Gemeinsam Znacht aims at making friends out of strangers

Photo: Hosts Nadia Kaufmann (left) and Alexandra Weibel having dinner together with Biniam Gebreab from Eritrea.
 
It’s Monday evening in a small apartment in the old town of Zug. Alexandra Weibel, a kindergarten teacher and former cycle artist, is making final preparations, helped by her colleague Nadia Kaufmann, a primary teacher from Affoltern am Albis. “I asked Nadia a few days ago if she felt like joining in,” says Weibel, “and she spontaneously accepted.”
 
The two are preparing bruschetta and risotto. “When we asked Biniam what he liked to eat, he said something with rice,” says Weibel. “But since we don't know exactly where he comes from, we decided on a completely vegetarian dish.”
 
Their guest this evening, Biniam Gebreab, is a refugee who is currently living together with other refugees in the old hospital in Zug, and who works at the ’Tischlein deck dich’ food aid organisation. “He’s coming right after his German lessons,” adds Weibel. Her contact with the 23-year-old arose through the “Gemeinsam Znacht” (Dinner together) project, in which locals invite refugees to a meal, and which, thanks to the assistance of volunteers, has now also been active in Zug since March 2018.
 
The idea is that locals invite refugees to a meal so that strangers can become friends. This has been done around 30 times so far. But it’s the first time for Alexandra Weibel. “I love getting to know other cultures,” she explains while stirring the rice. Thanks to the refugees, this is now possible without travelling very far. But simply getting in touch with refugees in this way is not easy, because there are not many points of contact points, especially in everyday life. “This would be important for integration.”
 
She therefore signed up as a host. “It then ran a bit like a dating site. They checked which of the registered refugees would match, for example by age group, and contact was then made,” she says with a slightly ironic undertone. She's now excited to see exactly what Biniam is like. And so is Nadia Kaufmann. “I once had a refugee girl in my class. When the students were showing where their home is, she found it difficult, and this made me think.” It is therefore a good thing to learn more about these people and where they come from.
 
The doorbell rings. “Hello, I'm Biniam.” Still somewhat reserved, the young man, who has now lived in Switzerland for nearly two years, shakes the hands of the two women. “But you can speak German,” they say, positively surprised. “Yes, but I have to practice.” And that’s also why he’s here. “Something to drink?” - he looks critically at the small bottles. “That's without alcohol,” Weibel reassures him. “Yes, that would be nice” he says in a relaxed way. They go to the table. “We haven’t heard the name Biniam before,” says Alexandra Weibel. And asks him where he comes from. “From Eritrea,” the young man replies. He knows the name Alexandra well, as several people in Switzerland have that name. “It also means ‘ready to help’,” says Weibel, jokingly.
 
The food is served. The two Swiss women giggle as the Gebreab confidently wishes everyone a good appetite. Then they toast each other. “How do you say ‘Prost’ in Eritrean?” asks Nadia Kaufmann. “We use the English ‘Cheers’,” he replies. “Oh” she says, almost a bit disappointed, “we already know that.” He then says two or three really foreign words. And one thing then leads to another, and they talk about spices in Switzerland and Eritrea, where he buys his lamb – in a shop in Unterägeri –, about how he travelled to Europe and what he already knows about Switzerland. “Do you know all the cantons of Switzerland?”, Alexandra Weibel wants to know, “Through the school, you probably already know some things better than we do.”
Gebreab has a go, and manages to name almost all of them right away. “And the canton with the mountains – my favourite canton?”, Kaufmann asks him. “Perhaps Aargau,” he replies. The two Swiss women laugh. “No, we mean Graubünden.” He then reveals that he would like to ski one day, but hasn’t had the chance yet. “I worked as a ski instructor last season and can show you,” Nadia Kaufmann suggests.
 
“Would anyone like tea?” asks Alexandra Weibel. It's dessert time. She serves a home-made chocolate marroni. Then they talk about work. What does he want to do? An apprenticeship as a carpenter is his goal. He wants to take the German B1 exam soon, which is a joint prerequisite for starting an apprenticeship. “That’s a great profession, working with your hands”, says Alexandra Weibel. “That's true,” he says.
 
In any case, the three young people get along well. They also say that they want to try Eritrean food next time.