Hi, I'm Promise.
This is me eating Bratwurst.
I really like Bratwurst.
Here I am eating an apple.
The apples here are really juicy.
This is me eating Nudelsalat.
There is something in here which I really do hate.
It's really killing me.
Is it cheese?
I'm from Bamenda.
Bamenda is in Cameroon.
I am part of Draufsicht which is a group of young filmmakers.
There is this other group of Draufsicht in Berlin.
And that's why I'm in Berlin to join them.
So we can make some films.
I actually signed up to operate the camera.
But here I am in front of it.
And this is the story why you get to enjoy my handsome face at all.
When I came to Germany I had all this nice images in my mind.
I mean: fancy cars, high speed trains, well-paid jobs.
This is the place that changed it all.
Doesn't look like much, does it?
There she sat on my very first day in Germany.
I don't know her name.
She was begging.
What?!
People beg in Germany?
Oh no that can't be true.
Do people really beg in Germany?
Um, yes.
Really?!
Yeah.
But why are there poor people here at all?
I mean, they give me all that statistics and systemic reasons, but...
I still don`t understand why.
So that's why I actually wanted to meet a poor person.
To understand what is going on.
I've got German friends, but
they are all rich.
Well, maybe not rich.
But they are certainly not poor.
So, I have to find someone else.
I was told lots of the people who sleep on the streets sell magazines in trains.
So I spent most of my time in Berlin riding S- and U-Bahn.
As it turns out it is not that easy to find poor people to talk to after all.
I am very much into transport and logistics, but even for me this is a bit too much of
"Einsteigen bitte!"
and "Zurückbleiben bitte!"
On my journey underneath Berlin Selina joined me to help me with the translation.
Finally
back to where we started
our search came to an end.
My first encounter with a homeless person,
Micha.
When sitting down on the cold floor next to him,
I first of all wanted to know how he copes with the horrible weather in Berlin.
I have a jacket, west, pullover, t-shirt.
Today I only wear one trouser, but usually I wear two trousers.
It's okay. I also have gloves, so it works somehow.
And I am lucky to be able to sleep in a homeless people's house.
No one here gives you a chance.
I for example don't have a flat since three years. And I also don't get one.
Even though I've had a job until half a year ago.
I earned 1600 Euros to 1700 Euros in cash, every month.
And then all of a sudden everything was gone and I was not capable of paing the rent.
Because I don`t know how to fill in such a paper.
I didn`t pay the rent and therefore got thrown out of the flat.
I have to get along like this. Sleep here, sleep there.
I can be content that I get a roof over my head at all.
I was suprised that Micha worked until half a year ago.
But he still couldn't get off the street.
In a country like Germany?
Germany is a rich country, but it doesn't do much for their own people.
We really have a big problem here.
Look, back there - I know for a fact - I've worked there as a security guard.
There is a huge house. It is a former building with offices from the Stasi.
It has been empty for years.
There are thousands of little offices inside.
If we would renovate that we would already have thousand sleeping places for homeless people.
It is bad enough not to have a home, but much worse for Micha are some of the reactions
he gets from the people passing him by.
There are people that look at you and are like „ööh"
And then there are people, the really young and the really old ones, they are sympathetic.
I have 16 and 17 year old people that throw in a euro and also the old ones,
but middle-aged people, they look at you disrespectfully.
They say, just go to work.
And then I also had people, but that is already a long time ago,
when a – I don't like saying foreigner, but he wasn't a German.
He gave me 50€ and said
"Go and buy something warm to eat".
I could have cried, then.
There are many people that bring food.
Sometimes you get a burger, there is Burger King.
That is great.
And then there are many people that just look at you like this.
I don't like that.
I am also just a human being.
But Micha is lucky enough not to rely only on what people give him when he is begging.
There are also private and state funded institutions that support poor people.
While Micha spends his day begging, we met with Birgit,
who used to live from welfare herself and now works with people in need fo an organization called Lebensmut.
In the summer, they regularly organize events for disadvantaged children here.
There are also several „Tafeln" around here.
This one is called „Laib und Seele" where the socially deprived can go to get some groceries.
At „Kieztreff" we collect clothes twice a year.
This is our „Kieztreff", it's a meeting place for the elderly and community center run by „Lebensmut e.V."
where everyone is welcome to spend some time, to chat and drink some coffee.
This is the room of „Lebensmut" and „Kieztreff".
When we hand out food provisions, every Wednesday and Friday,
we move those tables to the back, set up a counter and distribute the food from here.
From the continent where I come from, Africa, everyone wants to get to Europe, to Germany.
Germany is one of the richest countries in the world.
So, you who lives here, I want to know how privileged do you feel being a German? Or do you at all feel privileged?
I don't feel privileged.
I feel comfortable and content to live in Germany,
but I don't feel privileged.
