War, war and war again: Janatgul Y. comes from a country that was in constant turmoil long before he was born. When he was still a child and could have gone to school if there had been one in the small village near Jalalabad, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan, and also his village in Nangarhar province on the border The tanks and cannons left Pakistan with hardly a house standing.
Later, when the Soviet Union withdrew its troops in 1989, a civil war shook the country. The Taliban were on the rise and it was clear how they would change the country. In 1996 the time had come. They introduced an uncompromising Sharia law the likes of which the world had rarely seen before. Girls and women were no longer allowed to work outside their homes, they closed all girls’ schools, destroyed televisions and musical instruments, and ordered every man to grow a long beard.
Janatgul Y., born in the spring of 1972, when people in distant Munich were preparing for the Olympic Games, no longer saw a future for himself in Afghanistan since the Taliban came to power. Father and mother had died, the sister and two brothers got by as best they could. “I made it to Pakistan and from there by plane to Germany.” In 1996 he was recognized as a war refugee in Germany and began to build a new life for himself here with hard work.
He initially worked at Burger King in Trudering, where he met his wife, an Indian woman. The two married in 2003 and had three sons; today they are ten, 16 and 19 years old. Janatgul Y. worked from morning to night and not only learned German through self-study, using a textbook from the flea market, but also Hindi, his wife’s native language, which also became the children’s native language.
After seven years at the fast food chain, he took the step into self-employment, bought a chicken and snack truck for 1,000 euros, and paid off the purchase price in monthly installments. He was out and about with it from seven in the morning until just before midnight, often on Putzbrunner Straße, but also in Markt Indersdorf. When he finally got home, he fell into bed dead tired. The marriage broke up, the divorce followed in 2021, Janatgul Y. had to move out and made ends meet in accommodation for the homeless. His health continued to decline during this time. It was revenge that the big, strong man, who had worked so hard to support his family, had exploited his body. One heart attack followed another, thrombosis occurred, he had to give up the chicken cart and became a welfare case.
A bunk bed, a wardrobe and bicycles
And yet, despite all his physical ailments, he didn’t want any charity, not even from the state. He has been working as a driver for a registration service for a year and earns just more than the citizen’s allowance, i.e. not enough to support the children. “That hurts me a lot,” says Janatgul Y., because he wants to be a good father to them. He would like to take the two younger boys into his 54 square meter apartment in Neuaubing, and the children themselves also want that. He keeps the apartment in good condition, and there is a photo on the wall of him with his eldest son at the side of the then mayor Christian Ude takes a prominent place.
Today the boy is completing training at Deutsche Bahn as a mechanic, the second oldest is doing an apprenticeship as a textile salesman and the little one, who is ten years old, wants to become an S-Bahn driver as of today. So that the children can live with him, Janatgul Y. needs a bunk bed and a larger wardrobe. And if there was still money left over for bicycles, that would be the greatest feeling. The three of you could explore Munich and the surrounding area and do something for your health at the same time. “That would be my heart’s desire,” says Janatgul Y.
Here’s how you can donate:
“Advent calendar for good works from the Süddeutsche Zeitung eV” Stadtsparkasse München IBAN: DE86 7015 0000 0000 6007 00 BIC: SSKMDEMMXXX