“Well-functioning” German social system

I am sitting at my table and don’t know where to begin. It is very difficult to describe my current feelings. To be honest, my soul is really overfilled with negative emotions and my head – with depressing thoughts. All because I became very disappointed with the country I idolized just a year ago… More precisely with the German social system and with people there. I end up helping people there, who really don’t need any help.

I am a socially committed person at heart; I like to help others when they are in humanitarian and social crisis, especially if this concerns children. I worked in various voluntary organizations and when in autumn 2014 the Ebola epidemic reached its highest point, I was about to fly as volunteer to Africa. Well, the fear of being infected won over my ambitions to help the African people.

Now to the point that has been torturing me for days. Since several months I have been working for a social institution in Berlin (for ethical reasons I will not mention the name of the organization), but it operates nationwide with the mission to support people in need in various ways. The organization also gets different so to say “orders” from various offices that are responsible for helping people in difficult life situations: health insurance companies, social service departments, youth welfare office etc. etc.

At first sight, everything seems great and the organization has a purpose… well except for one little thing: recently I witness how some people who find themselves “in an emergency situation” take advantage of the well-functioning German social system! 🙁 And without any shame. For example, these “poor sick” women (who are in fact as healthy as an ox) need somebody (like me working for the organization) who goes shopping with them and helps them to decide which fancy leather bag is better for them (from Louis Vuitton or Prada to Armani)… yes you read it right and I am not kidding!

The most tragic thing of all is they don’t spend a single penny for this help; everything is covered by the state! Voila’! You get the point… sadly!