Home office or physical office?
In combat to minimize the spread of corona virus, home office has been the order of the day since 2020. Having tried out home offices, most people prefer to work from home rather than their office space. One of the best reasons for this choice is the flexibility of the home office. The ability to work from any part of the world is very exciting. Most employees embark on a trip and also work at the same time. This doesn’t stop them from fulfilling their daily task.
Apart from the flexibility of the home office, it helps employees and employers to save money. Due to the home office, money for transportation and lunch goes into savings. When work is done from home, there is a high chance that lunch will be made at home instead of eating in a restaurant.
Employers' savings cannot be over emphasized in this era of home office. Employers save money for electricity, heating and internet. Some companies which offer lunch to their employees also save money for employees' lunches. Since office space is no longer in use, cleaners are relieved of their duty, thus the money goes into savings too.
Distraction at home can lead to incompetence in office work. Although a high percentage of employees voted for home office, the failure to plan and prioritize one’s office daily task is the beginning of the failure of home office.
- Onyinye Nfiaji
Challenges of migrating to Germany
According to research, every fifth person you meet on the streets of Germany is either a migrant or has a migrant background. Germany is the destination of some people from third world countries and some European countries too. Most people from third world countries come to Germany to study due to the quality of education and free education.
On arrival, the feeling is usually so good because of the reality of traveling out of your home country, meeting new people, and getting a quality education. The reality sets in as you try to adapt to the new culture (culture shock), and weather. The culture shock takes as long as one year to normalize. For some of us that came from extremely hot weather, it takes two year and above to adapt to the new weather, depending on your body type.
Another great challenge of migrating to Germany is language. As we all know that German is the official language in Germany. Language barrier makes the integration part difficult in Germany. Without good knowledge of German, one finds it difficult to go to some places like churches, hospitals and foreign offices. Without a good knowledge of German, it is difficult to get a good job, because 95% percent of jobs in Germany require a good knowledge of German.
After a successful German language learning, integration becomes easier and one has a better chance of being employed be it skilled or unskilled Labour.
- Onyinye Nfiaji
Afghanistan’s 2021 humanitarian crisis - who should be given priority for asylum?
All of us at Meine Farbe are watching the horrific and heartbreaking events unfolding in Afghanistan. As an organization closely linked to the topic of migration, we are particularly concerned about both internal displacement as well as international migration that is taking place in the country.
While the entire nation of Afghanistan is riddled with fear and terror, the human rights of women, children and individuals belonging to the LGBTQ community are particularly in serious danger at this time. According to an August 2021 report of the UNHCR, an estimated "80% of nearly a quarter of a million Afghans forced to flee since the end of May are women and children".
Between 1996 to 2001, when Taliban ruled Afghanistan, serious restrictions were placed on women. Not being able to step out of homes without male companions, denying them education, putting serious restrictions on their attire. All of these dictates are being enforced again. In Sher Khan Bandar - an Afghan town - these restrictions have already been introduced. Besides horrendous physical violence, another chilling issue is sexual violence and forced marriages.
The future of female children is naturally absolutely dreadful. Male children also remain highly vulnerable to sexual abuse. The practice of "bacha bazi" (dressing male children as women and sexually assaulting them) is still widely rampant in the country.
For LGBTQ individuals, their human rights were never even a point of discussion anyway. Same sex acts are illegal and same sex marriages are illegal. Under the ultra conservative Taliban rule, queer rights will naturally go unrecognized.
The number of people seeking asylum has naturally skyrocketed. The UNHCR and foreign countries entertaining asylum applications must prioritize women, children and LGBTQ individuals since they are the most vulnerable groups at this time. We are pleased to read that Canada has agreed to resettle 20,000 Afghan nationals. Canada has specified that their focus will be on human rights workers, female leaders and reporters working in the country. We sincerely hope that many other countries in the international community will immediately follow suit - as there is no time to spare in a situation as grave as this.
- Shubham Kshirsagar
References:
https://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2021/8/611617c55/unhcr-warns-afghanistans-conflict-taking-heaviest-toll-displaced-women.html
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/back-to-old-ways-taliban-forcing-women-to-marry-terrorists-give-up-their-jobs/articleshow/85300503.cms
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/canada-to-resettle-20-000-afghan-refugees-amid-taliban-blitzkrieg-focus-on-vulnerable-groups-101628900239565.html
Half this - Half that: makes a full cup of me
Three weeks ago I went back to Egypt, Cairo for the first time since the Corona Pandemic hit the world. It was an odd feeling, since it was the first time in my life, I felt home away from home, away from home. To myself this sentence makes a lot of sense and I am hoping it slightly makes sense to you, too.
As a binational person, it always feels like being in a Diaspora. Never truly being home, always missing something. In my case, being in Egypt away from Germany usually meant homesickness or impatience. I found it hard to breath out and relax myself into the infamous Cairo-Chaos.
