One day after the death of my mother, a brother of my mother came in the evening, a football player. Our uncle saw that my mother didn’t talk. He quickly got a rickshaw and brought a doctor with him. The doctor said my mother had been dead for a long time. Then a dark time began, a sad life. We cried a lot. Our little brother needed milk, food. Then my father came. He took care of everything, but he could not work and leave us alone. So he somehow did both and got less money. He could not give us real food. My sister Lina thought, what do we do now, can’t we live better? I was ten years old. My sister worked for a neighbour and brought food for our brothers. My sister was like our mother. She was 13 or 14 years old then. After that I didn’t go to school anymore. I asked people for food. I was 10 or 11 years old, too young to work. I was very sad then.

One day my brother Momin had the same illness as my mother. Everyone was at work. He has been very ill. I tried to reach everyone, my father, my uncle. I bought food every day for my brother, but that day I bought food and my brother shook his head. He was too sick. My dad came and my uncle. A rich man, he had a shop. There was no car. My father took my brother over his shoulder and went to the doctor. My dad asked my uncle if he could give him money for the doctor. But he kicked him out. My dad asked others for money. Then my father came back. I lost my brother. I loved him very much. We were a happy family.

After that my sister worked. I went there. The man in the house where my sister worked was bad, she lost her job. My sister also came home. We all had no food. Then I had an idea. I went to another city and wanted to go to school. The social worker said I could come to school. There I got my food. My brother and sister were at home. My father went to work. My dad had an idea: It is better to get married again. My dad got a new wife. Now we had an even bigger problem. The woman hid the food from us. We had no food. We were very sad. School went well. One day my father got an illness. My uncle had beaten my dad: “Why didn’t you take care of your children?” My father got water retention everywhere after the beating. There was no doctor, nobody helped us. I have to think about the faces. We didn’t have much luck.

It is better here now. But I will not forget my life, my mother, my loved ones. After that my dad died, too. And now we were three siblings alone. My father’s wife had a new child, my father died after 2-3 weeks after the birth of his new child. I didn’t go to school anymore. I did not want to stay in the country that my mother, my brother, my dad, took everything away. I went to India. That was 2013. It was forbidden to go to India, but I managed it. I worked in a hotel restaurant. The boss was good. I talked to a man on the phone in Bangladesh. This man was 30 years old. He had fallen in love with my sister. He said: I want to get married next week. I said I cannot come, I am in India. My sister was sad. She said: “You just left and didn’t say where you were.” I’m sorry, I said. I wasn’t at my sister’s wedding. I continued to live in India. Then I earned some money. Then I went to Pakistan. At night, at 4 o’clock, I was at the border. There I found a job. But the work was too hard. I thought I had to go to another country. I talked to my sister on the phone. My sister said: Try to go to a good country. I asked people how it works. I should go to Germany. But I was laughed at, you have to go back to Bangladesh. I wanted to go to Germany and have a happy life. You need too much money for that. I told my sister about it. Can you sell our house, our property? And send me money? We got almost 10000 Euro for it. Then I said, I go to another country, can you pay the bill for it?

I went to Iran, again at night, with cash. I walked to Tehran for one night. Then I came to Turkey, to Istanbul. Everything was different here, a good system, the people were working. There were also a lot of people from Bangladesh there. I talked to the people. Then I worked in Istanbul. I also gave money to my sister, I said I don’t need anything anymore. I went to Izmir. Then I took a ship to Greece. At 22 o’clock. Besides me there were 15 people in the ship, a motor ship. Someone was supposed to navigate it, he navigated wrong, all gasoline was gone, but Greece was not reached. We were on the Mediterranean. It was dark. There were also 2-3 women from Syria or Afghanistan there. At 3 o’clock Turkish people came. They said the route was wrong. The petrol was out, we had to go back to Istanbul. After that we tried it again. At 5 o’clock in the morning. At this time we arrived in Greece. Everyone was happy. We handed over the money there. There were many mountains, very high. There we were left behind. Two to three days we were there. Then we boarded a big ship and then went to Athens. Then I was in Athens for a while. Then I wanted to go to Serbia first. We walked. Then to Hungary, that was a hard system there. There I drank milk and got a stomach ache. Budapest. We couldn’t go any further there. Too much was controlled. Then I got an idea: Can I ride in this train? He said, yes, and took two more people with him. There was an on-board restaurant. We stayed there so as not to be checked. Then we came to Austria. Someone asked: Who can stay here? They took our fingerprints. Those who were quick could avoid that and go on to Germany. That’s what I did.

