Johann’s story

At 5:00 in the morning, I am woken from my sleep by slamming car doors. I listen and ask myself who is making such a racket at this time of night? “Oh right, we’re spending the night in a bus station gastiniza,” I remember. Then I hear German words. At first I think I have misheard, but it is clear. On closer listening, I notice the Austrian dialect. I immediately jump out of bed and look out of the window. In fact, a car from our neighboring country is parked in front of it. A young couple is checking into their accommodation. “Where are you coming from at this time of night?” I ask, surprised and curious. “We’re on a three-month journey from Austria to Kazakhstan and back. We have about 30,000 kilometers ahead of us,” explains the young man a little proudly. “That’s fantastic,” I say enthusiastically. “And why are you driving at night?” “That’s how it turned out. It was 500 kilometers from one Gastiniza to another.” “Aren’t you sleeping in a tent?” “No, we don’t have a tent with us. We don’t want to spend the night in the middle of nowhere by car. It’s also cheaper to stay overnight. If we check in early in the morning, we can stay for 24 hours. That means we get two nights for the price of one.” “I see. Hm, but then you won’t see any of the country when you’re out and about at night.” “Yes, we’ll drive back this afternoon and see what we missed during the night.” “But that will cost you a lot of fuel, won’t it?” “Fuel is cheap in Kazakhstan.” “The accommodation usually is too,” I reply. “Yes, that’s right, but it’s still a good system. My girlfriend and I are students. We do it every year. We’ve been to Africa, Scandinavia and Iceland. Always around 30,000 km. We know our way around.” “And always with this car?” “Yes, it can take a beating. It’s a loyal companion.” As he’s been driving all night and I’m still very tired, we postpone our conversation until later and say goodbye for now.

At 10:30 a.m. we get out of our worn-out mattresses, still tired. While Tanja uses the time to wash a few clothes, I write. Time flies by and before we know it, it’s afternoon. We meet Ivan. He introduces us to his friend Johann. He is also a Volga German and, like Ivan, very friendly. “Do you want something to eat? You must be hungry, right?” he asks in perfect German. “Yes, we’re ravenous.” “Well then, I’ll be happy to take you to a restaurant,” he offers. It doesn’t take long and I ask him a few questions about his past. “It’s like Ivan has already told you. We were all euphoric to come to the homeland of our ancestors. We had only heard good things about Germany. A rich country where everyone who lives there is doing well. At least that was our opinion. I was the deputy plant manager of the large silo here. It can hold 300,000 tons of wheat. We had 200 workers to manage this amount of wheat. I was the boss of 100 people and made a good living by Kazakh standards. We had a nice home, animals and a field. So we were doing very well. After the general euphoria that spread like a wave from village to village, I threw everything I had away to travel to the new world. To start a new life. But we quickly became disillusioned. I myself didn’t have to go to school for long to learn German because I was lucky enough to get a job as a carpenter straight away. But many were not trained for the German market and had to learn first. Despite this, they often didn’t get a job. After 10 years, exactly on my fiftieth birthday, I was made redundant and was unemployed. My wife and I saved for a long time and bought a hundred-year-old house. As a craftsman, I was able to renovate it over many years. Our burden was not too great. Only 500 euros a month. But after I no longer had a job, I couldn’t pay off the debts. The bank wanted to foreclose on the house. We refused and sold it ourselves. It was definitely better. That way we could at least save the land and were debt-free. I then tried to get a job for three years but there was no chance. It took its toll on my self-confidence and I became depressed. My marriage broke up. Now my ex-wife lives in Germany with our twins and I live here. My wife is also unemployed. She completed an apprenticeship as a businessman but she doesn’t get anything. I’ve moved back to Kazakhstan. I couldn’t stand it in Germany any more. I want to work. Now I have a nice little house here again with running water, heating, etc. I’ve built up an existence again.” “How did you do that?” “I came here and spent a few months analyzing what the place needed. Then I had the idea of opening a small building materials business. I put my last few euros into the business and today it’s healthy and I can make a good living from it. Now I can send money to my ex-wife and children every month.” “You send money from Kazakhstan to Germany?” “Of course I do. I earn well here. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been doing well again. I’m worth something. I have a job. The only unpleasant thing is that we Volga Germans were sometimes called Russian pigs in Germany and sometimes fascists here. I’m not really at home anywhere. It’s a crazy world. Many of us want to leave Germany again and return to our old homeland. But they can’t because they’re in debt.” “Do you ever regret having emigrated to Germany?” “Of course I do. I lost 11 years of my life.”

Johann can’t be dissuaded from paying the lunch bill. “They are our guests,” he says with conviction. “If you like, I can give you a little tour of the village. I’ll show you the big granary where I used to work, my store and the house. Then you can see how we live here in Kazakhstan. Would you like to?” “I’d love to,” we say happily and spend the whole afternoon with him.

Something different!!!

Dear reader of our diary!

Please don’t forget our green streak. We don’t want to be intrusive, but it has only grown a little in the last few weeks. Together with you, we want to give life to 25,000 trees during our Trans-East expedition. One tree for every kilometer covered. A tree costs only ? 5,-. The trees are used to regenerate degraded and non-viable forests in Germany. We need healthy primary forests. This means that there are hardly any surviving primeval forests left. Forests are being cleared all over the world. We want to do something about this with our joint efforts. Giving something back to Mother Earth that we take away every day. We believe that the children of future generations should also have a chance of survival. Please help us to create something. So that people in the future will still be able to hear birds chirping and stand in the shade of a tree.

You can find information about the Green Vein on our website.
www.denis-katzer.com

The donations do not benefit us financially in the slightest. Everything you give goes to Mother Earth!!! We guarantee this with our life project and our name.

Donations are very welcome at:
Bergwaldprojekt e.V.
Keyword:Green vein
GLS Community Bank
SORT CODE 43060967
Account number 8022916200

Mother Earth is alive!

We look forward to your comments!