Refugee Support

Ökumenischer Arbeitskreis Asyl
Church of the Ascension, Emmauskirche, Pfarrei Heilige Familie
Lutherkirche, Pfarrei Maria Immaculata, Philippuskirche
Peace Church, Pfarrei St. Franziskus, Engl.-spr. Katholische Mission

The “Ecumenical Arbeitskreis Asyl” (AK) was founded in 1986 by a group of churches in Giesing and Harlaching who wished to help Refugees coming to Germany. The Church of the Ascension participated from the early days. In those times a strong political presence was needed to overcome prejudice against the refugees.Now our efforts are concentrated upon the “first stop” home in the Baierbrunnerstraße 14, in Obersendling. The tasks of the AK include the moral, social and material support of the refugees and the staff in the home. Whilst the home is administered by the Bavarian state, the professional social workers who aid the refugees through their difficult early days are staff from the Innere Mission in Munich. The home is a transit stop for newly entered refugees who must wait while their cases are being judged. So the population is also transitory, the length of stay being usually about 3 months. Currently there are around 300 refugees accommodated there. The AK currently supports the refugees by the purchase of equipment for the Cafeteria, the provision of MVG tickets for travel to the football training ground of the youth team, and subscriptions for foreign language magazines. It also participates in the organisation of events such as the “Sommerfest” and the “Nikolausfeier”. The AK meets monthly, people who are interested and involved represent their churches and communities. A social worker from the home reports on the latest situation in the house, and members decide upon necessary actions. The members of the AK take the information back to their communities and share it there. At present three English speaking churches and six German speaking churches are represented. Volunteers welcome!

From the Newsletter of the Arbeitskreis Asyl

Visit to the Centre at Baierbrunnerstraße

In January 2006 members of the Arbeitskreis together with members of the Innere Mission decided to visit once again the premises in Baierbrunnerstrasse 14 in order to see what the living conditions were like and to form our own opinion about what needed to be improved. (We had already visited once, in January 2005, shortly after the refugee centre moved there but it was not easy at that point to have a full picture as work was still in progress).

This visit took place in the evening of February 21, and a representative of the government of Oberbayern was present. On this occasion, more time was spent looking at the toilet and washing facilities, kitchens, sleeping accommodation, cafeteria and social facilities etc.

The usual A-K meeting followed directly afterwards. The overall impression was far from positive, there was, it seemed, a great need for improvement, especially in cleanliness.

Herr Spadt (Innere Mission) explained to us some of the practical difficulties in trying to maintain a certain level of cleanliness and order when the continuous stream of new arrivals and departures creates a permanent state of flux, not at all conducive to peaceful and orderly living conditions.

However, we were of the opinion that certain basic problems could be addressed by the government of Oberbayern thereby making the lives of the refugees in some measure more tolerable. It was decided that a letter should be drafted to the government of Oberbayern informing them of what we had seen and suggesting some improvements.

We are still awaiting a response.

Satellite television

The A-K had been aware for some time of the need for a satellite television in the house. This was a very understandable requirement for those asylum-seekers who speak no German, French or English, who are far away from their countries and have very little news of what is happening at home. We immediately offered financial assistance for this project, but due to many technical difficulties the work was held up till the end of March 2006. The installation was finally carried out, and at a much lower cost than originally estimated. It is now up and running and the transmissions from the homelands are much appreciated.

MVG Tickets for travel to football training

The Arbeitskreis has undertaken since June (as far as its budget will allow) to donate Euro 200 per month for MVG tickets to enable the younger refugees to travel regularly to football training in Ottobrunn under the auspices of the "Academy Africa Sport". With regular coaching, the players have become very good and have even risen one class higher in the past season.

Version of this page: 01/26/2007