It was an icy cold, sunny winter morning and I was supposed to meet the parents, Shamse and Abdelaziz, at 7 am in front of one the Caritas Offices in Vienna's 9th district. Mohammad "Mo", my translator friend, had offered to pick up the Rasoul's by car from their shelter in Schoenbrunn, unfortunately he overslept. How could I be mad at him? This sweet person showed up out of nowhere in my life again and even though he was on vacation, he offered to help wherever he could. I ordered a cab for the Rasoul's.
While i was waiting for the Rasoul´s and Mo to arrive, I looked around me. It was my first time here and even though the Caritas office was opening its doors only at 08 am, there was a line down the entire block with no end in sight. I saw hundreds of refugees wrapped in layers of old clothes, women and men alike, children, many of them sitting on the cold floor waiting. Some seemed cheerful, some not. I found out that some refugees had slept in front of the office to get a number and to get in.
Shamse and Abdelaziz arrived and so did Mo. At 08 am some Caritas workers stepped out and joined us on the street. They checked whether or not people in line had certain documents with them. Those who didn´t have their documents, had to leave and return some other day. Shamse had ALL her documents with her. All documents of every person in her family. The Caritas lady checked certain documents and gave us a number.
We entered the Caritas office and sat in the waiting area. In the midst of all the people I suddenly made eye contact with a Caucasian man, probably in his late 50´s, dressed in fine clothes, with a lovely groomed white beard. He was sitting with a refugee family he was taking care of. We smiled at each other. It was lovely to meet another guardian and to know that we found in each others smile complete understanding of the situation regarding the refugees we would take care of but also for understanding for each other.
It was finally our turn to get in. I was not able to stay any longer as I had to get to work before 09:30 am. I introduced myself quickly to the Caritas lady who was assigned to take on the case of the Rasoul's. She would submit their documents for insurance amongst other things. I left the letter of power with her and my contact information. We also exchanged email address as the Caritas office was always busy, the staff was overworked and therefore there was no time to pick up the phone. Mo stayed with the Rasoul's.
I tried to contact several people I knew who worked in hotels. I thought that perhaps I could get a room for the Rasoul's at a discount rate for a month until finding some other place. I had to admit to myself that this was my last resource.I had tried everything from regular apartments to churches, to calling NGO´s, to asking around, to contacting officials, online groups and more...No doors opened up.
It was around noon when I received fantastic news for the family: Eva and Stephan had contacted me, offering the entire family of five a room in their lovely home for a full month. This was the only option beside going to one of the overcrowded camps. Only 24 hours were left before the Rasoul's had to vacate the shelter. My heart was relieved beyond words.
I had met Eva and Stephan only a few times in my life and yet, they trusted me when I vouched for the Rasoul´s and I trusted them. I contacted Shamse via Whatsapp, using Google translate. Shamse and Abdelaziz did not want to be a burden to Eva and Stephan. There was a big difference between two people living together in an apartment and seven people. Eva was kind enough to send me pictures of her and her partner Stephan, of the apartment and about what their profession was, that they had no children or pets. The latter got lost in translation and apparently I sent Shamse a message saying that the virgin Mary was coming. I am not sure how that happened and I didn't know about it until I called Mo and mentioned that it was difficult to persuade the family to move in with Eva and Stephan. Mo checked my messages and after the misunderstanding was spotted and solved we had a great laugh. I was able to convince the Rasoul's pretty quickly as I explained to them that sleeping in a camp, where they had no privacy at all, was the only other option. They would not receive a certificate of residency in a camp and the children would not be able to go to school. It was around 1 pm that I finally received their OK via Whatsapp.
I contacted Petra Wasserbauer from the shelter and scheduled the pick up time for the next day. Mo offered his help again. We would pick up the family together by car and help them move. As I was knew that Eva had one spare mattress and I asked Petra from the Diakonie shelter if they could spare four mattresses. Not only did she provide me with four mattresses but also with bed sheets, blankets and pillows. She also offered me the services of her truck driver who would drive around all day to move the shelter. I was incredibly thankful for the help. Eva and Petra from the Diakonie exchanged contact and they scheduled the delivery for the very same evening.
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