This year it was different, as I felt homesick for Egypt.
I was longing to be surrounded by my Egyptian family and friends, the food, the strangers, (kinda odd but also:) the heat. I felt in my heart that I was ready to go where I come from and embrace the ability bringing together all that I am made up of.
Being half this - half that, obeying to the titles people gave to you or the ones I have given myself wasn’t something I was going to do anymore. I was going there to present and participate as me.
Most of my life my identity has been at war with itself - always under the impression that in order to become I had to either neglect, hide or mask parts of myself. This year I feel like I have been able to move towards more clarity as to how all parts of myself are equal.
It felt necessary to grant my inner child that nurturing, care and attention - to heal and grow.
Not only reaching out a hand to myself but also holding it, has me excited for what is to come my way in the future. Acknowledging that the halves of me, make up the whole of me.
-lina
Refugee Communities in India
As per the statistics made available by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as of 2020, India is home to an estimated 195,403 refugees. Historically speaking, India has been quite welcoming towards refugees. Modern day India, however, has been criticized for being strategically exclusionary towards certain communities seeking refuge in the country. In this post, we will look at some communities in India with interesting histories and backgrounds.
The Parsi Community
Ancestors of the Parsi community migrated to India from Persia somewhere between the 12th and 16th centuries. The Parsis practice Zoroastrianism and were fleeing religious persecution. Today, the Parsi community is known for being highly prosperous and charitable, assimilated into mainstream Indian society and yet, true to its own unique customs and traditions. Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara), lead vocalist of the rock band Queen, was perhaps the most well-known Parsi worldwide.
Refugees created due to the Partition of India
The 1947 Partition of India was the division of British India into two newly-formed nations; India and Pakistan. It is estimated that approximately 14 million people migrated from one nation to the other, resulting in massive refugee crises for both countries. Even today, due to religious persecution, Hindus in Pakistan continue to seek refuge in India.
The Tibetan Community
Another example of a more recent refugee community in India is the Tibetan community. After the 1959 Tibet Uprising, the 14th Dalai Lama left Tibet for India and was followed by approximately 80,000 Tibetan refugees. Since then, housing settlements, special schools, scholarships and healthcare schemes were set up for Tibetan refugees. The Central Tibetan Administration is located in the state of Himachal Pradesh and is known as the Tibetan Government-in-Exile.
Sri Lankan Tamil Community
Sri Lankan Tamils are Tamil persons of Sri Lankan origin. The Sri Lankan Civil War, which started in 1983, created an influx of refugees to India. The southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka are home to most Sri Lankan Tamils in present day India. While camps were set up to house the refugees, their future still remains uncertain. As per the UNHCR, between 2002 and 2020, 17,718 refugees were repatriated. Many are still waiting to be granted Indian citizenship, so they can fully assimilate into local society and take advantage of economic resources.
As can be seen from the above examples, the history of refugee communities in India has been quite religion-centric. More recently, social and political tensions have been high in the country due to ambiguous or seemingly exclusionary government policies towards refugees. In the next post, we will look at the domestic refugee policy in India (or lack thereof), understand why it is being criticised as exclusionary and discuss the role civil society, non-governmental organisations and UNHCR play in supporting and caring for refugees in modern day India.
- Shubham Kshirsagar
Catching up with Coronavirus in Germany
Life was easy and normal before the arrival of the dreaded corona virus. No one ever envisaged the whole world standing still because of a pandemic. Definitely some of us have read and heard about a pandemic but we never saw it coming in our own time.
It was like a joke when the first case was mentioned in Germany. People thought it was going to end without getting to other states. Before we could say Jack Robinson it has spread like wild fire. Nose mask was quickly introduced; no one could use the public transport without a nose mask. New cases increased and many deaths were recorded. In order to curtail this, businesses, schools and universities were closed, the whole country was in lockdown. We thought it was going to be over after some weeks but new cases were speedily increasing.
After few months of staying at home a new lifestyle was introduced to everyone “online lifestyle”. Approximately 95% of businesses moved online, churches, schools and universities were included. For almost two years, this has been our life style in Germany. People couldn’t travel to visit their loved ones, some of us couldn’t meet our new school colleagues, some were depressed and many lost their jobs. Looking consistently into the computer was the order of the day.
Like they say “there is light at the end of every tunnel”, a glimpse of hope returned at the beginning of summer when number of new cases dropped drastically. Businesses and churches have opened, people are back in the street and most importantly schools and universities are optimistic about resuming physical class next semester. This is a huge improvement since the beginning of this pandemic. We are all expectant that the condition will further improve such as being able to go into shops, churches and public transport without wearing nose mask.
- Onyinye Nfiaji