“When I get up early, I’m glad to have a job,” says Zahra Sarwari, beaming from ear to ear. Then she knows she has something to do today. For the past few months, the 39-year-old woman from Afghanistan has been working in the cafeteria at Dresden University of Technology—sometimes serving food, sometimes loading the dishwasher. She currently works four hours a day, but that’s set to increase to six or even eight hours later on. Then she might be able to work in the cafeteria or even as a cook.
Finding a job for refugee women is difficult
According to Schäfer-Hock, the Foreigners’ Council has been working for years to help women with refugee backgrounds find employment. “That’s hard enough.” But the project with the Studentenwerk gives him hope. “If the employer really wants to, a lot can be achieved.” He often hears excuses. The executive director is convinced that if an organization like the Studentenwerk can pull it off, then others can too. And he makes one more thing clear: “This isn’t a handout; the Studentenwerk expects performance.”
Michael Rollberg, managing director of the Studentenwerk, sees it the same way. With 200 employees in campus food services, there’s plenty of room for integration. He recommends—just like Schäfer-Hock and Saxony’s Minister of Social Affairs Petra Köpping (SPD), who is responsible for integration—that the project be replicated. “We need to get to a point where this is seen as something completely normal,” emphasizes Christian Schäfer-Hock.
