Asylum helpers’ group in Kirchheim: experts, friends and helpers – district of Munich

The standee with the orange logo of the Heferkreis gets a little stuck when Jürgen Gnuschke and Brigitte Hartmann try to unroll it. A woman uses the brief moment to ask a question before entering the bright building on Räterstrasse. The two chairmen of the Asylum Helpers’ Group and their colleague Gerlinde Reichart are well known and valued here at the refugee accommodation. For almost ten years they have been working with their fellow citizens to help people who have brought to Kirchheim in the Munich district to flee from war, persecution or poverty from their home countries.

In 2013, the Asylum Helpers’ Group was founded in Kirchheim. They have been an association since 2017, for practical reasons, so they can accept donations and liability issues have been clarified. The association has 40 members, and there are around 80 active people in total who support the refugees. Reichart, Hartmann and Gnuschke have been there from the start. Like many of the “hard core” of the circle of helpers, the three are already retired and put a lot of time into their voluntary work. This continuity brings many advantages. The active members of the circle of helpers now know their way around asylum law. And in the German bureaucracy, too, they have become experts, so to speak, out of necessity. “Sometimes we are better informed than the clerks at the district office, there is much more fluctuation,” says Hartmann and smiles.

In 2015 the focus was different

The work of the helpers has changed a lot in the past ten years. After a particularly large number of people fled to Germany in 2015 and 2016, especially from Syria and Afghanistan, but also from African countries such as Sierra Leone and Senegal, the first priority in Kirchheim was to provide them with first aid. Accommodation had to be found, the refugees needed clothing and basic necessities. Today the focus is on support in finding a job or training, support in learning German – and the search for your own apartment.

“Some of our people have been here for seven years, they have a job nearby, the children go to school here, they need housing in town,” says Gerlinde Reichart. However, finding one is difficult, especially in the district of Munich, where rents are high and demand is high. Many refugees continue to live in the accommodation even after their asylum application has been accepted because they cannot find an apartment. For the helpers, this often means having to deal with frustration. “Integration is also made more difficult if – despite a job – I live with my family in one or two rooms in a cramped accommodation,” Reichart points out.

Around 140 refugees are currently living in Kirchheim, including 50 children. Gnuschke knows the exact number, since he and his wife recently prepared the Santa Claus bags for the boys and girls – a campaign by the circle of helpers that brings a lot of joy every year. The helpers also quickly organized support for the people who had come from the Ukraine since March: playgroups for the younger children, learning aids for the older ones, who started school right away. With a teacher employed by the municipality, they offered German courses for the Ukrainian mothers while the children were looked after. “We got that up and running relatively quickly thanks to our well-established structures,” says Hartmann. The circle of helpers has now been divided into several working groups. This creates expertise and self-confidence. The close cooperation with the municipality and the local asylum social counseling also increases the clout.

The work of the helpers is demanding and it will not get any less; Reichart, Hartmann and Gnuschke are also aware of that. In view of the increasing number of refugees, the district is currently building more accommodation. A container housing complex for 200 people is planned in Kirchheim. Hope gives the helpers when they see how their support bears fruit. “I’ve become friends with some of the first-generation refugees,” says Hartmann. “They have integrated well, speak German, are doing an apprenticeship and have their own apartment.” Last year they took in a Syrian family of eight who had stayed in a tent camp in Lebanon for seven years. The younger children now go to school in Kirchheim.

What the helpers want is a bus trip with the refugees. During the Corona period, the possibilities for this were very limited. “They should come out again,” Gnuschke wishes, “and get to know Bavaria a little.”

Here’s how you can donate

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