Community Asset Map Part 2

My community partner is Die Gärtneri which is located in Neukölln. Ying, Becca, and I talked to people from inside the garden as well as people around the garden that really loved the area. In a similar way to Kreuzberg, the city is full of refugees and migrants creating a very diverse environment (with lots of döner). The city also has been experiencing gentrification, which many of the community members, even the refugees would not believe is that bad. I talked with Nina, Fatoulli, a German architect who grew up in Berlin, a Danish man who just had a child and is already thinking about their education, briefly with the man that owns the 2go falafel in front of the garden, a girl he is related to from Cairo, a musician who just moved our, and a local woman from the neighborhood. The conversation with Nina and Fatoulli were the most in depth conversations I had, but talking with the other people for a short period of time was helpful because although it was brief, these interactions helped show what the community was like.

To start, Ying and I talked to Nina first, because she actually lived two blocks away from the garden, and seeing as this map is supposed to learn about the kiez around our community partner, she seemed perfect. Nina is a university student studying social work and fulfilling a 7 month internship at the garden.  She was able to give us some insight on why she chose to live in the neighborhood, and what drew her to work in the garden. She said she decided to live here because of how diverse the area is. It is not like a normal German kiez because there is a diverse selection of people and food. She also talked about how the area was being gentrified, and one of the reasons for that, and another reason she was drawn to the area was because of Tempelhof airport located right behind the garden. I have visited the airport a few times, and I can confirm it is a really cool place to hang out. She talked about the plot of garden space her and her boyfriend have in a community garden in the park, where people in the community, living in an urban city, has a space to grow their own food. But overall, she views the community garden to be a very great part of the community and and place where she believes she does a lot of good. Nina mentioned how gardens embodies health, and health is a very important part of the community. We then went into an interesting conversation about Flint, Michigan, and how our government cares very little for the health and wellbeing of our people.

Next we talked to Fatoulli. I like Fatoulli because he is not afraid to speak his mind and point out when someone or something is “bullshit.” I like it because too often people try to make people feel comfortable by censoring what they say, or worrying people will be uncomfortable, but by doing that, it would be hard to actually determine what people think of the neighborhood. I thought the most interesting point he brought up was that when I brought up gentrification in the neighborhood, he shrugged it off because “it’s a problem everywhere.” Fatoulli grew up in Eritrea (? I will confirm this), and moved to Germany to get his masters degree. Everyone in the community garden knows and loves Fatoulli because he spends all his time working in the garden. I did not ask if he had another job, but I cannot imagine he gets paid much in his position, hence I am surprised he is not worried about the price of living rising. But I continued my conversation with him later to go more in depth about his thoughts on the neighborhood school system, and he made a comment on how everything in America has been made monetary. He commented on how we could not be happy if every part of life has a price. I think Fatoulli is wise in that regard, and also proves why Berlin, but specifically this neighborhood is so cool.

I continued my conversation with Fatoulli later to talk with him more about his opinions on the school system in the neighborhood. While he wanted to think in a broad sense, and compare Berlin, if not Germany, if not the EU, to the United States school system, I talked as well with one architect who works in the garden who grew up in Berlin, and another intern that grew up in Switzerland, but just had a baby with his wife. They both talked about how the schools in the area are really well designed and while there is some segregation, most students go to the great public schools, or private schools whose parents pay however much they can afford for the schools. The intern with the baby was joking about he even though is baby was a year old, he was already thinking about what kindergarten to send his daughter to because the line to get into many schools is very long. That system seems a little worse than American schools, but I am sure the kids start off with a great education and attend full days so their parents can stay at work. I was not able to ask these people about the exact curriculum of the schools, and specifically how inclusive it felt for refugee students living in the neighborhood, but I can imagine because this topic was not discussed, it is not a controversial subject just yet.

The next people we talked to was the man who owns the falafel restaurant in front of the garden, and his relatives from Cairo. He did not speak much English, but he says he loves the neighborhood and spends time at the garden. I remember seeing one of the boys, who I assume might be his son, in the garden on Saturday for the festival, getting his face painted, and talking with all of the men who go to the garden regularly. When we started to ask him more complicated he asked his relative to come over who was visiting from Cairo. She is only staying for a little bit and going back home, but she did not seem too excited about Berlin. She only speaks Arabic and a little bit of English, and loves Cairo because of how pretty it is. I can only imagine this is the case for most refugees, and I think the garden provides a space for these people to find a community where they can learn German and connect them with people who remind them of home.

Finally, we talked to a women eating at the falafel 2go restaurant who said she loved the neighborhood and all the food to eat in the area. She also loved Templehof airport. When I was at a bar where one of our musician friends played, I talked to another musician who said she was just moved out of Neukölln into Kreuzberg a few days ago. The people she was with joked about it being a slum 10 years ago but getting better. I meant to talk with her more about it at another show, but I was unable to make it to the show for various reasons. I can only imagine the neighborhood is no longer considered a slum because of the gentrification that has occurred in the area over the recent years. I find it interesting that like Seattle, rich people want to move into the poorer neighborhoods because of the artistic, or maybe diverse feel, and it does not seem like people care too much like we do in Seattle. I wonder if it is because Seattle has taken on some of the wealthiest tech people who have a huge disparity in their wages, whereas here people do not have the huge monetary fear like Fatoulli said.