High chief of the global village

By Che Chukwumerije

THE refugees know him. He is one of them. Like a wizened vanguard, he has walked the path that lies now before them, an anfractuous, foreign, road, strange and winding, marked by a signpost that bears the inscription – SICHERHEIT — in a foreign language. German. 

Is safety still safety when translated into a foreign tongue, fortified by foreign walls, in a strange land? Is it possible to breathe easy when the air smells different? Is it possible to trust strangers to provide that safety and that sense of belonging which one’s own country people have robbed one of? When the homeland has become strange, can a strange land become home?

EVERY refugee arriving Germany, be it from North or East or West Africa. Be it from Afghanistan or Syria or Turkey. From Latin America or the Levantine. Every refugee arriving Germany carries in his or her heart a pouch of hope sealed with a knot of fear. What really awaits me here? When they stare into the prodding eyes of a White-skinned German trying patiently and frustratedly to prise their truth out of them, they look at one another across a vast gulf of misunderstanding. 

This is where people like Mr. Chidi Chamberlain come into the picture. The refugees know him. They trust him. He has walked the path they are about to step upon. He is one of them. His distant African roots have not weakened with time, but grown more mature. He helps the refugees — regardless of what country they come from — to understand the German system; he aids them on their first steps towards regularisation of their stay; he advises them when they are unsure of how the society works; he listens to and comforts them when they despair; he laughs with them, organises cultural, sports and education events with them; encourages them to learn the language of their new place of refuge; supports them in finding jobs commensurate to their level of education, training or academic degree. In short, he helps them to gradually learn how to trust Germany, their new country, and fosters in them a sense of hope and perspective.

FOR this reason Mr. Chamberlain — or Barrister, as all his friends call the law graduate — is employed by the City of Hanau, a quiet little city,  30 minutes drive from Frankfurt. His cheerful and effable nature, his self-deprecating posture of character, reveal little of the depth of knowledge that his experiences in his adopted home country Germany have bequeathed on him. With the same infectious smile and gregarious heart with which he quietly made his journey from refugee to a state worker, he gathers all refugees or migrants who cross his path into what he fondly calls his Global Village, chaperones and counsels them like a father, and helps them to gently unknot the threads of fear that sealed their pouch of hope — that they may, in a strange land, once again feel at Home. 

 Che Chukwumerije writes from Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

He can be reached at [email protected]