Statement of an Activist of Self-Organized #AfricansFromUkraine
Speech on Rally at Jungfernstieg August 21st 2022
It’s been 6 months and we are still on the same topic. What is our status? Have we really escaped the war just to meet another kind of war ahead of us? It’s been 6 month since we left Ukraine in an attempt to escape the war and seek help in Germany, just like many Ukrainians. I have friends who are settled and are not passing through what we, as 3rd world nationals, face on a daily basis; the uncertainty, the threats to leave the country, the discrimination we face at the immigration office. They are taking our passports and forcing us into asylum.
We are not asylum seekers, we are refugees of war just like the Ukrainians but I don’t see any of them being forced into asylum. We are students just like the Ukrainians. We invested into the Ukraine. We studied there. We worked there. We have memories there. Our livelihood and properties has been destroyed just like theirs. The Ukrainians came looking for help from Germany, just like us. Were we wrong to believe that we could find help within the borders of Germany?
Initially we were given 3 months to stay and for most of us we used that time to recuperate and get back ourselves; due to the trauma we faced while fleeing the war. Some of us are still struggling actively to move pass the horror we faced simply because of the colour of our skin. We will never forget. It has become a vivid reminder that we will always be treated differently; picked last while fleeing by train, picked last at the border and abandoned under freezing cold. Some even had to witness the loss of friends but no one cared for us because we were not or rather, we didn’t fall under the criteria that are required to be let in.
Even though we are not indestructible nor invincible to the bombs that fell through the sky not knowing or caring or even able to differentiate if it was a 3rd country national under the roofs it tore through or a Ukrainian; If it was a 3rd country national in the streets walking while air strikes were launched from the sky or not. Even though we faced the same experiences, we were picked last.
Finally we got through the border thinking we were safe and can now resume our lives, and build from scratch what we lost due to the war both physically and mentally. But little did we know we will also be picked last. The cycle never ends so it seems. Germany promised no discrimination but that is the exact thing we met. We are not given a fair opportunity to integrate into the system here. They say they want to help all but the officers we meet at the immigration say otherwise. Some of us were given a 6 months period to reach German language level C1. We were told to get an admission in schools, but also there we need at least a B2 to get one, depending on what you want to study.
Some of us were studying to become engineers, doctors, IT specialists, even footballers in Ukraine. We would like to continue as that but it is impossible because the 6 months is not enough to meet the language requirement.
And 10,000 euros? From where? How?
We are refugees of war. Our accounts are frozen. We lost properties and money in the war. Our parents sacrificed so much to get us to Ukraine. School agent stole from us. So how can we produce that sort of money again and again?
Are you asking the Ukrainians for 10,000euros in block accounts?
No!
Ukrainian national refugees are given a fair chance to integrate. We just want to be given the same chance – or at least a fair enough chance. 6 month is too little a time to get C1 and admissions from a university, which expects the same preconditions from us. We need at least 1 year and 6 months to achieve these language criteria. The 10,000 euros is an impossible task too. Why say all will be given fair chance and then put up impossible demands? We need the passports that have been seized from our colleagues to be returned immediately and those that have been told to leave Germany, we need those decisions retracted. We need integration programs that are available to our fellow refugees of war, the Ukrainians.
We don’t want to sacrifice our dreams of being professionals in our field of study or the professions that we were chasing in Ukraine.
Don’t ask us to sacrifice our dreams.
We will learn the language.
We will work.
We are assets and we will become assets to you. Just give us a fighting chance.
We won’t give up our dreams. You don’t ask Ukrainians to give up theirs so why should we give up ours?
When you threaten us in these manners, you threaten our dreams but we will not give up!
We demand from the German Government to give us a fighting chance as they provide to the Ukrainians without any further questions!
Thank you.