Initiated and sponsored by Stiftungsgemeinschaft anstiftung & ertomis
Olga and Mark Olga and Mark, 56 and 68 years old, born in Ukraine, live in Germany since 2001.Their nature: they shared difficult times as members of the German minority in the former Soviet Union. They now have the hope and desire to find a new home. Their goals: Olga wants to remain employed for a few years. Mark wants to find peace. The decision to come to Germany was not an easy one for Olga and Mark. On one hand they were plead to do so by Olga's brother, who had been living in Berlin for five years. On the other hand they felt at home in Ukraine. Both were working in the building industry: Olga had a leading position as a design engineer for buildings, Mark was a foreman. But finally the reasons to move to Germany overweighed and they dared the big step. Unfortunately, the German they had learnt at home was no use to them in Berlin. So they decided to take a language course, in which Olga turned out to be the best in her class. She enjoyed helping the partly much younger participants whenever they had trouble following. If you know Olga, you will know: Whatever she does, she will do it 100 per cent. After having acquired the necessary language skills, she now wants to continue working for a few years – it is far too early to retire! Mark is quite the opposite and had more trouble adopting to the new environment. As a pensioner who has difficulties speaking the language he feels useless at times. Even though he has a lot of energy, which basically just requires a field of activity. Sitting around at home all day makes him restless and unhappy. His greatest ambition: to work with his hands and to create something by himself again. That is why, as soon as the garden project in Berlin-Köpenick was announced, Olga and Mark were one of the first ones to join the garden community. Especially for Mark this is a real bliss, here he can garden and potter whenever and as much as he wants to. Since Mark is not a man of many words, he will not say a lot if you ask him about his garden … but he will surely be all smiles. |