What motivates your work?

"The idea of unconditional acceptance has a deep meaning for me. Too often, change, hope and responsibility are transferred to politics and public institutions alone. Thus, we develop a society of spectators and moaners and this damages our dignity and increases fear. It is up to each individual to decide what really matters and to act accordingly.

My life has changed fundamentally since my engagement in VinziRast. There is no time left to worry or to complain. All of us who are involved in these daily activities and in the encounter with people who have a very different background feel alive and  enriched by this experience."

 

"Too often, change, hope and responsibility are transferred to politics and public institutions alone. (...) It is up to each individual to decide what really matters and to act accordingly."

 

You, as a manager and woman, work in a difficult environment. What obstacles do you face and how do you overcome them?

"This is quite amazing. In the very beginning - fifteen years ago - everybody was very sceptical. Nobody took us for serious. The group of people we are dealing with is considered to be difficult to handle, none of us were experts or trained social workers. We were all volunteers, mostly women. Yet, when I founded the shelter, I was not at all anxious. I knew I would be able to cope with this challenge."

 

What is the reason why many women have problems to rise economically in your opinion?

"I am by no means an expert on this question. I believe it is important first to find out what really matters for yourself and then stand up for your opinion, in spite of resistance from outside. In every life – no matter whether man or woman – you have to develop self-empowerment. And you must know your limits. For instance, at the shelter, someone might complain: “That's unfair! Why does this man receive a shelter and not me?". It is not necessary to explain everything. But it is important to talk with respect and the other person must feel to be taken for serious."

 

"It is not necessary to explain everything. But it is important to talk with respect and the other person must feel to be taken for serious."

 

Is there any difficulty for you as a woman in dealing with homeless men?

"I personally do not have any difficulty. But many of my female colleagues do think that especially Muslims and people from African countries usually address their request for a bed first to the male colleagues. They are used to men having the saying. They also have to learn their lesson in integrating into our culture."

 

Do you ever perceive prejudice on your own side?

"Of course, I am not free of prejudice. For instance, I was never confronted with an alcoholic in my near surrounding. Alcoholism is a real disease and the person concerned needs above all empathy. I suppose we all are not free of prejudice in many ways. It makes a total difference in the relationship when we get  conscious about it."

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"Freedom does not mean to do what you love, but to love what you do."

 

You once said, "People have come to terms with the state of our world. Especially women". Do you think that women just do not dare to change?

"I personally never had emancipation worries or struggles. It was a given fact in my youth that men earn the living and women look after the children, the house, and the kitchen. I was not unhappy about it. But I also realized that what really matters is to find your way, to follow your intuition and your deeper longings. And this does not mean to act against your partner or your children or other members of your near family. It is a very important process of maturing. And women are becoming very strong, it takes some time. We need patience. Women will thus have two essential strengths that the world needs: empathy and a functioning clear mind."