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Hi everyone,
So, I am still in Kiel. Or rather: again. I left after being there for only a month, so when I returned after a week in Amsterdam I was surprised and happy that I really felt like coming home to Kiel again. Just like in so many ways Kiel and the house I live in, make me feel at home at all times. I don't even think of other homes I've had before, but that is also because I hardly have the time.
But then, I visited one of my former homes and I had many expectations when going to Amsterdam. But I was very disappointed in many ways. I did some research (well, I typed some search terms in google): the GDP of the Netherlands in 1990 was 313 billion $ US, in 2013 it was 853 billion. The population of the Netherlands was 15 Mio in 1990, and close to 17 Mio in 2013. So, in other words: the Netherlands' (economic) wealth has almost tripled in just over 20 years, while the population grew by less than 20%. Technically, one would say that every single Dutch person must be incredibly rich these days. The Dutch also tend to be very happy with their lives (compared to the rest of the world) and even consider themselves as wealthy. So WHY the hell could it possibly be a problem to accept some thousands of refugees in your country? The same goes for just about any other European country, of course, but I have lived in the Netherlands for the first time in 2010 and I really loved the country then. Now I returned and I am glad I don't live there any more. And that hurts a lot. And it hurts especially because I know that the Netherlands tend to be ahead of the rest of Europe in many things and the rest of Europe is likely to follow the trend. Well, the trend is: give the rich more money, leave the poor to themselves, leave the middle class to fight against the poor for the little bit of wealth that they are allowed and just make sure that the GDP grows. Privatization in the Netherlands has gone so fast it makes you dizzy and literally all the laws they used to have, which helped make the country a place where everybody had a fair chance, no matter what their background was, have been dismantled in the past few years. So within only a few years the political climate in the Netherlands changed about 180° and now the right-winged party, comparable with the Austrian Freedom Party in its best days, is the most popular party in the country. This is scary and it made me sad, when I was there because you can actually feel that the atmosphere has changed. I am not saying that everything that changed, changed for the worse but if I may generalize a little here I think that everything that changed quickly changed for the worse, things that slowly change over time, of course are also often changes for the better although that is not always true either.
Now as for the Homeless World Cup. Of course, it too, has changed. And not only for the better. It was good to see that almost all teams now have big national sponsors so they all have not only several jerseys to play in but also training suits etc. sponsored by their national organizations. There are also more teams every year, which is nice to see. Also, the Amsterdam organization of the HWC was amazing: the quarters we stayed in were fabulous (a holiday village), we had dinner at the stadium of FC Volendam in the official business club rooms, which was really fancy. The location of the tournament, at Museumplein in the center of Amsterdam was amazing, not only for the view of the pitches with the Van Gogh Museum in the background but also because there were always so many locals and tourists who would just drop in and see the matches and then stay to watch because it was a lot of fun! And his majesty the king of the Netherlands came personally to open the tournament and scored a fabulous penalty on the way too - giving the tournament even more popularity than it had already managed to get.
On the other hand though, I couldn't help noticing that the tournament has become more competitive since I last went in 2009. In Milan in 2009 there were some teams that played to win but the vast majority realized that the mere fact of being there and participating in such an event was enough to change their lives forever. They had already reached their goals by qualifying for the final tournament and no matter how good or bad the performed there, nothing could wipe the smile off their faces and take the self-confidence, that they had earned so hard, from them. Now, this year was different: it seemed that every single team, no matter how good or bad football players they had, wanted only to win. I barely saw signs of teams not taking a loss too hard and openly congratulating the opposing team on their victory. True fair play was as hard to spot on the pitches of the Homeless World Cup this year, as it is on any random football pitch at any time anywhere in the world. I felt like the HWC has become just another tournament where football teams compete in order to win a trophy and the true spirit that had me so excited in Milan was almost gone in Amsterdam. Of course, I partly blame the Dutch organizers, as they managed to advertise the tournament in their country in a way so you would think that the homeless teams would have to give the Dutchies back their pride, after they lost it, when the national football team lost hope to qualify for the EURO next year. Constant comparisons didn't help of course, and while I think it is great that the homeless teams get to wear the official jerseys of their countries in this case it was worse than everything because national pride went above all in a tournament that was initially created to promote social inclusion rather than anything else.
Well, if you asked me, the Dutch lost all their respect in the rest of the world not when their football team lost but when their politicians tried again and again to keep refugees out of their country. Well, the good thing about the fact that I would not want to go back to the Netherlands is, I don't have to worry about finding a job there… I am very disappointed by you!
