While the Austrian asylum system is less overwhelmed now that it was in the aftermath of 2015, when Austria took in over 85,000 asylum seekers, the Austrian Court of Audit found that almost two-thirds of cases in 2020 and 2021 still took longer than six months to resolve, with 37 percent taking longer than two years.
In addition to helping people pass the time as they wait for asylum, being part of a community project offers a chance to develop the connections and language skills that can make it much easier to build a life in Austria once they’ve received their papers. “We’ve had someone here get their asylum on a Wednesday after waiting for four years. By Monday, he had a job,” recalls Bazari.
The asylum seekers working in the garden receive €110 (about $128 U.S.) per month from the project — the maximum they are allowed to earn while in the asylum process — but that’s just a small thank you, says Mohammadi: “Sometimes people just come here to meet with friends, or to talk to someone about their problems. Nobody is running after them to say, ‘Hey, you have to work!’”
Co-founders Nikolai Ritter and Delshad Bazari (left and second to left) join in festivities at the Garten der Begegnung’s open-air kitchen. Credit: Garten der Begegnung.
Despite the project’s name, the thriving garden is only a small part of the project’s many activities. On Saturday afternoons, the space is reserved for people from the adjacent refugee center who come here to play sports, practice their German, get help deciphering their paperwork, get advice on the asylum process or just spend a relaxed afternoon outside.
The team also runs a woodworking shop and a sewing shop, offers catering services and helps refugees left without shelter in winter. During the pandemic, the sewing shop made 6,000 masks, and the woodworkers created an open-air classroom for the local school. As soon as the war started in Ukraine, Bazari drove up with four tons of donations the team had collected from the local community. “We are safe now, but others aren’t,” he says. “When we can help, we help. We don’t wait for the state.”
But funding remains an ongoing challenge, despite financial support from the municipality, says Ulla Krebl, who is in charge of the garden’s finances: “We couldn’t do it without that, but it’s not nearly enough.” Most of the money comes from public donations and the proceeds from their many projects, like the vegetable stall and weekly breakfast.
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The events are not only about the bottom line, but about bringing people from different walks of life together and introducing Austrians to other cultures. “The sooner people are in contact with the locals, the easier it is for them to integrate, especially when they see that they are welcome here,” says Krebl. “But integration is not a one-way street.”
Mohammadi is particularly proud that the garden is growing gandana, a perennial leek from Afghanistan that is key to making authentic bolani, a traditional stuffed flatbread. “We cook Afghani food here, and the Austrians help us make bolani,” he says. “It’s not only the foreigners that have to integrate here — the locals do as well!”