I'm a simple emigrant, and I hope this post won't be of any use to anyone

We'd been meaning to get together with the girls for a long time, and by pure chance we ended up marking International Women's Day on March 8 — an unplanned celebration. I've already written that it originated in Germany, did you know? But that's not what this is about. Anyway, at the gathering, the topic came up about how in our childhood the neighborly aunts or other kids looked after us, and by the ages of 12-15 we ourselves were babysitting the neighbors' children. The funniest thing is that we are all from different countries, but the experience is as if we all come from the same panel block in the neighborhood. And so, they say, in Germany such a thing doesn't exist, but it turned out that you can find something similar here. In Germany there is the so-called shared housing for single parents (WG für Alleinerziehende): single mothers, less often fathers, live together, supporting each other in raising children and handling domestic issues. For example, they take turns looking after each other's children, pool money for utilities, share experiences. This doesn't necessarily mean cohabitation in a single apartment; sometimes they rent an entire house. We have very few 178-story blocks around here, so filling a house isn't that hard; it could be only 5-10 apartments. You can find such housing on ordinary rental websites. For example, in the ad itself it will say that they're looking for a mother/father with a child for shared living. Now the main reason for the headline. If you or women you know have faced violence, in Germany you can go to a Frauenhaus (women's shelter). There you can get temporary housing, psychological and legal help. They say that there they don't judge or evaluate how strong the reason is — they will simply provide a roof over your head, help with documents, and give you a breather if things haven't gone well. More information can be found here: Frauenhaus Koordinierung, and in emergencies call the hotline 116 016. Everything is confidential, you can contact anonymously. Help is provided regardless of citizenship, financial or social status, and contacting there does not affect immigration status. #useful