Now, for the Homeless World Cup, I should add two more things: 1) I, naturally, present my personal view of the situation, I also do not mean to say that the Homeless World Cup is in itself bad, I just think it used to be better, but that doesn't change the fact that it is still a pretty cool event and certainly a good way to provide a stage for people with certain problems. If you want to read less biased (or more biased from the other direction) stories about the HWC, just browse the web, there's more than enough.
And 2) I also want to tell the story of me being Dutchy, the mascot of the Dutch national team for an afternoon. It was the best part of the tournament for me. Not only because when you're wearing the suit everybody loves you, but because I could make people happy. I went on the pitch after a match, hugged the losers and there were smiles on their faces again. This made it really fun to be the mascot! I loved that part.
Well, for the rest: I was thinking I should write blogs more often and then shorter. I even tried, but I never manage. So if what I am writing to you is too much, I suggest you split the blog for yourself and read it not all at once. I am also not writing it all at once but I never manage to finish one part so that I feel I can post it as it is. And I know, I am unemployed and all, but I really don't have much time to write.
So, I should be writing about life in Kiel. The truth is, I have barely seen anything of the city yet, I barely go for walks or bike tours and there's really only two things worth telling, I have done in the past two months: One is, I went water skiing. As I said, the couple I am living with they love wakeboarding and they went to a lake that has a ski-lift. I know this sounds strange, but that is exactly what it is. A rope that pulls you around the lake. You can go with skis or a board of any kind. I tried the board about twice, then I switched to skis. After I finally learned (kind of) how it is done, it was actually quite fun. None the less, the next day my whole body hurt from all the times I fell. I am not sure if I want to put a lot of effort into becoming good at water skiing or wakeboarding but should I ever again have time, when they go, I will try it again, hopefully with less pain afterwards then. On the other hand, of course, I usually don't have any days off in the weekends because we have football or floorball matches (or both) most of the time.
And the other thing I did, which was really nice too, was a bike ride along the coast. It was nothing special but I really enjoyed it, also because I finally got some leisure time and do some bird watching again. (This is also where I took the photo, I posted with this blog entry. I will try to upload some more pics soon.) It turned out to haven been my last chance to see some migrating shorebirds even though I had expected to see thousands of them being here. Well, things don't always turn out the way I plan (actually, things don't usually turn out the way I plan, more accurately), and there were migrants of another kind to be taken care of. The birds will return in the spring. The refugees will probably never return to their homes and even if they will, they will not be able to recognize their home for what it is, because bombs will have literally destroyed everything they remember from their childhood. Anyways so I thought it was more urgent to be helping with the refugees here, meaning that I haven't been able to use my holidays to discover my new home the way I had expected. I did however, discover my new home in a very special way: I am part of the group Kiel Hilft Flüchtlingen, which has around 12,000 members on Facebook, in a city of about 240,000 this may not sound that much but it is an incredible sign of solidarity and willingness to help which in Kiel you can witness daily on the streets, in the localities where we work and on the internet. I know, the media has been full of stories of homes for refugees that have been burnt down and of Pegida demonstrations. I also know that, of course, there are nationalists here in Kiel too, but the general atmosphere on the streets and everywhere is very welcoming. Almost the exact opposite from what I felt in Amsterdam! So I got to know my new home from its best side. I have been helping hours and hours sorting through donated clothes and the amazing thing is that donations don't stop. Even after two months, people still have clothes (old and new) they are willing to donate. People are also still willing to come and help with the sorting and handing out of these. And nobody questions anything, everything just works and people are happy. It is truly amazing, what started as an initiative on Facebook grew into a movement that changed the face of a city.
While many refugees are here to stay, most of them actually come to Kiel, because this is where the ferry to Sweden leaves. I have spent several days at the harbor to help with the refugees who are going to Sweden. I feel for them in a very special way, of course, as I have left my home and have gone to places where I had not the least idea what to expect. I also normally travel "light". However, it is a very different thing, if you think about it: I have left my home on my own account, because I wanted to see something else, I haven't been forced to move, and more importantly, I know that, should I want to go back, my home will still be there and not lying in ashes. And when I travel light, I still carry about 15 kilos of stuff around with me, when I go for an undetermined period of time, whereas these people usually have only one plastic bag or a little backpack, holding about as much stuff as I would pack for a day at the university and training afterwards. And then suddenly you understand that you can never ever understand what these people are going through. And this is not because you don't understand their language or their religion. And most importantly, you don't want to be able to understand them. Because it means that you have a good and save life.
