What it's like to be Black in Germany's health system

DW (English)

When Tanzanian nurse Faith Mutesi moved to Germany to follow her dream, she expected challenges, but racism wasn’t one of them. The young nurse recounts the prejudice she faces and how she chooses compassion over hate.

Transcript

00:00I was with a friend, also from Africa, and we were supposed to help this patient.

00:04He said, stupid Ausländer, and that was kind of bad.

00:10Faith, Mutesi is a 23-year-old nurse from Tanzania.

00:13She traveled to Germany to pursue her dream of caring for others.

00:17I wanted to become a nurse first because the closest person to me was my grandfather,

00:23and I got to see him sick at a young age,

00:26and that's when I realized the importance of compassionate care.

00:30I met up with a student nurse in Troisdorf, Western Germany.

00:34She is currently in the second year of a three-year nursing program.

00:37I'm doing a flagefachfrau ausbildung, which is a new system, not like the old one,

00:43where you could only focus on one thing, for example, an old home or a hospital or a psychiatry.

00:51But now you are given a chance to explore all that ambulante, old home, hospitals, psychiatry, paediatry, all that.

01:01So at the end, when you're about to finish, you know what you want.

01:05What Mutesi didn't expect when she moved to Germany

01:08was that some of the people she came to care for would reject her,

01:13not because of her skills, but because of who she is.

01:16Mutesi's nursing ambition started in Rwanda, where she studied German for nearly a year.

01:23Unlike others who struggled to make the trip,

01:25she had the support of an organization that took care of her visa and travel arrangements.

01:31When she arrived in Germany, the challenges were immediate.

01:34The language, the culture, the loneliness.

01:38But what no one prepared her for

01:40was the subtle, sometimes open hostility she'd face from those she was meant to help.

01:46I was with a friend, also from Africa, and we were supposed to help this patient.

01:51And our accents are not perfect, probably.

01:54And while we were about to help him, he said, stupid, Ausländer.

01:59And that was kind of bad.

02:02Most of the times you tell a nurse in charge or the head of the stations,

02:07you tell them, and they talk to the patient about it, they confront it.

02:13Like, they tell them this is not how it works.

02:16This is a reality many foreign-trained nurses face.

02:20Studies show that nurses of colour in European healthcare systems

02:23are more likely to face workplace discrimination,

02:27not only from colleagues, but also from patients.

02:29In Germany, over 60% of migrant nurses

02:33report experiencing discrimination or exclusion from patients.

02:38Fortunately for Mutesi,

02:40her colleagues at the hospital confronted a patient

02:42and told them that such behaviour was unacceptable.

02:47Although she is training to be a nurse,

02:49nothing could have prepared her for the experience of losing a patient.

02:53The patient looked okay.

02:56And when it was time for me to take the food,

02:58I find him dead and I broke down.

03:01And it was emotionally challenging.

03:03But it was, I was lucky.

03:06I was working with someone who kind of encouraged me

03:09and gave me advises on how to deal with these things.

03:12Her advice for other young nurses in Germany.

03:15Struggling with the emotional toll of the job is...

03:17It's okay to be sad.

03:19It's okay to be overwhelmed by experiences like this.

03:22But with time, everything is going to be fine.

03:26And you just have to give it your best.

03:29Despite the challenges,

03:31Mutesi remains resolute in pursuing her dreams.

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