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Madrid church recreates nativity scene with drowned refugee child

A Madrid Church has chosen to highlight the plight of Syrian refugees this Christmas by recreating the nativity scene using the image of drowned three-year-old Aylan Kurdi.

Published: 15 December 2015 16:13 CET

Madrid church recreates nativity scene with drowned refugee child

Photo: Mensajeros de la Paz

In early September the young boy washed up on a Turkish beach as his family fled Syria and attempted to reach Europe.

The photograph of the child lying facedown in the sand was published worldwide and served to symbolize the desperate plight of refugees flooding into Europe.

The image was seen by an estimated 20 million people across the world within just 12 hours, and galvanized European governments, including Spain, into taking action.

Now the image has been incorporated within a polemic adaptation of the traditional 'Belén' in an attempt to raise awareness of the plight of refugees this Christmas.

The figure of Aylan takes the place of the baby Jesus while his griefstricken parents take the role of Mary and Joseph. Instead of a stable, the trio are sheltered by a refugee tent with reproductions of drawings by refugee children of their journeys.

Nuestro #Belén Solidario está abierto 24 horas como nuestra iglesia de San Antón en Hortaleza 63. pic.twitter.com/chxFOd1vcX

— Mensajeros de la Paz (@Padre__Angel) December 14, 2015

The San Anton Church in Madrid’s downtown Chueca district has already earned a reputation as a forward thinking parish where pets are welcome and the faithful can confess via iPad.

The nativity scene, which was designed by Spanish artist Ikella Alonso for the Messengers of Peace Foundation, an NGO working with refugees, can be viewed at anytime until January 6th as the the church on Calle Hortaleza is open 24 hours.

It is not the first nativity scene to draw attention to the refugee crisis. Earlier this month Pope Francis lit the Christmas tree at the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi unveiling a Nativity scene set up within a boat used by refugees.

Which regions in Germany need foreign engineers?

What’s going on?

Germany is currently facing a worsening shortage of skilled workers, with employers struggling to fill around 630,000 job vacancies in various industries. The engineering sector is particularly affected and saw a 21.6 percent increase in vacancies in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

According to the latest figures from the Association of German Enginners (VDI), there are currently 170,300 vacancies for engineers.

READ ALSO: ‘600,000 vacancies’: Why Germany’s skilled worker shortage is greater than ever

There’s a particular shortage of civil engineers, computer scientists and electrical engineers which is leading to hold-ups in public construction and digitalisation projects.

Which regions are particularly struggling?

Though there are shortages everywhere, there is a widening gap between the numbers of foreign engineers in large cities and those in rural areas.

In Munich, for example, foreign nationals make up almost 13 percent of the total number of engineers. In the Stranberg district of the city, more than one in four engineers are foreigners.

The employment of foreigners in engineering professions is highest in Berlin where they make up 18.6 percent of engineers, followed by Hamburg with 13.3 per cent and Bavaria with 12.7 per cent. Schleswig-Holstein has the lowest proportion of foreigners out of the western German states with a share of 4.9 per cent.

Employees of the Tesla Gigafactory Berlin Brandenburg work on a production line of a Model Y electric vehicle. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Patrick Pleul

In eastern states like Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt, foreign engineers are few and far between, despite being desperately needed.

There are also differences between the states in terms of the types of engineers needed. For example, in the last quarter of 2022, the total number of vacancies in information technology jobs in Hesse increased by 49.7 per cent, in Baden-Württemberg by 45.2 per cent and in Berlin/Brandenburg by 40.1 per cent, while the number in Rhineland-Palatinate/Saarland decreased by 23.5 per cent.

READ ALSO: Germany sees ‘over 550 percent increase’ in Indian IT workers over decade

The demand for civil engineering jobs, however, decreased significantly in Berlin/Brandenburg (-3.8 per cent), Saxony (-7.7 per cent) and Saxony-Anhalt/Thuringia (-7.8 per cent).

According to the VDI, the huge differences in the proportion of foreign engineers mainly depend on which universities and companies there are in the region.

If there are technical universities with lots of foreign students, this increases the proportion of engineers with foreign passports in the region.

The presence of factories or international corporations has a similar effect. For example, the proportion of foreign engineers in the Oder-Spree district in Brandenburg was stuck at two to three percent for a long time. But at the end of 2020, that figure tripled within a few months – thanks to the car manufacturer Tesla opening a factory there.

Germany needs to be “more welcoming” to foreigners

Head of the VDI, Dieter Westerkamp has said that without a strong influx of foreign skilled workers, Germany will not be able to close the gap in the labour market for engineers and that this could ultimately slow down Germany’s economic development.

READ ALSO: IN DEPTH: Are Germany’s immigration offices making international residents feel unwelcome?

The VDI is now calling for Germany to make itself more attractive to foreign engineers. The German government recently published a new draft law which aims to plug its skills gap by adapting its immigration laws. Amongst other things, the proposals aim to loosen the requirements for Blue Card applicants and to bring in a points-based job seekers visa.

However, Westerkamp complains that some immigrants wait months for a visa appointment at the German embassy and that staff shortages at the foreigners’ offices lead to delays.

A recent study by the Bertelsmann Foundation’s Skilled Migration Monitor also found that managers increasingly complain about bureaucratic and legal hurdles as well as difficulties in the recognition of qualifications for foreign workers.

Westerkamp said that Germans must understand that their standard of living can’t be maintained without more immigration and said that, people must “give foreigners the feeling that they are welcome in this country”.

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