More and more underage refugees are arriving in Berlin all alone. Deciding how their lives will continue from then on often takes months. How are they doing in the meantime?
(Text: Anja Martin and Photos: Max Gödecke)
“What is this?” The social worker has stood on a chair so that everyone can see what he is holding up. “Screwdriver,” some answer hesitantly. Then, for the next tools: “hammer”, “pliers”, “hot glue gun”. They find the word pistol funny and laugh. Around 20 young people Afghanistan. , Turkey, Syria, Guinea and Benin are sitting in a workshop at the cultural institution S2023 in the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district of Berlin in September 27. They will soon be building miniature cities in a workshop, so they should know how to ask for the right tools.
You have nothing to do. Since they've been in Berlin, they can't do much more than sit around and wait until their initial interview finally takes place
The young people fled alone and arrived in Berlin without their parents. For the authorities, they are unaccompanied minor refugees, or UMF for short. What they do in the S27 is called “day-structuring measures” in official German. They are allowed to take part in various workshops for six weeks. Then others get their turn because there are too few of these places. And they have nothing to do again. Because since they've been in Berlin, they can't do much more than sit around and wait.
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