Nepalese New Lübbenauer
Dorit Robarick is an enthusiastic traveler to Nepal; last year was her 26th trip to the country in the Himalayas. She does not arrive in the country empty-handed; she always raises a certain amount from donations to hand over to needy institutions. “There is a lot of poverty, but I can help a little bit to alleviate hardship. I don’t just want to visit the country with its extremely friendly people as a tourist, I also want to give something back,” says the motivated woman from Lübbenau, who is already planning her next trip.
From Kathmandu to Lübbenau – academic couple as new citizens
If you travel a lot, you can experience a lot: Dorit Robarick remembers a stopover on the flight home in Istanbul in 2018, when the last plane to Berlin could no longer be reached. The airline offered an overnight stay in an Istanbul hotel, but not all travelers were allowed to enter Turkey, Dorit Robarick was. A one-day visa would have been necessary, as it was for the young Nepalese man who was leaving his home country for the first time and was now close to despair. He didn’t have the 30 EUR for the visa, so his only option was to wait the night in the transit area. Dorit Robarick felt sorry for the young man and quickly took over the costs. They exchanged telephone numbers and Abhishek Shrestha, as the prospective student is called, thanked him many times, even later. The story would actually have ended here if the two sides had not made contact again, the sympathy on both sides was too great. Dorit Robarick was worried: Does he need help, can he cope in cold Germany? Conversely, it has always been the gratitude that seems to be inherent in people from his culture.
Abhishek Shrestha studied for a master’s degree in computer science in Berlin and now works at the Fraunhofer Institute. In the meantime, he had found his partner for life in Nisha Manandhar. He met the ophthalmologist in Kathmandu and the two married in 2023 – and invited her German “mom” Dorit Robarick to the wedding. The initially casual contact intensified over time, and the woman from Lübbenau helped wherever she could. Nisha Manandhar could have worked as a doctor in Kathmandu, but a long-distance relationship would not have been the solution for either of them. They therefore decided to pursue their life together in Germany.
By chance, an apartment had become available in the old town of Lübbenau, which was successfully sold to the two of them. Nisha is currently taking a German course and travels to a language school in Königs Wusterhausen almost every day. Nisha is sure to find a job as an ophthalmologist soon, her language progress is remarkable. Her husband Abhishek already has a permanent job as a highly qualified computer scientist.
They have now been citizens of Lübbenau for almost six months and are finding their way around everyday life in Germany increasingly well. They both love currywurst – a “wonderful German dish, it made my studies in Berlin much easier”, says Abhishek, while his wife Nisha serves up very tasty and very hot Nepalese tea. “Several cups a day help us through the cold days and nights,” she says with a smile. Both are grateful, they experience open-minded people everywhere, they have not yet encountered racism (which one might not believe in view of some events).
Their special experiences are almost banal in nature: they don’t know winter, snow or icy temperatures. They are out and about at every opportunity, romping around in the snow like children and sending winter photos to their relatives and friends back home, who sometimes comment on them in disbelief. “We plan to spend the next 10 years here in Germany first, after which we might consider returning to our old home country,” the two 40-year-olds report almost in unison. In Dorit Robarick, they have a woman in the background who is always on hand to give them tips. She knows life in Nepal as well as everyday life in Germany.
Peter Becker, 02.03.26
The Lausitzer Rundschau reported:
