Since the beginning of history most people in the world have had the experience of leaving the place where they grew up. Humans are in motion across time as well as geography. So why to divide people and label them as refugee, asylum-seeker, migrant and native?
The twenty-five participants of this project were from five countries: Italy, Portugal, Germany and Turkey representing five NGOs; Grup Farkındalık – Turkey (the project host, Youth from Kassel to World – Germany, Associazione Internazionale New Humanity – Italy, Associacao Juvanil de Deao, Portugal along with Desert Bloom for Training and Sustainable Development – Jordan.
“We Are All Migrants” took place in the city of Şanlıurfa in Turkey (1500 km south of Istanbul), and more specifically inside the campus of Harran University. The project was co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
During the project, several activities were concluded including presentations about migrant issues in the participating countries, filmmaking and film presentations, tourist visits of archeological sites, implementation of discussion sessions to prepare the group to cultural fair and the most exciting activity was the visits to refugee families, tree planting and the visit of the commission for Syrian refugees. The participants distributed some gifts to the refugees’ children.
The project raised awareness about issues that forced migration and highlighted the problem of refugees’ integration into society. We Are All Migrants shed light on the main causes of the exclusion of migrants including societies’ ignorance about migrants and their cultures, lifestyle, language, religion or race. This lack of information leads to hate speeches, prejudice, and fear. Therefore, through the introduction of migrant’s culture, We Are All Migrants aimed to overcome these social divisions and to break down prejudice and stereotypes.
Please check this video about this project:
Mamoun Khreisat
Regional Coordinator, URI Middle East & North Africa