Kommunales Integrationsmanagement NRW
Ministerium für Kinder, Jugend, Familie, Gleichstellung, Flucht und Integration des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen
Ministerium für Kinder, Jugend, Familie, Gleichstellung, Flucht und Integration des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen

Responsibility for 99 people. That’s how many people Mr Fazal Akbari transports as a bus driver during rush hour.  

“Remscheid, Wermelskirchen ... the entire Rheinisch-Bergisch district and its nature are very beautiful. As a bus driver, I get around a lot and am, therefore, very familiar with that. My wife and I work; our children go to school.  We have entered into contacts and created a new environment for ourselves. As a family, we feel at home and want to shape our future here.”

Fazal Akbari came to Germany as a refugee on his own in 2014. In 2017, the family was finally reunited - Fazal and Zarghona and their children, who were young at the time. Fazal Akbari had found a job. However, after becoming unemployed in 2022, he needed to reinvent himself. 

Resuming the architecture degree he had cancelled in Afghanistan was not an option. It would have taken too long given the need to support his family.
 

He is a man in demand for local public transport.

He contacted the KIM (municipal integration management) advice centre in Remscheid at the beginning of April 2022. Becoming a bus driver seemed tempting to him during counselling with case manager Ms Gül Altin. He successfully completed the qualification and made the lateral entry. Mr Akbari wrote five applications - and received five acceptances. He had found a gap in the labour market for himself.  

Today, Mr Akbari works full-time and in shifts for RVK (Regionalverkehr Köln) in the Rheinisch-Bergisch district.

Responsible driving is his thing - after all, he did this for the World Food Organisation in Afghanistan, among other things. He is a valued colleague. “Mr Akbari learned the routes quickly. He is very likeable and always ready to help when people are ‘in need’,” says Mr Nesic, the responsible RVK personnel manager.

The Akbaris are happy to have found a new home in North Rhine-Westphalia where they can live and work.

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