“Verbs are also called doing words, but in Latin they are called verbs.” Rachid pushes his large blue Harry Potter glasses up the bridge of his nose and continues the series of his latest findings. “I can also say something about pronouns, I learned that at school today.” The nine-year-old cannot be stopped as he leads the visitor to the elevator, presses “3” with his delicate finger, and then continues to chat as he inserts the key into an apartment door: The third-grader lives here in 30 square meters with his severely disabled brother and his sick brother Father.
In 2021 the sons moved in with their father. “I would have liked to have had her with me before,” Naoufel A. will say later. The native Tunisian is severely diabetic and also suffers from neuropathy after a stroke, and his arms and legs sometimes no longer work. For years, he drove from his one-room apartment in Sendling to the north of Munich every morning to take Rachid to kindergarten and pick him up again in the afternoon. Kerim, the older of the two at eleven years old, is severely disabled and is picked up and dropped off every day by the school bus from the facility he attends.
Immediately after birth, Kerim was put on withdrawal in the incubator for two months. The boys’ mother was a serious drug addict. “She took everything possible. I don’t know much about it,” says A., who doesn’t want to appear publicly with his full name to protect the children. Her mother died of her addiction a year ago. The court awarded the children to the father two years ago. They moved in with the 58-year-old in the apartment he had taken on the open market when he was still working in the warehouse of a grocery store and an auto parts store and also in the catering industry. He is now severely disabled and unable to work due to his physical ailments. He receives citizen’s benefit.
“Baba,” Kerim calls out incessantly as his father talks about their life together and rubs his hand hectically over his stomach in circular movements. Naoufel A. has just picked up the boy from the school bus driver down on the street. “Kerim is hungry. He can only say Baba and Mama,” Rachid translates to the guest like a tour guide who kindly guides interested parties through unknown realms. The father limps into the kitchen and comes back with some yoghurt. “Now I always have to buy us a pack of four for 89 cents, everything else is no longer financially viable with inflation,” says A., pulling off the lid, handing the cup to his eldest and stroking his hair. “Baba, Baba!” Kerim chuckles loudly.
Naoufel A. pays 760 euros rent for the apartment in which he shares a double couch with Kerim to sleep on. Rachid spends the night on the lounger that has been pushed to it; during the day the frame serves as a seating area. The small family eats on a knee-high table in front of it, the boys play with building blocks, and Rachid does his homework. The three of them have around 900 euros left to live on. This has to be used to pay for the telephone, internet, which Rachid has long needed for school, as well as clothing and living expenses. “Rachid likes to go to friends’ houses,” says the father, looking at his boys, “Kerim doesn’t let them play here.”
Of course the three of them have wishes: “Doing homework on the table or the floor is annoying,” calls Rachid from the headlock. The boy would need a desk, a loft bed for him and his brother and a bed for Naoufel A. himself. They have applied for a larger apartment, but as long as nothing comes of it, it would help to have money for small renovation work here. The kitchen cabinets are falling apart.
Kerim jumps up, rushes towards the visitor with his arms outstretched and calls out “Mama”. Rachid appeals for understanding: “He says mom to all the women, he doesn’t understand that she’s no longer there.” Naoufel A. gently pulls his clever nine-year-old, whose academic achievements he is proud of, towards him: “But you understand that she’s not coming anymore?” Rachid pushes the blue Harry Potter glasses up the bridge of his nose with his finger and fixes his feet. “Yes.”
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