The train went to Germany. To Stuttgart. I didn’t know where to go in Germany. I just sat on the train. I didn’t understand the language. After half an hour a woman came, can you help me? I want to go on. I want to go to Germany. But there you are already. I can’t really understand English. Then she called the police. Then I got to know the police. The police helped me and sent me to a camp and here. Then a terrible life began. A room with 15 people, with people from Africa, from many different countries. We could not understand each other. There was too little space. In bunk beds. One wanted light, one did not. I thought, oh, I lost my family, here I found a new family, but she wasn’t nice. I left the camp, to another camp. Always like this. Then I found a good person. She said: “You are under 18, I can help you”. Then I understood that in Germany women are very nice and help. Can you please help me. I could speak a little English, we spoke with eyes and hands. We understood each other. The woman sent me to a group of young people. We were in Viersen. One woman was my guardian, her name was Dani. She sent me to a family. I did not know the family system. They felt that I had showered too long. I couldn’t talk to the people, I lost the family because I couldn’t speak German yet. I did not know how to say that I was hungry. They had a problem with me. I also wanted to leave. I simply ran away.

I went to my guardian. She understood me. You can just walk away. Then I was in different camps again. Not a good life. I had received an invitation to the hearing from the Foreigners’ Office. They asked me why I came to Germany. I said that nobody helped us in Bangladesh, I lost everything, my mother, my brother, my father, I wanted to start again here. Sometimes in my dreams I am very happy with my mother and my father. Then I wake up again and have nothing in this room here. I got the answer that I can stay here. I can try to catch up with my family. I got a long paper. That was positive. Now I have been here for almost four years. I am now 20. I have not managed my life properly without help, without parents, without brother, alone. That is very difficult for me. The job center said I could find an apartment. But I didn’t find an apartment. I didn’t learn the German language before, so I lost a lot, for example the German family. Now I want a normal human life. I first have to take my German course, have an apartment. I want to have my life orderly. I don’t get my system tidy here. I can’t find an apartment. I didn’t get a residence permit, only a fiction certificate. Now I am looking for people who can help me to have a decent life.

I thought it could help me tell my story. Now my German is better. I want people to help me. I want to see my sister Lina again, she was like a mother to me, I want to contact my brother. I want to tell my sister, I am very happy here, I have found a good life. But I don’t know when I can do it. I still live in the camp, life is not good yet. I am now doing an internship and a VHS B1 course. I hope I can manage everything. It is my life’s dream that I will find a real job.

Storyteller’s name:  Raja Schek
Interviewer’s name: Sarah Dudek
Country of origin: Bangladesh
Sex: m
Age: 20

I went to India, I lived there for five years. For a while I was also in Pakistan, in 2015 in January I left Bangladesh. They tried to enter my house. Via a friend I went to India, via Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Austria – and then Germany.

I would like to stay in Europe because politics in Bangladesh really is a problem. If you ask journalists, there’s no problem, but in reality there is. There have been attacks and I should join a group. The police are corrupt, they’re very bad there. I’ve been out there since 2015 . In August I’ll be in Germany for three years.

I was briefly in France, but I think Germany is better. France has been a little tiring, it used to be good, but now it’s worse. In Cologne it is no problem to be on the road at three o’clock at night, but in France it was already like this. Here in Germany I have been working for 1.5 years. I work for Galeria Kaufhof, in the online shop. The work is good, it’s an easy one. People order from me, I finish it and forward it.

The Job Center hadn’t sent me any offers for six months, and I still don’t have a language course. I had an appointment at the job centre, but I was told that full-time work is difficult at the moment. With Google Translate and the help of a German teacher I learned a little German. I speak English quite well – and if you speak and write English well, German is not so difficult any more.

I worked for a company in Bangladesh for two years. It was a paper company at the camp. I worked in Pakistan for a year. In India I did different jobs, many different ones.

One problem here is that it’s not so easy to get papers.

Storyteller’s name: Pitu
Interviewer’s name: Sarah El Desoke and Sebastian Abresch
Country of origin: Bangladesh
Sex: m
Age: 25

I’ve seen many countries. Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Turkey, five months in Istanbul, later to Greece for two weeks. The police found us by boat, they had a big boat with a powerful engine. We’ve been locked up. We had to wait. The police said I have to sign something to document where I want to go.

