SAIMA MAHMOOD      

* 01.07.1978 in Pakistan  

Saima comes from a wealthy and educated family in Pakistan. Her mother was a teacher, her father an entrepreneur. She grew up in an academic household and received a good education.

She lacked for nothing.

Saima completed her bachelor’s degree in social work at the age of 19, only to immediately begin caring for her mother, who was battling cancer.

After her mother’s death, Saima’s life changed drastically.

Her father, himself devastated by his wife’s death, decided to help a friend whose son lived in Germany and was looking for a wife. He married Saima off to a stranger, unaware of the fatal consequences. This step would change Saima’s life forever.

The self-confident and intelligent woman arrived in Ludwigshafen am Rhein and thus into an absolutely toxic and abusive marriage, whose ordeal lasted for 22 years.

„Everything was unfamiliar and it was always autumn here.“

She experienced total isolation, was not allowed to learn German, nor to make any contacts. She had four children, who would remain her only connection to the outside world.

But at some point, she realized that she had to free herself from the marriage and that her husband, whom she had feared for so long, was not an iceberg. „He was just a plastic bag floating in the water, filled with air.“

So she finally prevailed, enrolled in a German course, learned German in a very short time, found a job in the administration of the city of Ludwigshafen, and is now a project manager.

She is now separated from her ex-husband and says about the city where she lives: „It’s no longer just Ludwigshafen, it’s my home port.“

So she finally prevailed, enrolled in a German course, learned German in a very short time, found a job in the administration of the city of Ludwigshafen, and is now a project manager.

She is now separated from her ex-husband and says about the city where she lives: „It’s no longer just Ludwigshafen, it’s my home port.“