Autor:
Fatih Özçelik
Translation: John Christensen

“Back home in Carinthia all you could do was smash rocks”

Punkt 3: “Back home in Carinthia all you could do was smash rocks”

Back then it was a real luxury to have one's own room in the Chaplain Bonetti Home. The residents there were usually very inventive and flexible. And so when visitors came a single bed was quickly converted into a couch and the night table served as a dining table. When the cooking was done in the shared kitchen, it normally took somewhat longer, since there was only a limited number of cooking plates. The sanitary facilities on each floor of the home had to be used in turns by the residents. One welcome source of recreation, especially for the children, was the lawn in front of the home. The rooms in the home were not suitable for families, since they were originally conceived as single rooms for persons who would eventually return to their native countries. Thus many guest workers had to leave their children behind in their native villages. There was simply not enough room for the entire family in these rooms. Because of the long working hours there was scarcely time to spend with the children. Some workers' families were fortunate enough to be able to have their children housed during the week with foster families in Dornbirn, and so at least on weekends they could all be together. In the course of time the guest workers moved into better accomodations.