This event will be in English so that colleagues who don't speak German will be able to join us!
"Hope is illegal" is a real story of an asylum seeker from Nigeria. It's January 2011, it snows. It has been snowing for weeks. It always snows in Graz. Every single day I walk to a call centre near Hilmteich, I'm not very happy about my life and job as an inbound agent, but it is my "Arbeit" and it pays my rent. The African always stands in front of the supermarket and sells Megaphon. He smiles, greets and shouts: "A new issue, please buy it." His German is terrible. Megaphon is a monthly magazine. The asylums seekers and illegals from Africa sell it. If they sell an issue, they get some provision. There is no other way to earn money; the law prohibits it. Today I decide to say hello.
“Hi, a Megaphon please.”
“2 Euros.”
“Here, keep the change. What is your name?”
“My name is Hope.”
“Hope? Hope like Hoffnung?”
“Yes, Hope.”
The mission of how to save Hope and make him an Austrian begins with my first purchase of Megaphon. I need some hope in my life so I decide to help Hope. It must be a sign. I don’t want to see Hope stand in cold all day long. It’s freezing. He comes from Nigeria and has never seen snow before….
Are you interested how the story ends, and how the Austrian bureaucracy works? Do you want to know about the journey of an asylum seeker from Lagos to a small Austrian provincial town? Maybe you have a similar experience and you would like to share it?
After the presentation, there will be a discussion.
Please email the GLS, if you want to join this event: GLS@ciol.org.uk
Events +
|