Where do you really come from?

This question really gets on Mariela's nerves. Why is that? Isn't it okay to be curious and inquisitive in the best sense of the word?

Yes, definitely. Mariela studied Romance languages and literature in Freyburg. Anyone who studies is also curious, inquisitive and in search of knowledge. She has lived in Europe for 20 years, in Germany for 18 years and is very close to home, otherwise she wouldn’t have come to the festival on the main street with her daughter.

And while Valentina diligently stamps and paints German words, we continue to talk about this question that Mariela finds so annoying.

She tells me that she never heard that in Venezuela. It’s quite simple here. If a person has neither black skin nor Indian features, he or she is an immigrant or a child of one. That’s it. You see that and don’t ask any more questions. So many people ask here and Mariela doesn’t have the feeling that it’s just curiosity. Having lived in several parts of Germany, she estimates that in the south and west people ask with subtle hostility and in the east with direct hostility.

Why does it always need a stamp? She looks anxiously at her daughter. Mariela herself left her home country because the living conditions were catastrophic and the country was dominated by corruption and violence. She wants her daughter not to experience violence, but hears that even some questions have the potential for violence.

For Mariela, life is simple, her best friend is a black beauty, gypsies are a special culture that she finds interesting and faith has nothing to do with the official church.

“Why is everything so high-minded here,” she asks, ”Why do children have to eat dinner at 6.00 pm? And why is everything so strictly regulated? Life isn’t difficult, we make it difficult for ourselves.”

German is spoken at home with Mariela. Nevertheless, she doesn’t manage to convey everything. Some feelings simply remain stronger in her mother tongue, curses like expressions of love.

She gives me the word relationship language. For her, the relationship language is the language in which she speaks with her husband and that is German. In other relationships, it might be English or Spanish or French. This language then determines life and how we live together.

She sympathizes with her fellow countrymen and with all people who come to Germany from different countries and are older. “You can learn anything in your mid-20s, even if you’re tired. It’s more difficult from your early 40s.”

And then she gives me a tongue twister in Spanish and a proverb that we also know here.

Rosa Hauch


Dresden spricht …

Workshops, tours, writing and printing workshops under the motto “Dresden speaks many languages”

Period
03-12.2024

Porject coordination
Yvonn Spauschus (Projektleitung)
Yulia Vishnichenko · Moussa Mbarek · Nadine Wölk · Rosa Brockelt · Yuliya Firsova · Martin Mannig (workshop leader)
Rosa Brockelt · Rosa Hauch · Falk Goernert · Birthe Mühlhoff (moderation, documentation)
Adina Rieckmann · Lydia Hänsel (tourguides)
Inge · Mahsa · Karin (voluntary help)

Cooperation partners
JugendKunstschule Dresden – Standort Passage, Omse e.V., Nachbarschaftshilfeverein, Stadtteilverein Johannstadt e.V., Malteser Hilfsdienste e.V., Jugendhaus LILA as well as Chinesisch-Deutsches Zentrum e.V., Lebenshilfe Dresden e.V., GEH8 Kunstraum und Ateliers e.V., Umweltzentrum Dresden – ABC Tische and many more

Supported by

The project is funded by the State Ministry for Social Affairs and Social Cohesion. This measure is co-financed with tax funds on the basis of the budget passed by the Saxon state parliament within the framework of the state programme Integrative Maßnahmen.