My name is Kimberley and in 1997 I moved to Germany from the state of Mississippi in the USA to marry my German husband. Since then I’ve been living in the city of Magdeburg.
My husband was a quadriplegic for nearly 33 years, from the time he had a swimming accident at the age of 24 until his passing in 2016. For 18 years I was his sole caregiver. That experience gave me an insight into the world of the permanently disabled and also into the German healthcare system and how the disabled are cared for in Germany.
Living in a city in the former East Germany has also giving me the experience of seeing great changes in Magdeburg over the past 22 years.
There was a time when I called myself an expat, but now, especially since I’ve lived in Germany for so many years, I call myself an immigrant. I believe using the word immigrant shows that not only do I come from another land and another culture, but I have made a permanent home in Germany.