Some stories take a while to reach a happy ending. The one about our role model Junior has had one since Monday: he is now German, even officially
Beaming with joy, the 21-year-old received his naturalisation certificate at the citizens' office in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain, first hugged his German foster father and then carefully asked the clerk: "Can I hug you too?". He was allowed to. Everyone involved was really happy that Junior's journey through the authorities was now over.
Because it was long and complicated: Junior came to Germany when he was ten, together with his half-sister Yanga, their mother and her new husband, a German. The family lived in a small town near Stuttgart.
When Junior was 14, his mother and stepfather got into trouble with the law and were sentenced to several years in prison. He and his sister went to live with an aunt in Berlin, but they were not welcome there. There were major difficulties when Junior came out at the age of 15.
The siblings turned to the youth welfare office and moved into an assisted living project. But even there they could not find peace: they were to be deported because their right of residence had expired due to their mother's criminal offence. This was despite the fact that homosexuals in Cameroon face up to seven years in prison with hard labour and the social climate means that gays are rejected by their families or even killed.
Following an appeal by the queer Berlin city magazine Siegessäule and reports in other media, many, many people campaigned to prevent Junior's deportation, including Peter Plate from Rosenstolz, comedian Thomas Hermanns, MP Thomas Birk (Green Party) and Klaus Lederer, leader of the Berlin Left Party.
After more than two dozen donors were found who agreed to finance Junior's life until he came of age, he first received a temporary residence permit and then, two years ago, a permanent one.
And now, finally, naturalisation. Junior himself did a lot to make it possible by being very committed at school and in his vocational training. He was a conflict mediator and head boy at his school in Berlin-Moabit and successfully completed several training programmes within three years, including fashion sewing and tailoring. He is now studying design in Stuttgart at one of the best fashion schools in Germany. And is involved with ICH WEISS WAS ICH TU. He speaks three languages and says of himself: "I'm German. I've lived here much longer than I ever lived in Cameroon and I just feel at home here."
Once again, now officially: Welcome home!
(pasch)