We were on a small plastic boat with 15 people. It was broken.

A lot of people have waited a month or two. A lot of people had to stay in prison. The police accepted my papers after 13 days. I came to Athens with some people. Then we decided to keep walking. Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Austria. All by foot. I’m in Germany now. lstanbul was quite ok, because l speak Turkish. But there was no solution, now I have come to Germany.

The trip to Europe is really stressful for many. There was a mafia in Istanbul. Because I had no money, I was beaten. God only gives you one head, one brain. It’s not a computer, it’s real. You can fix a laptop, not a head. I was beaten with a stick and cut in the hand. Religion doesn’t matter, everyone is equal before God. But the Mafia… has no religion. The European Union has now closed the route. I watch the news all the time, there’s no entry for refugees. You can see on the news that many people who come are not good.

I’m grateful to be here. I didn’t speak German well in the past, but now I spoke it a little better. I need to learn more.

I used to have a lot of problems in India. I don’t have parents today, spent three years in Bangladesh. My father had no money and came with me to Bangladesh. I have no qualifications. I speak English very well, but at the moment, when I speak German, I forget English. It’s like downloading a video in HD, it takes more memory.

The past is done. Right now – is now. I think I need to learn something, keep doing B1. I used to work in Calcutta for a car mechanic. I don’t like it because it’s not a clean job. I want to find a clean job. A kiosk is not possible because I have no qualifications. But I don’t even know for sure. Find an internship or a job. Finding an education is very, very difficult for me, because I have to learn German properly first. I don’t think I can do B1, because I have practically no school education, only know the alphabet. That’s not a real education.

But I don’t understand grammar. You wrote something on the laptop now, but I can’t do it. I’m 22 years old now. Six years in Bangladesh, 10 years in India, eight, nine months on the road. I’ve been in Germany for three years.

Storyteller’s name: Anonymous
Interviewer’s name: Sarah El Desoke and Sebastian Abresch
Country of origin: Bangladesch
Sex: m
Age: 22

I left my country of origin in August 2011. I was politically active in the community and had had a few orders with my father, as a party supporter of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), with the expansion of the party. We had a meeting place nearby and we often ate and drank tea and talked. Because my freedom gradually disappeared under political pressure, I decided to leave the country.

At the moment I am graduating from high school in Germany at the Cologne College. I already have a secondary school diploma with the qualification. I’d like to go to university and study. I am glad that I am in NRW, because there are some of the best universities in Germany. I have already visited the universities of Cologne and Bonn and would like to study mathematics.

Storyteller’s name: Mohammad
Interviewer’s name: Sarah Dudek
Country of origin: Bangladesh
Sex: m
Age: 28

Deutsch:

Mein Heimatort war in Dhaka, die Hauptstadt von Bangladesch. Ich wohnte im Zentrum von Dhaka und konnte die Schule und das Stadtzentrum gut erreichen. Die wichtigen Orte wie Dhanmondi und Shyamoli konnten schnell mit dem Bus erreicht werden. Dort waren die Leute sehr beschäftigt und mussten jeden Tag früh am Morgen aufstehen, um durch den stauenden Verkehr ihr Ziel zu erreichen.

Ich habe mein Herkunftsland im August 2011 verlassen. Ich war politisch tätig in der Gemeinde und hatte mit meinem Vater, als Parteianhänger der Bangladesch National Party (BNP), mit der Ausbreitung der Partei ein paar Aufträge gehabt. Wir hatten einen Treffpunkt in der Nähe und da haben wir oft gegessen und Tee getrunken und uns unterhalten. Weil meine Freiheit allmählich unter dem politischen Druck verschwand, entschied ich mich das Land zu verlassen.

Momentan mache ich das Abitur in Deutschland am Köln Kolleg. Ich habe schon den Mittleren Schulabschluss erworben mit der Qualifikation. Ich würde gerne zur Uni gehen und studieren. Ich bin froh, dass ich in NRW bin, weil es hier einige der besten Universitäten Deutschlands gibt. Ich habe schon die Uni Köln und Bonn besucht und möchte Mathematik studieren.

Name des Storytellers: Mohammad
Namen der Moderatorin: Sarah Dudek
Herkunftsland des Storytellers: Bangladesch
Geschlecht des Storytellers: männlich
Alter des Storytellers: 28