A place where a lot of things come together: This is what the new vhs Oberland integration center in Miesbach now offers. There was correspondingly great interest at the opening.
Miesbach
- Max Niedermeier was congratulatory in two respects at the opening of the new vhs Oberland integration center in Miesbach: as the district's integration officer and as a direct neighbor of the building on Wallenburger Straße. “I can look over here from home,” said Niedermeier. And what he sees there is nothing less than the fulfillment of a dream that he has had since the beginning of his eleven-year career: a central location in the district where the threads of integration work come together. “That’s exactly what you’ve created here,” said Niedermeier to Veronika Weese, head of the Miesbach-Irschenberg-Weyarn vhs center and also vice-chairman of the vhs Oberland, and the head of the new integration center, Iryna Titov.
Titov and Weese initially presented an example of what these threads entail. In the cozy and at the same time airy room in the attic, which the vhs has previously used for offices, the focus will be on two topics: language and work. Whether initial orientation, German or integration courses, naturalization tests or the new job support project, which is intended to support refugees on their way into the job market: All of this comes together here, said Weese and noted with satisfaction that “it is already alive and arousing interest. “
Many guests from full-time and volunteer positions
In fact, crowds of guests crowded under the entrance decorated with colorful balloons and up the creaking wooden stairs into the new integration center: the mayors Gerhard Braunmiller (Miesbach), Christoph Schmid (Holzkirchen), Johannes Hagn (Tegernsee) and Jens Zangenfeind (Hausham), who at the same time Sitting on the supervisory board of the vhs Oberland are Irschenberg's mayor Klaus Meixner as well as numerous representatives from the district office, workers' welfare association, the Hilfe von Mensch association and the various asylum helper groups. “From now on you will be able to get a lot of things going with us,” said Weese to the cooperation partners present.
She was particularly pleased that big politicians came to the inauguration with State Parliament President and CSU constituency member Ilse Aigner and CSU Bundestag member Alexander Radwan. Aigner was happy to say that this had been a concern of hers after she and Radwan recently attended a meeting of the district's integration advisory board and saw the great commitment of all the people involved with the issue of asylum. “It takes people like you so that integration can succeed,” said the President of the State Parliament. But since it doesn't work without structures, the new integration center in Miesbach is such an important place.
Titov wants to use this to convey to the refugees what she learned after arriving in the district from Ukraine: “That you can have two homes. And that it’s worth working here.” Especially since you get a lot of support, including from the communities. As an example, Titov told of a woman with a 13-year-old daughter who, with active help from the Hausham town hall, was able to move from the gym in Miesbach to her own apartment in Hausham.
From idea to opening in just six months
Zangenfeind, who as deputy conveyed the best wishes from District Administrator Olaf von Löwis, was happy to return the praise. Without committed helpers, politics would have “no chance” of overcoming the challenges in the area of integration. When Titov and her team presented him with the idea of an integration center in October last year, he could hardly have imagined that it would open just six months later. Compared to many other projects, this is an almost “unbelievable pace”. The fact that language and work, which are crucial for the integration of refugees, is now taken care of in this area is a prerequisite for filling the gaps in the labor market and society that are appearing in more and more places “with committed and valuable people from other countries.”
As an example, Titov referred to the two Ukrainian musicians Maria (violin) and Juri (trumpet), who framed the celebration. Two other refugees showed the guests what it means to learn a foreign language. They taught them a few words of Ukrainian and Urdu (the national language of Pakistan).
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