They are the heart of refugee aid. That was the case in 2015, when many people in particular came from Syria. And this can now be observed again during the war in Ukraine. Without the voluntary helper groups in the cities and communities, the reception, accommodation and care of the many hundreds of refugees from Eastern Europe these days in the district of Munich would not be possible.
Voluntary commitment is high everywhere, sometimes even more than seven years ago. The organization had to be started up again almost everywhere because in the past two or three years the need for help was no longer as great as it was in the days when air domes were first set up in the district, when volunteers offered German courses and were asked to accompany them on visits to the authorities was. But the helper groups can now fall back on all the experiences from 2015.
“I feel a huge wave of helpfulness,” says Nina Hartmann, third mayor of Oberhaching.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
Therefore, Nina Hartmann from Caritas in Oberhaching is convinced that she can quickly deploy the 150 to 200 helpers from back then. “I sense a huge wave of willingness to help,” says Hartmann, who is also the third mayor in the community. The new Ukraine coordination staff includes Caritas, a group of helpers, churches and the community. Together they plan from week to week. All important information for volunteers and refugees is published on the homepage of the municipality and the helper group. Hartmann has noticed that other people than seven years ago are also reaching out and offering help. “That certainly has something to do with the fact that most of the refugees from Ukraine are women and children,” she says. “You can feel a great solidarity among the mothers.”
The willingness to create a network for refugees from the Ukraine and to look after them is also great in Neubiberg. Here, the Asylum Helpers’ Circle, which like many others was founded in 2015, is expanding again and is preparing for the fact that more and more people seeking protection will come from the Ukraine. Uwe Kressner explains that only a few of the refugees from back then still have to be taken care of. Now the circle of helpers has recruited volunteers from back then. “We sent an e-mail to the helpers from back then and asked who was willing to help again,” says Kressner. His team has the homepage at www.helferkreis-asyl-neubiberg.de updated. “We activated at least 40 helpers,” says Kreßner.
“We’ll manage it,” says the coordinator in Neubiberg
“We want to put ourselves in a position to be able to help immediately if it is necessary,” he says. The first thing to do is to see who is willing to look after children and families, to support the refugees in learning German or with formalities such as vaccination appointments against Corona. The volunteers were asked who had time and when. “But the main task is to organize the day-to-day operational help,” he says. The situation is of course different from 2015. The people who are currently coming are all war refugees, Europeans and are allowed to work immediately.
Uwe Kreßner from the Asylum Helpers’ Circle in Neubiberg recruited 40 helpers.
(Photo: private/Weingast)
In addition, it is mainly children and women who had to leave their husbands behind during the war. “That will also be a different challenge emotionally,” says Kressner. It is also a challenge to organize the care, as the vast majority of those who arrive are accommodated in a decentralized manner. Exact official figures were also missing. But Kressner is in good spirits, he also trusts in the well-rehearsed structures of the support group: “We’ll manage it,” he says. He is also very impressed that so many people are helping out and also making living space available. “The willingness to help is enormous.”
The municipality does not know how many people from Ukraine are currently living in Neubiberg. “An extremely large number of people come,” says the integration officer Stephanie Danneberg, with whom the group of helpers has already met for discussions. Danneberg assumes that around 50 to 80 people have found accommodation in the community. Some registered at the registration office, some at the regulatory office, others left again. “We also get a lot of e-mails and inquiries from private individuals who have taken on people and want to know where to register them,” she says. Refugees are already being accommodated in two community-owned apartments in the senior center, and the community has also reported two more apartments to the district office for the accommodation of refugees.
In Haar, the Asylum Helpers’ Group, which has been active since 2015, is also currently being realigned. Despite all the restrictions, ten to 15 people took care of refugees from Afghanistan, Syria or Africa even during the corona pandemic. They gave private tuition in physics or mathematics, organized visits to the authorities and helped in everyday life. “It mustn’t go under,” says Lisa Obermaier, spokeswoman for the volunteer group. On the one hand, she’s pleased that many new helpers are joining the group, but she’s also preparing for new tasks. “You have to approach people differently,” she says of the refugees from Ukraine, who on the one hand have clarified residence status and are also allowed to work, but on the other hand don’t know their way around at all.
About a hundred people spontaneously attended a meeting on Sunday
According to Kerstin Onwuama, who coordinates the refugee aid in the Haar town hall, the group of supervisors has grown to about 30 helpers. Everyone is very motivated. It is about help for the children, possible school attendance and play groups. But: “We don’t want to impose anything.” The first question is: What is needed? Meetings are therefore important. Last Sunday, for example, such a meeting took place at the neighborhood help to bring together refugees and families from the area who are already helping or want to help. According to Onwuama, more than a hundred people came, including people from Waldperlach and Trudering. The event had to be partly moved in front of the house to comply with the Corona safety rules. Onwuama found that many private households took in war refugees that were unknown. The need to help is great, as is the need for information and networking. The Greek Church in Haar also offers meetings on Sundays.
There are also many willing hands in Unterschleißheim. When it became known that the Infinity Hotel would take up to 200 people from the war zone, it triggered a real wave – again from the circle of helpers that was formed in 2015. It later became a club that was very active for a long time. But after no new coordinator for the club’s work came forward despite the city’s appeal in December, the club is now in the process of being dissolved. But everyone takes on tasks – so many that Markus Baier, who oversees the “Gleis 1” youth center at the Lohhof train station, warned in the city council’s social committee against “activism” if many thought they had to “walk to the Hotel Infinity and from there children to record oneself”.