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https://www.volksstimme.de/sachsen-anhalt/arbeitskrafte-in-vietnam-gesucht-1029209

Workers wanted in Vietnam

Magdeburg couple gives German lessons on the China Sea and is looking for nursing staff in Saxony-Anhalt.

From Bernd Kaufholz 21.01.2020, 00:01

Magdeburg l Steffi Wagner can still remember her first visit to her grandmother in Vietnam quite clearly. “I was six years old and didn't understand a word my grandmother said and vice versa.” She regrets that she didn't grow up bilingual. “Although my father is Vietnamese, we only spoke German at home.”

But in the meantime, they have made up for lost time. Steffi and Lars Wagner have learned the language, which has several meanings for the same words that differ only in the way they are pronounced. Lars: “For three years, always on Sundays. That was no easy feat." And his 30-year-old wife smiles: “When we were in Vietnam in 2018, I was able to talk to my grandma for the first time.”

One important reason why the Magdeburgers have studied the Austro-Asian language so intensively is that language skills are a prerequisite for obtaining a five-year visa for their stay between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The two also received support from the Vietnamese Association in Magdeburg, which is accompanying them on their venture.

The two need the five-year visa and the language skills, as they want to teach German at a private school in Vinh (Hatinh province). Lars Wagner, who studied theology for a while, also feels responsible for the pastoral side of things.

Steffi's father came to the GDR 30 years ago and studied civil engineering at the Technical University in Magdeburg. “He also met my mother at that time and they got married,” says the young woman. "But after 1989, he had to return to Vietnam. He was only allowed to come back to Germany after four years."

She was born with a love of Vietnam, says Steffi Wagner. And the stories about her grandfather, who died on the North Vietnamese side in the war against the USA, interested her even as a child.

After studying health/rehabilitation at Magdeburg University, she completed her bachelor's degree in sports science. She had already worked at the “Center for Health and Sensorimotor Training” in Magdeburg during her studies. She has been permanently employed at the center for three years.

But Steffi Wagner has never forgotten her roots. "When my husband and I were in my father's home country in 2016, we first had the idea of helping my family. The background to this was that jobs in Vietnam are not very good." But it turned into something more. "We founded the company ‘SL7 Wagner Sports’. A fair trade company that produces sports bras for Germany." However, in the long run there were problems with the often very different sizes of the bras and the Magdeburgers got out.

“In 2018, we visited a hospital in Hatinh,” recalls Lars Wagner. "We also saw a lot of sick children there. One little patient had lost his leg.We then decided to help the people in Vietnam somehow."However, they did not have a concrete idea at first.

Der passionierte Triathlet Lars knüpfte bei einem Spenden-Wettkampf in Hamburg Kontakte zu einer Hilfsorganisation. „Ich fand die Idee vietnamesischen Bauern eine Kuh auf Kredit zu finanzieren und mit dem zweiten Kalb den Kredit zurückzuzahlen, super.“

In 2019, in Vinh, a city of 490,000 inhabitants in central Vietnam, they heard that the non-profit school for education and labor “ICO Euro”, which is active in education and international labor recruitment, was looking for two German teachers.ICO Euro specializes in the European market, particularly the German-speaking market.

“During the training, we also want to address suitable language students and inspire them to work in the care sector in Saxony-Anhalt,” says Steffi Wagner.There is great interest from a company that operates several facilities between Arendsee and Zeitz,” continues the 30-year-old.

With their project, the Magdeburgers are filling a gap in the market and are fully in line with Saxony-Anhalt's Minister of Economic Affairs, Armin Willingmann (SPD), who was in Vietnam just a few weeks ago.

The Minister sees close cooperation with the state as a way of tackling the acute shortage of skilled workers in Saxony-Anhalt. “In October alone, we had around 20,000 unfilled vacancies,” he said. "Experts assume that the demand for skilled workers will rise to 300,000 by 2023 due to the population decline. We therefore have no choice but to recruit foreign skilled workers."

With a view to recruiting skilled workers, new contacts were successfully established in Vietnam. “One outstanding project is the cooperation between the twin cities of Wernigerode and Hoi An,” says Willingmann.

As early as this year, up to 30 young Vietnamese are to come to the Harz region for training after language training in Vietnam and will be trained as hotel specialists, geriatric nurses and industrial specialists.“Such projects can help to meet the demand for skilled workers in the care sector and other industries, even if they are not the only solution to the shortage of skilled workers.”

Steffi and Lars Wagner have left a small back door open in case they don't gain a foothold in Vietnam after all.“We'll keep our apartment in Magdeburg for the time being,” says the 30-year-old. “After a year, we want to sit down together and decide what to do next.”

Neither of them are afraid of moving to another continent, nor do they lack ideas. "We have a meeting place in mind, a kind of German House.So that Vietnamese and Germans can get to know each other better."

Things turned out differently than expected.