Sowing small seeds - my surprising path into politics

It all began in November 2015, when the situation at our State Office for Health and Social Affairs, which also looks after refugees, was reported in the press in Berlin and far beyond. People waited days and nights for registration and appointments. It was catastrophic. And it moved me. In my heart and moved me to act.

I asked myself what I could do. And - among my friends and at a tea factory in my former Franconian homeland - I organised a good 40 kilos of tea as a donation. That helped at least a little during the cold nights.

Then I created the Facebook group Volunteer Translators to be able to quickly translate short texts into the languages of the refugees. To relieve the refugees and the helpers. And finally Nestwerk Berlin a platform for initiatives that endeavour to provide housing for refugees. With the aim of achieving more efficiently together. I'm still working intensively on this. Currently mainly on the homepage.

I assumed that such situations would not change overnight. I wanted to ask God regularly to improve the situation, but I know myself well enough to know that such intentions often come to nothing if there is no concrete reminder.

So, as a reminder, I bought the same tea that we had bought for the refugees. I took the precaution of buying two hundred tea bags - you never know how long it will take for a prayer to be answered. Every time I made myself a cup of black tea, I prayed. For the Berlin administration, for the people in charge, for good solutions to the challenges, for improved processes.

One prayer after another. Each prayer a seed. 

Of course, I could have guessed that God would not miss the chance to use me to answer my prayers. At the beginning of May, after 200 cups of tea and prayers, my tea supply ran out - and then suddenly events came thick and fast.

Ahmad, a friend from Syria, told me that he was dreading Ramadan this year. The reason: the fasting period, during which nothing may be eaten or drunk between sunrise and sunset, falls on the longest days of the year from 6 June to 4 July. This means not eating or drinking for 19 hours for a month.

I empathised with him. And with the refugees in the gymnasiums, some of whom are observing Ramadan and who may not get anything to eat at night. And the non-Muslims who may be stressed by those who eat at night and are loud. I couldn't get my mind off it. At a public event with Mayor Müller, I asked whether there was a concept for the emergency accommodation, how the fasting people could be cared for, their health and social peace between those who fast and those who don't during this time.

He promised me that he would bring it up at the Senate meeting the next day. And in the afternoon, I received a call from the state secretary responsible for the accommodation of refugees. We talked for a while and he asked me to send him my concept... He wrote to me that he thought the concept was valuable and had recommended it to the president of LaGeSo for implementation. That's the latest I know.

I am very touched by this. I believe that it can contribute to making the situation during Ramadan better for everyone involved - Muslims, Christians and atheists. Fasting and non-fasting people.

And then I couldn't get it out of my head for several days that Mr Müller had said that he had a citizens' surgery. I looked it up, realised that it only takes place twice a year and that I had just missed the registration deadline. And I immediately received online feedback that there were more interested parties than appointments. I didn't think I had much of a chance until I received a call from his employee on a Saturday saying I had an appointment.

The appointment was today. I was excited, of course, and accidentally brushed my teeth with facial cleansing milk just before I left. Luckily it was organic. And it was fine. Because the person in front of me had cancelled at short notice, there was even more time than usual. I was able to present Mr Müller with a concept that we are developing to get refugees out of gyms and into their own accommodation more quickly and he promised to put me in touch with the people responsible.

I then raised the issue of protecting minorities in the refugee centres and improving integration for everyone and made some concrete suggestions, whereupon he asked me if I had a concept. I did indeed have one. And I also had one.

Sometime half a year ago, I started sowing seeds. Seeds of prayer. Seeds of commitment. I would never have thought that they would lead me to the table of the Governing Mayor of Berlin. And now I hope and pray that the thoughts that are helpful for my city and our country will continue to grow.