The rubbish is the last thing that I could think of it in Syria or spend some time for it .

When I arrived to Germany, I noticed that it is a different here, but it was more clear when I got an invitation to a friends house and during my visit I wanted to throw away some trash. So I went to the kitchen, but my friend followed me and began to explain to me how waste is segregate here in Germany and what benefit there is.

But I did not think that it is so important. When I started to learn German language and in one of my tests I was surprised that the text that I should understand and answer the questions is about the rubbish and how to deal with it. The text was difficult full of new words. And finally I was not happy with the result at all but I didn’t blame the rubbish, I blame my self .

But not all stories of newcomers with the Rubbish are like my story.

My brother Mohammed has told me that the Rubbish System had given him a chance to get to know his „new family“, he meant his neighbours.



Once my brother went out of his new flat when a lady came to him and she began to scream at him with torrent of phrases and words in German and probably even in a Bavarian dialect. He did not understand any of them and he told her with a broken German that he does not speak German. „Please talk to me in English“, he said, and the she shouted in his face: „NO CARTON IN Container!“: My brother realized that the lady cannot speak English and she cannot speak more than theses words.

Mohammed thought that carton is the same as paper because it is from the same source and so he threw the carton in the same container for paper.

Mohammad apologized to her, and in the evening he went to visit her with a simple gift and he brought a friend with him who speaks German. The friend explained to her that he did not knew it , she also apologized to him and then calmly she showed him where to throw carton.

A few weeks later he met her again with her husband and they were surprised that Mohammad learned the German language very quickly.

Since then, they have been good friends as if they are one family and not a single day passes without meeting each other .

Dealing with waste is completely different in Syria and Germany.

In Syria unfortunately there was no refining waste or modern ways of dealing with it so people do not intentionally separate rubbish. Here, some of the refugees saying the phrase „complicated system “ to deal with the waste in Germany, however I personally believe that the refugees should learn that and be able to do it not only with Rubbish but with all new things for us .

A friend of mine told me he felt very disappointed when the his flat owner wrote him an Email asking him to separate the rubbish despite he is very careful with that but he told me he got the Email because he is the only refugee in the house .

I wonder If we go back to Syria once, how we will be able to have the same system and educate the citizens for that .

Yes , the topic might be seem strange for some people , but a newcomer who is willing to take notice to everything, whether he knew previously or not, and tries to get his new life settled, will say : the same thing we have or either this thing is new.

As in the case of garbage: This is a complicated thing .