So just a little insight in the work at the harbor: there are usually between 60 and 120 tickets per day, which the ferry company (Stena Lines) provides for refugees who don't have a passport and cannot legally go. This is then the number of people who stay in the harbor for the day. Many have some money and are able to go buy some food. Most of them have relatives in Sweden so they know where they are going - or at least they think they know. Most of them therefore, are not scared of what to expect there, but are very hopeful, so even if they have very little money left, they are often willing to spend some. Some may even have lots of money, we would never know. Some just sit there all day and play with their phone, look out of the window or try to sleep. Some chat, some go for walks and some go to get food at McDonalds. We provide water, tea and cookies for all of them. The local restaurant cooks soup for them for lunch every single day. And there is a volunteer doctor present for one hour every day. There are also translators. It al works perfectly well by now. It is very interesting to observe that even though cookies and soup and bread are always provided seemingly indefinitely people will never or almost never take more than what they eat. You would maybe expect that they would take as much as they could carry seeing that their future is so unsure but they don't. It has also been interesting to observe how much they care for each other. Children are usually watched over by the whole group. While they still go back to their parents when they need something or they cry they just play freely with each other and any adult present at any given time will help or be asked for help when needed. Also older children will help or look after younger ones. They also ask us all the time not understanding that we just don't understand a word they are saying. At other times they come to us with the best English, asking us for a cup of water or tea. They are usually having a pretty good time while they are in the harbor. It's only when the ship leaves I feel sorry for them as they quite simply have no idea what their future will bring them. And for some of them maybe the future in Sweden will be better than what they could ever have had in Syria or elsewhere but I don't think that this is true for the majority.
We don't often talk to any refugees more than a few words. Partly because there is very little time, partly because you don't want to ask certain questions as you don't know what the reaction may be and often also just because their English is too bad. The other day the was a journalist refugee, who was an exception. His English was perfect, I even made him work as a translator for us for the rest of the day while he was there. We started talking because he walked up to me and said, I had to help him. He asked me how to pronounce the words in his dictionary. He was on his way to Norway but he was learning German while he was waiting for the ship. A few hours later he spoke to me in some German. He was amazing, really! He also said that he would write a book about the journey of a refugee. And he said he had to go back to Syria and Iraq and Iran because someone needed to write about what was going on there. He said it was better that he do it, because he wasn't married and had no children. I wish I could have talked to him more but he was busy learning German and talking to the other refugees for their experiences, helping anybody who might be in need of help and I had other things to do as well.
All in all, I must say, I am very impressed how such a difficult situation is mastered here in Kiel. All the organizations are working together with thousands of volunteers and everything goes very smoothly. Of course, sometimes there are problems because there are not enough beds when suddenly twice as many people arrive than normal. Or there are problems when it is raining and the place where the refugees can usually stay during the day is closed because it is needed for something else. But both public and private organizations as well as the initiative Kiel hilft Flüchtlingen work together amazingly and I think for the most part all the refugees can't complain about anything other than the cold weather.
This being said, of course there is still much more to be done, especially for those who are coming to stay. And there is certainly not enough done there, because volunteers cannot do that bit. The bit where politicians could stop problems before they arise because one day the refugees will need jobs and will need schools and we are not prepared for that. And the longer nothing is being done to prepare for that, the bigger the problem will be and the more people will hate foreigners. And even in Kiel, where the vast majority thinks it is right and good to help and welcome the new members of our city problems will arise if something is not done soon.
Still, we are sat here in our little paradise where everything is fine but around us all over Europe right-winged parties are on the rise. Money finally shows its real face: it doesn't make you happy if you have lots of it, while others don't it only makes you scared. That is why, despite the fact that we Europeans are better off than ever, we are also less open, more scared and more hateful towards others than ever. It makes me so angry when I read some comments because no matter what people say, they all just have one thing in mind: I have a luxurious life and I know there is not enough wealth on this planet for everyone to have the same so I will have to defend it against everyone. Why ever these people think that they should have more right to any luxuries than someone else remains a mystery. And why the vast majority of people does not seem to understand that the economic and political system that we planted on this planet is based on most people having a pretty s***ty life so that some can have the life style the upper classes of Europe and North America lead, I don't know. It is obvious that 5.5 billion people will not forever accept that we build our wealth on their wars, their misery and the destroyed nature in their countries. To then have the boldness to say we have to defend Europe against those people is merely acknowledging that we understand that we built our wealth on blood and we will still continue with the same practices even though it is more than obvious now that we are few and they are many and that we have not the least right to treat them as we do. The bad news is: no matter how much we do to help the refugees coming into our countries, so long as we just accept and participate in the economic and political systems as they are we are part of the reason why refugees are forced to come here in the first place. Something has to change much further up the road.
Ok, I will not bore you any more, I will write more about Kiel next time (maybe).
For me, finally, university will start this week. I am really looking forward to it even though there are two downsides to that: one, I will barely have time to help with the refugees and two, the holidays are over and I have almost done nothing that I meant to do. I blame bombs and I blame money but I know it was the right choice in any case.
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