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Turning Filipino 'TLC' into careers in Germany

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Katrin Hartmann

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/life/03/26/kerstin-roy-mit-schulern-in-der-beagle-academy-in-manila.jpg"/><figcaption>Kerstin Roy (seated) with students at the German language school, Beagle Academy, in Makati City. Private</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA – Kerstin Roy is sitting on a chair at the Beagle Academy. She has one leg elevated; her calf is covered by a thick bandage, she tells me on the phone.The native of Cottbus, a city in East Germany near the Polish border, was lucky in adversity. After an accident with a motor scooter, it could have ended far worse for her leg.“The cut after the fall was pretty deep,” said the 34-year-old. She walks on crutches. They were flown in just for her because in surfing town Siargao, where she’d spent the last few weeks, there are no crutches or specialists who could have taken care of her leg. There is a touch of irony in this since Roy stands daily in front of trained nurses.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Listening to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WollePetry?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WollePetry</a> in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MakatiCity?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MakatiCity</a> is weird, especially when his famous German Folk song &quot;Weiss der Geier&quot; is sung by lots of Filipinos. I love it! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/manila?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#manila</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/beagleacademy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#beagleacademy</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/philippines?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#philippines</a> <a href="https://t.co/2XXMXJ1hmc">pic.twitter.com/2XXMXJ1hmc</a>— Kat_Hartmann (@KatrinHartmann7) <a href="https://twitter.com/KatrinHartmann7/status/1111606312385855488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote>In Makati City, she teaches at the Beagle Academy, a language school specializing in teaching German to Filipino nurses. There’s great demand for it “on both sides,” said Ramon Hansmeyer, head of the school.While more and more institutions in Germany are desperately looking for caregivers, the Philippine Nurses Association reports that there are 200,000 unemployed nurses pursuing other jobs (as of 2016). There are twice as many now, the school director reckons.According to the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA), 92,277 nurses have left the Philippines since 2012, which translates to about 19,000 nurses leaving every year.According to the German Federal Office for Statistics, 25,000 to 30,000 jobs in the industry are vacant in Germany at the moment.Are these two compatible conditions? So far, Philippine nurses have emigrated to other countries, but only a few of them have come to Germany.Starting this summer, 20 Filipinos (13 women and seven men) are expected to occupy new positions in the hospital in Brandenburg an der Havel, a city in the Federal state of Brandenburg where nursing staff is urgently needed. Until then, it’s a long, arduous process for the women and men.<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/life/03/26/schuler_im_learning_lab.jpg"/><figcaption>Students at the German language school Beagle Academy. Jeffrey Hernaez</figcaption></figure></div>Back in Manila, on the 17th floor of a skyscraper in Makati City, Filipino nurses are sitting at round tables. They gaze spellbound at their tablets, converse, but not in Tagalog. Instead, they are trying to use German. Often, English words and sentences are interjected. There’s a glass on one of the tables that’s half-filled with Philippine pesos.<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/life/03/26/schulleiter-ramon-hansmeyer-mit-lehrerin-kerstin-ulmer-im-learning-lab.jpg"/><figcaption>Beagle Academy head director Ramon Hansmeyer (left) with another language teacher, Karolin Ulmer. Katrin Hartmann</figcaption></figure></div>“Anyone who speaks Tagalog in class has to throw a little something into the collection glass,” said Hansmeyer.It seems like a tough discipline, but the reason is simple. The adult students spend up to nine hours together in a confined space. They often drop back into their mother tongue. “But anyone who wants to learn another language knows exactly how important it is to stick with it.”The seven teachers at the language school try to make their lessons as creative as possible. During the eight-month intensive course, the Filipino nurses not only receive classroom lessons. The classes are livened up in the so-called learning lab, where the focus is on listening exercises, games, and other interactive teaching methods.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Preparation for a life abroad? This is where Filipino nurses can learn German. At the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BeagleAcademy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BeagleAcademy</a> in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MakatiCity?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MakatiCity</a> is fun on the daily agenda. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/manila?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#manila</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Philippines?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Philippines</a> <a href="https://t.co/bOOaHKBfz7">pic.twitter.com/bOOaHKBfz7</a>— Kat_Hartmann (@KatrinHartmann7) <a href="https://twitter.com/KatrinHartmann7/status/1111604816738951168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote>From time to time, the song “Weiss der Geier” (God only knows) by German Folksinger Wolfgang Petry will sound loudly down the corridor. “Filipinos are born entertainers,” said Roy. “They love karaoke and are always warm and happy. Like so much else in their lives, they have a sense of humor about their day.” The interactive learning approach is bearing fruit. Currently, about 120 nurses are being taught at the school – with an upward trend – and another school is already planned in Romblon.Two-thirds of the students do not only come from Luzon, but also from Visayas and Mindanao.“The need is great,” said school director Hansmeyer, who decided five years ago to transform his Paderborn translation agency into something else. The 43-year-old initially tried Romania in East Europe, but establishing a language school there didn’t work out for him.In his experience, family members who took jobs abroad were rejected at home. “They were put under a lot of pressure, were sometimes even disowned by their families,” he said. Of course, they weren’t very motivated by that.<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/life/03/26/beagle-academy_2.jpg"/></figure></div>In the Philippines, he’s experienced the complete opposite. Filipinos are “tender, loving, and caring – TLC,” said Hansmeyer – and thus a godsend for the German nursing industry. Filipinos who work overseas have been celebrated as heroes across the country for about the past 60 years. Taxis are emblazoned with advertisements for websites claiming to pave the way to work abroad. Laughing faces flicker from giant billboards, faces saying that everyone can take the lucky step. Everyone?<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/life/03/26/johanna-lei-bayron.jpg"/><figcaption>Beagle Academy student Johanna Lei Bayron. Jeffrey Hernaez</figcaption></figure></div>“Actually, I wanted to be a flight attendant,” said Johanna Lei Bayron. A student at the Beagle Academy, she passed her exam and is now waiting for her visa to go to Germany. “My father is a doctor. He wanted me to go into the medical field.”The 26-year-old and her family agreed that she should train as a nurse, and that involved a four-year training course at her expense. To be able to work in Germany with that degree, the nurses need to gain additional years of professional experience and complete a German course. She finished hers a few months ago.Now, Bayron is still waiting for her visa. She is supposed to work in a hospital in Schleswig-Holstein, a Federal State in the north of Germany. She heard that life in Germany is good, but still, she’s nervous.“I have a friend in Hannover who also works at a hospital there,” she said. She talks and chats regularly in a Facebook group with other nurses who already work and live in Germany.The long waiting period has been criticized several times by German hospitals and other sides involved. Ramon Hansmeyer and Kerstin Roy also notice the consequences of the delay. “In the meantime, the students often forget what they’ve learned from us,” said Hansmeyer. This is problematic, because the nurses do not only need to cope with the foreign culture, but also with their new job as quickly as possible.It’s a process that requires patience and a sense of teamwork, said Roy. She herself knows what it’s like to settle in a foreign country. She has been living in the Philippines for five years now – out of love and because she was looking for something new.“I had fallen in love not only with my boyfriend, but also with the country and the people.” The German has found her place and hopes that her students have the same experience in her home country.

Filipinos give "tender, loving, and caring or TLC," and thus a godsend for the German nursing industry, said the head of a German language school in Makati City.

Filipinos give "tender, loving, and caring or TLC," and thus a godsend for the German nursing industry, said the head of a German language school in Makati City.