Floriana in search of a better future for her children
Can I start? - Yes.
Bounasera, I'm Floriana.
I come from Taranto, I am 43 years old.
I have four children.
I am here in Berlin
because I have decided ...
to give, or be able to give
a future to my children,
since in Italy ...
all this is not even possible.
With your help, I
did it.
Not in part, in all.
If I have something today, I owe it to you ...
to your help ...
to your constancy.
You have been close to me in everything:
psychologically,
in presence, in friendship
and also in presence with my children.
I am happy,
proud of what I am managing to achieve.
I think the past is the past,
now we have to move on,
for the children.
- How did it go in the beginning
regarding the house?
That is, was there aid, including state aid, for the home
or did you live in a Wohnheim (residential shelter)?
How was it?
So: it wasn't easy.
It was a very difficult journey,
I arrived here without knowledge,
without ...
having support, friendship ... nothing.
I arrived with three children
of which: a boy of 19, a boy of 14 and a girl of 7.
We started the first days in a hotel,
because I had a small amount with me.
After five days my son went to restaurants
and was able to find a job as a dishwasher,
which he accepted immediately.
And from there, slowly, after a week
I found myself as a dishwasher in a restaurant.
From there then we met a girl
who was an old friend of my son, of the oldest,
who helped us for accommodation in ...
no ... I don't know ... - A ...?
Yes, there.
We were helped ...
and we ... we spent almost 2 months
in various different structures,
where they welcomed us.
Then the deadline was up
and ...
I didn't know how to do it.
Through this girl I met your association
where you have given me all the help you can.
You accompanied me to the municipality,
where we managed to get a room
from the municipality, where my children and I could stay, paid for by the state.
I was working and we are renewing the documents.
Then you made me sign up for the agency ...
can I say no? - Of course! As you please.
at the Job Center
where you helped me to do all the documentation
because I am ... I am
not a master of the German language, not
at all.
And then you helped me in everything.
I submitted all the documentation and thanks to you it was accepted.
And I got the contribution every month,
thanks to you.
In short: you made me open a current account ...
I was able to obtain
everything I could not expect .
Then slowly,
again thanks to you, I managed to find an apartment.
Now I have a beautiful home.
I am so very happy about this.
We decorated and painted it with my children.
I've got everything.
- And ...
- ... for example, did the Job Center help you in any way, compared to ...
trying to learn German, going to school?
- Or did they help you with the job in some way?
- Or ... in other words ... just how did they help you?
Ah ... they, yes ... - Or didn't they help you?
Yes ..., no ... oh well, they rightly
forced me to go to school to
learn German and find a better job. And ...
Huh ?? - Did they tell you to go to school and work at the same time?
At school ... yes I have to go to school and I have to work.
But with ...
- It's difficult.
Eh ... the children go to school
and I am alone ... I am a single woman with the children
I have to take the children to school,
I have to work.
In short, I have to look after the kids,
do the shopping, cook ... plus I should also go to school.
The will is there, the time is not there.
I can't do it because it is humanly impossible to
make work, home, kids, school fit together.
Even if you want to.
Because even if I want to, I can't.
- He had! However, they should also
ensure you have a period of time
in which you can perhaps
concentrate on school, instead of ...
... on work.
- It's just that both of the things ...
... I can't do the 2 things.
- It's too hard.
- But also to get a better perspective on the job.
Eh, yeah .... huh, huh, huh, to find a better job.
- Find a better, better paid job and ...
- And ...
- And ... so, here's a question: Do you
keep getting money from the employment center and
what is your salary like, is low or high and ...
what idea do you have about this ... how to say ...
how the Job Center handles this situation.
Or even if you want to tell your experience with the Job Center.
How did they treat you?
At first they treated me just ... mmm ... mmm ... oh well.
When you accompanied me the first few times
I had problems, big problems.
In fact, I had to sleep in the room
that the council got me, right?
And since the Job Center had to pay,
the Job Center made problems.
Since I am a separated woman with children it took several documents
and after presenting everything
they did not want me to be accompanied by a person
who did the translation for me.
But I don't know the language and did I need it?!
Precisely because I found these people
who helped me with the translations and everything
I managed to get what I had to get.
On the other hand, without them, I don't believe,
I don't think I
would have had this help now.
Who was supposed to help me? I don't ...
... I don't know the language.
- Eh ... I don't know ...
- How do you think that in reality they should act
both for job search and for help in everyday life?
at the institutional level, how should they ...
My idea? - Yes, what should they do? Exactly.
So if in my opinion - I talk about my situation -
Being a woman alone
if I have to work I can't go to school. So I
don't think I should work during school hours,
I should accompany my children to school,
I should look after the kids, spend time with them.
And they should help me go to school for a couple of hours too.
When the kids go to school in the morning, I could dedicate myself to going to school.
But they should contribute in full and through.
And this is not possible.
Since I can't afford all the expenses, I have to work.
- With what they give you just can't you?
I can't do it with two children, because it's hard to go on.
So I also have to work.
If, on the other hand, they managed to contribute for everything, I would not go to work.
And I would organise myself with the children.
Or they might find me a job.
They could find me a job in the morning hours, that the kids are at school.
What little, let's say the hours that the kids are away ...
and then all day I could be with the kids.
But the working hours I do are not compatible, they
do not match either in the morning or in the afternoon.
Because I work on call: sometimes in the afternoon, sometimes in the morning,
from morning to afternoon ... in short. Don't ...
- Did you encounter difficulties in the world of work too?
Eh, many. Yes.
- Maybe you could tell something about your employment contract ...
I work 15 hours a week.
But I'm on call, that is,
sometimes I work five days for three hours, sometimes three days for five hours.
It depends on him, on my boss, on how he manages his days.
And then I - from Monday to Friday - must always be available.
during the times that he says,
because rightly with that job
I also have to supplement my income, because I can't do it and not finding anything else ...
The times are those. I can do it from 12:00 to 15:00,
from 13:00 to 16:00, it depends.
Whether I do five hours on one day,
Or whether I do four hours on another day.
In short, it depends on what he needs.
Because I'm in the kitchen and then ...
- It could also be a question:
How do you feel as a woman in this job?
That is, do you feel that you have a particular treatment or ...?
I am tired. It's not ...
It's a job that I was already doing in Italy for many years.
It is not paid as it should be paid
and here too I don't see much difference.
Because ...
that is, for me this hasn't changed I mean, has it?
I wanted a ... better job, right?
Better ....
also something for me,
for my person, to grow.
What does it grow by staying in the kitchen?
I've been cooking for a lifetime.
- Yes, let's say that the same situation always regenerates ....
... there is no possibility of learning the language .. No .. ... because we are in the kitchen together ...
... no , no ... - Are you all Italians? All Italians.
- And we all say ... Yes. There are two boys ...
- All exploited equally, or do you see that there is a difference
in terms of gender, that is, between men and women on the treatment inside?
No, no, we women are all treated equally ...
No, no, no, not that. From my perspective no.
But there are ...
- because I'm the assistant cook -
and there are the bartenders.
And with the bartenders there are also disagreements about tips,
and about work.
With us in the kitchen, the work is more
and the money is less.
The bartenders work a little less and the money is more.
That is, there is a pro and contra, right?
- And it also happens that maybe you work more,
so you do overtime hours
that are
adequately paid ?
No, because if I finish at half past four, it's
not like I'm paying the half hour.
I mean ... I mean, 16:10, 16:30, 16:15, not ...
He doesn't say:
"Okay, it's twenty past four, I'll pay you the half hour."
No, not more. Why no, no ... he himself makes people leave, and makes them go away.
However, if it is already half past four ...
- In terms of professional growth
do you think you could grow in the kitchen or do you
see that in any case there is an element of the hierarchy, perhaps male, which is the cook?
No, no, because my employer believes in me.
If there is the possibility that the cook is absent, he
can also ask me to say:
"You go to the stove and you cook."
- But paying you what you would normally pay you?
Well, that's normal.
- This is the catch,
in German gastronomy and everywhere,
in gastronomy in general.
- Well, what you want, if you want we can close here, otherwise if you want to say something else.
No, the only thing that scares me,
since I don't know the language
and I have children who are small,
is if they are sick.
If for example I have to call the ambulance.
I'm worried. If they fall,
get hurt, or are sick, have a fever and need a doctor ...
you always need someone who has to follow me ,
who has to accompany me. I always need someone.
Because I would move alone, but I don't know how to move. There.
That's the thing that scares me.
- So do you think that even at institutional levels there is a lack of respect to this?
Yes. Because then I notice that if I go to buy
- now it's a nonsense, but I have to say it -
if I go to buy a ticket for public transport:
on the screen there are all languages ​​except Italian.
Excuse me, I mean:
there is Turkish, Arabic, but there is no Italian.
Also because many Italians also come to live here.
Why don't the institutions also include the Italian language?
- Right. Or they don't arrange a person at least in the major institutions to do the translation.
There! So if I go to town hall and I have to enroll my daughter in school, for example,
you are not accepted to speak because you do not know the German language.
- You just don't get accepted?
No, you are not really accepted.
If you go with your mobile phone translator, they'll take it off.
I mean: it doesn't feel right.
Nothing detracting from all other languages.
- Yes, it should be done a little for everyone and everything.
On everything, on anything,
the Italian language should also be included, it
is also helpful.
- Exactly.
- Or even ... don't answer the phone when a person tries to help ...
Eh! If I, if I want help and I come with the digital translator,
you could come and meet me, right?
That is, it is not that I am deprived of everything
and I cannot speak because I have no means.
But with the phone, which is a translator,
you can also help me, right?
And don't be ...
So at the Job Center:
if I go to the Job Center
and I go alone,
I go with the translator on the mobile phone,
they will never accept any practice made by me with the translator on the phone.
I have to bring a person to accompany me.
And why do you have to ask for the documents
to a person who accompanies me?
Where is it written that the person who accompanies me voluntarily
must also give his personal data?
I mean I don't accept this.