many striking and different things that come to mind to discuss. From Day 1 every day has been something new and exciting (and sometimes not exciting). 

When we arrived I was honestly just happy to stop traveling for a minute. After being stranded in Atlanta for 24 hours due to bad weather, I was relieved to get to a Biergarten and see everyone (and sleep off the 10 hour flight!) Then not even several hours later it was time to get to work!

Day two would be a very productive one. After arriving at the offices for IN VIA Munich, we were shown around the office and told a little bit about the inner workings of the nonprofit. We then went to a container village run by Bernadette and were shown around there. The container village was surprisingly different to me. Bernadette introduced us to several young Pakistani men who were living there and they could not have been nicer! They told us a bit about their lives and their long travels. Despite being educated about the migration crisis it was still incredibly moving to be sharing tea and speaking with some of them. It was also incredibly sad. Even though they were from Pakistan and had been for several years (and longer in some cases) and, because the German government does not consider Pakistan a dangerous home country to return to, their options did not look great. They could not get work permits or even German classes, and they almost certainly were not going to be granted citizenship any time soon. In spite of these facts they still spoke very hopefully about the future and their prospects in them. These young men, contrary to the opinion of the German government, almost certainly didn’t see themselves as an inconvenience or as migrants without a cause. They have no work or opportunities but that did not stop them from laughing in new company. They came to this country in the relentlessly human pursuit of a better life and were unapologetic in their pursuit of that life, a trait which I very much admired. We left them with hugs, future plans, new friends, and new hope. 

Of course not everything could be quite as fun and lighthearted as that. There were-several- different components to the trip so far that we’re much heavier and did not feel nearly as hopeful. Of course many of them came at the meeting with my housing nonprofit Freising which I fortunately WAS able to attend after several German subway excursions which I will mention but not document here for the sake of brevity. Our first meeting with Andres of Freising was incredibly informative but again with various dimensions of sadness that mostly came from the insight that Anders was able to give us. He told us many good aspects to the work that Freising (funded by the German government, the Cathol Church and others) was doing. It housed so many migrants and refugees and provided them with much needed services including access to doctors and psychologists and schools and German lessons for their children. Of course the difficulties arise after that and one of those difficulties is pertaining to the citizens of countries who (like Pakistan and Nigeria, Afghanistan, and others) who are considered by the German government to live in “safe” countries that they can return to (that reminds me, has anybody called the German government and defined the the word “safe” for them? Sorry Dr. Hirschauer, that was American sarcasm. I know you are not big on sarcasm.) There are many other difficulties to the job that’s Freising does. Many of these difficulties are related to the difficulties that come with housing people in a relatively small country like Germany that private citizens own most of the land that could otherwise be used for housing. Additionally this means that much of the housing that Freising does have access to is less than up to par in terms of quality. And then considering that these migrants are restricted on the city where they can live, it only gets more complicated when looking into houses needed for families and the elderly. There are many struggles that are probably not going to be changed anytime soon. 

Lastly I would just like to touch briefly on one of the hardest aspects of this trip so far, and that refers to our trip to Dachau Concentration Camp. This trip was informative, interesting, and also brutally crushing in so many ways. Of course most of this has to do with being there in person and seeing, and feeling, for yourself the places where so many unspeakable acts occurred. It feels, as naive as it may sound to say this, so much more real to be standing on this ground in person and informed of the torture and murder that occurred there. It was truly more moving than words will do to justice to so I wouldn’t ever try and match those inadequate words to their emotions. Furthermore as I have been reflecting on this trip has it occurred to me to consider the fraught history that migrants and any “other” people have encountered. And it has occurred to me that more, so much more, has to be done to prevent this from ever happening from before. Because no amount of my well-meaning words or teas with refugees will ever mean anything if humanity allows itself to cannibalize itself like this extremely disturbing and aberrant war is ever allowed to happen again. Take care, humans, and remember that love is worth your weight in gold and that is so much easier to spread the cancers of fear and hatred. 

Fortunately I was able to decompress today and see the beautiful city of Munich, albeit with a few more thoughts on my mind than usual. I am so very looking forward to the next few days. 

Kelsey