Day 27 - Why easy if we can make it complicated and the beginning of something new - December 11th

As mentioned before, Shamse had informed me that her health insurance card was suddenly not working anymore. I called the MA40 that was responsible for the minimum income and the health insurance that was included. I was told to come in person. I could not understand why it was not possible to simply check her insurance number in order to get an impression of what the problem is. Instead I was asked to show up in person. 

I picked up Shamse early in the morning and we were the first ones in front of the offices of MA40 at 07:50 am. The offices opened at 08 am sharp. We got a number ticket and waited for a moment before we were able to enter a room where an employee was expecting us. We sat down and I explained that Shamse was having an issue with her insurance card. She had her asylum granted, she was receiving the minimum income and yet her insurance card was denied for no reason. The employee took the insurance card and returned it to me within two minutes and said: "It´s all good now." I looked at her and asked her what the problem was and she said that those who had an application for asylum running would get insurance. Once their status changed and their application was granted, the insurance needed to be reactivated as the system would not do it automatically. 

Shamse and I left. She was so relieved that everything turned out well. I was a frustrated as it was a unnecessary appointment. An employee could have looked up Shamse´s insurance over the phone and fix it right away as the problem was not Shamse´s paper work but the system of the MA40. I wondered what other refugees would do. Those who did not speak German. There was not a single translator at the MA40 and the thought of having a refugee with a granted asylum who was running around without health insurance even though that was granted too, made me very sad. 

This was a crucial problem that one could fix easily. Instead Shamse was robbed of her time, could not see a doctor when needed and we invested more than 2 hours into a two minute procedure. 

Nora, who was translating ever since Mo had left, was as mentioned in my previous post, pretty busy. I had a third translator now too. Her name was Suzi and she was the sister of my brother´s fiance. Suzi lives in Cologne, Germany and agreed to be available for phone calls between me and Shamse and to translate when needed. 

I invited Shamse to a coffee shop nearby and called Suzi. We spoke about the available apartment once more and Shamse and Abdelaziz had decided to move in. This was really fantastic news! I informed Agnes about the news and let Shamse know about the documents she needed to bring in order to sign the contract. 

I also informed her about a German course that I had found for Helz. I had downloaded a long list of eight pages that listed every institution that offers German courses for refugees. However the list was not complete. Prices were not mentioned at all. Therefore I started calling every single institution to get more information and it turned out that very few of them were free of charge. 

I found a grant for German courses offered by the Integrationsfonds of maximum 750 Euros that one could apply for. I called them and mentioned Helz's situation who is not of school age, who is still waiting for her asylum proposal to be granted and who needs a course that is certified in order to be able to have a good future. I was told that this was not a problem and that I should call again in January, stop by on January 20th together with Helz and the estimate of costs of a couse institute of our choice.

In the meantime I had found a German course, free of charge, unfortunately without certificates, offered at Amerlinghaus .  I had printed out the information about the course, the address, phone number, google maps and directions from the Rasoul's apartment to the Amerlinghaus and suggested that Shamse should go together with Helz. I did not forget about the father. I figured it would be best if he would visit a different German course or at least be in a different class than his wife and daughter. The course would start that very same day in the afternoon and I would meet them at the train station and take them.

I went to work and waited in the afternoon at the train station for Shamse and Helz to take them to the course. This was the first time that Shamse was running late. I called them and Helz who speaks a little English did not know where she was. As I was not able to get that information from her and my worst nightmare - that they could get lost was haunting me once more - I told her to give the phone to a passenger which she did. I then spoke to a female stranger who happened to be in the same train as Shamse and Helz. I explained briefly the situation and asked the lady in what train they were and where they were heading. Turned out that they were in the correct train, one stop away. So I asked the lady to please make sure they would get off on the next stop. The lady got very excited and quickly replied that she would make sure to "kick them out of the train". I laughed and begged her to not kick them out. A hand gesture towards the door should be more than enough. She laughed too, I thanked her for her help and we said goodbye. 

A minute later Shamse and Helz arrived. The had forgotten the directions that I had printed out and given to Shamse in the morning at home. :)

I took them to the course and dropped them off and while they were having their first German class, I ran my own errands before returning and picking them up. We had a little coffee together before we split and we confirmed together with Agnes the date and time to sign the lease. December 13th it was. 

 Me & Helz at the christmas market after class