Day 09, Austria

I am back in Vienna! I can’t believe it has been almost three years since Refugee Roads explored the issue of Integration here. Just as our project changed and developed since then, so have the project we visited back in 2016.

Habibi & Hawara, the social enterprise that runs a restaurant in collaboration with people with refugee status, still serves amazing cuisine. I was surprised to find that they took over the shop next to them and expanded their facilities threefold.  They now have a second floor, an event room, and a regular lunch buffet where they serve the best Austrian-Syrian fusion foods I have ever eaten.

Katha Schinkinger now supports the startup in the position of Directrice. She also spearheaded the recent crowd investment efforts to open their second store in the beginning of 2020. They will start placing some of their foods in supermarkets nationwide and have also planned to expand their concept into Germany soon.

Our friend the barkeeper who we interviewed back then has now switched restaurants. We were fortunate enough to meet him before his shift at the Belvedere Castle. His German is fluent now, he even adopted the Austrian accent. It was great to catch up with him and conduct a follow-up interview.

I also had the pleasure to be hosted again by Happy.Thankyou.More. Please. Alina gave me all the insights on their recent development. They have changed locations to a more central district and now function as the Happy Market, where they serve refugees by enabling them to “go shopping” in their store on their own. They pick and choose which donated clothes they enjoy and thus reclaim their dignity, said Alina. The kids get to pick their new toys, too!

All in all, I can say that the integration projects have normalized and are now a regular part of the public sphere in the city. I guess this is because help continues to be needed and newly arrived refugees continue to need assistance with their integration process. On one hand, the people behind these initiatives deserve to be commended for their efforts. On the other hand, the question arises though, how much longer are these projects needed?

Best wishes,

Florian