Refugees from the Ukraine: a new start with the traffic controllers

Created: 08/13/2022, 1:00 p.m

By: Andreas Steppan

Welcome to the team: The Ukrainian special-purpose association employees (from 2nd from left) Oleksii Sorin, Liudmyla Zabara and Nataliia Suprun with Managing Director Michael Braun (left) and their colleague Idris Hasan, who helps with the translation.

F:arp A banker, an accountant and an IT expert Colleagues from Syria help to find their way around © arp

Three refugees from the Ukraine are looking forward to a professional opportunity at the Zweckverband in Bad Tölz.

You are now working in the field of traffic surveillance.

Bad Tölz – Their greatest hope is that the war in their country will soon be over and they can return home.

But because no one knows when that will happen, many refugees from Ukraine are now trying to settle down in their place of refuge and find work.

Three of them have now succeeded in doing this in Bad Tölz in a place where one would not necessarily expect it: They work with the "Zweckverband Kommunale Diensten" on the Flinthöhe in the field of traffic monitoring.

“For me, this work is like a gift from Germany”

"For me, this work is like a gift from Germany," says Nataliia Suprun happily.

Until a few months ago, the 49-year-old worked as a deputy bank director in Nova Kachovka in the southern Ukrainian Oblast of Cherson, around 150 kilometers from Crimea.

As early as 10 a.m. on February 24, the first day of the attack on Ukraine, Russian soldiers occupied the town hall there, reports the qualified financial expert.

She immediately packed her suitcase, drove first to Lemberg in western Ukraine, where her daughter was studying, and then on to Germany.

Mother and sister stayed behind in Ukraine

Today she lives in Bad Tölz.

Her 73-year-old mother, who cannot walk well after suffering a stroke and could not escape, stayed in Ukraine with Nataliia Suprun's sister.

They now live under Russian occupation.

"My brain is here, my heart is there," says Nataliia Supron.

"I think we all feel that way."

The job at the Zweckverband gives her a good feeling, at least while she is at work, almost like she felt at home before the war.

"The modern office, the very, very nice colleagues, the work that requires a lot of concentration and attention, and also the coffee breaks": All of this contributes, she says.

"All together we make order on the street"

The work of the 49-year-old consists of editing speed camera photos on the PC in such a way that the license plates can be read and the faces of the drivers can be clearly recognized.

For this purpose, it collects the respective data.

"We'll all put order on the streets together," she is convinced of the purpose of her work.

Because where a driver was caught speeding, "a child might just be playing with a ball on the street." Order is very important to her, even at home, she says.

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No language skills are required for the job

"It's a simple job that doesn't require any language skills," says Michal Braun, managing director of the Zweckverband.

The association needed reinforcement - and at the same time he had the drive: "You have to help." Three Ukrainian applicants presented themselves.

"We then said we'd take all three, but each part-time."

By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Bad Tölz newsletter.

So Nataliia Suprun now has two compatriots as colleagues.

Liudmyla Zabara (41) has a university degree in economics and worked as an accountant in Kharkiv.

She fled in March and now lives in Holzkirchen, where she first got a job as a maid in a hotel.

Fled from Donetsk in 2014, now again from Dnipro to Germany

IT engineer Oleksii Sorin (41) has already fled the war twice: once in 2014 from Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, now again from Dnipro to Germany.

Men of military age are not allowed to leave the country, but there was an exception for Sorin, who was diabetic.

He found accommodation in Wackersberg with his wife and daughter, her boyfriend, a nephew (10) and a niece (6).

His daughter now works as a waitress at the “Altwirt”, his wife helps in the kitchen there.

The family is currently looking for their own apartment.

All three Ukrainian employees of the special purpose association are currently living with host families - and are deeply grateful for their great willingness to help.

Refugee from Syria helps with new career start

While Nataliia Suprun speaks German well, Liudmyla Zabara and Oleksii Sorin have yet to learn the language.

Idris Hasan helps them with communication, familiarization and orientation.

The 50-year-old fled Syria with his family in 2014 and in 2016 was given the chance to start a new career with the association.

He once studied pharmacy in Moscow, so he speaks fluent Russian and can translate.

"I understand that it's not easy for them," he says of his new colleagues.

Because in some respects he has experienced something comparable.

The association has a total of 150 employees.

According to Braun, 35 people were hired this year alone.

You can find more current news from the region around Bad Tölz at Merkur.de/Bad Tölz.