Better hand

 Nederlands * Deutsch

Diary entry from a year ago, Sunday, July 3, 2022, I am sitting on a bench in the sun on the Goetheplatz in Weimar.

A 'foreign' boy of about eleven years old approaches me. Eastern European or Iranian maybe? He holds out his hand and seems to be begging. But he wants to give me money. He has a folded ten euro note in his hand. I shake my head and don't take it.

- "Don't you want money?" he asks, in German.
- "Why do you want to give me money?"
- "So that my hand gets better."
He has a hand bandaged.
- "Your hand will get better. From whom did you get the money?"
- "From Mummy. She wants me to give it to a man so that my hand will be better."

Then mom arrives with two small children. She confirms his story. I say again that his hand will get better and I thank him - with my hand on my heart. Then they walk away again. The father is watching from a distance.