skill shortage - Cottbus as Lottery Win - Nurse Trinh Hoang about her new life in Germany
Germany gets older, there is a lack of trained specialists. In ten years, this gap could increase to up to 350,000 nursing staff. That's why we are specifically recruiting specialists abroad, for example in Vietnam. There, the society is relatively young. The so-called Triple-Win-Agreement brings Vietnamese and Vietnamese citizens to Germany as labor forces. Every year, around 90 to 100 nursing staff come to Germany.
They are hired as trainees, learn for three years alternately at vocational schools and in hospitals or nursing homes, before they become regular nursing staff. One of them is the 25-year-old Trinh Hoang. The young nurse is currently learning German at Hanoi University. In a few weeks, she will fly to Cottbus. What does the young Vietnamese woman imagine about Germany? What does she hope for from her new homeland?
Cottbus – I don't know much about that. I only know that it is not a large city and has many green areas. That will certainly please me, I think. The contrast could not be greater: Cottbus, 100,000 inhabitants; Hanoi, 6.5 million inhabitants.
1000 Vocabulary, 1000 Special Terms Daily
At the campus of Hanoi University, I am preparing myself for my new life: Intensive German course. Every day, I feel 1000 vocabulary words, 1000 special terms, 1000 challenges. There are so many difficulties with learning German. And not only that. I was shocked to find out that there are so many Latin terms in German medicine. But I am ambitious and diligent, I have always been good in school.
My first experiences with German, one year ago: Duolingo (a language learning app) and "Nico's Way" – a film that can be used to learn German. Now, a year later, I almost speak German error-free, although I still have to ask sometimes when someone speaks too fast. Soon, I will no longer learn German in Vietnam. I will speak German in Germany. I will care for people.
I come from a small village in the middle of the country, from the province of Nghe An. In my village, there are rice fields and a very beautiful nature. I grew up with my grandmother, because my mother divorced and left me there when I was four. Only later did I understand that my mother had no choice. That she had suffered every day, every night. Time brought us back together, in the university city, where my mother now lives. We saw each other more often, I moved in with her new family. Living in a "Patch-Work-Family". Love returned, as I see it today.
My perspective changed, from a failed family to a place of joy, of unity. That's why I like to help people and why I became a nurse. I had a strong passion for literature and writing, but it's not as secure as having a steady job.
In Vietnam, relatives care for the patients
I therefore studied the profession of a nurse. Then, in the Covid summer 2022, I worked in the hospital, eight hours a day in a protective suit, for five weeks, voluntarily. Some would say that's too hard, too strenuous. For me, not at all. It was sometimes very sad, but also a beautiful memory. The differences in care between Vietnam and Germany: helping patients to get up, taking them to the toilet – that is actually the task of relatives in Vietnam. In Germany, it is the task of the nurse.
Last year, I applied for the Triple-Win Program and was accepted, which feels like winning the lottery to many, as not many manage to achieve it. However, my studies were not recognized due to the nature of the program being a training. One must have at least one year of experience in nursing to qualify. The average income in Vietnam is around €257, and it depends on various factors. For instance, I don't have to pay taxes, and living expenses are not as high as in Germany. Out of the €1,340 I earn in Germany, I have to pay for insurances, taxes, rent, and other living expenses. Whatever is left, I send home.
Now, I have been in Hanoi for a year, which can be exciting but also lonely. Adjusting to life here was not difficult. I have made many friends and live on campus in the student dormitory. My stepbrother works in Hanoi as a Mechatroniker. We meet for coffee sometimes when I miss my family. But we both have little time. Living in Hanoi is like a test before going abroad. If one cannot cope here, it may be challenging in Cottbus, which is 8,200 kilometers away.
In Germany, the coffee is weaker. A friend from my nursing studies in Vietnam is already in Germany, in Hamburg. She told me that the colleagues are very friendly and helpful. That Germany is known for high health standards. That Germans value punctuality, but the train sometimes runs a little late. That the coffee is weaker than in Vietnam. That she initially felt lonely. That the culture, the language would be different. I will have to adapt to that. Although we speak about Germany in class, I want to make an unbiased image of German culture and learn it intensively.
I don't know yet how it will turn out – also with my family, whom I will leave in Vietnam. In this globalized age, communication is easy. And if I miss my patchwork family or my grandmother too much, I have made arrangements with my new German employer that I can fly to Vietnam and visit them.
By the end of July, I will have completed my German course. I will visit my hometown one last time, visit my grandmother, tell her stories. I will work with my stepfather, who has his own doctor's practice, and help him with patients' infusions. I will help my mother in the morning at her small shop where she sells Pho soup. It will be tiring, but I want to help. A month later, by the end of September, I will be at Hanoi airport. I will board the plane, headed for Europe, to Germany. I hope everything goes well.
- To address the labor shortage in Germany's care sector, the government is recruiting care personnel from countries with a young population, such as Vietnam. This is part of the Triple-Win-Agreement, which brings in both Vietnamese and Vietnamese citizens as labor forces.
- Trinh Hoang, a 25-year-old nurse from Vietnam, is currently learning German at Hanoi University in preparation for her role as a caregiver in Cottbus, Germany. She is excited about the contrast between Cottbus and her hometown of Hanoi, which has a population of 6.5 million compared to Cottbus's 100,000 inhabitants.
- Although the Triple-Win-Program accepted Trinh Hoang into Germany, her nursing studies were not recognized due to the nature of the program being a training. She will have to gain at least one year of experience in nursing before she can start working as a registered nurse in Germany.
