Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic and resulting damage is often portrayed in staggering numbers and statistics. This article offers, by contrast, a personal and qualitative account of employees, volunteers, and young residents at a refugee home in Berlin, Germany. Through the story of a boy who has spent the past 4 years in several of Berlin’s 84 remaining refugee accommodations, we examine the inequalities that already existed in Germany and how the pandemic has exacerbated them. To provide ample context, we critically assess the so-called Welcome Classes that children and teens have been attending since their arrival to the country in or around 2015 and argue that the segregation experienced at school mirrors the isolation from the host society that refugees and people seeking asylum are subjected to residentially. We then present an emergency response to school closures: A digital homework mentorship program designed to mitigate the heightened barriers to social interaction and access to education brought about by the pandemic. We explore the sociocultural theory underpinning the program, describe its methods, and offer a qualitative evaluation of the results. Finally, we discuss how the informal education intervention helps fill gaps in the system, offering an approach that can be used going forward to promote learning, social-emotional development, and inclusion of young people with migration and refugee backgrounds.
Highlights
In March of 2020, while Berlin was paralyzed by the outbreak of Covid-19, Oduman was one of the 193 people living at his shelter for people seeking asylum, and one of the 44 residents who had been there since it opened over three years prior
While the German government invests a considerable amount of resources into the social integration of young people with refugee and migration backgrounds, in practice, the education and housing systems in place have structures built into them that prevent integration from taking place
According to official United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates, young people make up approximately 51% of all refugees worldwide
Summary
In March of 2020, while Berlin was paralyzed by the outbreak of Covid-19, Oduman was one of the 193 people living at his shelter for people seeking asylum, and one of the 44 residents who had been there since it opened over three years prior. Given that young people from migrant backgrounds living in Germany are developing in largely segregated environments—and are educated in classes designed exclusively for newcomers—they are deprived of the opportunity to interact and cooperate with German peers This prevents them from making sense of rules, roles, and norms in interpersonal interactions within the larger German society, it precludes them from engaging in developmentally beneficial interactions and cooperating with those who could naturally function as more capable peers with regards to the ways of being and interacting in Germany. Before the lockdown brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, young people at the shelter where Oduman lives could spend time with staff and volunteers—more capable peers with regards to the ways of being and interacting within their new social environment These interactions happened in the playroom where free and organized play took place, or in the tutoring room where they could receive homework help. During the first month of the program, volunteers were not allowed inside the camp, but were able to take walks, visit nearby parks with their mentees, or come up with other creative solutions that were in compliance with the strict social distancing regulations (see Figure 3 for example)
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