Peter Barth, coordinator of the Helferkreis Hebertshausen, takes stock of his work for the year: Hope for better politics

Created: 01/05/2022, 06:00 AM

Successful integration: Oluwajoba Olumide Fajuke (left) has passed his apprenticeship as a butcher shop and is aiming for the master craftsman's examination.

Peter Barth has been his mentor for years.

© archive

The Helferkreis Asyl Hebertshausen was also unable to hold its regular meetings last year due to Corona.

The association was founded in 2013 after the first refugees arrived in Hebertshausen.

Since then, Peter Barth has worked tirelessly as a coordinator for these people who live in the former BRK retirement home in Deutenhofen.

Hebertshausen

- Barth has now written a review of the past year.

It is a report about the grief of the refugees, but also about their hopes.

And it is a settlement with the bureaucracy.

Because of the behavior of those responsible in politics and bureaucracy, many asylum seekers and tolerated people experienced grief and suffering, said Barth.

Training and work bans would continue to apply to migrants with insufficiently clear identities.

Many are unsure whether they can stay in Germany if difficulties arise during their training or at work or if the immigration office considers their integration efforts to be inadequate.

The circle of helpers and the general public were shocked when the Malian Moussa Nomoko was deported on July 29, 2021 (we reported). The then 27-year-old was taken away in handcuffs by police officers during an appointment at the Dachau district office and shortly afterwards deported to his country of birth, where "he is doing very badly today," said Barth.

Somewhat in the background is the fate of Martin Okwudili Okoli and Mohamed Jalloh, alias Mohamed Gallow.

Both were classified as having to leave the country, and both were banned from working.

For them, however, the helpers achieved partial success.

The work bans were lifted after a while.

Your identity has now been completely clarified.

“They work hard to improve their German.

The decision about their future lies with the hardship commission, ”said Barth.

But there are also bad cases.

According to Barth, the “totally superfluous criminal proceedings” for illegal residence, combined with a work ban for Samba Gey (we reported in the Wednesday edition) and the effort to reverse the ban, “will keep the group of helpers busy in the new year”.

Peter Barth also writes that in addition to the people mentioned, others have been charged with illegal residence or have already been convicted. And that these people would also have to suffer from work bans and reduced benefits.

That leaves the corona pandemic. This of course also affects the protégés of the helpers. Some refugees would simply ignore them, says Barth. Others felt little affected because they were mostly young people, as they said - even if they were infected and even fell ill. Trainees who no longer received face-to-face classes experienced negative effects, which, according to Barth, is even more important for refugees than for locals. Some suffered because they did not have laptops or the WiFi in the asylum center was not working well. Barth: “We were able to remedy that pretty quickly.” “Our asylum seekers and refugees suffered most from it,that the already rare contact with their volunteer supervisors has been further reduced by the pandemic, "says the coordinator. Those refugees who are recognized or who have to remain in the asylum accommodation as incorrect documents would have great difficulties in looking for an apartment.

"There are still too few offers to acquire language skills," explains Peter Barth.

“Literacy courses, for example, are rarely offered.

Existing courses are often canceled due to the pandemic. "

“Maybe last year is a year of transition because we can hope that the traffic light coalition will make better policies on migration, integration and displacement.

At least she announced it.

A positive integration policy and less emphasis on deportations would alleviate the suffering of migrants and benefit our society.

Hopefully some of this will be visible in 2022, ”concludes Peter Barth.