I hope I won't lose my work
in order to take care of my children.
Even though they're grown ups, I also have a grandchild.
So we can all go on a family vacation together
and to suprise them with something nice every once in a while.
That's what I wasn't able to do all those years.
Why, in your opinion, are people in Germany poor?
The world created this image of Germany that's not a reality for many of us Germans.
The majority of people living in poverty here are retired people.
Even though our social welfare system is working quite well,
there are a lot of old people with very small pensions.
They all need to apply for social benefits in addition to their pensions
and need to go to the public „Tafeln", because they don't have enough money for food.
They need to pay a lot for rent. Many of them are sick
and need to use their small pension to buy medication, which can be very expensive.
When they're lucky they keep around 300 Euros for their other expenses. When they're lucky.
300 Euros. In Cameroon that's roughly the salary of a teacher. Hardly what I would call poor.
Is it really so bad to do without a holiday?
Micha certainly never went on holidays.
So we took the train again. This time to Ostbahnhof.
That's the place where Micha spends his afternoons.
I come here every afternoon at around 4 pm to warm myself, meet and talk to friends.
Some of my friends are weird, others are reasonable.
And what's very important and interesting this is where I can watch some news.
That's very important for me.
Most of the times we're inside and drink a bottle of beer.
But we need to watch out for security, they regularly throw us out.
But we understand.
Will you hand her my backpack? She wants to sit down.
Well, that wasn't my fault, either, Gollum.
At around 6:30 pm we go back to Lichtenberg
and sit down for 30 minutes to talk to the people who watched our stuff.
We talk about their day and what happened to us.
And sometimes, when I've earned enough money, I buy them a bottle of schnaps to say thank you.
Averagely, how much do you earn in a day?
My goal is to earn around 6,50 Euro per day.
That's all I need.
6 Euro 50 per day.
Even by the standards of living expenses in Cameroon that is not much money.
When returning to my friend's house that night all of those numbers and figures still occupied my mind.
Life is a lot more expensive here than in Cameroon.
In a rich country everything goes fast.
All of those fancy brands and shopping malls..
You need to keep up with the pace of this society, in order not to be left behind.
And when you're not capable of playing the social game, you'll remain lost forever.
Germany means a lot of opportunities. But at the same time there are so many people sleeping on the street.
Much more than in Cameroon, it seems to me.
That a lot of people are left behind, is also what Micha told me when we met again the following day at Ostbahnhof,
where he receives a daily breakfast from an aid organization.
Twice a week, on Wednesday and Saturday, there's a bus with food and other stuff.
At times you get a sleeping bag or something like that.
There's a lot of stuff like that.
It's not the best food, mostly soup, but at least it's warm.
This is „Bahnhofsmission".
Do you pay anything to have the breakfast?
No, that's not necessary.
Unfortunately no cameras allowed. I had to wait outside.
What do you have here?
Look here. Two sandwiches and some fruit.
My food.
In my country there is less of such endeavours of the government
and to my opinion I think that such systems make people kind of lazy.
No offense, but it will make people lazy,
because they turn around and know that somehow they will receive some free food.
I would say, yes, there are people who feel like what they get is enough, because they can always find food.
But there are also people, actually many of them and I know them personally
who won't be given another chance.
They try to find an apartment or a new job.
But that's how it is in Germany.
If you don't have an apartment, you don't get work and if you don't get work you don't get an apartment.
That's a never-ending circle.
This day was freezing cold.
I needed to go back to my friends house as quickly as possible, to get something warm inside my body.
I have learned two things in Germany:
The first thing is, it's way to cold here.
I couln't imagine living on the street like Micha does.
But even if you have a flat - like Birgit
and the government pays your rent, it doens't mean you are rich.
This is the second thing i've learned.
Poverty is not just about fulfilling basic needs like food or clothing.
But what does relative poverty really mean then?
In Germany mothers are struggeling to afford a family vacation,
while in cameroon the struggle might be to send their children to a good private school.
Even so being considered poor is something very different in both countries,
the feeling of not having what everyone else is having might actually be the same.
It's the feeling of being left out of society.
Of being ashamed of what you can, and what you can't do.
While germans rely on the welfare state,
in Cameroon family ties are quite strong.
I could never imagine my mother to live by herself in an old peoples home.
But both support systems can fail for very different and individual reasons
and when they do, it doesn't matter where you live.
Of course it helps to be somewhere, where you don't have to put on that many different coats to leave the house.
I think it's a basic need for germans to go on vacation.
I mean, you can't live like this.
Everything is relative.
And I'm relativly cold.
Let's go home.
"Zurückbleiben bitte"
A film by
Promise Nteh Viban
Selina Sunday
Randy Ndam Menkemndi
Freerk Sitter
Leonel Chia
Daniel Weyand
Many thanks to Birgit and Micha
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