Most refugees in Germany have no work permit and therefore cannot work at all. This is particularily true for the majority of „Duldung Ausweis“ holders who form a great majority of refugees in the country. As far as this matter is concerned, I would count myself very fortunate or even lucky to have a work-permit which permits me or enables me to work., even though it is only for two hours in a day. For most of my fellow refugees in the container camp where I live, my permit to work is obviously a rare opportunity which has aroused a tremendous amount of feeling of envy among them. Because they have tried by all means to have a work permit but to no avail.

Bearing this fact in my mind, I have had to make a frantic effort to do all that I can to make sure that I do not do anything that can be considered foolish whhich could make them give me the bout at work.
For instance, lateness to work can turn out to be a very good ground for the sack For that reason, in order to maintain a certain good standard of punctuality, I wake up at 5 o’clock every morning so that I am able to have enough time to get to my work-place well ahead of the 7 o’clock deadline at work-begin. Besides that, I do a thorough job every day.
It must be pointed out at this juncture, however, that to assume that everything has been smooth sailing is illusory. Strange environment, among others, constitutes one of the great hazards that I have had to contend with. For example, having a serious fall while riding on my bicycle on an icy street. Now, how did it happen? On one occasion while riding on my bike in a cold wintry morning from the refugee camp to the underground train station, an exercise which I undertake most mornings, my bicycle tyres skidded on icy-snow-covered asphalt street. The process of skidding and the fall was so quick an dsidde that my body impacted the icy ground with a heavy thud before I could make any effort to resist the fall. As a result of the impact of the fall, I sustained a serious sprain of my knee joint.
Having managed to stagger to my feet, I picked up my bike and with a painful knee, I got to the undergroung train and travelled to my work-place. At close of work, my knee was so swollen I could hardly walk. For that reason, I sought permission from the new foreman, a Turk, to enable me attend the clinic the following day.
Returning to work two days after, the foreman said to me in incorrect Deutsch „Du braucht nicht kommen, ich neue Chef.“ The fact of the matter is that the original german-owned firm that employed me had transferred the business to a turkish-owned firm and the new turkish foreman was trying to get rid of the old employees, who are mostly refugees, in order to replace them with his own people. „Wir brauchen unsere Leute hier“, he once remarked to a friend.