It was a huge step in the Rasoul´s lives to finally have the keys to their very first apartment in Vienna. Besides one kitchen cabinet with two burners, the apartment was not furnished so I started to make a list of the most important items that would be needed right away considering the size of the furniture too as it was a studio apartment and the Rasoul´s are five. As they would start to pay rent right away, the goal was to be able to furnish the apartment as quickly as possible. Shamse knew about my trying to collect some donations for her and the family and just when needed, I received my very first donation of 200 Euros.
I looked mainly for free furniture but I was willing to pay a little bit for good quality items. Yes, I was very very careful with the money. Considering the Rasoul´s financial situation, I did not want them to pay a dime for anything and I tried to make the most out of anything I had.
I looked mainly on "Willhaben" - a website similar to Craigslist, just more serious. Free furniture would pop up every other minute, but one needed to be very quick. Only later on, I found out that there were plenty of private organized Facebook groups that would help with anything. "start now." for example or "happy.thankyou.moreplease". I was just not able to Google them and therefore didn´t find them when needed.
On Willhaben, I found a free bed sofa from Ikea in great condition and immediately send the guy message. As he was moving out that very same day, I was supposed to pick it up that very same day too. As I have no idea how to drive a van, I was not able to rent one. Tony was out running my errands as I had organized my film screening for the next day. He was not available. I called "Veloce" , a company that offers pick ups and drop offs of pretty much everything. I asked Shamse if it would be alright with her to pay the service with the donations. She agreed and I set an appointment with Veloce for a pick up at the guys place somewhere in the 5th district for 4 pm.
After work, I rushed to the place by myself. The Veloce drivers were stuck in traffic and they were running late which was a bit of a problem as I had asked Shamse to wait in the new apartment at around 4:30 pm.
The guy lived in a pre war building, 4th floor, walk up. The sofa was twice my size and probably 5 times my weight. Veloce gets paid by the hour. I called the company and told an employee, whose name I asked of course, that I would not pay for delay due to traffic. That was perfectly fine.
As I did not want to pay more than one hour in total for the services provided, I asked the guy who was giving me a free bed sofa, if he could help me carry it downstairs too. That´s how penny-pinching I was with the Rasoul´s money.
He was kind enough to help me. I must give him the full credit as he was at the heavy end of the sofa, walking downstairs. My job was to hold the sofa and make sure he could carry it down the stairs. Nonetheless, it was tiring for both us.
I was not surprised that the guys from Veloce arrived the moment we were on the ground floor. They put everything in the car, i said goodbye to the guy who gave me the sofa and I took the tram to get to Shamse´s apartment where i would meet Veloce again.
I was supposed to meet my mom and because I was running late with my bed sofa adventure, I offered my mom to meet me at the Rasoul´s. I wanted to call Shamse and let her know that my mom was about to come to her place. I overheard a conversation of a couple by chance and it sounded like Arabic. Lucky me, it was. I asked them if they could place the phone call for me, tell Shamse that I am running late and that my mom would come too. They were kind enough to agree so I handed them my phone, the call was placed, Shamse was informed and everything was fine.
My mom was already expecting me as well as the guys from Veloce. We walked upstairs together, I paid Veloce the 35 Euros for the transportation and they left. Shamse had already cleaned the entire apartment.
What a glory! The first piece of furniture had arrived! I will never forget the happy faces of Shamse and Abdelaziz and I must say that I was very happy too.
My mom and I went out for a glass of wine afterwards and she told me how crucial the help is that I was offering the Rasoul´s. My parents were not refugees. My dad was a traveler who settled in Vienna to study. He met my mom on one of his trips back to Iran to renew his Visa and knew it was her - she was the one. Unfortunately the Iraq-Iran war was going on with no end in sight and the young couple married and moved to Vienna together - for good. Guidance and a supportive social circle would have helped to settle faster, to integrate quicker and to make Vienna not only their home, but also their hometown.
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